SHARING THE GOSPEL

Quig Fletcher has chaired the board of directors meetings at Willow Creek for more than twenty-five years.  But before he became such a faithful part of our church, we crossed paths at the Bueller YMCA in Palatine, Illinois.  He and I played racquetball almost weekly, a habit that led to a deep friendship.

In those days, Quig wasn't a very religious person by his own admission.  He thought that since he couldn't seem to stop sinning, there was no hope of heaven for him.  The first time I crossed that locker room to talk to him, I had enough collateral in the relationship that he was actually open to talking about spiritual things.  When the time came for me to tell my story, I remember feeling a little insecure because there was nothing flashy to it.  I wasn't a reformed serial killer.  God hadn't had to rehabilitate me from some thousand-buck-a-day cocaine habit.  My story just wasn't dramatic by most standards.

So I walked Quig through my plain-vanilla journey to faith, and soon afterward he began attending church…  Many, many years went by, but one day at the age of forty-six, he met Christ and his life was radically changed.  Because of the work of the Spirit in his life, Quig no longer saw himself as career sinner but instead as freshly anointed saint -- from hopeless to heaven-bound.

"Looking back," Quig recently told me, "I probably would have accepted Jesus Christ much sooner if someone had explained the gospel to me.  I had the heart for it but never really had the opportunity."

-- Bill Hybels in Just Walk Across the Room


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