A New Life Appears after Tragedy

This past week, a life was given new meaning. In the town of Manti, UT, a young gal named Kelcie became a believer. Let me tell you a little bit how this happened.

In mid-June during the Mormon Miracle Pageant that takes place for two weeks every year, Christians from all over the country gather together to share their faith in Manti, Utah. Put your thumb on a map smack dab in the middle of the state of Utah and you are putting it on Manti. Tens of thousands of people come during eight different evenings to attend the pageant, put on by the local townspeople, so Christians--more than a hundred each night--come to share their faith. For about three hours each morning of the event, the Christians gather at the city hall building to worship, pray, hear teaching, and fellowship.

On Saturday morning, a 20-year-old young lady named Edie gave her testimony about how she came out of the Mormon Church two years ago. It was a gripping talk, as she spoke from her heart about the transformation that took place in her life. Later, at the bar-b-q lunch put on by the church, a stepmother and her stepdaughter stopped by to see Russ, someone I know. Russ introduced me and Kencie became very excited. She quickly told me her story about how she had been married in a Mormon temple last September and how the ceremony disturbed her. She came out of the temple shaking, apparently unprepared for what had just taken place.

Unfortunately, her marriage ended in December, and by January she had left the Mormon Church that she had known for most of her life. She had nobody to turn to except her father and stepmother, both Christians. They gave Kencie a book--Mormonism 101--that Bill McKeever and I had written about a decade ago. It was, she told me, one of the reasons she left the church, and she felt that the book gave her insight about what Christianity really does teach.

So here she was in Manti, wanting to see what the pageant was all about. Something inside me said, "Go get Edie and introduce the two of them." Even though I had never met Edie, I pulled her away from her table and brought her over to Kencie. "Edie," I said, "your story is very similar to Kencie's, so I want you two to meet." 

They seemed to hit it off, so much so that they went to a near-by house in order to share their testimonies. Russ decided to film them as they spoke about how they had left Mormonism. Apparently Kencie still had not yet given her life over to Jesus, so I'd like to invite you to see the rest of this story as it unfolds in front of the camera.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoT1zR_llKs                      

As my friend Chip Thompson says, "God is good. All the time."