Birth Announcement

One of the great benefits of coaching is seeing those with whom I have had a coaching relationship bear fruit for the Lord. On Wednesday I received the following e-mail “Birth Announcement” from Trevor, a church planter in Dallas whom I have had the privilege of coaching:


"...there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10 (ESV) Rejoice in the Lord with me! He has done it again! SALVATION IS OF THE LORD! It is He that draws, and it is He the saves. He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:5-7 (ESV) Praise the Lord!”

“I elatedly announce to you the new birth of Toney, today, about 5:30p.m.! I was walking through the transit station toward Long John Silver's which was on the other side of the street as I eyed a man in one of the bus dugouts. I was tempted to keep going, but the Lord placed him on my heart (an answer to prayer - that God would set up divine appointments). I noticed that he had a folder in his hand which might have contained resumes. Indeed, he had been job hunting. I did have a job lead for him too. I gave him my STBC card, and on the back I wrote the job lead info. Please be in prayer for this.

This prompted him to ask if I were a pastor. This led us to exchange a little about our background. He explained that he had recently left CA, and was nearly homeless. He is temporarily allowed to stay with his mother, but that not a good situation, because she recently got married. His sisters would not allow him to stay with them. Please be in prayer for this.

He continued to talk about his life challenges. Yet, he expressed interest in peripheral godly things. So I asked him if he were a Christian, and he responded that he was. As I probed further, it became obvious to him that his Christianity had no foundation. Thus, he was unsaved. I shared Christ as the solution to sin. I asked him if he were hungry. He said yes. We continued to Long John Silver's for fish tacos. He told me that it had been a long time since someone had been nice to him. After eating I asked him if there was any reason that he wouldn't like to trust Christ right then. Immediately, he expressed a desire to trust Christ. We prayed together for the forgiveness of his sin, and he gave his life to the Lord. Please be in prayer for him.”

Note: I (Charlie) thank God for Trevor and my small role in his life and ministry and pray that there will be many more Trevors and many, many more Toneys. To God be the glory!