An Amazing Story
Recently, I heard a tape with an amazing testimony on it. The pastor who told the story, Dr. Francis Dixon, died in 1985. I emailed his son-in-law who confirmed that it is true. Here it is:
Dr. Francis Dixon was a well-known pastor in England (from Lansdowne Baptist Church). One night in church he asked a man named Peter to share his testimony. Peter got up and said, “This is how I was saved. I was in the Royal Navy. I was walking down George Street in Sydney, Australia and out of nowhere stepped a little old gray-haired man and he said to me, ‘Excuse me, sir, but could I ask you a question? I hope that it won’t offend you, but if you were to die today, where would you spend eternity? The Bible says that it will either be in Heaven or it will be in Hell. Would you think about that, please? Thank you, God bless you, and Toodle-oo!’ Then the man left. I had never been confronted with that question – I couldn’t get it out of my mind; I got back to London, I sought out a pastor, and I became a Christian.
Several weeks later they had a revival in the church and Noel, one of the visiting revival team, shared his testimony, “This is how I came to know Christ. I was in the Royal Navy and I was walking down George Street in Sydney, Australia and out of nowhere stepped a little old gray-haired man. He said to me, ‘Excuse me, sir, but could I ask you a question? If you were to die today, where would you spend eternity?…What he said bothered me and later, I sought out a Christian and I was converted to Christ.”
Several months after that Dr. Dixon was in the city of Adelaide in eastern Australia and he thought that he would share the testimony of Peter and Noel. A man in the congregation jumped up waving his hands and said, “Well, I’m another – the same thing happened to me. I couldn’t get what he said out of my mind and I became a follower of Jesus.” Dr. Dixon went to western Australia for a revival meeting and shared this story and afterwards a deacon of the church came to him and said, “Dr. Dixon, I’m another, I’d never been asked that question and later I prayed to receive Christ.”
Pastor Dixon went home to his church in England and shared about Peter and Noel and the man in Adelaide and the deacon from the western part of Australia. When he finished a young lady came up to him and said, “Pastor Dixon, I’m another, this man said the same thing to me and later I became a believer.” Several weeks after that, Dr. Dixon was attending a conference in northern England where he shared this growing story. Afterwards, a man came up to him and said, “Dr. Dixon, well, I’m another, several days after hearing the little man’s question, I made Jesus my Lord and Savior.”
A year later Dr. Dixon went on a world tour and one of the stops was India. He was at a missionary conference and spoke on the topic of personal evangelism. Dr. Dixon thought, “What a perfect illustration!” He went through the story and afterwards a missionary come up to him and said, “Dr. Dixon, I’m another, it happened the some way for me and I trusted Christ later.”
After India he went to Jamaica. He was meeting with a group of pastors. He shared this story with them. A pastor came up afterwards and said, “Excuse me, Dr. Dixon, I’m another, the exact same thing happened to me and later, I was converted and went on to seminary.”
Well, do I need to tell you where Dr. Dixon went? He went to Sydney, Australia. He sought out a Christian friend of his and told the story and asked if he knew a little gray-haired man on George Street? “Oh, yes! Everybody knows him. That’s Mr. Frank Jenner. He did that for twenty-three years! But he’s very old now and he’s in the hospital confined to his bed.”
Dr. Dixon asked his friend to take him to Mr. Jenner. They went to the hospital and Dr. Dixon introduced himself. As he was giving specifics of each story, Mr. Jenner began to weep. And he wept and he wept. Dr. Dixon asked, “What’s wrong?” And Mr. Jenner said, “Sir, this is the first time in my life that I have ever known of anyone coming to know Christ through my witness.”
I hope you remember this story the next time you get discouraged sharing the gospel with people, or you hear someone say that street witnessing is ineffective.
Francis Dixon was born in London in 1910, and became a Christian in 1929 through the preaching of an Irish evangelist. He soon felt the call of God into the ministry and pastored several churches. Mr. Dixon was a gifted evangelist and Bible teacher. He also was a pioneer, and would use whatever means to publish the gospel message, even in braille. Francis Dixon was also involved in oversees preaching tours as well as being a regular speaker in the Keswick Convention. He passed away in 1985.
http://www.sermonstore.org/FrancisDixon.html
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkjMvPhLrn8
