KANSAS CITY (MBCollegiate) – On July 14, Safi Veronique stood before the congregation at Grace Point Baptist Church in Kansas City, powerfully sharing her testimony live before following Jesus in obedience through baptism. Safi’s story illustrates the profound way God works through a variety of people and means to draw hearts to repentance and belief in Him.
We first got to know Safi when she attended a monthly Collegiate Impact dinner at our house. At the time, she was a student at Avila University. Ja’Keya Jackson, her friend and co-leader of a student-led Bible study on campus we’d been helping, brought her along to dinner.
That night, we had invited a few families who mentor college students through our Befriend-a-Student Program to join the dinner. Safi, expecting just college students, asked why there were kids there. I shared with her about the program. By the next morning, she had signed up. We paired her with Gregg Boll, DOM of the Blue River-Kansas City Baptist Association, and his wife, Terri. They began getting to know her and pouring into her life.
Safi Veronique with Britney Hamm
The next month, Safi came back to our dinner again. She had questions about the Bible and what certain passages meant. We sat discussing her questions on my deck for most of the evening, and she shared parts of her story with me. At the time, she said she was a believer, but I wasn’t entirely sure where she was at in her journey with Jesus.
She says now of her former self, “I grew up in Africa with a Christian family. We prayed and went to church almost every Sunday. Though I did all those things, I never felt connected to God.” College life had been full of temptations and people who made her question what she believed. She found herself walking in sin, filled with guilt, and feeling unloved by God.
Safi was looking for a church. We invited her to come with us to Grace Point. The first day she came, she was ecstatic to meet our pastor, Athol Barnes, and his wife Debbie. Hailing from South Africa, they were the first people she’d met in America who have visited Malawi, which is where she spent a majority of her childhood after leaving Congo.
We learned later that she’d also been attending Paradigm (a Tuesday night young adult service hosted by an area church), since March 26, 2024. That night, she’d gone expecting a typical church service but found testimony night instead. Hearing other young adults share their stories touched her heart as they described experiences similar to her own. She was broken over her sin; she asked God to forgive her and show her who He truly is. She promised to stop sinning.
But change powered by her own resolve didn’t last. After falling back into previous sin struggles, she says she “felt like God doesn’t love me anymore. I’m not his daughter anymore.” Buried under guilt, she almost didn’t go to Paradigm that night, June 2, thinking “even if I go, God won’t hear me. I promised him I’ll stay away from sins, but I’m still doing it.”
Compelled by a force she couldn’t explain, she attended Paradigm anyway. A few days later, she showed up at our house for another college dinner with a big smile on her face. She told me she had something to share with me. She described how she had given her life to Christ, understanding for the first time who Jesus really is, repenting of her sin, and surrendering to His lordship on Tuesday night at Paradigm.
She explained that two young women, Sydney and Darien, had noticed her crying and preparing to leave during the service. They inquired what was wrong. “I started explaining what’s going on, how I felt unloved, that Jesus didn’t love me anymore. I’d sinned after promising that I’m not going to do it,” she told them.
But one of them told her something she didn’t expect to hear: God loves her enough to die on the cross for her, and there’s nothing she can do to lose His love.
“They introduced me to Jesus in a different way,” Safi says. “That changed my life. She made me start seeing Jesus for who He is. I thought I was a Christian, but I wasn’t. She told me that Jesus is the way. Jesus died on the cross and after three days rose again. She helped me accept him as my Lord and Savior. From that day, I feel fire in my heart. I started bringing other people to church…Every time I talk to people, all I talk about is Jesus.”
When Safi stood before the Grace Point congregation to share her testimony before her baptism, she concluded by saying, “This is powerful. Now I feel loved. I used to be really insecure, not able to stand here and talk to people. In college, I had to do recordings to do presentations. But when the pastor said you can do your testimony by video, I said no, I’m going to stand here and show that I’m not afraid. God did it. I’m now confident; I’m loved; I don’t feel insecure, I can do whatever I can to show God that I love Him and I thank Him for changing my life. Today I’m getting baptized to show the world that I’m giving my life to Jesus. I’m not of the world anymore; I’m of Jesus.”
On Friday, Aug. 2, we shared a meal with Safi, her cousin, a smattering of college students, and the Bolls, Safi’s Befriend-a-Student mentors. We watched her testimony and baptism videos, then gathered around her to lay hands on her and pray for her before cutting into her “Happy Jesus Birthday” cake.
Safi’s story doesn’t end there. She wasn’t kidding—everywhere she goes, she tells people about Jesus. She’s been helping her younger siblings examine what they believe and understand who Jesus is. She’s been sharing the gospel with her coworkers. Recently, she testified before our congregation a second time to relay the opportunity the Lord had given her to lead one coworker to Christ the night before.
Safi has been serving in the children’s ministry at church and attending Sunday school classes, and she became a member at Grace Point in September. Recently, she moved in with one of our Collegiate Impact staff members where she receives everyday life-on-life discipleship. She also asked me to disciple her.
Safi will likely be restarting her college career at an area campus in the spring or fall. We’re excited to keep walking with her as she grows like a weed, soaks up the Word like a sponge, and spreads God’s love like a pollinator to fellow college students, coworkers, and her family.
No one church or ministry gets the credit for Safi’s testimony. God used her friends from Avila, Collegiate Impact staff, her Befriend-a-Student couple, the Paradigm ministry, two young adult women at Paradigm, and Grace Point to show her who Jesus really is. We have no doubt that God will use her to play a part in the story of many others as they seek to know who He is.
Through her story, God gets the glory. And that’s what matters most.