Ever been paralyzed by fear or feelings of inadequacy? Ever wished you could rise above them to live a life of bold faith? Our latest episode is just the inspiration you need as we sit down with 77-year-old Gail Harris. Join us for a riveting conversation as Gail shares her spectacular transformation from a psychedelics user saved in Jesus Revolution to a fearless witness for Christ. Hear about her divine encounter with Jesus, the miraculous events that affirmed her faith, and how she learned to be bold in sharing her faith in 50 years of doing evangelism from smuggling Bibles into China to street witnessing in San Francisco. She shares tips and tools that help her overcome fear and awkward moments.
Learn more about how to become a missionary here: https://rfwma.org/
Thanks for listening! Visit our website rfwma.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram!
Help us make more inspiring episodes: https://rfwma.org/give-support-the-podcast/
Ever been paralyzed by fear or feelings of inadequacy? Ever wished you could rise above them to live a life of bold faith? Our latest episode is just the inspiration you need as we sit down with 77-year-old Gail Harris. Join us for a riveting conversation as Gail shares her spectacular transformation from a psychedelics user saved in Jesus Revolution to a fearless witness for Christ. Hear about her divine encounter with Jesus, the miraculous events that affirmed her faith, and how she learned to be bold in sharing her faith in 50 years of doing evangelism from smuggling Bibles into China to street witnessing in San Francisco. She shares tips and tools that help her overcome fear and awkward moments.
Learn more about how to become a missionary here: https://rfwma.org/
Thanks for listening! Visit our website rfwma.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram!
Help us make more inspiring episodes: https://rfwma.org/give-support-the-podcast/
What if you had a guide who could tell you how to bridge a gap between who you are today and who you are destined to be? What if, each week, you could hear a story of someone who has tried and succeeded, or perhaps tried and failed but learned something in the process? Limitless Spirit is a weekly podcast where host Helen Todd interviews guests about topics and personal stories on defining life's purpose, pursuing personal growth and developing a deeper faith in Christ.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Limitless Spirit podcast. This podcast is for those who are seeking to live a life for a greater purpose and discover God's will for their lives. So if that's you, I'm so glad you tuned in to this particular episode. I'm your host, helen Todd, and today we will explore what does it take to be bold in living and sharing your faith? When was the last time you approached an acquaintance, a co-worker or a complete stranger to talk about your faith?
Speaker 2:In today's culture, at least in the United States, it sometimes can be perceived as offensive and in some cases, even illegal. It takes supernatural boldness and confidence Aside from working up the courage to even start a conversation. Many times we are overcome with the feeling of inadequacy. Do I know the scriptures well enough? Am I trained in apologetics? Is my lifestyle holy enough to represent Christ? Today I talk with a 77-year-old, gail Harris, who has impressed me with her boldness in sharing the gospel message with complete strangers here in the United States and in other nations, where she frequently goes on mission trips. She came to Jesus in the midst of Jesus' revolution as a psychedelics and acid user who was on her way to see a guru, yet encountered someone who shared Christ with her. So in her story, gail shares how she has developed that boldness to be a witness for Christ. If you are ready to break free from fear and step into a life of bold faith, stick around, because this episode is for you.
Speaker 2:Let's dive in. Thank you for joining us. Hello Gail, welcome to the Limitless Spirit podcast. How are you today? I'm fine, helen, thank you. How are you? I'm excited to talk to you about your story. This will be the first time I'm hearing it, but my husband, chuck, who heard you share it in Ireland, said it's something like a script from the movie Jesus' Revolution, which. You are that generation, you're 77, and you are from California originally. I am from California.
Speaker 3:From California. I'm from 1970, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he said it was just like in the movie even better that's what he said even better. So we're going to talk about your story. I also want us to talk about your gift. I think it's a spiritual gift and it's the gift of evangelism and the boldness that you have when you share the Gospel. I watched you share the Gospel with strangers in the street in Albania, which is a Muslim country, and I've watched you in Mexico, and it's contagious and it's inspiring, and I know that there is a number of Christians who are intimidated when it comes to sharing their faith, and so I think you have a few points to share and encourage others. So let's talk about how you came to know Jesus.
Speaker 3:Well, my family was Jewish, so the last person we wanted to be God was Jesus. I was a teenager. We were not very religious, although my grandparents did celebrate Passover, so I knew some Old Testament stories. That was about that. I had a neighbor who was Catholic, so I think I might have gone to church with her a couple of times, but had no interest really at all in religion as a teenager pretty much an agnostic, atheist.
