Home Outreach Leaders Articles for Outreach & Missions Karen Kingsbury: Sometimes People Just Need to Be Seen

Karen Kingsbury: Sometimes People Just Need to Be Seen

The YOU WERE SEEN movement is truly taking off! It will be featured in the September issue of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Decision magazine, and it will also be featured regularly on 100 Huntley Street—Canada’s longest running televised program.

The dream God gave me after crying in the restaurant that day is coming true! People are being seen and they are coming to Jesus, coming back to church, and finding hope again. Why save up thousands of dollars for a mission trip, when you could live life on mission in your everyday life?

Who gets a YOU WERE SEEN card? The cashier and banker, the food server and barista, the police officer and teacher, the delivery person and grocery clerk, the doctor and nurse. Even your neighbor. Anyone God puts in your path.

Why? Because Christians should love better than anyone. We should be more generous. Kinder. More affirming. And we should have a way to direct people to Jesus even in the briefest encounter.

Take Sam, for example. Sam is a UPS driver who brings packages to our house a few times a week. Sure, we wave and smile. But we’ve never told him about Jesus.

Recently, our 22-year-old son Austin met Sam in the driveway and looked him in the eyes. “Thank you for what you do,” my son told him. Then he handed Sam a YOU WERE SEEN card with a tip, paper-clipped to the back. “You were seen today, Sam.” Austin told him. “You matter. We couldn’t do our work without you.”

The man looked shocked. “Wow.” Sam was a big guy, but this broke him. His eyes grew teary. “I don’t know what to say.” He took the card and the tip. “No one’s ever told me that before.”

“Check out the website,” Austin smiled at him. “Just know that God sees what you do and how hard you work. Oh … and if you don’t have a church, come visit ours! The information’s on the back of the card.”

A week later, Sam was back.

This time I greeted him. I gave him another YOU WERE SEEN card and another tip, and he stopped and held up the card. “I can’t believe this.” Again tears filled his eyes. “Your son gave me one of these. You don’t know how much it blessed me. I went home and read the website with my wife.” His voice grew heavy with emotion. “Last week we went to church … for the first time.”

Is your church body feeling discouraged and hopeless? Beaten up? Are you?

Hand out a pack of YOU WERE SEEN cards in the coming weeks and watch how that little act changes the way you feel! One church leader wanted to try the cards before giving them to his congregation. Here’s what he said:

“I was getting take out from the same place I visit every week. I always tip well. Only this time I gave the couple who runs the place a YOU WERE SEEN card. I complimented them and thanked them. And you know what … that single interaction made my week.”

A YOU WERE SEEN card makes a meaningful interaction from a single moment. It turns a chance encounter into a church member. With every YOU WERE SEEN card, the hope and love of Jesus is growing.

Remember, the Gospel message is more contagious than a virus! If a virus can spread across the nation through one person, imagine what the love of Jesus can do through this movement.

Of course, I do have one regret as I watch the YOU WERE SEEN movement take off, as God breathes life into the vision he gave me two years ago. My regret is this:

I wish I’d had a YOU WERE SEEN card for Henry.


For more information about the YOU WERE SEEN movement, visit YouWereSeen.com/church or call a representative at (615) 939-0802.