Greg Bashford,
Biological Systems Engineering,
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

[March 14, 2010] —

My graduate student came to find me. “You play guitar??” he asked. “I do too! Do you ever play in public?”

Well, my “secret” was out. I normally didn’t talk openly about one of my ministries at church – playing electric guitar on the worship team. I wasn’t really trying to hide anything; it just didn’t mesh well (in my mind) with the picture of the serious professor trying to engage his students intellectually.

However, I had been praying for an opening to share the gospel with this student, and as a matter of fact I was playing at church the next weekend. I sensed God had brought the situation about, and I invited the student to come to the service.

Crazy Train

I was excited but a bit wary – he was Chinese, and I wasn’t sure he would understand the service. Clearly what motivated him was a chance to see his normally laid-back advisor strap on a guitar and plug into an amplifier. To make matters more interesting, he was coming to the Saturday night service, which happened to be Halloween. In my pessimistic mind I saw a perfect mix of misunderstanding and who-knows-what-might-happen.

My fears weren’t eased by an email I received from him a day later – “My favorite song is ‘Crazy Train’ by Ozzy Osbourne. I was wondering if you could play that on Saturday?” He pictured it as some sort of concert with open requests!

Saturday night, the worship team walked out a few minutes before service began to set up. I noticed him immediately in the audience – he had brought four additional Chinese students, and they were all waving at me enthusiastically. I smiled but inside I felt nervous. What would they do?

I found out as soon as the service started. As soon as we began to play our first song, one of the students pulled out a camcorder and began filming. I had visions of myself on YouTube or some other site. Deep sigh.

After the service, they rushed up to the stage, to see the equipment and “congratulate” me. Indeed, I thought, they pictured this as a performance. They showed me the Halloween masks they had brought, just in case the congregation was wearing costumes (they weren’t sure what to expect). To make matters worse, one of the students mentioned among the chatter that he had no idea what the pastor was talking about. As I drove home, I wondered how God would ever use this, but I prayed that He would.

I Just Wanted You To Know

The next morning, I received an email from one of my students who was a believer. He didn’t attend my church and wasn’t there the night before, but his light shone in our department, and all of the students knew of his commitment. “… I just wanted you to know that after your service, two of those students called and asked to meet. We were up half the night as they asked about the Bible and Christianity…” Something the pastor said had made them start thinking.

I rejoiced, knowing that He is good, and He works in ways I can’t imagine!

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
(c) 2010 Greg Bashford