Nick Cassidy

elievers who have a heart for the mission of God are often daunted by the idea of witnessing. Routinely we declare ourselves unqualified or possessing too little education in Scripture for such a task. At times we find ourselves completely paralyzed at the thought of sharing our faith with someone and bringing them from their current life situation to the pearly thresholds of God’s presence.

The conversion story of Nick Cassidy encapsulates the process of witnessing. Having grown up on Long Island, Nick played hockey, stickball and basketball with his friends in the neighborhood parking lot of a red brick building that would eventually become his church home.

Spiritual matters were not a priority for Nick. Blind passes, blue lines and body checks absorbed his best attention. Ice cream and a handshake would soon redefine significance and purpose for Nick.

Through a series of people sharing their faith with Nick in small ways, he eventually developed a deep interest in the things of God. At the invitation to an ice cream devotional by his sister, Nick met a new friend, Rodney Hipes, who later invited Nick to worship. Ironically, the place of worship was the building attached to the very parking lot in which Nick and his friends had played hockey for so long a time.

As time progressed, Rodney invited Nick to a personal Bible study taught by his brother. Nick’s spirit began to burn within him as he learned about God and saw with what amazing love this church had embraced him.

Today, Nick and his family celebrate 13 years of ministry to the body of believers who meet in that red brick building attached to that same parking lot that once served as a hockey arena for Nick and his childhood friends.

The love this church in Commack, Long Island, poured out upon Nick so many years ago when they first embraced him as a boy, is the same love the church extended to his wife and children. Even his dog was the unofficial “church dog.”

As Nick states, “Witnessing is telling what you know about Jesus.” You might be like the woman at the well who simply invites people to come and see if Jesus might be the one for whom they’ve been seeking. Knowing that Jesus will be at the ice cream party could be enough to change someone’s eternal destiny.

“Focus first on building your relationship with the Lord. The more you know about something, the more comfortable you are talking about it,” Nick remarks. He goes on to remind us that we do not stand alone when we witness. Jesus said, “I am with you always.”

In developing the mind-set to serve as a missionary in his own backyard, Nick had to overcome some obstacles; the biggest obstacle was himself, he says. Because he had always desired to serve in a foreign mission field, Nick viewed his time and ministry in New York as preparation for a future mission somewhere else in the world.

Once he began to realize that God placed him where he was for a purpose, he became fit to be used by God in his service. Nick states that once he stopped focusing on what God might eventually do with him somewhere else in the world and began to give his heart to the people in his part of the world, God began working in and through his life a great deal more effectively.

He stresses the one thing to remember is, “wherever you are — wherever the Lord has assigned you — at home or abroad, that is where your mission field is.”

God is no stranger to hockey pucks, parking lots, ice cream parties or any other hidden-away corner of the universe. At any unsuspecting moment, you or someone you know might meet the Prince of Peace in the most unlikely place.

From parking lots to piety and hockey pucks to Hallelujah, a Long Island boy had the entire course of his life altered by a simple invitation to an ice cream party devotional. Witnessing is not single-handedly delivering someone to the pearly portals of Saint Peter. Witnessing is simply pointing someone to Jesus in whatever way you might be capable of doing so.

In summary, it’s all really quite basic and simple, yet richly beautiful. Love people and point them to Jesus in whatever capacity you are able. Give of what you have and not of what you don’t.