The goal for this recruiting trip at a small Evangelical college in the Southwest was to look for summer missionaries to join our church planting efforts in Chicagoland.  In particular, I was searching for students ready to spend their summer working with Hindus, Muslims and other immigrant peoples who now live in the Windy City.

But God seemed to be saying, “I know you have your plans, but be on the lookout for mine.”

The first day of recruiting was going well when I noticed a number of South Asian students on the campus.  How great, I thought, to have an Indian Christian work with us this summer among Hindus.  So, I began to talk to these students, and realized the Indian students I was meeting weren’t followers of Jesus.

“The purpose of the Lord . . .”

Here I was at a staunchly Evangelical school encountering Hindus from some of the least-reached people groups in the world.  These were the people who lived in my neighborhood, that our team was engaged in outreach among year round.  By the end of the day, I had met a dozen or so Hindus from northern India and Nepal.  We had talked about food, cricket, and Indian culture.  The connections were going deep, fast.  Four guys in particular seemed most interested, and asked if I would eat dinner with them the next evening.

As the dinner approached, I sensed the unfolding of God’s redemptive plan.  I asked some fellow believers to pray, because I felt I would have the opportunity to share the Gospel.

It was indeed an amazing night.  I had never been around Hindus who seemed so eager to know about Jesus Christ.  I was able to explain the gospel at length and answer questions about sin, shame, Satan, the cross, salvation and more.

I prayed for them as we parted and gave them gifts of a Jesus film DVD that also included the Gospel of Mark in their language.

The next morning I met with two of the students, Pratik and Jayesh, who said they had already watched the Jesus film and wanted to talk further.   We went to a lounge area and began to talk about salvation and following Jesus.  I discerned a genuine faith taking root in their hearts, so I asked them bluntly, “Do you believe what I’ve told you about Jesus?  Are you really ready to begin following Him now?”  Pratik confessed honestly, “We don’t understand everything it means to follow Jesus, but we believe – we want to follow Him.”

With only minutes to spare before class, Pratik, Jayesh, and I bowed our heads, and they committed to following Jesus as their Lord and King.

Before we said our final goodbyes, I asked Pratik to talk to Nil and Krish (the other two who had been to dinner with us) about our prayer time that morning.  He said he would.

The next day Pratik sent me an email telling me that both Nil and Krish had also prayed to begin following Jesus!

I’m still pretty flabbergasted by the trip which wasn’t what I expected.  Praise God for His incomparable and unstoppable purposes!  Please pray for these four young men, and pray for the hundreds of millions of Hindus the world over who still live in darkness.  May God deliver them and may God raise up these four believers to be powerful witnesses to the Hindu world.

Cody Lorance is pastor of Trinity International Baptist Mission, Glen Ellyn, and an Illinois Baptist missionary planting churches in the Chicago area.