When the Design Is Divine

His words immediately captured my attention. The California district superintendent was telling me about a new Christian in one of our churches. The new believer had come out of a purely postmodern environment-the kind of environment some people think the Church can't penetrate.

The man worked as a concept car designer for one of the world's largest automobile manufacturers. He was very successful in his work but knew something was missing in his life. Providentially, he came in contact with one of our pastors who began building a relationship with him. That relationship led to an invitation to attend a Bible study and church services. As he attended the study, he realized the something he was missing in his life was really someone-the Lord Jesus Christ.

As he began to discover God's divine design for his life, he gladly surrendered to the Lord and became a true believer in Christ as his Savior. He was radically transformed by God's grace, and as a result, wanted to share the new design for his life with his coworkers.

One of them was the prototype car builder. After a new car is designed in drawings, a clay model is built, and from that an actual car is built piece by piece by the prototype car builder-all this to decide if the car has enough appeal to actually produce and sell.

As our designer began to tell his friend about the new design for his life, the prototype car builder expressed interest. He, too, had wondered about his own life's purpose. He was very successful and had this wonderful job, but he thought surely there must be something more to life than what he had experienced.

Then it got even more exciting. In the evening service of the district assembly, the designer was to give his testimony of new life in Christ. However, he had called to say he could not be there because his prototype car builder friend and wife were attending his Bible study that evening, and he felt his friend might accept Christ as Savior. He was sorry to miss the assembly but wondered, since the assembly was the same time as the Bible study, if the assembly would pray that his friend and coworker would be saved.

That night we stopped the activities of the district assembly and prayed that salvation would come to that wonderful couple in the Bible study.

What a thrill it was to later receive the good news that the prayer had been answered and the concept of salvation had now become a reality with another member of the design team.

But there's more to the story! When I went back the next year for the assembly, the district superintendent shared exciting news about our seemingly unreachable friends. The car designer and the prototype builder had led the clay model artist to the Lord and now all of them were involved in the church. That night at the district assembly all three gave their personal, gripping, joyous testimonies as to how Jesus had changed their lives.

This was one of the most thrilling assembly services I have ever witnessed. Jesus fits the postmodern age just as perfectly as He has every age. We just have to find ways to make the connection.

My car designer friends discovered there really is a divine design available for every life.

Paul G. Cunningham is a general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene.

Holiness Today, July/August 2008

Please note: This article was originally published in 2008. All facts, figures, and titles were accurate to the best of our knowledge at that time but may have since changed.