ST. LOUIS — Many of her atheist friends think it’s funny that she goes to church, but Sarah Klausner doesn’t mind.
She attends local atheist meetings to make new friends and gain understanding of what atheists believe. But sometimes she even adds to the conversation.
“They once challenged me with 15 parts of the Bible that they thought was contradictory,” she said. “Each time I showed them how they didn’t contradict. They respect the fact that I’m a follower of Christ who actually knows the scriptures.”
She even met her now fiancé, Migael Randall, at an atheist meeting, and since spending time with Klausner and the Bible, God has done a mighty work in his life.
“When I met him he didn’t believe Jesus existed at all,” she said. “The Sunday he came forward at church I sat in the car and waited for him to get done talking with the pastor, all the while thinking, ‘This is unreal. He’s just doing this because he likes me.’ My initial lack of faith still bothers me since his salvation was what I had been praying for all along.”
Atheists aren’t the only “fringe group” Klausner spends time with. As a police officer with the Silex Police Department, she has met and brought God’s word to people that desperately need it. She has visited strip clubs and taken strippers out to lunch, she’s spent time with members of the gay and lesbian community during Pridefest and she’s cordial with many known drug addicts who have been in and out of jail.
“You don’t have to shove the Bible in people’s faces,” Klausner said. “It’s only through Christ that I have the ability to share the gospel and bring peace to people. I’ve gotten to know some of these people and treating them like a human being goes a long way.”
But she wasn’t always so compassionate and able to see people with God’s eyes. Like many before her, God used pain and brokenness to make a new and beautiful work in Klausner’s life.
“My husband, Bob, was a sweet man who was very good to me,” she said. “He became a Christian and treated me well but, because of the abuse in my past, I honestly think I hated men. Bob took the full brunt of it. I wasn’t very loving toward my kids or Bob, but I loved being a police officer and the badge became my god.”
Then on March 5, 2011, Bob died from a brain aneurism. He was only 32.
“He was an organ donor so they kept him for two days,” she said. “It was awful torture at the time but later I received 50 letters from people who were saved because of him.”
Meanwhile, Klausner started drinking heavily and taking anxiety medicine. At her lowest point, Klausner suddenly realized that some of the people she picked up while on duty were not so different from her.
“Before going through this I was close-minded and judgmental, especially against drug dealers and people who victimized others because of their addiction,” she said. “I found myself in their shoes. I didn’t want to die because I needed to be there for my kids, but I knew I couldn’t do this on my own. I knew I needed help.”
Klausner started attending Parkway Baptist Church here, the church where they had her husband’s funeral.
“Pastor (Dwight) Blankenship gave so much hope in his sermons and gradually I wanted more and more to become a Christ follower,” she said. “But if I was going to do this, I was going to do it all the way.”
A couple of months after she was baptized, Klausner wanted to know how to study the Bible. She started in the book of Acts and she was hooked.
“Oh my gosh. Paul, Jeremiah, and John the Baptist are some of my favorites,” she said. “I just kept reading and reading, I was so hungry. First I read the New Testament, then the Old. My love is learning about who God is.”
She started a Bible study in her police department and saw herself transform along with others in the group. That’s when she realized scripture could change anyone if given the chance.
“I have learned that there is a reason each person believes and thinks the way they do,” she said. “You haven’t lived their life. You have no idea. I’m not downplaying the holiness of God, either. Sin is horrible. But I know what I think or believe doesn’t matter. Scripture is the only thing that matters. The gospel will convict. We are called to share it and love others. That’s it.”