If you're as big of a fan of Tod Bell as we are, you might want to go to Belmont's service tomorrow night at 6 p.m. or either one of their Sunday morning services to hear him preach. Here are two of my favorite excerpts from his excellent book it can be done: the marketplace maximized for the kingdom of God.
Chapter 2: a macrowaved marketplace--maximizing the release of marketplace ministers
One of the members of the fellowship [Glenda & Dair Sutton's Family Affair Ministry in East Nashville] has started a fruit and vegetable stand on the corner of the church parking lot. She received a prophetic word through a worship leader during a worship gathering that she was going to pursue a life-long dream. She had always dreamed of operating a fruit and vegetable stand! The stand opened on a Wednesday, and by Saturday of that week, she had led 50 people to Jesus Christ! Fifty! Neither she nor Glenda knew when she opened it that twenty years before, there had been a vegetable stand on that very corner! The older people within the neighborhood remembered the previous stand and flooded her with business. She sold out her stock every single day, and in the process, ministered the gospel and prayed for the customers.
Chapter 3: forgiven like me--maximizing our mindset for reaching the lost
Once, when I was driving in a notorious section of Nashville, I spotted a prostitute. The Lord told me to go talk to her. When I got close to her, I realized she was no older than 20 and she was pregnant. I approached her and asked her what she was doing. She said, “You don’t know?” I then told her I knew she was selling herself for sex, but I still asked her why. She said, “I have three kids, I just moved here from Chicago, things aren’t going well. I have to put food on the table.” I didn’t know how much of this was true, but one thing was obvious, she was pregnant even then. She told me she was only two months away from giving birth.
I took $40 out of my pocket and told her to get in the car. She thought I wanted sex for that money, so she got in. I asked her where she was staying; I was going to take her there. She said, “NO! I want to follow through with this. What do you want?”
“Daughter,” I said to her (Jesus often used this expression with women), “I only want to bless you and let you know God loves you.” She burst into tears, which are never far away from anyone if you touch their heart. I said, “I only want this, to kiss you on the cheek and take you to your house.” I pecked her on the cheek (first time I had ever done that, but when you are being led by the Spirit, you just do what He says). She could not stop sobbing. Right then was the first time I had ever heard this phrase from the Holy Spirit, “Expect nothing from her; expect everything from Me.”
May I tell you that this message from the Lord set me free, right then! I did not have to see the conclusion of the matter, where this was going, how she would or would not respond! My only role was to be the vessel for the revealing of the Father’s heart for this moment. Nothing less, and there is nothing more! What a privilege.
She guided me to where she was staying and she got out, saying, “I have never met anyone like you.” I got to tell her, “The person you met that has touched you is Jesus, and He loves you more than you can know.”
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