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Preaching for Jesus
By Raschelle Casebier, Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
What started out as a comfortable Sabbath turned into a new and unexpected challenge. In her many preaching experiences, Nessy Pittau, Washington Conference health director, never had made an appeal for people to come forward and make a decision for Jesus.
That all changed when Nessy’s husband, Omar Grieve, who serves Washington Conference as Hispanic coordinator and stewardship director, asked her to take his speaking appointment at Burien Hispanic Company, one of the newest churches in the Washington Conference.
The preaching request wasn’t a problem; the request to include an appeal at the end
of her sermon was the catch.
Nearing the end of her sermon, Nessy’s confidence crashed. Nervousness overcame her. She turned to God asking for His guidance. Suddenly, she remembered a creative camp meeting appeal she’d heard a few nights before.
Nessy decided to appeal to three groups: those who had never been baptized, those who wanted Bible studies, and those who wanted to learn how to pray better and grow in their spiritual life.
Nessy stood at the front in the spot where people who had never been baptized were supposed to gather. “It’s not going to work,” she thought, as she closed her eyes to pray. “No one is going to come forward.”
Doubts slipped in between prayerful thoughts. Had the question at the end of her sermon—“Do you want to recognize Jesus today as your Savior?”—been strong enough? Would she be standing alone when the prayer ended?
She began praying aloud for the congregation and silently asked God to send at least one person forward. During prayer, she could hear people walking to either side of her, but so far no one was coming to her. Her heart began to pound. Then she heard some footsteps. Someone was walking toward her.
As she said, “Amen,” she looked up and there stood a man with his eyes closed, praying.
She was so excited. It had worked! The Lord had made her appeal successful! She asked the man if he would like to pray, he responded, “Yes.” She prayed right then that his life would change completely for the Lord. A short time later, the man who had been attending the Burien Church, was baptized.
“It was a great feeling,” says Nessy. “Evangelism is like a drug, it’s so addicting. Once you lead someone to Jesus, you want to do it again.”
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