Rodney Burton from Northern Ireland was living his life without the Lord, until he got saved at a Christian meeting when he was 20 years old. He started going to church, but wasn’t satisfied. He was hungry for more of God. “I prayed to the Lord: “Show me Who You are and leave me with no doubt that You are”, Rodney says.
“One time I almost fell asleep while playing the piano. Suddenly I heard an audible Voice in the room, saying one word: ‘Word’. I thought my mom or dad had called me, but there was nobody. I wondered where I had heard the word ‘word’ before and started reading in the book of John.
In the first chapter it talks about the Word that dwelt with us, but I didn’t understand any of it. When I looked down at the bottom of the page, it said: ‘word equals logos in Greek’.
The next day I went to my pastor and asked him: ‘What does logos mean?’ He laughed, because exactly at that moment he had a book open at a page where it talked about the missionship Logos II.”
Logos II
“He wrote down a phone number and said: ‘Call this man and tell him God wants you on the ship. I called the man – John Brown – and he invited me to meet with him. He asked me questions and I gave the worst answers you can possibly give when you want to apply as a missionary on the ship.
He said: ‘How long have you been a Christian?’ ‘A few days’, I answered. ‘What was the last book you read?’ I told him I didn’t read any books – and then quickly said: ‘but I did some Bible reading’.
He then asked: ‘What do you know about Logos II? ‘Nothing’, I said. When he asked me if I knew where the ship was at that very moment, I thought it had to be somewhere in Africa. He said: ‘No, at this moment the ship is in Belfast, 25 minutes from where we are right now.’
He took me on the ship and showed me around. Then he told me to go home and said he would call me back later. After that he invited me over to the conference centre. All the leaders of the ship were there to talk and ask questions.
One of them asked me: ‘Is it true that you heard the audible voice of God?’ They were almost in shock to hear that a new believer had heard the audible voice of God. ‘Can you join us on the ship in three weeks?’ they then said. They arranged all the finances for me, I didn’t have to pay anything.”
Adventures with God
“The Lord started leading me in ways that were different than what a lot of people are used to. I was on the watches of the night. During that time I had many conversations with people and many people came to the Lord. The Lord would bring these people and He gave me the right words to say.
One time when we were with the ship in St. Petersburg, Russia, a prostitute came up to me and greeted me. She spoke with an American accent and had a juice in her hand. She asked me to take a drink. I hesitated, but the Lord said: ‘Take a drink’, so I did.
The lady couldn’t believe that I trusted her enough to take a drink and she was deeply touched. She told me she had been taken captive and after that they had taken away her passport and forced her into prostitution. The next day she came back and I was able to connect her with local believers.”
At the moment I stretched out my arm, she fell under the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Estonia
“Later on we arrived with the ship in Estonia. There we were asked to do evangelism on a little island. I did my first sketch there and played Jesus. When I had to play that Jesus died on the cross, I stretched out my arm. I saw a girl standing there, exactly in the direction in which I stretched out my arm. At the moment I stretched out my arm, she fell under the power of the Holy Spirit.
We discovered that her parents were two women and that there were a lot of satanic influences in that family. I prayed for the girl and she gave her life to Jesus. After that she went to live with an uncle where she had a better life.”
Encounter with a streetgang
“In the same place we handed out leaflets on the streets. They had warned us ahead of certain areas that weren’t safe. But I didn’t remember where not to go, so we accidently ended up in a rough area. A streetgang of skinheads with nose piercings and swastikas surrounded us.
De leader came up to me and asked me who I was. I gave him a leaflet with an invitation for the evening service. Then he abruptly asked me: ‘Are you here to translate my dream?’ I looked at him and said: ‘Yes, I can try.’ The leader then told me that he had dreamt about 12 candles that were sniffed out, only 3 candles still burned. I told him: ‘If you don’t change your life, you will die.’
When we went to church that evening, the gang leader was there. He was the only one sitting on the left side. People were so scared of him, that everybody else was sitting on the right side. That night the gang leader gave his life to the Lord.”
I make myself wide open and available. If He then says: ‘Do this’, I do it.”
Amsterdam
“After I served on Logos II, I lived in Amsterdam for a while. I worked at youth hostel The Shelter. When I prepared for my first bible study, they told me to prepare for about 4 people to show up.
That evening about 38 people showed up, including 5 muslims. I led the evening with some help of my friends. I didn’t talk about the subject that I had prepared. Instead, I talked about that God is a God of peace. And that if you don’t have that peace, what you’re missing in your life, is Jesus. At the end of the evening all 5 muslims gave their lives to the Lord.”
Waiting on the Lord
How can we have such encounters and see people come to the Lord? “I’ve always been aware of the fact that I can’t do anything”, Rodney says. “Only the Lord can. What I do, is that I make myself wide open and available. If He then says: ‘Do this’, I do it.
God will give you things when you take time to listen to Him. I spent a lot of time with God in worship. During my time on Logos II, taught myself to play the guitar to worship.
When I worship, I pray at the same time. I listen and wait to hear God speak. Worship is like waiting on the Lord. In times like that, I take a journal with me to write things down. When you do that, you will see that things will start to open up more. It’s really simple. The key is to just go do it.”
