A man encourages another to come and see Jesus at his church.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a gas station? Gas, of course, maybe an occasional meal if you’re in a hurry, or even roses if you forgot to pick some up earlier on an important day.

For those living in the upper Midwest, Kwik Trip or Kwik Star gas stations are taking over the landscape. They’re known for relatively inexpensive food and gas prices, but maybe even more for their friendly staff and clean bathrooms. For some reason, when going into the store, everyone holds the door open for others—it just happens. The owners of Kwik Trip would tell us, I’m sure, that this doesn’t happen by accident. It’s very intentional.

Intentionality.

As Christians, we need to be living intentional lives. We strive to serve our Savior for the salvation he’s won for us. We do our best to serve others because Jesus served us first. We look for opportunities to tell others about Jesus whenever the opportunity presents itself.

So when’s the last time that opportunity presented itself to you?

Not recently? Then you need to hear about Tom, although this story isn’t really about Tom.

A church’s initiative

At Living Word, Waukesha, Wis., we follow this primary plan for outreach: the Philip Plan. It’s quite simple. As Jesus was gathering his 12 disciples early in his ministry, he found Philip (John 1:43-51). Having had a literal come-to-Jesus moment, Philip immediately found his friend Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth.” Nathanael was less than enthusiastic about meeting someone from the nothing town of Nazareth, so he said, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Philip met his skepticism with a simple phrase: “Come and see.” That very day, after going with Philip to see and talk with Jesus, Nathanael was convinced that Jesus was the very Son of God and his Savior.

In your church, people hear about that same Jesus from Nazareth who gave his life to save all people from their sins. So imagine what can happen if you actually invite people to come and see Jesus at your church. And what I mean by “you” is YOU, the one reading this. If you and all your fellow members at your congregation invite one person to join you in the Lord’s house, you’ve all become missionaries, and the reach of the gospel will be exponential.

A member’s invitation

This is where Dave Peterson comes into the story, although this story isn’t really about Dave either.

Dave, himself a recent adult confirmand and member at Living Word, had just heard the message of sins forgiven in Jesus once again in a Sunday service. He knew that our outreach strategy focuses on every member telling others to come and see Jesus at Living Word. So, as Dave was thinking about this, he headed into a near-by Kwik Trip and started conversing with an 80-year-old man about horseshoes and compression socks while they were in line waiting to check out.

Did Dave care that much about horseshoes and compression socks? Maybe. But he cared a lot more about whether this man knew Jesus.

Dave eventually turned the conversation to spiritual things and asked the man if he was a Christian. The man said he did believe Jesus was his Savior, but he hadn’t gone to church in a long time, except occasionally with his wife a few times a year—if that. (I found out later that “a long time” was actually over half a century. He had gone to church when he was growing up but had gotten out of the habit after he entered the Navy in his early 20s. His wife is a devout Catholic, but he doesn’t agree with all their teachings, so he tends to stay away. But back to the story. . . .)

Hearing that the man didn’t have a church home, Dave invited him to come and see what they taught about Jesus at Living Word.

The Holy Spirit’s work

Weeks and months went by, and the man didn’t come. Months turned into a year, and he still didn’t come.

Yet he couldn’t stop thinking about Dave’s invitation. Questions were running through his head: If I’m a Christian, shouldn’t I be in church? Am I even baptized? If I die without being baptized, will I go to heaven? He realized that he didn’t know the answers to those questions. He thought he’d been baptized as an infant, but he had no record of it, and any witnesses of it had since passed away.

The invitation wouldn’t leave him alone.

Finally, more than a year after that Kwik Trip invitation, on a Sunday in the fall, he followed Dave’s advice to come and see what was taught about Jesus at Living Word. He hoped that would put Dave’s nagging invitation to rest. That’s when I met the man—Tom Leair—for the first time. I discovered more about Tom and learned his story in the months after that Sunday.

Tom attended for several weeks, but when he found out that he should not come up for Communion until he discovered what we teach and agreed with it, he was not happy because he desperately wanted to receive Communion. So he joined a Bible 101 class. He learned more about Jesus at Living Word, discovering the basics of Christian doctrine in the class and meeting others who were looking for the same.

While his faith grew stronger and his previous fears faded, one concern lingered in Tom’s mind: Had he been baptized? Since no one knew for sure, I was privileged to baptize Tom at the age of 82 on Nov. 9, 2025. He was confirmed Dec. 18.

A life-changing conversation

There’s one addendum to the story that I still find fascinating—as if assuring someone that his sins are forgiven and heaven is guaranteed to him through faith isn’t fascinating enough!

When I asked Tom how he had heard about Living Word, he said that someone had invited him. Tom couldn’t remember the man’s name or exactly what he looked like, but he recalled that the man said he’d helped build the church. I knew immediately that man must have been Dave Peterson, the general contractor for our building. I asked Dave about it, and Dave had difficulty remembering that Kwik Trip conversation at all. It was over a year earlier, after all.

That’s the whole point! Little did Dave know that a brief conversation in a Kwik Trip about horseshoes and compression socks followed by an invitation to his church was exactly what the Holy Spirit would use to change Tom’s life. After 60 years, Tom finally has a church home. He is now ready to go to heaven whenever Jesus calls him.

Just think if Dave hadn’t invited Tom to come and see Jesus. A simple invitation is all it took to give someone peace with God in this world and a certain hope of the life to come.

So, really, this story isn’t about Tom or Dave at all. It’s all about Jesus. People are waiting for you to ask them to come and see Jesus at your church. Maybe it’s a family member who needs to be closer to Jesus. A coworker. Perhaps a complete stranger.

Maybe you’ll even find that person in a gas station.

Author: John Borgwardt
Volume 113, Number 05
Issue: May 2026

Come and see

What will get you to ask people to come and see Jesus at your church? If you love going to church yourself! For that reason, part of Living Word’s outreach strategy is doing everything we can to make worship an excellent experience that touches people’s hearts, minds, and emotions.

We strive for excellence by having

• a laser-focus on Jesus’ redemptive work;
• a welcoming atmosphere so guests feel as if they’re part of the family;
• great music (whether traditional or modern); and
• a message that is scriptural, delivered well, deeply impactful, and applicable.

If that’s happening in every service, members are automatically encouraged to invite others. It’s just like Philip, who couldn’t keep his encounter with Jesus to himself.

We at Living Word began to focus on excellence in worship coupled with the Philip Plan as our primary outreach strategies two years ago. God is blessing our efforts! Since then, we’ve had an average of two first-time or repeat guest families every Sunday, or more than one hundred each year.

WELS Congregational Services is releasing a new program this summer also called Come and See, which encourages and equips Christians for invitational evangelism. Learn more at welscongregationalservices.net.