Tony Nolan is a new friend. Friday night he spoke at a Youth Evangelism Conference at MTSU. We’d spoken over the phone, and I’d read his testimony and checked out his website, but this was the first time I’ve heard him speak.

I have to admit, I was a little nervous about what I was going to hear. I had some preconceived notions going into it, based on what I’d read, and wasn’t sure if I was going to connect with his message.

Tony blew my mind. First, he’s such a dynamic speaker. He’s like

Erwin on speed.  Well, really more like Alex on speed (Erwin on speed would be very scary). He bounces around the stage and yells and carries on. He’s got the energy and child-like mind to connect with and entertain the minds of teenagers and students. But he also has the passion necessary to captivate their hearts and awaken their souls.

I think, however, it’s his desperate love for people that makes his message so relevant and compelling.

See, Tony’s one of those…. um, how do I put this delicately??… What I usually call "hellfire and salvation" kind of speakers. At least that’s the first impression I got. That doesn’t really sell with me. I’ve never been all that attracted to Gospel presentations that focused on people going to hell and their need for salvation. I think that’s why I so connect with Erwin’s sermons. He always focused on the Life-giving aspects of the Gospel, how people could live abundant lives

today rather than how they could get to heaven in the by-and-by. People want Life today. They want to know how to get through the stuff right here, right now. And I’ve never heard a speaker or preacher effectively communicate the Life-giving Good News of Jesus through a hellfire-salvation sermon.

Until Tony.

He told a story of a young man he once knew. The details are sketchy — perhaps when I get them later I’ll fill them in here — but this dynamic young man was involved in a horrific chemical fire. He was burned so badly that his whole body was black and charred. In short, he was the crispy in search of the creme… yeah, bad pun. Where’s Larry when you need him?… No one at the hospital would wrap the poor kid’s fingers, for example, because they were afraid if they touched them his fingers would just crumble. Tony’s friend, a pastor, went to visit this kid, and the just the sight of him was so bad the pastor wanted to leave the room as soon as he came in. He said it was so painful to see this young man so horribly disfigured and in such obvious excruciating pain that he just wanted to run from the room. The kid would just shake and jerk, from the screams of every nerve in his body.

As Tony went on to describe how the intense heat of the fire had ravaged the young man’s body, my mind spun with images more grotesque than any I’ve seen in the worst horror films. The room, a basketball stadium seating well over 10,000 teenagers and a smattering of adults was silent except for the sounds of people shifting uncomfortably in their chairs. I found I couldn’t even look at Tony, or rather, at his gi-normously large image on one of the two giant screens over his head. — Why is it that we are always drawn to an image projected on a screen even when the speaker is standing right in front of us in live, person-to-person living color???

I looked back at Tony, however, as he described how this young man tried desperately to speak to his pastor-visitor-friend. The pastor had to draw very close to hear the young man’s words.

"Kill me! Kill me! Kill ME!!" Tony’s voice was a whisper. The air was filled with tension. It was as if the entire auditorium had leaned in to catch Tony’s words and were at once repulsed and grieved by what they heard.

My heart broke. I could hear the young man’s voice echo my own. I would ask for the same. It seemed to me an unholy thing for this young man to suffer so. Why did God allow it to happen?

Tony turned his attention from the story to a passage of Scripture. He read about a lake of fire that all those who were not followers of Christ would be thrown into.

His voice broke as he addressed the students, "I hate this part. Please hear me! I hate telling you this. I hate it! I don’t want to say this, I wish it weren’t true, but the love of Christ compels me…." Tony cried as he broke the news to everyone in the room who had not yet made a commitment to follow Christ. "You will be thrown into a lake of fire. Where you will burn, but never, ever taste the sweet release of death." He continued to cry, his voice a hoarse whisper as he fought back tears. "You will cry, ‘Kill me! Kill me! Kill ME!’ and never receive an answer. For all eternity."

The room was silent. I don’t even think people were shifting in their seats anymore.

As Tony moved toward the conclusion of his talk, I looked down at some students sitting in on the main floor of the gym. Two kids had caught my eye earlier, during worship, as they hung on each other and sang. I don’t know why, but I’d whispered a quick prayer that this weekend would be more than just a love-fest weekend for their teen romance. As I looked at them during Tony’s soon-to-finish talk, the girl — a stunningly beautiful Filipino — caught my attention, and my heart. Everything about her screamed, "Don’t mess with me" from her downplayed hip-hop white low-rise boot-cut cords,
to the gel bracelets all the way up her arms. She sat slouched back in her chair, legs stretched out in front of her, arms crossed and a look of defiance on her face. She was daring anyone to just try to mess with her. That’s when I noticed her black eye. It was healing, but I’m sure a couple of days before it was a real beaut.

My heart broke for her. And even before Tony led us in a time of prayer, I was crying out to God to just wrap her in His arms and love on her the way He’s loved on me so passionately over the last few years. I told Him to give her whatever she needed, to just lavish her with His love in a way that she’s never experienced before and to keep doing so forever. I begged Him to hold the enemy at bay, to not allow him even the slightest chance to keep her from experiencing the fullness of His love in this moment.

After Tony prayed, he asked all those who had made a commitment to follow Christ to stand. They got a few moments to summon the courage to declare themselves followers while Tony talked about the importance of making our relationships with Jesus public and the pull of the enemy to keep the relationship "private". When he asked them to stand…. the young girl I’d prayed so passionately for stood. No hesitation. No sheepishness. She was full-on. Standing strong, yet humble. Gone was the attitude. In its place I saw humble resolve.

How awesome is that! Tony loves to say, "Go God!" I’ve not used that phrase in ages. But I found myself practically shouting it when this young girl stood. Go! God! Who can compare? Who can match what You do?

Man, I love Him. He changes lives and takes what the world would say is a lost cause and transforms it into the most amazing work of art anyone has ever seen. And last Friday night He was kickin’ butt and takin’ names!

I wanted to talk with this girl afterwards, encourage her and celebrate with her. But I got distracted by others I was with and by the time I turned back toward her seat, she was gone. I guess it wasn’t meant to be… perhaps God only intended me to be a witness, not a participant, this time.

I went to MTSU to hear a new friend speak. What I got instead was a front-row seat to the birth of a New Creation in Christ. I got to witness a L.I.F.T, a heart transplant of epic proportions. Man, I am blessed.