The Story of a Bathroom Drug Deal Interrupted by Jesus

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Not obligations of Navy Federal and may lose value. And we continue with our American stories. Greg Lorre is the founder and senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, one of the largest and most influential churches in America. He's also authored two memoirs, one called Lost Boy, and the other, which was turned into a wildly successful movie, Jesus Revolution. Here he is to share two stories, one that took place in a bathroom and the other with a man who counseled 11 American presidents, the pope, and dozens of world leaders. Here's Greg Lorre.

Well, the Bible says, go to all the world and preach the gospel. And I guess that includes bathrooms. Let me explain. So one day I'm in a department store and I need to go to the restroom. So I go into this restroom. I take my seat in a little stall and I hear someone clear their throat in the stall next to me. And then suddenly I hear a voice say, hi.

I'm thinking, hi. I don't talk to people in bathrooms. When I go into a restroom, I want to do what I'm there to do and get out of there. I've never understood why women all go to a bathroom together. You know, you'll be in a restaurant and one will say, I'm going to the restroom.

Who wants to go with me? And they all go together. Guys would never do that. You know, we see another guy in the restroom and we know, hey, how's it going? Whatever. Let's just get out of here.

Right. So I'm in this stall. The guy says hi to me.

And I, my high back was not friendly. I said, hi. Like, what are you talking to me for? A moment goes by and he says, um, are you supposed to meet me here? I'm thinking, I'm thinking what on earth is going on here?

This is not good. I said, no, I'm not. And he went, oh, he sounded disappointment. And I said, well, now I'm curious, like what's going on? Like, who are you supposed to, what's going on here? And he goes, oh, I was going to buy some drugs.

Oh. And then the thought occurs to me. Should I share the gospel with him? Will God even bless it if I talk about Jesus in a bathroom stall?

Is this even a good idea? And I thought, why not? And I said, hey man, I have something better than drugs for you.

He goes, really? What? I said a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. He says, oh, I already tried that. You already tried that.

Really? Well, did you pray and ask Christ to come into your life? Yes, I did. Did you find a church to go to?

Yes, I did. If you don't mind me asking, where did you go to church? Again, remember, we're in two stalls next to each other. We haven't seen each other yet.

We're having this conversation. Where did you go to church? I asked. He said, Harvest Christian Fellowship. Well, that's a church I pastor. I said, really?

Do you know who I am? He said, no. I said, I'm Greg Laurie, the pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship. A moment goes by and he says, oh my God. I said, buddy, God must really love you to send your pastor to you when you're trying to make a drug buy. I said, you need to get right with God. And I said, I want to talk to you, but I'm tired of doing it in this bathroom stall.

I'll be waiting for you outside. Well, he was the easy guy to spot. He had a guilty look in his face. He came out of the bathroom and we prayed, as I recall, next to where they sold socks. And he made a recommitment to follow the Lord. So, you know, you never know when an opportunity will come to talk about your faith. And so I always tried to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. You know, the Bible says, be on duty at all times, which takes on a whole new meaning when you apply it to a bathroom, right?

But be on duty at all times. Always be ready to share your faith, giving an answer to the person who asks you. So this is one of those unusual experiences when God used me in a bathroom. In Revelation 3 20, the scripture says, behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me knocking at the door of the church, knocking at the door of your family, knocking at your door. Why doesn't he just push the door open and come in and save me? He never interferes with your will. You have a will of your own. That's the way he made you. He made you in his image. You can reject him. You can go to your grave rejecting Christ, and there's nothing God can do about it. He'll do everything in his power to warn you. He'll do everything in his power to bring incidents across your path to stop you. But he won't trespass on your will. So one night we were in Portland, Oregon, and the place was packed and it was almost revival like what was happening that night.

I also remember it really rained hard that night. And so we're leaving the platform. I'm walking with Billy. We're headed to the car, and there's a crowd of people, and the ushers are kind of holding them back, and people are just in awe. This is Billy Graham walking by. It's like Moses was walking among them, and they're calling out, Billy, Billy, and I'm walking right behind him. And so we get in the car and we're driving out. His longtime associate, T. W. Wilson, is driving. I'm sitting shotgun in the front, and I'm walking shotgun in the front.

Franklin and his father are in the back seat. And so I decided to compliment Billy. And I turned around and said, Billy, that was a great sermon you gave tonight. And he just looked back at me and said, well, it's just gospel. And I thought, well, okay, I knew that, but I just wanted to compliment him. And so I thought about it for a moment. Then I turned back around and I said, well, Billy, I love the point where you said Christ can resensitize your conscience. And Billy said, well, he can.

I thought, okay, fine. So I guess he doesn't want to be complimented. But I was learning something about ministry, which is you do your job, you deliver your message, you commit it to the Lord, and you move on. Sometimes people want to talk about, oh, what a great night.

Oh, it was great when I said this or that happened or whatever. Billy just had already moved on. And so we went back to our hotel, and he disappeared in the back room and came back out wearing his pajamas and dress shoes.

I think he left his little bedroom slippers at home. And all around him were just guys he had known for years. They were telling old stories, laughing. And someone had given us these roast beef sandwiches at the crusade, which were hot when we originally got them, but now they're cold.

And we're sitting around eating cold roast beef sandwiches. And I discovered, okay, this is really important. You don't take yourself too seriously. You take your message very seriously. But this is about giving glory to God. And I learned that from my own ministry when we did ministry. It's like after I'm done preaching, I'm done preaching. And I'll just hang out with my family or maybe my grandkids, and I return to normalcy. A new tradition we've had for the last few years after a crusade is we go to In-N-Out Burger, In-N-Out Burger, which is a popular burger place here in California. Because I just, well, first of all, the food's really good, but it's just kind of like, hey, thank God for what he did.

But it's the Lord that's doing it. And the more time I spent with Billy, the more I realized what a genuinely humble man he was. And when you would ask Billy to tell you stories about the famous people he had met, he told you something, but he didn't tell you very much. In fact, when you were with Billy, he would always ask you about yourself. Tell me about yourself. I want to know more about you. And so I learned a lot just watching him.

Some things are caught, other things are taught. And I caught a lot of things hanging around Billy. And a terrific job as always by our own Greg Hengler on the production and editing. And a special thanks to Greg Lurie, who's the founder and senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship.

And two terrific stories. One about just having opportunities handed to you if you're a believer, handed to you in a bathroom of all places. And my goodness, what a thing to hear as a pastor of your own church.

It's somebody going to your church who's trying to score drugs. And he took this opportunity to bring them back home to God. And then that story about Billy Graham.

And Graham just not looking for the compliments, not wanting the compliments. In the end, giving the glory to God, as Greg Lurie said, some things are taught, other things are caught. I learned a lot hanging with Billy Graham. Pastor Greg Lurie with two stories about his faith, adventures in his faith, here on Our American Stories.

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