By Burl Spencer
Stonecroft Freelance Writer
Ogallala, Nebraska–When it comes to spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ, Evelyn McGregor is all over the map—of southwestern Nebraska.
Evelyn’s journey with Stonecroft began 35 years ago in the small town of Wallace and for decades since, she has organized and started Stonecroft Bible Studies. After her husband’s death in 2009, Evelyn moved just a stone’s throw from the Nebraska-Colorado border to Ogallala, where she serves as a Regional Representative in Western Nebraska. Since distances between towns in corn and cattle country can be quite far, Evelyn’s odometer has tumbled thousands of miles between North Platte, Grant, and Norton, hosting Outreach Group events and Bible studies.
Evelyn said, “I want to reach the lost for Jesus and Stonecroft Ministries is a tool I use. You can ask someone to go to church. But I can say, ‘We’re having this wonderful meeting with Women’s Connection and I would like for you to come.’ Whatever works out, we want to do that.”
Evelyn and her friends comb their “sphere of influence” to attract participants for their Outreach Group events.
“Your sphere of influence can be your next door neighbor, a member of your church, someone in your neighborhood,” Evelyn said. “Lost people are in our sphere of influence.”
Evelyn participates in two Outreach Groups, alternating monthly between Ogallala and Grant, located 20 miles apart.
Evelyn and her peers have seen God at work as they tell others about Christ. An outreach event at a Grant retirement center recently attracted a younger man who had been listening outside the circle of senior citizens. “I asked him if he had listened to our speaker, and he said yes,” Evelyn said. “Then I asked him if he wanted to ask Jesus in his heart, and he said yes. So we prayed with him right there and he accepted Christ. We contacted a man there in Grant and now he is mentoring him.”
Once women accept Christ, the Planning Team connects them to a Stonecroft Bible Study.
“Our goal in both is to reach out to people who need Jesus,” she said. “We all need Jesus. Some of the people who come do not have a church home.
“Why do I do this? . . . I don’t want to leave someone out [from hearing the Good News] about Jesus.”