D2S LIVE Emcee Kayla Thompson Shares Her Excitement for LIVE

We interviewed Dare 2 Share LIVE emcee Kayla Thompson about speaking at the upcoming simulcast on September 23rd. The first time we met Kayla, she was a high school student auditioning for our SHINE reality series curriculum. Here’s what she had to say about the event and sharing her faith:

About Dare 2 Share LIVE:

How do you feel about sharing your faith on September 23 with 50,000 other students?

I’m definitely nervous about sharing with this many people at one time. This is something that I’ve never gotten to take part in before, but that also adds some excitement to it all as well. But I am so pumped to share my passion for the gospel and how the Lord has transformed my life with other people to hopefully help them understand the gospel and leave with the same fire I have to live for Christ.

Why are you so passionate about your friends knowing Jesus?

I think I’m so passionate about sharing my faith because my heart is broken for all of the brokenness that is around me. I see so much hurt and suffering in people’s lives and how they’re trying to fill it with temporary things in this world to give them joy. I’ve lived that life and I’ve chased the sin of the world trying to get as many temporary highs as I can to really fill the void in my heart, but it never worked. I want people to come to experience and know the love of Jesus and how He truly is the only one who can satisfy.

50,000 teens will be trained and equipped to share the gospel in their communities on September 23. What does this make you feel/think and why?

It makes me feel really inspired and encouraged that over 50,000 students and adults are sacrificing their time to learn how to equip themselves to share the gospel. This could be a group that reaches the nation for Christ. This could be a generation that decreases the 10-40 window. This could be the beginning of a revival in the name of Jesus!!! There are so many young people who are sold out for THE Cause of Christ and that has a whole lot of power behind it! I’m so excited to be a part and see how the Lord uses September 23rd.

About Sharing Her Faith:

What has life been like for you after being filmed in SHINE?

Life has gone by fast! It really does feel like a couple of months ago I was in Colorado with the SHINE team filming.

Since then, I’ve been attending Murray State University studying Public Relations. I’m involved with many organizations on campus, one of which is called Campus Outreach. This ministry’s main focus is to raise up college campus laborers who can continue their walk with Christ for life, share their faith with others, and lead others to Christ all over the world! I’ve attended 2 summer, discipleship projects in Tampa, Florida with about 100 other college students from different universities where we were trained how to study the bible, share our faith and grow in our relationship with the Lord. The project is 10 weeks long and I have grown so much because of it! The Lord has given me such a clear vision of how He wants to use me in college and beyond.

Do you have something that inspires you to share your faith (like a verse or a song)? If so, what is it?

Romans 10:14-15 is always my go to verse when I need to be reminded of how important it is to share my faith. The fact that Paul says “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!” is so cool to me and reminds me that people cannot believe unless they hear! That’s our responsibility as Christians: to share the love of Jesus with everyone! An awesome quote about evangelism that I love  is “The gospel came to you on its way to someone else.” It’s like, who could the Lord save if you gave your life away for the sake of the gospel!

Can you share a “fail story” of sharing the gospel and how you handled it?

My “fail story” is of one time when I was sharing the gospel with two women I had met in a mall. They were of the Hindu faith and they shared a lot about what they believe and why. The women also allowed me to share my faith and how I came to know the Lord. They were attentive and asked questions and seemed interested, but they were very convinced of what they believed and didn’t want to believe anything other than their religion. It was sad because they believed that they had to earn their way to heaven by being a good person and that if their good outweighed the bad, they would be worthy enough to enter heaven. They didn’t understand the concept of grace.

How has your youth leader played a role in your faith?

My youth leader, Josh Boyer, has played a huge role in my walk with Christ because he has literally been with me every step of the way. He has loved me when I didn’t deserve it and sought me out when I was distant. He called me out on sin, even when it was hard and he always pointed me to Christ. Even seeing how much he has clung to the Lord during the hardest times in his life (when his daughter was diagnosed with cancer). Seeing how much he has relied on the Father for strength, when he had none himself shows such a Christ-like character. The Lord used him so much in my walk with Christ during my high school career to draw me nearer to Him and to experience Him to the fullest extent.

Do you have any friends you’ve been able to find who also share your passion? How do you help each other?

In my college ministry, I have met a lot of people who have the same passion of sharing the gospel with the lost world. I have friends in every area on campus from sports teams to fraternities to dorms who are laboring for Christ in order to win people to Him. It’s been awesome to share in The Great Commission with them and to lean on them when life gets hard and I’m struggling. Weekly we will meet and pray together about our lost friends and for needs that we want to see met. Having a strong ministry and church body has helped me so much during college to see just how big the Lord is and how great and merciful he is to save and use messed up sinners like us to bring glory to His kingdom!

Be part of this movement of God alongside Kayla on September 23rd, register your group here!