“Suddenly, it began to rain heavily, shutting everyone in. My heart started beating faster, and I could hear the thought loudly inside me, “You are to preach today.” I even asked God for a sign, and immediately, my coursemate came directly to my seat and dropped her wares…”
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Overcoming My Fears
I have always dreaded the thought of preaching in my classroom. I knew that if I ever had to do it, I would have to die to my flesh first. It was like, once I did it, the word “PASTOR” would be written boldly on my forehead for everyone to see, which, honestly, I wanted to happen, but through some other means, like preaching to people individually.
Each time we were to have a lecture and the lecturer had not arrived, I would feel an urge to preach. The nudging would sometimes come as just a passing thought: “Imagine preaching to this crowd,” and I would always push it aside. However, today was different. We were to have a lecture by 1 p.m. A few minutes before the start time for the lecture, I was walking to the classroom, and it began to drizzle. A student walking beside me said, “If it starts raining heavily and the lecturer doesn’t have a car, the class won’t hold because he’ll be unable to make it.” I heard this and laughed, not knowing it was the Lord speaking, telling me that I was to preach that day.
I entered the classroom, settled down, and waited for the lecturer. Suddenly, it began to rain heavily, shutting everyone in. My heart started beating faster. I could hear the thought loudly inside me, “You are to preach today.” I tried to ignore it, but my heart kept pounding harder, making me feel very uneasy.
Although I knew deep down that I was meant to preach, I still asked for a sign. I saw my coursemate who sold some pastries and local beverages, and said in my heart, “God, if I’m really supposed to preach today, let her come directly to my seat and drop her wares.” Instantly, after selling some of her wares to someone, she came right up to where I sat, placed her items down, and sat beside me. God had caught me!
Realising there was no way out, especially since it was still raining heavily outside, I leaned towards her and asked, “If someone were to stand up on that podium and talk to the students, how would it look?” She replied positively. Then I asked, “What if the person wants to preach?” She said that it would be a very bold and great step. I told her I was the one, and she was surprised but encouraged me to go ahead.
I turned to a guy also seated next to me and asked him a similar question to gain more confidence, and he also encouraged me, saying, “I’ve got your back.”
The Bold Step
I stood up and tried to locate my hostel evangelism partner, who has been a great support to me, but he was not in the classroom. That was when I began to feel like I was alone. Nonetheless, I boldly walked to the front of the class and looked at everyone, trying to count how many students were present. I almost lost my composure when I realised that there were about 300 students in the room.
I took a deep breath and began. I introduced myself and told them that I wanted to talk to them about Christ. I cannot explain this perfectly, but after just a few introductory sentences, a spirit of boldness came on me so intensely that I jumped down from the podium and began walking in the aisles, looking straight into the eyes of people as I spoke, and not caring anymore what anyone thought. I could feel my voice about to crack, but every word I said kept coming out stronger and louder than ever.
I began to tell them about my past addictions, how God saved me, and how He can save them too. I went ahead to speak on different topics, including acceptable prayer, following God early, reviving a dead devotion to God, understanding times and seasons, preparing for the day of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead, and more. I referred to some parts of Scripture, such as Matthew 7:21, Romans 14:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:1–6, Revelation 20, and even had them read out some Scriptures themselves.
Afterwards, I led them in prayer and brought the session to an end. I am so grateful to God for using me even in my weakness. I was so full of fear at the start, but after stepping out in faith, I found myself preaching for almost an hour without even a hint of fear! To top it all off, I was given a free bottle of chilled zobo by my classmate, who sells the beverages. She said, “You shouted so much, you deserve some chilled zobo to cool off.” This I received with so much gladness.
What I once thought was a dreadful thing turned out to be a beautiful and joyful experience. People paid attention to me, and in the end, some even commended me greatly. For this freedom, may God’s name be praised.
© GAM 2025
