Just A Little Talk With Jesus

When I was a senior at Kelliher High School in northern Minnesota, where I grew up, everything changed. I had done quite well in those teen years, excelling in sports, and being a member of a very successful “rock and roll” band. But inside, I was miserable. Something was missing and I was hollow and “wanting” in my spirit.

At the urging of a classmate, I visited choir practice at the little Baptist church in Waskish and there the 200-year-old hymns cut through the darkness in my soul. That night I knew what was missing, a connection with God.

For six months I held God off at a distance. I knew if I was to become a Christian, I would have to leave the rock group. However, on a Monday in October of that year, God won the battle. I announced to another band member that I was leaving the Group because I was giving my life to Christ.

Word got around in the small school and it seemed everyone was staring at me from a distance, wondering if I had fallen off a tall building and landed on my head. When they eventually saw that the change was real, they seemed, without exception to greatly respect me for the decision I had made.

Early the next summer Dad and I were working together on the farm. Toward the end of the day, I told him I had to quit to get ready to go to church. Once a month, on a Monday night, a little man who lived near the Canadian border came to our church with a projector and a Christian film. It was film night and I had been asked to lead the meeting.

To my surprise, Dad said, “I’ll go with you.” So, we went to church, sat on the left side a few rows back and watched the film. I don’t remember what was playing that night, but about half-way through the service, God told me that I had to give an invitation to receive Christ.

Boy, did I start sweating. I had never before given an invitation!

So, at the end of the service, I went to the front and stammered through an invitation. I said that anyone who wanted to turn their life over to Jesus should come to the front. All of a sudden there was a commotion to my right. Dad burst out of his seat and came almost running to the front to stand beside me.

Now, before Dad and I came to Christ, there hadn’t been a salvation in that little church for probably ten years or so. One of the leaders of the church said afterward, “I thought God had forgotten about us.”

We were a small church, about 15 or so, but we had a vibrant choir of six people, and one of the senior girls organized a gospel quartet. I was asked to sing bass.

We grew quite popular, to the point that the big Baptist church in Bemidji asked us to come and perform in a service. Wherever we went we sang our signature song, the gospel spiritual, Just A Little Talk With Jesus. I had a few bass solo parts and my Dad absolutely loved the song.

Once during testimony time in the little church, my Dad stood up and said, “When things are going wrong and nothing seems to be working out, I just ‘have a little talk with Jesus.'”

That fall, I went to Bible college. Before long I was married and we had three children, living in a suburb of Minneapolis. Eventually, God called me to ministry, and most of you know the rest of the story. In a five-year period our large Reach for More events, coupled with school assemblies, drew an audience of around 40,000 people, with about 3000 giving their lives to Christ.

Early in my Christian life, Charles Finney had become one of my heroes. Finney held meetings in the upstate New York area in the mid-eighteenth century. In the Syracuse area alone, more than 100,000 people came to Christ. Finney believed that we are here on this earth for just one reason, to bring unbelievers to Christ. He believed that every Christian should be busy sharing the gospel and leading others to Christ.

Not too many Christians share this concern. George Barna, the church researcher, indicated that very few Christians have ever led a non-believer to Jesus, probably something like around three percent.

Finney said it this way:

Make it an object of constant study, daily reflection, and prayer to learn how to deal with sinners and to promote their conversion. It is the great commission of every Christian to save souls. People often complain that they do not know how to handle this matter. Yet these same people have never taken the time to qualify themselves for the work. If people were as careless in preparing themselves for their worldly business as they are to save souls, how do you think they would succeed?

Now, if you are neglecting the main business of life, what are you living for?

(Experiencing the Presence of God – page 258)

And, I’m going to end this article with Finney’s question. I urge you to ask yourself the question and consider what you can do about it. If you do that you will be one step ahead in your Christian walk.

Photos taken by Lorraine