By: Shepherdess Mahmia Mornjay Richards
Good evening! My name is Shepherdess Mahmia Richards.
Although I am the least likely among many of God’s servants to stand before
you tonight, however God chose me to share with you the secret of how God
used me to be an effective fisher of men last year. I pray that through
this presentation we may have a great vision that God may use each one
of us as fruitful fisher of men. My key verse will be from Luke 5:4 -
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put
out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Let’s pray.
I really thank God who blessed my fishing ministry last year, especially last semester by sending an average of 8-10 students weekly to bible study. What was the secret? When I thought about the entire year I could see a gradual incline in my 1:1 numbers. I thought about what made the difference , what were some key factors that made a big difference in my overall performance. In this report, I will share with you my top 3 lists of ______ that helped me throughout the year to have an effective fishing ministry, and also some other helpful suggestions that could help you.
1st God give my fellowship through M. James Park as our
fellowship key verse,
Mark 1:35 it says, “Very early in the morning, while
it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary
place, where he prayed.” Through this key verse God gave me clear
direction that in order to do the work of God effectively I first needed
to establish daily prayer life. As we know, praying is not easy especially
praying in the early morning. So what motivated me to pray more throughout
the year? After the long hot summer months of campus fishing and
finding no one I felt very discouraged. I thought that I could gain
some sympathy from M. Maria Park, but instead of comforting me as I wanted,
rather she gave me clear direction to pray more. God began to help
me pray for myself, and then the more I prayed God gave me a pure
desire to pray more for campus mission and world mission. Therefore
toward the end of the summer an average of 6 students were studying the
bible, 3 of which then came to our SBConference. When the fall semester
began I felt encouraged to pray even more for students individually, especially
those whom I met through fishing ministry. What was the result when
I didn’t pray and depend on God, I became very powerless and could catch
nothing. When I depended on God through prayer, my prayers became
more specific for God to send sheep to me who really needed a shepherd,
and later to send sheep to me who could grow as disciples of Jesus.
My suggestion is this, pray specially that God may lead us to those whom
he has chosen to grow as disciples of Jesus in this ministry.
Through my fellowship prayer and coworking new students began studying
the bible, and sheep began to come to SWS. At the past Christmas
worship service James Fellowship could invite 9 students, and 3 participated
in dancing and drama programs.
2nd stradegy to effective fishing ministry was diligent fishing spirit. I did not just go out fishing once a week, but on average at least ten times per week. Actually I felt sorry to God because as an intern shepherdess I should go out more than that, but because of school studies two days a week my fishing and bible study times were limited to only three days a week. Therefore, usually on Wednesday I had an average of 5 fishing appointments. I was so thankful to God and encouraged because so many of our coworker wanted to go out fishing with me, even I had to turn some down. My faithful fishing partners included M. James & Maria Park, Sarah Yun, Anna Seo, Jennifer Roberts, Esther Lee. (I pray to go out fishing with more members of our chosen generation team in this upcoming semester). My fishing partners and me went out everywhere on campus to find Jesus’ sheep: union, rac center, dormitory, classrooms, library, etc. I thought that since I had disturbed Pam Ansari while studying in the Hornbake Library she would give me the wrong phone number and not show up for bible study, but she did and even came to our summer bible conference along with Jennifer Lee and Peilei Chow whom I studied with. Actually Peilei came to bible study through Jennifer who had a shepherd heart for her. Mary came to SWS through Bukie’s influence. I could see through this that already God began to use his sheep also as fisher of men. Also, we went out no matter the weather or sheep’s condition such as final exams. Even during final exams I could make new B/S appointments, actually it was during the final exams last spring that I met Nicole Mosz who studied faithfully. Before we changed to 11am SWS in Washington, M. Maria Park & myself went out fishing even on Sundays to find sheep to bring them to the worship service. Through the table ministry and first look fair God gave me 3 sheep: Jared C.,Wing T., & Sarah Kursh. Two of them studied the bible faithfully throughout the semester. God also brought Robyn S. through M. Daniel Seo. I was really glad to see her dancing joyfully at this past Christmas service. After Shep Allison returned to Hong Kong, she entrusted me with her sheep Bukie S. Bukie studied faithfully, came to SWS, and even began coming on Mondays for early morning prayer. After fishing with coworkers, if I did not catch any sheep that day, I would go out by myself again to catch even one by any means. That’s how I met Sarah N. and Nicole M. last year. Sarah Newman was one of the most faithful, even studying the bible when she had an exam the next day. Nicole was always waiting for me, many times I tried to get there before her but always she was waiting. I really thank God for her eager desire. Once, I was eating my lunch at school but God told me to leave my lunch and to invite Monica Horner to bible study. Since then, Monica has studied the bible most faithfully among sheep even preparing bible study notebook for nine steps. In this way God taught me to be ready at any time to be used by him to catch sheep. Also, while waiting for 1:1 bible study with Leyla, I would invite sheep to bible study. In these ways and others, God could use me more effectively as a diligent fisher of men last year. Overall, I could learn through these experiences that God wanted to use my feet to bring his word to campus students regardless of my human situation. I pray that I may go out fishing more diligently with more of our coworkers in this year, especially so that we may bring many sheep to our international SBConference.
3rd strategy to effective fishing ministry was effective FOLLOW UP!! Usually I tried to make appointments on the spot with sheep. For those whom I could not make appointments right away, I got their phone numbers and emails for later. Actually without effective follow ups you’re guaranteed of not studying with many sheep, because sheep do not make an initiative. Last year I sent out many emails and made many phone calls, probably over 100. Surprisingly many sheep responded to my email. Jared and I emailed each other for over 1 month, then finally he set up a bible study appointment and came. Now another sheep named Lisa Hebb, whom I met during final exams at the end of last year has been sending me emails during the winter break when I write to her. I pray that she may begin bible study in the spring semester. Actually last semester I set up two folders pertaining to followups: one that said ‘need to contact” and anther that said ‘contacted, waiting for reply’. It is not easy to contact sheep, but I suggest to keep trying until you get a clear response. You can set aside time daily to call sheep or to email them concerning bible study appointments, even 30 mins. I’m sure that because of lack of follow up I missed many sheep who could have studied, but also because of effective follow ups my 1:1 numbers could go up from 6 during the summer months to average 10 in the fall semester. Praise God!
I will briefly mention here some other minor things that also helped me to have effective fishing: When I approached students I was ready with the word of God (bible) and fishing material (brochure & pen). I printed my name on several brochures in order to save time because students are always in a hurry. I maintained eye contact with students and spoke in a friendly tune with a BIG smile, sometimes even using my famous laughing (ha!ha!ha!), in this way actually I caught Kristen Cameron who said that I’m very friendly. I always introduced myself to sheep and told them the name of my campus ministry I represented. Sometimes in order to break the ice, I would talk about a book they were reading or just about the nice weather, then later I could talk to them about bible study. I really enjoyed going out fishing with many partners, in this way we could cowork in helping to bring one sheep to Jesus.
In conclusion, when I wholeheartedly obeyed Jesus’ command to preach the good news to campus students, he could entrust me with his precious sheep from UMCP. I pray that in this year I may gave myself more fully to fishing ministry and disciple making ministry.
One Word: Put Out Into Deep Water And Let Down The
Nets For A Catch