A consistent, low-pressure invitation results in a life-changing connection to the gospel.

An invitation can be a simple gesture that makes a profound impact. Yet, it can also be intimidating. What if the person says no? What if it makes the relationship awkward? As Parker Lyden and John Decator will tell you, it’s still worth the ask, even if you need to make it several times.

A life without grounding

Parker grew up in Michigan without much connection to church. His family wasn’t overly religious, and faith simply wasn’t part of the conversation. By his own description, life was a grind of reacting to whatever came his way, without a bigger picture to anchor him.

“I was kind of angry all the time,” Parker recalls. “You let everything affect you, because without Christ, life’s meaningless and it’s only about you and how you feel.”

Parker had a brief encounter with church as a young child in a non-denominational congregation that felt unstructured to him, and the impression stuck with him for years. When Parker left home to study engineering at Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Mich., eight hours north, faith was the furthest thing from his mind.

A friend who kept the door open

It was during his first week at Michigan Tech that Parker met John. They shared classes in the engineering department and eventually became roommates. John was a member of Holy Redeemer, Port Huron, Mich., and attended Peace, Houghton, while he was at school. He invited Parker to church consistently and without pressure.

“He didn’t share a lot about his faith, but he offered a persistent invitation,” Parker says. “He wasn’t trying to force it on me. He was just always giving me the invitation.”

For a couple of years, Parker kept politely declining. Then, in his third year, he began dating Kenzie, a young woman who also attended Peace. Suddenly, the invitation had more meaning, and he decided to take his friend up on his offer.

John recalls that initial Sunday he saw Parker at church. “I was really excited to see that Parker accepted my invitation and was engaging with the church,” John says.

Walking into Peace that first Sunday, Parker wasn’t completely sure what to expect. What he found surprised him. It wasn’t the free-form looseness of the church he’d attended as a child. It was structured but accessible. The music was different from anything he’d heard before. Tommy Welch, pastor at Peace, was welcoming and easy to follow.

“It wasn’t overly hard to understand what he was talking about,” Parker says. “I could follow along. I knew where we were in the service. It was intriguing to me.”

He attended a handful of services that spring, and when he returned to campus in the fall of his senior year, he began going to church regularly and actively participated in campus ministry activities. He and his girlfriend decided to enroll in a Foundations of Faith class led by Welch so they could become members together.

A new perspective

The Foundations of Faith class changed Parker’s life. Week by week, as he sat with Welch and worked through the core truths of Scripture, something began to shift. Questions he’d never thought to ask suddenly had answers. And the world, which had always felt chaotic, began to make sense.

“After the first or second lesson, everything clicked,” Parker shares. “I thought, Okay, this is what I do now. I’m a Christian now.”

What struck him most was the explanation of sin and grace. It was not a harsh or condemning lesson. It was clarifying. Even his concerns about topics he thought would be stumbling blocks, such as evolution versus creation, fell away as he studied them with Scripture.

“You could tell Parker was looking for something more, but he just did not know what it was,” Welch says. “The gospel changed his life, and it was an honor to have a front-row seat to that.”

The very next Sunday after his classes concluded, Parker was baptized. He also stood before the congregation and was confirmed, making his public confession of faith.

Once exposed to God’s Word, Parker wasn’t inclined to wait any longer to declare his faith and share it with others. “It wasn’t just that he became a believer,” Welch says. “He wanted to figure out how to serve and get involved.”

Faith that spreads

After graduating, Parker moved to Indianapolis, where he found a new church home at Light of Life, Greenwood, Ind. He continued reading his Bible and held on to his faith through the challenges of starting a new chapter of life.

The gospel rarely stays contained, and for Parker it certainly didn’t. He talked about it constantly with his family.

Parker’s mother had always considered herself spiritual, but not religious; she was drawn to meditation and a general sense of the divine. After classes with Welch, Parker had long, sincere conversations with her about what it would mean genuinely to seek out God’s Word. He encouraged her not to assume answers but to look in the Bible instead. And she did.

On Easter Sunday of this year, Parker’s mother and his brother were both baptized at a church near their home.

Additionally, Parker’s relationship with Kenzie has been anchored in their shared faith. They’ve navigated a long-distance relationship by keeping Christ at the center. They study the Bible together and lean on their shared values to guide them. “I like to think faith is the only reason this relationship has worked and the rest haven’t,” Parker says. “We’ve been able to share our faith together and have it be the center of our relationship.”

The power of one invitation

Parker is moving to Green Bay, Wis., soon for his job, and he is already looking forward to being closer to a WELS church where he can be actively involved.

Today, Parker reflects on the invitations he received to go to Peace and how that changed his life.

“Don’t be afraid to invite someone to church,” he says. “You never know what somebody’s going through; they’re maybe even waiting on your invitation. You really don’t know until you ask.”

John keeps that perspective too. He has invited many friends to church over the years. Some have attended, while others have not, but he’s never regretted the ask.

“It never hurts to offer,” John says. “They know the door is always open.”

Learn more about the importance of campus ministries like the one at Peace, Houghton, in this month’s WELS Connection.

Author: Gabriella Blauert
Volume 113, Number 06
Issue: June 2026