The Power of an Invitation

     Brother Glenn L. McCullough was in the dairy business near Tupelo, Mississippi.  Mr. A.D. Prince was a salesman from Memphis who regularly called on him for needed supplies. One day, Mr. Prince arrived at brother McCullough’s farm rather late in the afternoon. He was told he would have to come back the next day because there was a Gospel meeting at the Gloster Street church of Christ that night and he was getting ready to attend. Mr. Prince said that was fine and agreed to come back the next day. As he was leaving, brother McCullough thought, "I should ask him to attend our Gospel meeting." He invited the salesman to stay for supper and attend the Gospel meeting. Mr. Prince agreed and not only attended that night, but attended three nights of the Gospel meeting conducted by Jack Meyer. Even though he learned what to do to become a Christian, he did not obey the Gospel during his visits.
     A few months later, Mr. Prince was given a new job and did not come back to Tupelo to call on brother McCullough. Many years passed by and one day brother McCullough saw a newspaper story about A.D. Prince III, who was a student at a Christian college. He made a few phone calls and found out Mr. Prince had received another invitation to attend a tent meeting in Memphis which was a few blocks from where he worked. He attended the Gospel meeting and obeyed the Gospel the first night. Later, he became an elder in the church and the student honored at the Christian college was his grandson.
    Years later, both brother McCullough and brother Prince learned they had a terminal disease and were given just a few months to live. As time drew near for both men, brother Prince had his sister to drive him from his home in Arkansas to brother McCullough’s home in Tupelo to pay one final visit and to say, "I want to thank you for inviting me to the Gospel meeting that night. If it had not been for your invitation, I probably would never have heard the Gospel and become a Christian. It was your invitation that made it possible for my family, my grandchildren, and me to become Christians. I will be forever grateful. Thank you."
     What would have happened to the Prince family if brother McCullough had said, "My conscience says I ought to invite this salesman to the Gospel meeting, but I know it won’t do any good?"
     The Bible says, "Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage" (Matt. 22:9). Gospel meetings are not out-of-date; neither is inviting the lost to hear the preaching of the Gospel.

- Author Unknown; via the weekly bulletin of the Harrisburg church of Christ in Harrisburg, IL.  Edd Sterchi serves as one of the congregation's ministers.  He may be contacted at sterchi@midwest.net  You may visit their website at www.harrisburgchurchofchrist.org