Speaker 3:And I had a very nice life, all the things that are supposed to make you happy nice house, nice husband, perfect job, you know all those things. But when I got into my early 20s I just felt so depressed. There must be more to life than this. So you were married. I was married, yeah, I had a couple kids, nice house, everything that you're husband was perfect. Yeah, it was good. But I was miserable, unhappy. So I just went there must be more to life than this. And I just went on a plow to try to figure out what that thing was. And it didn't start out very good because I thought it was the first time.
Speaker 3:I was married to. So left that left all the nice things. I had started using marijuana psychedelics because I was just trying to discover what else there is in life and wait and did you say you had kids already by that time?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they left a lot of kids, so you left your kids, everything left, everything, everything wow.
Speaker 3:Yeah right, house and everything. And at one point I just was trying out if there is a God, please do something. Let me know that you're real. I just can't take this anymore. If you're God, let me know you're real. And God started just doing kind of miraculous things in my life to let me know that he was real. So give me an example. Ok, this is one of the first things. I still had my kids with me at some time and at one point, when I was in desperation like that, my children who I'd never sent to and we were just finding it all started talking to me about God. I have no way to explain that.
Speaker 2:Other than.
Speaker 3:God, how old were they About three years later when I was a kid? 3 and 6.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's incredible. So they started asking you questions about God.
Speaker 3:I really can't tell you the details, but it was definitely. They were talking to me about God. Another example that makes I mean these things make no sense to me, as my car wasn't working in the morning when I was getting ready to go to work and at one point I just automatically called the house company come and jump the battery and everything. And they were like I'm not there. He said well, there's a new battery in it, try it and start it. Fine, this sounds really silly, but God really did stuff like oh, no, this sounds just like God.
Speaker 2:This sounds just like God. That's incredible. And new battery in a broken car. Well, remember in the movie Jesus revolution when they pray for the main character's car to start because he's going on a date to pick up a girl and, after laying hands on the car several times, the car finally starts. But yours is even cooler. And new battery. That's incredible.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and another time, like I was doing psychedelics and I went up on this mountain and the whole time I was there I was at the foot of the cross with Jesus. So I really didn't know anything about just things like that happen.
Speaker 2:Have you culturally heard about Jesus prior to that?
Speaker 3:Maybe just the same things people hear about Christmas time. You'd hear about the birth of Jesus as a kid. At Easter time. There were probably references to people dying on the cross. But it was really nothing I was investigating, except that I really wanted to know who the real God was, but I didn't think it was going to be Jesus. I would be chanting with the Krishna people and meditating with the yoga people and dancing with the Sufis, going to a spiritualist church. I just didn't know who the real God was. You were just seeking.
Speaker 2:So who made Jesus real to you, who introduced you to Jesus?
Speaker 3:Well, I'm going to tell you that part right now. So I lived in an apartment at this point with a couple of other ladies and a guy. And the guy that we lived with we kind of thought of him as our Guru, who is a very religious guy, not necessarily about Jesus. So on January 1970, he and I decided we would hitchhike to New Mexico to ask Baba Ramdas, who was the Bevil's Guru, and he had an ashram in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We were going to hitchhike there and ask him who was the real God, this other guy. So we started hitchhiking. We get to the desert in New Mexico Nobody's picking this up and he had read something in the Bible about Jesus walking out into the desert and fasting and praying for 40 days. So he said he thought we should do that, since nobody was picking this up. So we walked out into the desert and I'm out there for a couple of hours. So I go. I don't think I want to do this. So I went back. He stayed in the desert, got back to the freeway. Somebody picked me up right away. They weren't very nice people. They stole my money and kept me with them.
Speaker 3:But I did get to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and in those days if you wanted to know about spiritual things, there were occult bookstores. So I found an occult bookstore. I went in and asked how do I get to the ashram to ask Baba Ram Das, who is the real God? And they said I can't go there because I don't have a reservation or an appointment. So I had no idea what to do. There were some people out in the street in front of the bookstore playing guitars and I started talking to them.
Speaker 3:I lived in a commune with a group called the Children of God, which was kind of a cult, but they said I could stay with them. So I went to their community. But they did share with me the real gospel. They told me Jesus was the real God. He got in the cross for my sins. I could ask Him to forgive me, become the Lord of my life, ask the Holy Spirit to come live inside me, and I just got it that I was asking God to show me who he was, and that's where he led me. He didn't let me go to see Baba Ram Dass. Instead, he led me to people that shared the gospel.
