the gospel and the gay guy in the basement
Feb. 26 2008We want to hear your stories about how you’ve tried to take the gospel to people around you (and send you a book in return) so we thought we’d share a story ourselves. This is the story of Sarah Young, a girl in our church whose family shared the gospel with someone in a compelling way. Sarah’s family is a great example of sharing the gospel through both words and actions.
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I remember the first time I saw him at orientation and my first conversation with him. I knew I was going to meet some very different types of students at art school, and Todd certainly was. He was amazingly outgoing, fun and bounced off the walls where ever he went. He was a fun friend to have, but I was unsure about how to witness to him because he was openly gay and I didn’t know how he would react to the gospel.
I got to know him well and Todd knew that we were Christians who went to church every week. Todd would mention how many “Christians” he encountered in the past would condemn him for being gay, telling him he was going to hell and not associating with him. My friend Jeff Martin and I just tried to do everything we could to show Todd that we cared for him by constantly inviting him to our houses. He had a lot of car trouble so, more often than not, I would pick him up from his house and drive him to and from our school 45 minutes away.
One day I got a call from Todd, who was extremely upset. Todd’s family situation was always shaky but now, Todd said, his father told him that he didn’t want anything to do with him at all anymore. His dad told Todd that he was taking away his car back and that he would stop paying for school. Not only this, but Todd’s landlord informed him that he needed to be out of his room in a few weeks. Todd was a mess and I thought it interesting that he thought to call me first. I calmed him down and told him that we (meaning my family, the Martin family, and other friends) would be his family now.
Todd ended up moving into my house and sleeping on the couch in the basement. He guessed it would only be for a few weeks, but Todd ended up living with us from the end of July to the beginning of November.
People were surprised that Todd was living with us. One of my sister’s friends asked “You have a gay guy living in your basement?!” She replied, “Yeah, doesn’t everybody?” During this time, my parents, sisters, and friends treated him like our brother. We would drive him to and from work and the metro and invite him to Art Night at the Martin’s.
My dad especially was a living example of our Savoir to Todd. He bought Todd Nicotine patches when he wanted to quit smoking. He re-ordered and paid for Todd’s refill of contacts multiple times. He bought books on Christian views on homosexuality to be better informed on how to talk to Todd. He printed off articles from biblical journals on contentment and anxiety and gave them to Todd to read, and weekly my dad would meet with Todd to talk about the things he read. My dad had the discernment to slowly teach Todd the biblical principals so that when the right time came my dad would explain that Todd was a sinner in need of a Savior.
One Friday night, Todd came home early (very unusual for him) complaining of a really bad stomachache. Todd was sure that it was the pizza he ate earlier that day. But when he wasn’t getting any better, writhing in pain on the couch, my dad took Todd to the hospital. Eventually we learned Todd needed his appendix out ASAP. My dad stayed with Todd to make sure everything was okay and to read him scripture. When we went to pick Todd up from the hospital days later, we brought him balloons and let him know we were praying for him. I know that Todd believes in God and the gospel, but don’t know if he has turned completely to the Savior.
Before Todd moved to Washington state with him mom, he told us, with tears streaming down his face that he will always count us as his family. He told my dad that that he was more a father to him than his biological father ever was. We’d been the first group of Christians who had welcomed him and not shunned him. During those few months the example of my father, family, and friends will always be a reminder and a picture of Christ’s love.
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We want to hear how you or someone you know has sought to take the gospel to the world around them. Send us your story and we’ll send you a book. Click here for more details.
Comments
Thank you for sharing.
When I started art college at the Art Institute in Pittsburgh, my first dorm apartment was with an open homosexual. I tried to talk to him about God a little bit, but he was sort of closed. And my lifestyle of smoking weed and drinking alcohol did not help to promote the gospel. After some time of living together, and hearing him blast his techno music, I yelled some obscene and offensive language at him. We both could kind of tell we didn’t get along.
A few months after he moved in with some friends of his, I began reading Romans, then Matthew, then quickly my addiction to the Bible overcame my whole mind, heart and desires. God brought me to repentance. The gospel became the best news in the world to me.
Some more months passed, and I was hired at Cool Beans Coffee Co. downtown Pittsburgh. I started working with two women who were living together in a homosexual lifestyle. I used to tell them how Christ brought me to the end of myself, how I am amazed at His grace, how I am a sinner, but God had mercy on me through Christ. One of them had a mother who was a pastor and did not approve of her lifestyle. The other started becoming seriously interested in the Bible. They always complemented me on my sincere love to God, and I always pointed them to Christ as the reason. But, before they moved to Arizona, they told me about the interest one of them had in the Bible, so I gave her my study Bible, along with an audio CD set by Ravi Zacharias on Galatians. They were the first people I consistently witnessed the gospel to.
I have not kept in contact with them since, but that was the first Bible I ever gave away. Since then, I’ve given away at least a dozen Bibles and dozens of New Testaments. I don’t often get the chance to witness to homosexuals. But occasionally I meet one during street ministry, and I tell them the same gospel I tell everyone else I meet. That Christ came to save sinners, I am a sinner, and Jesus said ‘You must be born again.’ I often show people Romans 3:10-12 and then explain why this makes the gospel good news.
Penn Tomassetti on Sun Mar 2, 2008 at 4:01 pmWow. What an awesome story. Thank you for sharing it and for your example. I will be praying for Todd. Be sure to post when he calls you to tell you he gave his life to Christ!
His Word does not return void!!
shorter on Thu Mar 6, 2008 at 3:59 pmSarah did God’s work by helping someone. gay or straight...it truly doesn’t matter. she was able to show true compassion delivered in a ginger manner that wouldn’t tear open the old wound of of a person being hated for being gay or being a project for being gay. i’m thankful for sarah and her family, but maybe the church could take a step back and look at how and why they want to “save” gay people. god already loves them, god already loves us.
kate on Sat Mar 8, 2008 at 12:45 amword
eddie on Sat Mar 8, 2008 at 12:49 ami don’t agree with this website, but i love this story!
Chris on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 6:05 pm
This is a *great* story; thanks for showing the love of Christ to someone who was lost; may he be found blameless and innocent before the Holy One and clothed in His righteousness!
I do have a question though… how *do* you correct unbelievers in their sin? I still want to reach out to them while doing what I can to remain untainted by their sin, which usually means isolation and God’s word says we’re to engage unbelievers with God’s holy love. What can that look like?
BC on Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 4:57 pm