AN INTERVIEW WITH HOBBE
Hamilton Challenge took place a few weeks ago, on May 15th to 19th. To give you more of a taste of what Hamilton Challenge was like, we interviewed Hobbe Smit about his experience this year.
1. What was your role in the Hamilton Challenge this year?
When I learned from Pastor Connan that Hamilton Challenge was happening this year, I got very excited. I was on the Hamilton Challenge planning team in past years and had seen the Lord move powerfully in past years to grow his kingdom family. I immediately reached out to Chris Kovacs and got involved as a member of the Planning Team for the 2023 Hamilton Challenge.
2. Can you give us a snapshot of what the Hamilton Challenge looked like this past year?
This year, as with years past, we kickstarted a week of learning and living as a local cross-cultural missionary by being reminded of what the Gospel is and why we are called to make disciples through sharing the Gospel. We then got familiarized with some ways to do evangelism and every evening we had different missional activities ranging from door-to-door spiritual surveys with an opportunity to share the Gospel to serving coffee and chatting with community friends at Helping Hands Street Mission to engaging in Gospel conversations in response to a paint board presentation on the corner of James & King, etc. Some afternoons we went to religious sites for a tour and Q&A session – including locally at the Downtown Hamilton Mosque. Steve Hawkins of Operation Mobilization, who speaks 13 languages and lives in 3 countries annually, was our excellent cross-cultural guide – briefing us on Islam, Catholicism, and Agnosticism, as well as debriefing us after our religious site visits.
3. Is there a story or a highlight that you’d like to share?
Something that really stood out to me is that when I entered the mosque to sit at the back with the group and watch the Muslims pray, I felt a sense of spiritual unease. This spurred me on to silently pray for the Lord’s work through our time there. He brought to mind my Muslim friend Abdel, who I hadn’t seen in years. I was also reminded of how his friend Abdel (also) had invited me to celebrate his wedding. I made a note to check up on my friends.
After the Muslim prayer time had ended the imam called me up to share a bit about Hamilton Challenge and I shared of our interest in learning and listening to other cultures and faiths. Afterwards I was surprised to be greeted warmly by my friend Abdel! And next to him was the other Abdel who had invited me to his wedding so many years ago! Needless to say I took that as a sign that the Lord wanted me to journey with these friends more closely again and pray for their salvation.
Since then I’ve started meeting up with the closer of my two friends named Abdel. Although he seems like a devout Muslim, I was encouraged that he thought Christianity was a very good religion. I hope you, the reader, will pray with me for Abdel to experience the love and life of our Lord Jesus Christ.
4. What was one thing you were surprised to learn about?
On the Monday evening of Hamilton Challenge I was surprised to hear that Micah House is the only temporary housing location for refugees in all of Hamilton! It was encouraging to hear that the director of Micah House wants to grow to have another house that provides intermediate housing to further help refugees on their journey towards permanent housing.
5. What was one area you were challenged by? How did you grow as a result?
To be honest, the most challenging thing about Hamilton Challenge was juggling ministry and home life, in addition to dealing with the results of being in an accident on the Monday afternoon. (Thankfully no one was injured). This was challenging not only because of the stress but also because I missed out on a lot of the bolder initiatives like door-to-door evangelism and the paint board Gospel presentation. I believe that the Lord was telling me that I was not less of an ambassador for Him because of this but that I should remain faithful to my calling to journey relationally with those who do not yet trust in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. However, in those relational contexts I was spurred on to be more bold in sharing about sin and the need for repentance.
6. In what ways did God use your Hamilton Challenge experience to equip you in your everyday life?
Hamilton Challenge equipped me with a new boldness in sharing Jesus naturally with people the Lord has placed in my life. I also left with a greater appreciation for the body of Christ and the ways that we can spur each other on, in the context of authentic Christian community, to love and good deeds and Gospel proclamation. It was great to be so intentionally on mission with a group of people for a whole week.