Speaker 2:That is pretty incredible. So something within you, because you by now you had heard all kinds of different versions of God but something within you told you this is the real thing. This is true.
Speaker 3:And that night I prayed. You know I went. I believe you're God. I believe you got in the cross for my sins. I know I've sinned. Come into my life, be my Lord and my Savior. Let the Holy Spirit come and live in me. And it just felt like a weight was immediately lifted off of me and I just recognized that's where God had loved me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is pretty incredible, and I think it's so biblical. All kinds of people can be used by God to proclaim the truth, even if they're not living that truth at the moment, as long as they speak it out. A spirit that is seeking is ready to receive, and this is so simple. You know, sometimes we overcomplicate sharing our faith. We think we have to be well versed in scriptures, we have to reach a certain point of maturity, spiritual maturity, but in fact, as long as you proclaim the truth with your mouth, it achieves results. So that is incredible. So how long did it take from that point before you felt like you found your place in the body of Christ?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, I immediately felt like I was a follower of Jesus. I didn't know anything about the Bible. I stayed with that commune for a couple of days, read a little bit of the Bible, and then I was hitchhiking back to California and anybody who picked me up I'd go hey, do you know Jesus? I mean, I didn't know anything except what just happened to me. So I just it was so fantastic. I just have this inner sense that I really found the real God. But I just shared the little bit that I knew, which was really basically nothing.
Speaker 3:When I got back to California, I just started reading the Bible, because that's where they told me I learned more about God. And then, as I read it, I just really fell in love with Jesus. I started reading the New Testament and I want this as the kind of person that everybody should admire, love, honor, live for. And I started seeing the parts of my life that were out of alignment, which was the Bible said how I should be living. And I just continue to repent and make changes in my life. And it was five more years till I actually got baptized and went 100%, all in. You know, I started going to churches and at one point. I still didn't know much about the Bible, but pastor of the church said oh, god told me that you're supposed to be the junior church Bible study teacher. So you know, oh okay, I didn't really know anything. So I went up. This is really going to make me study the Bible more so that I can actually be telling with kids what it actually says you know, this is how the Holy Spirit works.
Speaker 2:It is pretty incredible, but even in your story it's very clear that God uses people. He uses people to reach other people for Christ, you know, whoever they are, as long as they share the gospel. That's how another person receives the gospel. Can God appear? Can Jesus appear to people in visions and dreams and bring them to salvation? Yes, and he has done that.
Speaker 2:I've met people, especially in the Middle East. They received the knowledge of Christ just through a vision. But the theme, the gospel message and the theme of what we are to do after Christ ascended and before he returns, is to take the to be the witnesses. The witnesses his disciples were the witnesses of the life of Christ, but we, who are generations and generations after, we're the witnesses of what God does in our lives. And that's why I think your story is definitely part of the reason why evangelism comes so naturally to you is you know for fact? It's not something that you were taught, it's not something that was imposed on you. God literally rescued you from something terrible, a terrible lifestyle, and so I think it's easy to be a witness. When you know something for fact, it's easy to share it with others.
Speaker 2:But, at what point so you started teaching the Bible? When was your first mission trip? When did you feel the desire to actually take the Great Commission seriously and Well, I'll tell you what actually happened.
Speaker 3:I can't remember exactly what year it was, but Bill Bright Campus Crusade for Christ at one point was during the I Found it campaign. I don't know if you're aware of that. So they were putting billboards all over that just that. I found up and they didn't say what it was. And they were doing trainings on how to share your faith and they were using the principle on campus crusade, the four spiritual laws book. I don't know if you're familiar with that. So the first I was going to was doing a little training on that and it was about how to be able to share your faith. So I went to the training and it seemed really good, but I didn't know they were gonna actually do this. After we went through the training, they went. Now you are gonna go out, two by two, and go in neighborhood and knock on doors and share the gospel message that we just taught you how to share, as that's what I found it was.
Speaker 3:I found relationship with Jesus and I gotta tell you, even though in the past I was talking to people out in the street, my knees were knocking. I was so nervous when they told me that I was gonna go out and knock on doors and try to share biblical gospel principles. So me and my teammate went out and actually people actually listened to us. I was amazed and some people were really grateful and happy that somebody had come to their door with a message that they really needed to hear. So when we met back again after the training some people said people prayed to receive Jesus and we're connecting with the church. So that's when I really got the vision that there are people out there who are just waiting to have somebody share this truth with them. So that was kind of my start. How long ago was that? There was maybe like 1977, something like that. I'm not absolutely sure, but it was a few years into my walk with Jesus when I actually did have a little, a few more biblical principles and knowledge.
