Technology turnaround

|PIC1|As a 13 year old, he had committed his life to the Lord but says, "I lost my way a bit afterward. I was not really living the Christian life as I should."

Then in the summer of 2007 at a camp in Trefecca, Wales, a leader raised the incisive question. That summer Steve notes, "My excuses were stripped away and I felt God calling me to serve Him full time." He began looking for possibilities in his home area of Cardiff.

"Now I can see that God was putting things into place at the right time for when he wanted to use me," he said.

"As soon as I met Pete Hodge of OAC (Open Air Campaigners) Ministries, doors seemed to open for me with OAC.

"I started taking school assemblies across Cardiff and last year began open air preaching in a number of places around the country.

"There were also opportunities like youth camps and holiday clubs."

This turn around was different from Steve’s academic studies of law as he is a qualified barrister. After university, he started a job which helped him acquire an IT background leading to a promising career.

In May of this year, Steve Harris became a trainee evangelist with OAC. It left people who knew him in his work context struggling to understand why he took this step. He explains how he handles this, "I take them along to some of the evangelistic events I’m involved with!"

OAC aims to recruit young men and women like Steve who are called to be evangelists and train them to be effective communicators of the Gospel. Steve is completing a nine month training course that will provide him with a wide range of experience.

His experience has included cross-cultural outreach. This summer he participated in the ‘I Love Taiwan Mission’ for reaching young people, both teaching English and sharing faith. Back in Britain, he led a holiday club with the theme of ’Treasure Island’.

More recently, he took part in a youth camp which required another turnaround as he notes, "I knew that the week was going to be a new challenge as I had always used PowerPoint and videos to provide visuals during youth camps in the past. But as this was in a field without electricity, this wouldn’t be possible! Therefore, I used the sketch board and some illusion object lessons to provide illustrations.

"Everyone seemed impressed by the sketch board and many of the youth said that it helped them to remember important points as I went through the talk."

Steve will probably still complete his evangelist training by opting for modules which use technology as well as other creative means of presenting the Gospel.