From new age to new creature: One teacher’s story

In the early ‘80s, I was working in a rural elementary school just outside of the metropolitan area where I lived. I taught with a godly woman named Arlene, one of my early mentors. She and I would eat lunch together every day and pray for the students and other staff members—including a teacher named Connie.

Connie was the music teacher. She lived a Bohemian lifestyle—she embraced a New Age philosophy and was married to a Muslim from Afghanistan. The Methodist church in the town needed an organist, so they asked Connie if she would be available.

Connie loved music; she loved to play the piano and sing, so she accepted the position and became a fixture every Sunday morning at the Methodist church near the school. Her New Age leanings didn’t bother anyone at the church; and their doctrine didn’t step on the toes of her worldview, so they all made music together every Sunday morning in a tolerance-soaked, symbiotic relationship.

But one Sunday morning as Connie sat behind the organ, the unexpected happened. Sheepishly, and pulling at his collar, the minister of that little Methodist church stepped behind the pulpit, cleared his throat, and apologized to the congregation for what he was about to do.

“I am so sorry—I feel very uncomfortable right now—but I can’t shake this. I know we don’t do this here—I don’t like to make folks uncomfortable—but I’ve got to do something very unusual for this church.”

Connie had stopped playing the organ, and you could have heard a pin drop.

He continued, “Well, here goes. If anyone wants to come to the front to get a closer relationship with Jesus—please get out of your seat and come forward.”

Crickets.

And then, after a long, horribly awkward, tension-wrapped silence, Connie, gripped with conviction of her need for Christ, got up from behind the organ and came down to the front and knelt. She was the only one that morning who heeded the call, but as she bowed before the altar, the apologetic Methodist minister prayed for her, and she was gloriously saved.

And who do you think she told? That’s right—Arlene and me, who had been praying for her all along!

So is it a waste of your time to pray for educators who are entrenched in worldviews diametrically opposed to the gospel?

Just ask Connie.