Last year, God told Mae Evans it was time to “drop everything” and go live among internationals.
Her answer? Let’s go.
Now Evans, who grew up in First Baptist Church, Livingston, in Bigbee Baptist Association, serves as a Southern Baptist representative in central London. Where she lives, there’s a mosque, a refugee center and a diverse university campus nearby.
“I’m amazed every day at how many internationals I see, and I’m burdened that each person I pass could be from somewhere — anywhere — in the world and they might not have had a chance to hear the gospel,” she said.
She’s met people in her neighborhood from China, Iran, India, Brazil — all over the map. Recently when she was in a café drinking tea and reading her Bible, she was able to share the gospel with a Moroccan man who worked there.
“He would come up in between orders and ask me questions about Jesus,” Evans said.
“I was able to tell him about how Jesus had risen from the dead to free us from death. He had never heard that before.”
Evans said that, although she felt God drawing her to move to London, it doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities to reach internationals in her hometown.
Thanks to a new exchange program at the University of West Alabama, about 80 Chinese students call Livingston home, with the number growing each year.
It’s a fact not lost on First, Livingston.
“The church has started (English as a Second Language) classes, as well as a Tuesday night dinner,” Evans said. “They are students there for a time, and then they go back to China. Imagine the impact they can have back home where people haven’t heard.”
Evans had that thought again recently when she struck up a conversation with a Chinese student who has not yet trusted in Christ as Savior.
“He saw how I had marked up my Bible underlining verses over the years, and he said, ‘You are lucky — you’ve known about Jesus your whole life.’ It just reminds me again that there are millions here who have grown up in different cultures and countries and haven’t had the opportunity to hear about the gospel,” Evans said. “I believe everyone should have the chance to hear.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — Name has been changed.
Who’s here
- Unreached people groups in the U.S. and Canada = 576.
- The University of Alabama at Birmingham ranks among the most diverse campuses in the nation, according to The Princeton Review.
- In 2010, 18,016 Iraqi refugees arrived in the U.S. Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia were the top origin of refugees coming to the U.S. that year.
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