Tony Campolo is an American sociology professor who also is a very good preacher. Some time ago, I watched a video of a sermon of his in which he told a true story of an experience he had with prayer that really made an impact on me. His story illustrates the power that there is in prayer and how God works to accomplish His purposes. This is his story as I heard him tell it:
“Several years ago I was invited to preach at a small Pentecostal college. Before the chapel service, several of the members got up and took me to a side room to pray with me. I got down on my knees and the six of them put their hands on my head and prayed for me, asking the Holy Spirit to fill me up and use me effectively as I spoke to the students.
“Pentecostals seem to pray longer and with more dynamism than we Baptists do. These men prayed long, and the longer they prayed, the more they leaned on my head. They prayed on and on and leaned harder and harder. One of them kept whispering, ‘Do you feel the Spirit?’ To tell the truth I felt something right at the base of my neck, but I wasn’t sure it was the Spirit.
“One of the members prayed at length about a particular man named Charlie Stoltzfus. That kind of annoyed me. I thought to myself, ‘If you’re going to lean so hard on my head, the least you can do is pray for me.’ He prayed on and on for this man who was about to leave his wife and three children. I can still hear him calling out, ‘Lord, Lord! Don’t let that man leave his wife and children! Send an angel to bring him back to that family! You know who I’m talking about, Lord… Charlie Stoltzfus. He lives down the road about a mile on the right hand side in a silver house trailer.’ I thought to myself, with some degree of exasperation, God knows where he lives… What do you think God’s doing – sitting up there in heaven saying, ‘Give me that address again’?.
“Following the chapel talk, I got in my car and headed home. I was getting on to the Pennsylvania junction when I saw a young man hitch hiking on the side of the road, so I picked him up. As we pulled back onto the road I introduced myself. I said ‘Hi, my name’s Tony Campolo,’ and the man replied ‘My name’s Charlie Stoltzfus.’
“I didn’t say a word but drove to the next junction, turned around and headed back. When I did that he looked at me and asked what I was doing and I said, ‘I’m taking you home.’ He said ‘Why?’ And I said, ‘Because you just left your wife and children – right?’ And he said, ‘Right, right…’ He leaned against the passenger door the rest of the way just looking at me – and then I drove off at a junction onto a side road, straight to his silver house trailer. Again he looked with astonishment and said, ‘How did you know I lived here?’ and I said, ‘God told me! Now you go inside because I want to talk to you and your wife.’
“Charlie ran in ahead of me – I don’t know what he said to his wife but when I got in there, her eyes were as wide as saucers. I sat down and said, ‘I’m going to talk and you’re going to listen.’ And did they listen – after an hour I led them both into a personal relationship with Jesus. Today that man is a Pentecostal minister.”
It’s an incredible story, I think you will agree, and it shows us the power of God and the power of our prayers to Him.
