Sharing Jesus As A Grace Driven Church

We're walking through a series of messages that examine the purposes of the Church through the lens of grace. Today, we looked at evangelism. When I laid out the series,I felt that this would be the hardest to deal with. Now after I have delivered it, I still think that's the case.

We need to live out our love for Jesus in such a way that even those who oppose our worldview admire the way we live it. It means holding those beliefs tightly, but opening our hands and hearts to be good neighbors, regardless of whether those neighbors agree with us on a number of areas.

It means seeking the common ground that the apostle Paul wrote about.

My prayer is that we at New Hope would be people of grace, always ready to give an answer to the question of why we love God, love each other, and love others. And that we give that answer gently, gracefully, with respect for the person who asks.

Here's the You Tube link.

Great Article on the "Must-have's" for evangelism

While reading some blogs yesterday, I engaged in a discussion about evangelism. In that discussion, which came from the social gospel POV, I defended my belief that unless such ministry was empowered by a passion for souls won for Christ, it exchanged temporary benefit for everlasting life.

Today I read Timothy Brister's article linked below where he quotes Kuiper's work. Go read the whole list. The excerpt below is the last, and touched my heart.

Evangelism’s Must-Have’s « Provocations & Pantings

6. He must have an overwhelming love for the Saviour, who first loved him, and therefore exclaim:

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Himself being a sinner saved by grace, he ought to proclaim the love of God more eloquently than can the angels. Such communication of the evangel God is wont to bless and to use.

- R.B. Kuiper, God-Centered Evangelism (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1966, reprint 2002), 217-18.

We Can't Fix It

Down through the years, maybe partially because I was educated and trained in marketing, partially because I'm a classic "fix it" male, but really, because I want to see people experience the joy of life in Jesus Christ, I've tried to discover what we can do to get people to come to New Hope.

We've done a lot of things down through the years. Over and over again the most effective means, as reflected by the answers to "how did you find New Hope?" have been:

1. A personal invitation - far and away the most effective
2. Our sign - amazing to me
3. Our website - more and more this is the first contact

None of the other efforts have really proven to be effective for us. I have to say that it has annoyed me - the marketer me - because it is so ingrained in me that if you just get the right message in front of the right people - they will come. But they haven't.

I was reading Darryl Dash's blog this morning (was pointed there by Milton Stanley), and he reported the findings of another church's survey.

MacDonald now pastors a church in downtown Toronto called Grace Toronto. The church recently asked community members to describe their objections against Christianity. They found that many didn't have objections; they just find Christianity irrelevant. Going to church doesn't even make the list of options for Sunday morning. The seeker approach assumes that people will attend church if its relevant. But many won't go to church no matter what we do.

Friends, we overestimate our impact and underestimate the power of our opposition.

No matter what we do, we can't fix the lack of interest a population of people in rebellion to God has in attending a church worship service. Nor can we awaken their hearts to God's love. That's way above our pay grade as my father used to say.

What we can do is be authentic followers of Jesus and be available to our neighbors during times when they are spiritually receptive to the message.

What we can do is push out past the doors of the church and move into the neighborhood to experience life with our neighbors.

What we can do is pray, pray, pray for the people around us to experience the grace of Jesus.

But we can't fix it.

Personal Theological Statement on Evangelism

This was written a couple of weeks ago as an assignment for the Strategic Evangelism Class I will finish tomorrow at Rockbridge Seminary. There were to be no quotations and no footnotes and it was to be written in your own words. So it is not a typical academic paper. But I am putting it here so that those of you who wonder about Rockbridge, or are just interested in evangelism might be able to gather something possibly to use. We were asked to provide a bibliography of books that have influenced us in evangelism and you'll find that at the end of the paper.

What I Believe About the Biblical Purpose of Evangelism
Jesus came He said, to look for and rescue those who were lost. Much of the gospels reflect His heart for those who were either burned out on religion as it was practiced at the time, or those who were completely outside the camp. He described those outside as being sheep without a shepherd, tossed about, blown by whatever wind was prevailing. He explained His work as helping to bring the Kingdom of God alive within the hearts of people. Jesus came preaching the good news that the Kingdom of God had drawn near to people, and that the right response to that was to repent (change behavior, change direction, leave the old life behind), believe (in His rights and position as Messiah, in His mission, in His explanations and interpretations of Scripture - the whole you have heard it said, but I say – motif)

As you continue to look at His explanations of what evangelism means, He used parables which were decidedly relevant to the people of that time. They could buy into the deeper spiritual truths He was presenting because He laid the foundation by using the commonplace, the shared understandings, the culture they lived in as a backdrop for the “jewels” of the gospel. I think that people at the time, the common people at least, thought that they could never really inherit anything. Fully two thirds of the people at that time were slaves, the religious parties had a tight grip, and gentiles like us were simply unfit to receive much from God.

So Jesus came, explaining that God wasn’t interested in shallow displays of religious affection, or outward piety. No, God wanted His Kingdom to come, and His will to be done on earth. And that will was that no one should die without the saving knowledge of Jesus’ message. So Jesus came, and He preached, and He modeled evangelism in His talks with people of all faith backgrounds. He jousted with those who knew it all. He poked and prodded those who knew a lot but were still open. He helped the misguided see the truth. He reached out to the fallen, the failed, and the unlovely.

