When I host football tournaments and events, I always strive to keep my eyes and heart open to the specific young men that Jesus wants me to connect with.

 

There’s one young man in particular that I started a conversation with at one of our tournaments that will forever be embedded in my mind.

 

As I walked down the sideline that day, I noticed one of the quarterbacks wearing a ‘cross necklace’ and as I’m accustomed to doing, I saw his cross as a sign I needed to connect with him. As our conversation carried on, the topic of ‘church’ came up, and he told me that his dad wasn’t really involved in church as much recently.  He made it clear to me that he really wanted me to pray for his dad, and I simply reassured him that I would be keeping his dad in my prayers for sure!

 

A few weeks later, that young man called me to let me know that he and his friends were wanting to come to my church on a Wednesday night for our youth group. I was pretty impressed that they were willing and wanting to drive that far. It was well over an hour drive to get to our church from their town. I asked him what triggered his desire to check out my church, and he told me that he had just had a dream that he was at my church with a ton of students and could see me on stage in his dream. He felt like that was a sign that he should come. I didn’t want his parents driving that far, so I agreed to meet them halfway. His mom would drop them off with me and then his dad, who we had been praying for, would meet us afterwards half-way to pick them up. I had no idea the miracle that was about to transpire later that night with his dad.

 

We all had a blast at church that night and it really impacted all of the guys, but the text message I received from the young man’s dad afterwards floored me. The text the dad sent me was something like this:

 

“Hey Ryan! Thought you would appreciate this. A few weeks ago, I was in your area for a business meeting and pulled through a drive-thru for lunch and the person in front of me in line paid for my meal and left me this note with your church info on it! Pretty cool!”

 

He sent me an image of the note and this is what was on it:

 

Jesus loves you! Stay strong! -John 3:16 milestonechurch.com

 

I was completely amazed, not just because the note mentioned the church that I just took his son to, but the note was in MY HANDWRITING! I then remembered pulling through a ChickFilA not too many days after I had a talk with that young man about his dad at the football field, and just feeling led to pay for the random person behind me in line and leave them a simple note of encouragement. I had no idea who was behind me, but sure enough, it was the young man’s dad who we had been praying for!

 

I tried to gather my thoughts on how I was going to share with the dad that night when I dropped his son off, that the note he received was my handwriting and given to him by me without me even knowing he was behind me in line! As we pulled into the parking lot to meet his dad, I got out of the truck and thanked him for letting his son and his buddies go to church with us that night. I then brought up the note he had sent me from ChickFilA and I told him simply that it was me! I’m not sure if he thought I was joking at first, but it didn’t take long for me to tell that he knew God had orchestrated all of that personally for him to set him back on fire for Jesus. That night was unforgettable, but what would transpire from that point is even more amazing.

 

In the coming days, the dad had a new burning passion to reach his son’s football team and lead them to Jesus. He wanted to do whatever necessary to put on a really big outreach event on his property with 4 wheeling, fun games, dinner, a live worship band, and he wanted me to speak and share Jesus with his son's entire football team and to everyone else who would show up. He wanted to call it the “Come to Jesus Meeting!”

 

I was all in for that kind of event no doubt! As I pulled onto the dad’s property that day, it was truly surreal. They had a grass field parking lot set up with dad’s driving 4 wheelers and giving rides to everyone to a nearby wooded venue where the stage was set up. Football players and their dads were already there having a blast together, eating dinner, and loving every bit of it. I couldn’t believe how big of an event this dad (with a new God-sized vision) had been able to orchestrate in his own backyard.

 

I still remember clearly in my heart, walking up on that stage that night, in front of so many young men in desperate need of a relationship with Jesus and seeing their eyes locked in on every word I said. When I gave the invitation at the end of the service, it was as if every young man in attendance stood up and made a decision for Christ that night!

 

We even had a baptism service right there afterwards in a horse trough that was prepared and set up by the dad earlier, and teammates, family members, and friends were able to watch some of those young men get baptized right then and there and go public with their decision to believe and follow Jesus from that day forward!

 

Looking back now, it’s amazing to me that Jesus would use a simple cross necklace, a short conversation with a young quarterback who wanted prayer for his dad, a crazy dream, and a drive thru note to reveal himself to all of us in such a miraculous way like he did. It truly reminds me of the truth behind one of my favorite verses:

 

“So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”

-1 Corinthians‬ ‭15:58‬ ‭