Imagine traveling to over 50 nations and taking hundreds of believers overseas every year to experience God at work, but not having a relationship with a single person in your own city to pray for.
That was John Gash’s story.
After a powerful time in Africa where John saw God move in miraculous ways he’d never expected to witness himself, he was hooked. Experiencing God by partnering with him in mission ignited his faith like never before. John spent many years leading short-term mission trips, inviting hundreds of people to experience God for themselves around the world every year, like he had.
Then, after almost 20 years of missions, he joined Novo’s Activating Prayer Cohort back home in Orange County, CA. There he was asked to write down five friends in his network who didn’t know Christ.
He literally couldn’t think of anyone.
“As a missions mobilizer, I knew people all over the nation and world,” he said. “But I couldn’t think of even one person local. I’ve lived in the same house for 43 years, and I realized I didn’t even know the names of most people in my own neighborhood.”
As John got to know his neighbors, he discovered that even people whose lives looked perfect on the outside carried stories of pain and struggle. “Turns out people are really hungry and thirsty for friendship, for simple love and understanding. No one wants to be ‘converted,’ but I learned that if you just listen to them, encourage them, and love them, people are so open to that.”
John went from not having a single non-believer to pray for locally to having a little book with 88 names in it—people from his bicycling club, neighbors, immigrants he’d gotten to know, folks from the gym. He and his new Novo friends formed a team of everyday disciple-makers focused on seeing a gospel movement rise in Orange County, the OC Underground.
An Even More Unexpected Mission Field
While participating in an OC Underground 24-hour prayer event with his team, John was drawn to a couple of young guys he’d never seen before. He struck up a conversation and learned Caden and Ryan had just recently begun to follow Jesus after lives filled with drinking and smoking pot. John also discovered they were friends with his grandson, Ryder, and attended the same college.
John had “zero plans” to make young adults a ministry focus, but John liked these two guys and they were drawn to his joy and encouragement. Shortly after meeting, John got an idea for doing a Novo Disciple-Making Cohort with them. Full of enthusiasm for the idea, the guys brought their friends, and a group of 12 college-age students (including four of John’s young adult grandchildren) went through the training together in his living room.
John still took multiple trips a year overseas, and this young adult crew heard him talking about an upcoming trip to Germany. Ten of them raised funds, got passports, and bought tickets to participate in what God was doing there with Novo and others.
John’s young adult team ended up joining a big team of on fire German young adults, all learning how to share love and the gospel on the streets. They prayer-walked, worshipped in public places, and talked with people about Jesus. For many of these young Californians, it was the first time they had led someone to Christ.
The young people came home with a fresh passion to reach their own spaces and places back in Orange County. They wanted to see the same thing happen in their home towns that they’d witnessed in Germany. They shared the gospel on the beach through conversations, chalk art, and even an outreach event on the beach by the San Clemente Pier.
Those conversations sparked new relationships and rapid growth in a weeknight young adult Bible study at the home of John’s teammate, Dana. About 10 new believers were baptized there, and the gathering grew to 100 people.
Before Christmas they had a celebration where 30 or 40 young people shared their testimonies. Each story included incredible challenges—massive anxiety, thoughts of suicide, abuse, addictions—and a huge shift when they found the group and each other. “I was really at rock bottom and that’s where I found Jesus. He was the rock at the bottom who helped me out.”
John and the young adults are exploring next steps for multiplying and reaching more people in their city. “One hundred [young people] is good,” John said, “but how fun and exciting to reach even more!”
Experiencing Multiplication
Today, John is sharing the DNA of disciple-making with believers in his local network while continuing to learn from what God is doing around the world.
After seeing an emphasis on family Discovery Bible Studies in South Asia, John experimented with the idea at home. One simple DBS in his living room multiplied into 15 local DBSs in just three weeks.
“It’s still fun to get on an airplane and experience the great things God is doing around the world,” John said. “But why not here? Why not now? Here, in the places and spaces where we currently live? Right here is our patch, our people!”
Now, John gets to experience God at work overseas and at home—all because he started paying attention to the people around him.
What About You?
Where might God be moving where you live, work, and play?
Do you have five names of friends to pray for? If not, how might you become more intentional about hearing the stories of the people around you?
Ask God to surprise you with open doors and opportunities for mission you may not have noticed before. He loves to answer prayers like that.
Want to hear more from John?
In this short video, John and the young guys he discipled, Caden and Ryan, each share their unique perspective on how their unexpected meeting led to a wave of disciple-making in Orange County among young adults.
ABOUT THIS STORY
People who know “Johno” (John Gash) know he is quite smitten by his wife and ministry partner Lori. Together for 50 years now, they are wild about their three grown children and nine grandkiddos. John and Lori have fun being everyday disciples together, hanging with friends, road-cycling, and just goofing off too. John first experienced Novo, Discovery Bible Study, and rapidly multiplying gospel movements in the Middle East in 2016, on a mission trip with his long-time buddy, Chris Marshall.