Boy on the bunk

by Bert Tippett, Public Relations Director, Free Will Baptist Bible College

It was my freshman year at Bible College, and I was out on my weekly Christian service assignment. He sat on a bunk directly across from me, flanked by two other boys in their mid-teens. They were part of a congregation of reform school boys to whom our Christian Service team had just presented the gospel. So many responded to the invitation that each member of our group had to deal with two or three.

The other two boys were in tears, clearly moved by the message, repentant. But the center boy, respectful and attentive, showed no emotion that I could detect. All three prayed the sinner’s prayer; all three told me that God had come into their hearts, two with tears, but the other with a solemn face.

In the van on the way back to our Nashville campus, I reported just two conversions. “The third boy just didn’t seem to be responding,” I explained.

A week later, I missed the weekly service at the reform school, but when the group returned to campus, they converged on my room. “Remember the boy you said didn’t respond? Well, he won two others to the Lord. . .in reform school. . . his first week as a Christian!” they said.

I learned it isn’t what’s on the face, but what’s in the heart that makes the difference.