Greg Stier (far right) was one of several speakers during the main plenary sessions at Higher Calling Conference (HCC), an annual conference hosted by Korea Campus Crusade for Christ to challenge youth and young adults to live missionally. At the end of his message, Stier challenged attendees to put their convictions into action by inviting them to sponsor a child through Compassion International.
On Tuesday, December 23, Greg Stier"”one of the speakers at Higher Calling Conference (HCC), an annual conference hosted by Korea Campus Crusade for Christ for youth and college students"”presented HCC attendees with an intense message challenging them to go out and evangelize.
As the founder and president of Dare 2 Share ministries, an evangelistic ministry, Stier emphasized, "My main point is go outside the walls. Let's worship here, pray here, but let's get out to our families, friends, neighbors, classmates, teammates"¦ Let's bring up the gospel, let's lead into the awkward, and have the awkward conversation with people, and have gospel conversations, not just have an evangelistic presentation. We're not just stapling gospel pamphlets to peoples' foreheads but we're literally talking to them about Christ, explaining the good news in a way that people can understand."
Stier started off his sermon with a brief, humorous testimony about how his uncle Jack"”an intimidating, tatted, body builder"”came to Christ. As Stier watched his uncle's life transform from an early age, he was impacted by the passion his uncle had to reach out to whomever he could about the gospel message that changed his own life.
Stier then tied his uncle's testimony to scripture, Hebrews 13:11-15:
"For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name."
Though Stier's uncle was a new believer, like Jesus, he went outside to whoever he could to share the gospel. He wasn't stuck sitting in the church walls, Stier explained.
Stier also gave a detailed description of what it was like "outside the camp" in the context of biblical times.
"Outside the camp is dirty"¦ People went out there to use the bathroom, only people with leprosy lived out there"¦ It was a dangerous place to be," he explained, adding that Jesus spent time with people outside the camp despite the negative associations and dangers, and that Jesus himself died on the cross outside the camp.
Stier emphasized going "outside the camp" further by sharing his own experiences evangelizing at a high school, encountering a broken woman in the grocery store as he was shopping with his son, and sharing about Jesus with a group of protesting lesbians.
"Sharing and equipping teenagers in America through gospel conversations" is Greg Stier's heartbeat for the next generation, and one of the ways he channels that passion is through Dare 2 Share ministries. He stated, "We're mobilizing and training 30,000 youth ministries and churches in own their own communities so that a church in each city could say, "We want every teenager to engage in gospel conversations in this area'"¦ And we're going to train and equip our students and recruit other churches to join us until every student shares the gospel to every teenager they know and respect. We do this through conferences, curriculums apps called "Dare 2 Share,' and another app coming out soon called "Life in 6 Words' and videos and books."
After Stier was finished speaking, he gave the opportunity for attendees to directly apply their convictions by asking them if they'd like to make the decision to sponsor a child through Compassion International, a child sponsorship organization. Hopping off the stage, he created a "compassion train," allowing students to get up from their seats and follow him to the Compassion booth prepared at the back of the room.
Stier was one of many other plenary session speakers throughout the four-day conference, including Pastor Jim-Bob Park, the lead pastor of Oriental Mission Church; Pastor Eugene Cho, the lead pastor of Quest Church; and Pastor Dong Whan Kim, the director of Korea Campus Crusade for Christ USA. Focusing on this year's theme for the conference, "The Light," the speakers engaged the attendees with specific ways that they could actively live as the light in their respective communities.
Angela Choi is a volunteer student writer from Santa Monica College.
