The mom who struggles to feed her two kids. The boy who wants to escape the grip of drug use. The grandmother who has two months to live, or the man who can’t figure out why his marriage fell apart. All have their own daily struggles, but search for one thing: peace with God.
Search for Jesus, the newest ministry of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, is using the Internet to take the Gospel “to the ends of the earth.” This new era of evangelism is reaching people around the world in their time of need. It meets them where they are with a message of hope and love.
On the ministry’s website called PeaceWithGod.net, people can read and hear the Gospel in just a few clicks. About 1.2 million people have visited the site since its launch last April. More than 156,500 of those visitors indicated commitments to Christ, either for the first time or through rededicating their faith.
One Florida man, a two-time cancer survivor in his third battle with the disease, recently found PeaceWithGod.net.
“I have Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and feel good,” he said. “I completely believe with my mind, heart and soul in Jesus Christ.”
Brought up in a Christian home, he studied other religions but came back to Christianity, accepting it as the truth. In 2004, his family was tested when he was diagnosed with cancer, but his treatment over the past eight years has been dotted with miracles. He knows that he’s still here to help spread the Gospel and the story of his own faith – something he’s had several chances to do with both doctors and patients.
The man found PeaceWithGod.net through Facebook. It encouraged him, and he shared it with friends.
Another man said he was relieved to finally give his life to Christ after visiting the website.
“I have been trying to do this a long time,” he said, “but the devil was pulling me down. … Now I thank God for [what] He has done for me.”
A Florida woman, the mother of a Sept. 11 victim, found the site while searching for a deeper relationship with God. “I am still trying to come to terms with losing my daughter on that day. I am trying every day to get closer to God,” she said.
A retired Mississippi man is also facing hardships and appealed to a higher power. “I’m 62, married, forced into retirement due to on-the-job injury. I’m on disability, Social Security and very small pension. My savings will soon be zero. I need God’s guidance,” he said.
Other website visitors are young students, like a 12-year-old South Carolina girl who said she was happy to find the site and wants to go to heaven. A 14-year-old California boy called the site “touching” and said it brought tears to his eyes.
A 19-year-old girl from Minnesota also cried as she searched the site. “I feel like I have hit a wall and need help,” she said. “I have always danced around the thought of turning to God, but now I need Him.”
And she isn’t alone. All over the world, people are searching for something bigger than themselves – for mercy, forgiveness and salvation. PeaceWithGod.net can reach them one by one on their own time and in their own homes. It can reach people in dangerous countries unwelcoming to foreigners, spread the Gospel to remote parts of the world and find those who have no one else to talk to.
“I give thanks to the Lord Jesus for saving my life,” a 15-year-old boy from Iceland said.
A 28-year-old Nigerian man also found the site. He is based in Kano where multiple bombings by an Islamist sect killed nearly 200 people in January.
“I know I’m a sinner asking for God’s mercy and forgiveness of my sins,” he said. “I want to know and serve God better. I want Him to come into my life and dwell.”
Although he came from a poor family, the businessman said he knows that with God, anything is possible.
“I want to be in His presence all the days of my life,” he said.
Other visitors live in Bogota, Romania, the Philippines, Australia, Latvia, Canada, Poland, Spain and the Czech Republic. All have received the same message: that God loves them and has a plan for them.
To support the ministry or get involved, visit SearchforJesus.net.
