121 Stories - Kevin Black: Sharing Faith In The Workplace
Sharing Your Faith, Your Workplace Is A Missionary Field.
Kevin Black
Nov 14, 2021 4m
Sharing your faith can be scary, but when you realize that even your workplace is a missionary field, you can live out your beliefs, and others will notice. Learn from one man's story of how living his faith out has allowed him to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Video recorded at Grapevine, Texas.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
Kevin Black: [00:00:03] My name is Kevin Black; my wife and I have been attending 121 now for about six months with our 12-month-old daughter. My grandfather was a preacher, we always went to church. I went to a private school but was never really around nonbelievers too much, I wasn't too experienced with sharing my faith with the people, so I wasn't very comfortable with it.
Kevin Black: [00:00:27] My first experience was working at a retail store, where I was maybe one of two believers that I knew of. I guess the first time someone called me out on being different was, I knocked over a whole cart of shoes and I didn't cuss, and the girl that was walking past me realized that. And she goes, you didn't cuss. And I was like, no, I don't do that. And she was like, that's crazy, like, I don't know that I've ever met somebody that doesn't. And that was kind of my first eye-opening experience of like, I don't have to be shoving the Bible in people's faces, that just being a Christian and living by, you know, your beliefs, shows and stands out to these people that maybe don't see that every day.
Kevin Black: [00:01:17] So, yeah, so I got my pilot's license up in Wisconsin, and then found our way down to the Fort Worth area, and now I fly for one of the regionals that's a feeder for one of the major airlines. Over time, spending time in the cockpit, opportunities just arose by me saying something about a guy from my church back home, and then that would open the door. We have a unique situation in the airlines, our workplace, and we will maybe work two or three hours and you may never see that person again. And I think that's a great opportunity that we have to share the good news with people all the time, and if we don't share it with that person, we may never see them again. And I think as long as we are planting those seeds with those individuals, I think that's the most important thing.
Kevin Black: [00:02:11] I've found that a lot of times people will ask me, and I don't have to necessarily approach them. And so they will start asking questions, and we just gradually get that conversation going, and we find ourselves with two or three hours sitting in the cockpit with nothing to really do but talk. And so we've had some phenomenal conversations about my faith about, you know, beliefs and why I believe the things that I do, and it's a great mission field and opportunity to talk to them. We're called to be missionaries, and we're called to spread the gospel, and that it doesn't matter what your office looks like, if it's a cubicle, if you're a nurse, if you're a pilot, wherever you find yourself, the Lord will equip us with the skills and the words and the answers to give to people when they ask questions about your faith or your beliefs.
Kevin Black: [00:03:13] So I happened to be scheduled with another pilot, and we were scheduled all month together. And we always joked that that can go one of two ways, it can be a really good month or a really long month. And shortly into the trip, our first trip, I found out that he was a Christian and it was the best month ever. We had Bible studies every morning, essentially Bible studies while we were flying. At my last job, one of the experiences we had, was it was a very small airplane, there was no door between the cockpit in the passengers. And as the captain, I would turn around and give the safety briefing, and I finished up the safety briefing. And we were leaving Chicago and there was a lady, there were only eight passengers in the airplane, and she said to me...I said, does anybody have any questions? And she said, yes, she said, do you know Jesus Christ? And I laughed and I said, yes, ma'am, I said, he's been my Lord and Savior since I was seven years old. And she goes, well, OK, then we're ready to go.
Recorded in Grapevine, Texas.
Kevin Black: [00:00:27] My first experience was working at a retail store, where I was maybe one of two believers that I knew of. I guess the first time someone called me out on being different was, I knocked over a whole cart of shoes and I didn't cuss, and the girl that was walking past me realized that. And she goes, you didn't cuss. And I was like, no, I don't do that. And she was like, that's crazy, like, I don't know that I've ever met somebody that doesn't. And that was kind of my first eye-opening experience of like, I don't have to be shoving the Bible in people's faces, that just being a Christian and living by, you know, your beliefs, shows and stands out to these people that maybe don't see that every day.
Kevin Black: [00:01:17] So, yeah, so I got my pilot's license up in Wisconsin, and then found our way down to the Fort Worth area, and now I fly for one of the regionals that's a feeder for one of the major airlines. Over time, spending time in the cockpit, opportunities just arose by me saying something about a guy from my church back home, and then that would open the door. We have a unique situation in the airlines, our workplace, and we will maybe work two or three hours and you may never see that person again. And I think that's a great opportunity that we have to share the good news with people all the time, and if we don't share it with that person, we may never see them again. And I think as long as we are planting those seeds with those individuals, I think that's the most important thing.
Kevin Black: [00:02:11] I've found that a lot of times people will ask me, and I don't have to necessarily approach them. And so they will start asking questions, and we just gradually get that conversation going, and we find ourselves with two or three hours sitting in the cockpit with nothing to really do but talk. And so we've had some phenomenal conversations about my faith about, you know, beliefs and why I believe the things that I do, and it's a great mission field and opportunity to talk to them. We're called to be missionaries, and we're called to spread the gospel, and that it doesn't matter what your office looks like, if it's a cubicle, if you're a nurse, if you're a pilot, wherever you find yourself, the Lord will equip us with the skills and the words and the answers to give to people when they ask questions about your faith or your beliefs.
Kevin Black: [00:03:13] So I happened to be scheduled with another pilot, and we were scheduled all month together. And we always joked that that can go one of two ways, it can be a really good month or a really long month. And shortly into the trip, our first trip, I found out that he was a Christian and it was the best month ever. We had Bible studies every morning, essentially Bible studies while we were flying. At my last job, one of the experiences we had, was it was a very small airplane, there was no door between the cockpit in the passengers. And as the captain, I would turn around and give the safety briefing, and I finished up the safety briefing. And we were leaving Chicago and there was a lady, there were only eight passengers in the airplane, and she said to me...I said, does anybody have any questions? And she said, yes, she said, do you know Jesus Christ? And I laughed and I said, yes, ma'am, I said, he's been my Lord and Savior since I was seven years old. And she goes, well, OK, then we're ready to go.
Recorded in Grapevine, Texas.
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