Chris Stevens from Hood Canal Community Church, was spotted by Erica at Pike Place Market offering free prayers! Get the scoop on that goodness and also find out what he had to say about the impact of playing SPIRIT 105.3 at work!
Catch hope & encouragement with Erica on weekday mornings from 5:00 AM – 10:00 AM, and Sundays from 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Erica:
Just a few weeks ago I met a remarkable person at Pike Place Market. His name is Chris Stevens and he was walking around carrying a sign that said, Free Prayer. And I thought, I have got to go say hello to this guy and I’m so glad I did. He’s also joining us this morning on the show. Chris, welcome to Spirit 1053. How are you?
Chris:
I’m doing so good. Hold on. My Bible app is trying to play here.
Erica:
Oh, that’s not a bad thing.
Chris:
No, it’s not. It’s a good thing. It was in Romans there.
Erica:
That’s so funny. I just started reading Romans a few days ago. Well, Chris, I got to ask you what inspired you to go to Seattle and offer to pray for people? Because I consider that a very bold move and I love it.
Chris:
Well, he’s definitely put it on my heart as he puts it on all of our hearts to preach his word and show his goodness and mercy. And there’s just so many lost souls out there that need love and they need help and they need us to get down and say, I can see your struggling with that, brother. Let me help you. And it’s just a battle within our own lives to cast aside all of our daily struggles and the stuff that we have to do and all the busyness that we have. And not to say that those things aren’t there and not important, but we have a lot of people out there that need to know the grace of God and know God’s love. And so our church was out there. Hood Canal Community Church, five of us went and a lot of us younger between 18 and 25, I’m 28 and we just decided Seattle needs help and there’s people out there that might be willing to just sacrifice themselves a little bit and receive prayer and play some games and just talk and be able to speak truth in Jesus’ name.
Erica:
Amazing. What has the response been like? Are people walking up to you and asking for prayer?
Chris:
I was surprised. Yeah, the first 10 or so were Christians and they just wanted to be able to pray. Some of them tried to offer me money and that’s unacceptable. We don’t need money for that. I mean the grace of God is the ultimate price was paid, but it is free in a sense to us through Jesus Christ. And so, it was good and I was surprised, but I knew God would show up because I had those Holy Spirit butterflies in me going in there and I could tell that God was about to do some work and I ended up getting to have some really awesome conversations. I spoke to a few people and other religions and was just able to have fruitful conversation and we plant seeds and God does the harvest. So, I couldn’t be more excited to see if I ever get to see the fruit that came of that day, but I know that God was working.
Erica:
Wow. Chris, for somebody who’s new to the faith and they’re listening and maybe they’re thinking, I am not sure how to pray, that even scares me. It’s kind of weird. How do you talk and God doesn’t really talk back? How would you encourage that person today?
Chris:
Oh my goodness, Erica, the power of prayer is beyond fathom. It doesn’t make sense to us when we think worldly. We are in a spiritual warfare constantly and our God is spiritual. If we believe in a God who literally breathed the stars, informed us from dust, we have to know that when we come to him, it’s in reverence and in love. And the fact that Jesus paid the price for us to be able to speak him at all through prayer is so amazing. And so, I would just say once you have humbled yourself to know that I am created for a purpose, on purpose and for a purpose, and there is a God who loves me and wants to know me man, to get down in your heart and to know just like we would with our loved ones at home and family, when we gather, we speak to them with truth and honesty from our hearts when we really love them. And so just denying self and knowing that God is going to listen to me and he’s going to show up, he’s going to show up no matter what. And sometimes it’s not always our idea of how he wants, how we think he should show up, but I would just say getting down into your quiet place and knowing that we have a good God listening to us, just speak to him. Some say speak to him like a friend, some say to speak to him like a father. He is both those things. He is all of the above and even more. And so just honesty at heart and he knows where you’re at before you even talk to him. So know that going into it, he knows who you are and what you’re struggling with. And so just honesty and come to it knowing that you need help, that we are broken and we need his love and his grace.
Erica:
Chris, I just love talking with you and it’s no accident that we met. I know you told me there in the market that you to Spirit 1053 at work. Would you talk about that?
Chris:
Yeah, absolutely. I’m a carpenter. My brother and I from a young age had to start working and we both had a couple odd end jobs, but as kids, we love building tree forts and all that good stuff as boys do. Our dad was a carpenter for 45 years. We did not grow up with our dad, but I have a hard time believing it was in the blood type of thing. Some people say that music’s in the blood, work is in the blood. Our dad was a skilled carpenter. So either way, however you want to think of that, we believe that we are here to do good work through construction in many other ways. And so, at work, normally what people think of when they think of carpenters, they think of a bunch of pirates really out there, just out there cussing up a storm and nailing boards together. We don’t want to be that. We want to be fruitful and alight to this world as Jesus calls us to be. And so, we have Spirit 1053 playing constantly.
Erica:
I love hearing that. Chris, do you have a favorite band?
Chris:
I love me from Maverick City. Man, that is gospel goodness. And it is truth spoken every time and you can jam to it and it speaks wonders into your heart during the workday. And it’s all about filling up your cup. Overflowing your cup with the spirit all day long. If you’re listening to other stuff. I come from not a Christian background, and so I had country instilled in me. I had punk rock instilled in me. I used to be in a punk rock band and it was so fun, but that didn’t speak life into me. And so, I still listen to other music at times, but 90% of the time I am worshiping the Lord and I am on a worship team. I play the drums. And so, having that on all day encourages us and subconsciously, even when you’re not really listening to the music, truth is being spoken over you. There’s no profanity in it and it is just good and it is gospel centered and it just gives us power and strength through the day. And people walking by listening to it like, Hey, what is this group of guys? Not cussing, not listening to something that’s cussing along the way, just something that’s not speaking life and it’s different in God works through that profoundly. And he is done that for a couple of our guys that have come to work with us too.
Erica:
Oh, these are my favorite kind of stories. What did God do?
Chris:
Well, having the music on, we had one fellow, kid who was just, he is such a joy. He’s in college now and if you’re listening bud, this is about you and you already know it. But he had earbuds in every day and that kind of distracted him from his work. So, we were discouraging that in the first place because construction is fast paced. You are moving and it is not necessarily bang this house out so we can go onto the next one. But everything we do is efficient and it has a control to it. And so, we asked him to start taking those out and he didn’t really want to, but then the only music that was playing was over the radio and you’re still able to focus a little bit. And so, over time, I would consider him spiritual, but he didn’t know the Lord. And so, it was really fun to be able to talk to him about things at times. But over a period of a couple months, I kept hearing him in the background, kind of singing along to the songs or humming that we were playing to. And then next thing you know, he knows all the words to almost every song that would come on and that brought in a position to be able to speak to him about like, Hey, I can tell these words. What are they saying to you? How do you respond to these things? When it talks about I’m a child of God, I am a son of the redeemed. And just know that there’s power in those words, but not always in those words ring out truth to us. So to be able to speak to him the truth behind it and the power behind it was just amazing. And he is that one step closer now to receiving the gospel. And I know his life has changed for sure. His heart has changed knowing that if we don’t cry out and worship, the rock will. And so God will be praised no matter what, but his yearning is for us to know him. And that was from the dawn of time. We’re the ones that turn away. And so it was glorious to know that God was working, even when I’m swinging a hammer on this guy’s heart.
Erica:
Chris, it is such a joy to know you. Thank you for calling in, for being part of the Spirit 1053 family. So appreciate you.
Chris:
Yes, I love it. I love listening to y’all. Keep doing what you’re doing because it works and God is good
Erica:
All the time. Thank you, Chris.
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