Sam Huggard: Are We Ready to Meet People Where God Is Moving?

I grew up in an EFCA church and was blessed with a phenomenal biblical foundation. When I went to a state university in New Hampshire, I suddenly had this new exposure and opportunity, and I met some phenomenal Christians who lived in a way that was so attractive to me.  

One of my closest friends in college had come to Christ in high school through a ministry called Young Life down in Pennsylvania. For spring break, I went down and hung out with him and went to his chapter. God rocked my world with that experience. I just thought it was another youth group, but the kids didn’t seem like the kids who came to my youth group growing up.

I thought, There's no way these kids want to hear about Christ. But then I sat with them and watched them drink in the gospel. And I realized I was completely judging them. My first thought was, Oh my word. I'm the Pharisee. My second was, I want to be part of this kind of ministry. After college, I joined Young Life staff, and through that, God awakened in me a heart for people far from Christ.  

So, I became a church planter. My church that I grew up in—through a series of sovereign events—wanted to plant a church in the area where I was then-living. I was discipled, went on staff of that church, went back to school and then, three years later, I planted the church in that area. I thought God would have me in that town for my whole life. I planned to be buried there. But then, the former superintendent [of the EFCA New England District] asked me to serve with the board and help with church planter training in our district. Later, he asked me to be the superintendent. I immediately said, “There's no way.”  

For over a year, I said “no” and thought it sounded like a terrible job. But then I found myself increasingly opinionated about the kind of person who should take that role and the values that person should have, so I eventually agreed. My predecessor said, “I can’t hold you to this, but you need to commit to 10 years.” He was right. After 10 years, I'm just now beginning to see traction from the vision we set in the beginning.  

We're seeing a lot of gospel opportunities. We started a gospel conversations training across our district at several local churches. It's the basics of helping people become conversant sharing their story and sharing God's story. We've seen more gospel sharing, and anecdotally, we're seeing a greater spiritual openness. I'm regularly hearing stories of young men coming to churches with this deep hunger. It does seem like God is preparing hearts. The big question is: Are we ready—as churches—to meet people with what God is doing in their lives?