CHICAGO — The simple act of offering a cup of cold water or lemonade on a hot summer day, served with a smile and a prayer, opened hundreds of hearts to the gospel in downtown Chicago.

That’s how a 19-member mission team from New Philadelphia Ministries in St. Petersburg, Fla., began its week sharing the gospel in the Windy City this summer. The team set up in an area between a busy train and bus terminal to greet commuters. The ministry, called “Cups of Compassion,” is an initiative of the Send Relief Chicago Ministry Center of the North American Mission Board (NAMB).

Many passersby reacted positively to the kind gesture.

“Y’all came here from Florida to give us the gospel,” one man said. “Wow. You came up here to do this for us.”

Pastor Jon Matthews of New Philadelphia Fellowship Church led the team and was pleased that the group connected with about 300 people that day.

“We prayed for about half of them and led at least three people to Christ,” he said.

Opportunity to share

Throughout the week in June, the team reached a total of about 400 to 600 people at various ministry sites and counted about 10 professions of faith, he said.

It was the fourth mission trip in which the church has partnered with a NAMB center. In the past 10 years, Matthews has led the church on 15 mission trips, including some international ones. He said he always learns from the training and the ministry events that the centers provide for the communities.

“But the most important thing about these events is it gives us an opportunity to share the gospel,” he said.

All week the team took part in an intensive training and hands-on ministry outreach coordinated by the center. The group stayed in dormitory-style housing, sleeping in bunk beds. Their days began at 7 a.m. with devotion, Bible study and prayer before training and serving at various ministry sites. The days were long and full and ended, often late at night, with their reflections and prayers.

Jason Stuckey, coordinator for the center, who conducted the training, said he was impressed with how relatable the team was in sharing the gospel with people who were experiencing all sorts of setbacks and challenges.

“It is almost as if the Spirit of God descended on Chicago through them,” Stuckey said.

‘Desperate need in Chicago’

During the week, the team served in an after-school program and also cooked and served lunch at a local organization’s center for adults in transition.

“We didn’t just cook, we served; and half of the team sat with the people and had relational conversations to find out what their needs were,” said Matthews.

“We let the people know that we ‘see’ them and let them know someone cares about them.”

Pastor Qusai Mahmud, director of the Chicago Ministry Center, was thankful the team came to serve in his hometown.

“They talked and prayed with everyone. Every time I turned around there was a group from New Philadelphia praying with someone,” he said.

Mahmud, who also pastors at Reborn Community Church, stressed the need for the gospel throughout the city.

“We have an absolute desperate need in Chicago for people to come to serve, to evangelize and share the gospel and be a part of the work going on here.”

‘God moved’

On Day 1 of her first mission trip, My’Kala Register of New Philadelphia Fellowship Church enjoyed engaging with people.

“I was stepping out in faith because I never approach strangers,” said the 28-year-old, self-described introvert.

She began a conversation with a young man at the Cups of Compassion event. She noticed he had scars and was wearing an ankle monitor. When she told him she had a scar from a surgery similar to his, he smiled and opened up, she said.

“Y’all came all the way from Florida just to see us,” he said.

“Wherever God tells you to go, that’s where you have to go,” Register replied.

Before she left, he told her he had needed some encouragement and thanked her for talking with him and for the Bible she had given him.

It was also the first mission trip for deacon Ken Hester of New Philadelphia. As soon as the heart patient got his doctor’s clearance, he said he couldn’t wait to go and also to take his first flight.

The 61-year-old grilled about 300 hotdogs at an outreach event at Reborn Community Church. The church’s ministry, which drew about 200 people, offered a meal, music, counseling services and resources for the West Garfield Park neighborhood.

“It was the kind of neighborhood where people needed to hear the Word of God and to be shown love and needed to be reached for Christ, and that’s what we were able to do,” said Matthews.

At the event, Hester talked with a man who came with a bandage that covered a gunshot wound he received the night before. Hester shared with the man that he had gone through some difficult times before God had changed his life.

“He started crying and said, ‘I want to know God more,’ and we started praying with him,” said Hester.

“God changed (my) situation because God changed me,” Hester told him.

Now that the group has returned home, Hester hopes they can put into practice all they learned.

“We need to be on one accord and pray and ask God for what we need in St. Petersburg,” he said.

Kay Lovett is co-director of discipleship ministry of New Philadelphia Ministries. She and several members hope to apply the community survey that the team did for Reborn Community Church. The survey informs the church on how it can best serve the community by asking residents about their needs.

Lovett also liked using the motto “to see, to serve and to sit” that the team practiced throughout the week.

When a distraught young woman approached the team at the Cups of Compassion event, Lovett was able to help her. The woman, who had been in a fight the night before, had no shoes, no money and no phone.

Lovett loaned her phone to the woman so she could call her mother to pick her up. The group waited with her until her mother came.

“The fact that we could just help her at that moment, I believe, was a way God used us to show her, ‘I see you,’” said Lovett.

During the outreach event at Reborn Community Church, Matthews was able to share Christ with a troubled man.

“He was trying to start life over again and had lost everything because of substance abuse,” he said.

Matthews shared with him that he was able to overcome his own substance abuse through God’s help.

“He thought that starting over with God’s help was a good idea for him, and he accepted Christ,” he said.

“God just had us there to point him in the right direction. He was really happy about receiving Christ.”

The pastor credits Stuckey and Mahmud for putting the team in the right locations to be able to reach so many people.

“They put us in the right places, and God moved,” said Matthews. “It was a wonderful week. We already have people who are fired up for next year’s trip.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — This article originally appeared at flbaptist.org.)