Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit…The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” -John 3:5-8 I love stories of God working in “chain” conversions! Well, here is just such a story of God’s huge work at the little West Virginia State University in Charleston, WV. Brent Bauer in the Kanawha Valley Church was reaching out at the beginning of the fall semester and met an ROTC cadet by the name of Cody Lawhon. Cody had been praying for God to send people to help him in his relationship with God so much that when Brent approached him he knew exactly why Brent was there. Brent reached out out to Cody, and he studied the Bible and was baptized! Shortly after his baptism he had a lot of friends who gave him a hard time about baptism. One day we sat down to do a “treatise” on baptism. As we read the first verse, a student by the name of Casey Montgomery asked if she could join the Bible study. We explained that this wasn’t a “read the Bible and discuss it” kind of meeting but that we would be studying baptism in depth. We studied baptism for an hour and fifteen minutes and Casey listened to the whole thing. You could see tears welling in her eyes as she realized that this was nothing like she had been taught. She asked if she could study more and I gave her an invite to church. When I turned around to get her information for my wife to follow up, she had left. I asked the students if they knew her and no one did, so we prayed. That next Sunday at church in walked Casey with her sister! She began to study and was baptized! Casey began reaching out to her childhood friend, Brittney Boggess. Brittney was so impacted by God’s word and the changes in Casey’s life that she studied the Bible and was baptized! As she studied, Brittney began to bring her mom, Ruth, to church. Ruth was overwhelmed by the love of the fellowship and began to study the Bible. A few months later Ruth decided to make Jesus Lord of her life and Brittney baptized her into Christ! Update: Brittney and Casey recently baptized a teen with whom they had been reaching out to and studying the Bible with. The “chain” of God’s grace continues!
