Bob Davidson began his first full time work as an evangelist in the New York City area. As he began his ministry, the church invited an older, experienced preacher to speak several consecutive nights about the gospel of Jesus Christ. To prepare for this evangelistic effort, they spent the week before passing invitations.

    Saturday evening, as darkness fell, Bob and the visiting preacher were still passing out invitations on the city streets. In the twilight, a drunken man lurched up to the visiting preacher. He was obviously looking for a handout to help him continue his drinking spree. Bob immediately ran up to intercept the drunken beggar. As he helped the man on his way, on impulse, Bob stuck one of the invitations into the man’s pocket.

    To his great surprise, Wednesday night of the meeting Bob looked up and saw the drunken beggar to whom he had given the invitation. He came through the door of the church building!

    Bob hustled over and asked, “What made you decide to come?”

    “It’s a miracle,” the man replied, “I woke up this morning and God had put an invitation on my dresser. I don’t know how it got there.”

A new Christian out of a drunken beggar all because someone put an invitation on his pocket.

    No matter how he came, when he got there he heard about Jesus Christ. He even came back Thursday and heard more of the Gospel story. He came again on Friday. Incredibly, he came back on Saturday night and confessed his faith in Jesus was baptized. A new Christian out of a drunken beggar all because someone put an invitation on his pocket.

    It’s a great story, but how do we know it really made a difference in the man’s life? In fact, it sounds like one of those preacher stories told to pull heart strings, but you’re never really sure if they are fact or fiction. But Bob is an honest man and this story is more than just true, it’s down right exciting. You see, twenty years later Bob was speaking at a Bible college. As he walked into the lobby a young man ran over to him and asked, “Are you Bob Davidson?”

    When Bob acknowledged that he was, the stranger threw his arms around Bob and hugged him. This made Bob a bit nervous until the young man said, “I’m a Christian because of you. I want to be a missionary because you invited my dad to a gospel meeting when he was an alcoholic on the streets of New York. Thank you for inviting my father!”

    As Bob told this story at an Asian Missions Dinner, the emcee asked if anyone had any announcements to make. A powerfully effective missionary from India stood up and said, “I would like to thank Bob again for inviting my dad to come to a gospel meeting.”

    We were all speechless, except for the urge to say “Thank you!” to God for making the point so clear: There is great power in an invitation when it is given in God’s name.

    God works through the little things that we do in His name. We never can see in advance all that He will do or even all that He wants to do through us, but we do know that He is able “to do exceedingly more than all we ask or imagine” even through one little invitation!

    Well that’s enough story for now, I think it’s time to go check on our invitation list, don’t you!