🌍🇻🇳 Stories from the Field: Vietnam — The Cost of Saying Yes

It was around 2010, and I was serving in Vietnam, a country where sharing the Gospel required discretion, wisdom, and a willingness to trust the Lord in circumstances very different from those we experience in the United States.

During this mission trip, our team divided into smaller groups to share the Gospel throughout the communities. On this particular day, my translator and I were walking through an area near a university, looking for opportunities to engage people in conversation and tell them about Jesus Christ.

In places where openly sharing your faith can carry serious consequences, evangelism often looks quite different from what many of us are accustomed to. There are no large gatherings, public invitations, or microphones announcing what you’re doing. Instead, you build relationships, engage people in ordinary conversations, and prayerfully look for the opportunities God places before you and that is exactly what happened that day.

As my translator and I were sharing the Gospel, we met the young man standing beside me in this photograph. What began as an ordinary encounter became a moment that I have carried in my heart for many years.

Through my translator, I began explaining the Gospel of Jesus Christ, sharing with him about God’s holiness, our sinful condition, and the separation that sin creates between humanity and God. I told him how Jesus came into this world, willingly died upon the cross for our sins, and rose again on the third day, offering forgiveness and eternal life to everyone who places their faith in Him.

As we talked, I wanted him to understand that following Jesus was not simply about agreeing with a religious teaching or repeating a prayer. It was about placing his faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, a decision that could have significant implications for his life.

In a closed country, openly identifying as a Christian can come at a tremendous personal cost. Believers may experience rejection from their families, difficulties with employment, social pressure, or even persecution because of their faith. These are not matters to take lightly, and they are among the reasons I have always been mindful of the safety of those who serve alongside us and those who respond to the Gospel.

Yet as this young man listened to the message of salvation, he understood what was being shared with him, and he wanted to receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

There, in the midst of an ordinary day in Vietnam, I had the incredible privilege of praying with him as he placed his faith in Christ.

What makes this photograph so meaningful to me is that the young man standing beside me is the very person who prayed to receive Jesus that day. His face has been intentionally concealed because his safety and privacy are far more important than preserving a recognizable photograph.

I have had the privilege of preaching the Gospel before large congregations, teaching in churches, sharing Christ in remote villages, and witnessing people respond to Jesus in many different countries. Yet some of the most meaningful moments of my missionary journey have happened quietly, with only a handful of people present, when an ordinary conversation became an opportunity to introduce someone to the Savior.

This was one of those moments.

There was no large gathering celebrating what had happened, no music playing, and no public announcement. We were simply two people standing together after a conversation that had become far more significant than either of us could have imagined when the day began.

As I look at this photograph today, I am reminded that the Gospel does not depend upon a particular location, language, building, or method of presentation. The same message that brings salvation to someone sitting in a church in America is powerful enough to reach a young man standing on a street in Vietnam.

And the cost of following Jesus does not change His worthiness.

Jesus said:

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” — Luke 9:23 NKJV

Those words take on a profound meaning when we consider the millions of believers around the world who follow Christ in places where their faith may bring opposition, rejection, or persecution.

I do not know where this young man is today or what his journey of faith has looked like through the years. My prayer is that he has continued growing in Christ, found encouragement among fellow believers, and remained steadfast in the faith he professed that day.

But I will never forget the privilege of standing beside him in Vietnam and witnessing his decision to follow Jesus.

As Christians, we must never take for granted the freedom many of us enjoy to worship openly, read our Bibles, and proclaim the Gospel. While we gather freely in our churches, brothers and sisters in other parts of the world may be gathering quietly, worshiping discreetly, and following Jesus despite the potential consequences.

Their courage should strengthen our faith, deepen our gratitude, and move us to pray.

Because following Jesus has always been worth the cost, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ remains the greatest message we could ever share.

Would you join me in praying for believers living in places where following Jesus can come at a tremendous personal cost? And as we pray for their strength and protection, may we also ask the Lord to give us boldness to share Christ wherever He has placed us.

Praise His holy name! 🙏🌍