Speaker 2:So you've been doing this for almost 50 years now. Oh, watch out. Yeah, absolutely Half a century. That is absolutely incredible. So I am sure that you have some very crazy stories. So let's think of something that just comes to mind that was very exciting or very challenging, or maybe both.
Speaker 3:a little bit. Well, I'll tell you about my first two mission trip experiences. I was older, I had a couple of teenage kids and the church I was going to I was working with the youth group. So we actually took the youth group a couple of times from Mexico. That was one of my first trips. And also I was working with another organization called SOS San Francisco that we were going.
Speaker 3:Every summer they have like a 10 day campaign where we would go to the streets of San Francisco. So you know how the culture is now all over the world with LGBTQ thing. Well, san Francisco has been like that even back then. So every summer we'd go down there for 10 days, go out on the streets, bring worship teams, bring speakers. We would do marches carrying signs and I brought the youth group down there.
Speaker 3:They did dramas out on the streets and we got a lot of opposition from the rest of the community there. So a couple of times we'd have we'd be out in streets doing outreach with Chuck Gerard or somebody doing music and the community that was against us witnessing would come up and spit in our face or threaten us and stuff. And at one point we were in front of the Civic Center down there carrying a campaign for Jesus, and so many of the homosexual came out. Community came out to harass us. The police actually came out and surrounded us. We got down on our knees and were just praying and the police surrounded us to protect us and we just were able to continue with our ministry. So I did that every summer for many years with us with San Francisco. They're still operating there in a very antagonistic, I think, imagine environment there.
Speaker 2:You know, this makes me think of something. I was just looking at the scripture in the Gospel of Luke and then in Acts, chapter one, where Luke describes how Jesus gave the Great Commission to his disciples and he tells them, he encourages them to go and share the good news and he says in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And so you know, jerusalem, yes, they got that. Obviously they wanted to do that. Judea, yes, it's their country, you know they wanted to do that.
Speaker 2:But when it came to Samaria, you remember, in the culture of the time, talking to a Samaritan was repulsive. To a Jewish person it was offensive, repulsive. And so the Samaritans were not foreigners to them, they kind of came from the same route, but it was in our day. So it's like going to someone from a different cultural background. You know, like you were talking about the San Francisco, where you know the environment, where Christian normally wouldn't go to, and sometimes I think that sharing the Gospel in Samaria, so to speak, is more difficult than going to the ends of the world, because there is so much anger I think that is built up in society, especially today, and yet the progression that Jesus gave us is very clear Jerusalem, Judea, samaria. You can't skip that part, and I think sometimes Christians are more eager to go to the end of the world than they are to go to the modern-day Samaria, so to speak.
Speaker 2:So what you shared is really cool. You went to Samaria, you got the training, you were persecuted and yet protected. You were able to continue. So was this the most difficult experience that you had? Was there a time when you literally had to overcome this resistance of the flesh, because sometimes our spirit is willing but our flesh says no? So have you had that kind of experience?
Speaker 3:Actually no, yeah, even though there has been opposition or danger, god just wired me that way. So my other trip that I think was really outstanding and dangerous, like when I was about I don't know 40 or something, I heard about Bible smuggling into China bonkeys for Jesus. Back at that point you really could not bring Bibles into China. So I went man, could I really do that? And I connected with a group that was based in Hong Kong and for a few weeks we smuggled Bibles into China back and forth across the border wearing skirt under garment that had pockets we put like 50 Bibles in.
Speaker 3:When you'd walk they'd kind of slap against your leg and we had to continually go through customs and everything and that was pretty scary. At one point one of the customs said Officer, do you have Bibles with you? And I have a Bible and I had my little Bible in my backpack or something. And he let me go. Another time one of our other persons was seen that I was getting harassed. She made a scene on purpose so that they would just let me go through. So that was pretty scary.
Speaker 2:How were you distributing these Bibles?
Speaker 3:Okay, so we'd get across the border. Then the guy that was our leader was pretty nervous because he'd been doing it for a while and he recognized, you know he could really get in trouble. So he would tell us where the meeting point was on the other side. At one point I got mixed up and I walked up some stairs and ended up in an army barracks with some Chinese men. I just went oh excuse me, you walk back down. Then what we would do would be go into like a tourist hotel and go into the bathroom, take them out of our skirt and put them in a bag.
