Saturday Night Out

April 1, 2003 - I was driving home from my job at a chemical laboratory in Aberdeen, Scotland, one evening in May 1991, and I saw ads on the buses for Billy Graham, who was coming to speak about the meaning of life. A colleague in the car asked if anyone was going. But I was quick to put everyone off: "You don't want to go hear any of that," I said.

by Chris Wood

I got home, and within five minutes a friend called to invite me to hear Billy Graham. "This must be my comeuppance," I laughed to myself.

Friday night was usually a night out with the lads, but I decided to go along and hear what the evangelist had to say, thinking, "I'll have a good laugh about it and mock him to my friends."

When Billy Graham spoke, I felt like he was talking directly to me. I remember that he talked about feeling empty inside. I had everything going for me. I was 25; I had a great career, a company car, a house—everything—and yet I felt empty.

I went home without making a commitment. But the next night I was back, listening to Billy Graham again. This was unheard of, listening to a preacher on a Saturday night!

This time, after he made the appeal, everything inside me made me want to go forward and give my life to Christ. But I saw the television cameras and thought, "There's no way I'm going down there."

Four days—and four sleepless nights—later, I started to read a New Testament someone had given to me. The words that Billy Graham had spoken jumped off the page. At 2 a.m. on June 4, 1991, I got out of my bed and down on my knees and prayed. I just said, "God, if You are real and if the Bible is true, come into my life and change me because I can't change myself."

From that moment on, everything started to change. The first thing I noticed was that I couldn't swear. My conversation was now filled with gaps and pauses! I began going to church and was baptized. Six months after the Crusade, I met Elaine, who is now my wife.

God gave me a clear call to work full-time for Him. In 1995, we sold our house and my car, and Elaine and I went to Glasgow Bible College, where I received a degree in theology. In 1999, I was called to a struggling church of 12 people in Aberdeen.

We've seen amazing blessings. The congregation now has about 120 people, and many have come to Christ, have been baptized and are growing in their faith.

My mum became a Christian as a result of the same Crusade, and I've led my grandparents, my younger brother and many friends to Christ. The Crusade changed not only my life, but also my whole family's. Praise God!

"Finding Jesus" features testimonies of people who have accepted Christ through a ministry of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. If you, too, found Jesus through a ministry of BGEA, please write and tell us about it. And tell us what you're doing now.