Speaker 3:But the other part that I didn't know was going to happen is all the bathrooms in China, in the tourist places, they have attendees in the bathrooms. So there's some lady there wondering why are my end the toilet stall for 20 minutes, what am I doing? So I would have to pretend I was sick or something. So one of the ladies with us she actually did get stopped and taken in for questioning and they kept her there like all day and she actually had an opportunity to share the gospel with them. The border guards were told that this was pornographic material we were trying to bring in. So that's what they thought it was, but she actually was able to share the gospel.
Speaker 2:Well, this sounds like a Hollywood movie script, gail. That's pretty exciting. So you have had quite the experiences and I think that you have probably some advice to share with people who maybe have this desire deep down inside to fulfill the Great Commission, but maybe feel a little intimidated or unsure about how to be bold in sharing their faith, and not only in other countries and other cultures, but even in their own neighborhood or in Samaria, uncomfortable culturally area. So what advice would you give people?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. I know most people are very timid about sharing. I think what most people think is that they're going to have to know a lot of apologetics and be able to answer every question that somebody might ask or any debate. So I've been sharing. I just take out one or two people with me in my own hometown here and we go out and share the gospel in parks or sometimes with our knock on doors, and God gave us a pretty simple way to share our faith. And what that is is my friend and I got just gave us this idea to do a survey. So what we do is we approach people and we go. We're just doing a little survey, five questions, just take you a couple of minutes. You want to be in it.
Speaker 3:Most people are very willing to participate in the survey. We say it's about spiritual things. Is that okay? Almost everybody says okay. So the first question we ask people is and, by the way, we also have somebody recording that you know, so it really looks official and actually we have hundreds of responses from people that have participated the first question is what do you believe happens to person after they die?
Speaker 3:And we got a wide variety of answers. A lot of people nowadays are hoping it's reincarnation, I guess, or a lot of people that we asked in Ireland said I just want to go back to being dirt, because I guess life is so miserable Fighting for them at this point that they just want it to be over. The next question is what do you base your belief upon? And we've got a variety of answers there. The third question is have you heard of heaven? Yes or no? Fourth question if heaven is a real place, would you want to spend eternity there? Some people say no. They just don't like the idea. The last question is what do you believe would fall into my person spending eternity in heaven?
Speaker 3:Back before COVID hit campus Proustade for Christ Jesus films was trying to do something called Saturate USA. So if you wanted to participate they would figure out how many houses there are in your town. So right before COVID they sent me 12,000, literally Jesus films. They have a whole bunch of different languages in them and 12,000 of the little books for spiritual laws. So I have those here. Then COVID hit so we couldn't go door to door and give them out. So that's another way for people to share their faith. Just go, here's a little book for you if you'd like to know more about how to know God personally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's very helpful to have some tools with you and creative ways to start a conversation, the icebreakers. In the end, like you said, it's your adventure with the Holy Spirit. It's never us. We are never qualified or ready or capable to do this on our own, and Jesus didn't even allow his disciples to do it on their own. He said wait until you receive the power, until the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And so, and then when I think, when you fully recognize that and you trust God, you trust the Holy Spirit to do this through you, then it's an adventure and your life is a great example of a great adventure with Jesus. In fact, here you are, at 77 years old, and you just recently got married. The adventure begins and your passion for life and passion for Jesus is truly contagious Gail. So I hope and look forward to many more adventures with you on the mission field and the ends of the world, or in Judea or Samaria, wherever God calls us next. Thank you so much. Thank you, helen.
Speaker 3:I'm very blessed and thankful that God has allowed me to be healthy enough to continue to do this and also, you know, finance me and give me the heart to do it. It's like totally a gift from God. You know, it's nothing I could have created myself, so, yeah, Amen.
Speaker 2:Thank you for joining us on today's episode of the Limitless Spirit podcast. Remember, boldness is not just a fleeting emotion. It's a choice we make daily to trust in the power of the Holy Spirit, and boldness is contagious. If Gail's story inspired you, I encourage you to visit our website, rfwmaorg and look at the opportunities to take your faith to the ends of the world. If Jesus has touched your life and he's real to you, if you have a story, you are equipped to be a witness and we want to help you fulfill this calling. Again, visit our website, rfwmaorg and connect with us. We want to hear from you. Until next time, I'm Helen Todd. Limitless Spirit podcast is produced by World Missions Alliance.
Speaker 1:We believe that changed lives change lives. If you want to see your life transformed by Christ's love, or if you want to help those who are hurting and hopeless and discover your greater purpose in serving Christ through short-term missionary work, check out our website, rfwmaorg and find out how to get involved.