While he was here, he taught His disciples and the circle of companions that supported Him throughout His mission. He build a core group of people who at least grasped some of what He was trying to teach them regarding God’s work in bringing light to the nations, and who believed in Him. In His last words to them, He gave them a challenging command to go and make disciples of all people (pante ethos), teaching them to obey everything he had taught.

At Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came, everything suddenly made sense. The words of Jesus that the disciples just couldn’t always connect with what they knew from Judaism became alive in them, and the commands He had given them to be His witnesses, to spread His good news, to make disciples – got the fuel needed to go from abstract concepts they were still puzzling over – to the passionate goal of their life and the reason they were alive. For me, this is our purpose as Christians at the core – to glorify God with our lives in everything we do, knowing that we have been placed here to be part of God’s Big Story – His Master Plan – of reconciling the world to Himself through the Body of Christ Jesus. That may take the form of individual witness, of institutional outreach – but it is why we are here. Evangelism is an imperative not an alternative in a sea of choices.

What I Believe About the Practice of Evangelism In The Local Church
As a veteran of many different applications of evangelistic techniques and programs, and as a child of the decades when church growth paradigms were in vogue, I’d say that looking at the church’s work in relationship to the five “purposes” as laid out by Rick Warren in his book, the Purpose Driven Church makes sense to me.

Evangelism is part of the plan that God has placed for us in Scripture as a Body of believers in Jesus. Along with the other purposes, it is something that cannot be overlooked or we will be weakened overall, and it can not be over emphasized (except in a corrective action) or we as a church will become out of balance. Instead it is integrated into all that we do in one way or another.

As a group of people, we are to live out our calling to be instruments of reconciliation. We are to reach out to the hurting, to the broken, to the disaffected, to those who do not know God. But even at the extremes of that effort, we have to stay grounded in the knowledge that we too had nothing of merit that would cause God to turn His favor upon us. Once we weren’t anything special, but now we are children of God who have a treasure within that belies the container it is placed in. So as we are going through the lives God has given us, we reach out with the hope that the Spirit will draw people from sin’s grip and into fellowship with God through Jesus Christ.

I see that work of evangelism as relational, incarnational, and confrontational depending on how the Spirit leads. (And I would rely heavily on that leading just as Philip did, just as Paul did.) We are to be salt and light, (both flavoring individuals and preserving God’s truth within the culture, and casting light upon the right way as well as illuminating evil) living our lives as praise and worship doing the good works that God prepared in advance for us to do so that people might be drawn to us to know why. Jesus explained that we aren’t to congregate in a holy huddle or hide behind the fortress walls. Salt only works when it’s shaken out and it’s useless when impure. Light wasn’t made to be hidden but placed in position to do the most good. Jesus’ call to the disciples was to come and follow Him, and He would make them fishers of men.

So we live life in relationships with people, meeting their needs and loving them as they are praying that the Spirit gives us opportunity to help them meet their unmet need of wholeness and right standing with God through a relationship with Jesus Christ. And we live as examples of how a person should follow Christ in hopes that the difference between our lives and those of the world might provide points of contact where we might develop bridges that the gospel might pass over. Then there are also times and situations in which we must confront the culture and the people trapped within it with their position versus the commands of Jesus and the Word of God.
I have become convinced over the past few years that the surest way to drive evangelism by the Body is to kick the Body out of church and into the community. We couple that with training on how to build the bridges, how to ask questions that lead to spiritual conversations and work to take the fear out of the evangelistic event. I’ve learned a lot from the work of Brian McClaren, Jim Henderson, Robert Aldridge, Robert Lewis, as well as from the ministry outreaches of FBC Leesburg FL, who really set a standard for churches within my denomination on how to reach into the culture, meeting needs to see people come to Jesus.

What I Believe About the Responsibility of Church Leadership In Leading Others To Evangelize
When the Scripture explains the qualifications of church leaders, it spends a great deal of time looking at the quality of the life those persons must live. It refers to the quality of their family relationships, their personal reputation in the community, and the way the leader lives when no one is looking. In other places, it explains that not many should choose this path, because once you are on it, you are subject to additional scrutiny from God. So for one to enter this path means that person should be aware that a life of leadership in God’s church implicitly assumes a level of personal holiness and commitment to God’s plan.

That life then incarnates Paul’s command to follow him as he followed Jesus. The leader cannot expect people to go any farther than he or she is willing to go themselves. So in addition to equipping the Body to do evangelism, the leader must be an example of one who incorporates evangelism in everyday life (just as we are an example of life as worship).

Leaders as individuals are of course formed differently. Some are naturally relational and outgoing, others are withdrawn and essentially private. Others are gifted in evangelism though the vast majority may not be. It really doesn’t matter, because every Christian is called to do the work of an evangelist. So even though the leader may not see dozens of converts as someone who is gifted in that area might, it still falls under their personal responsibility as well as their responsibility as a leader to be engaged in that work.

That will mean for most of us in vocational ministry, getting out of the office and into the larger gene pool. We have to make an effort to find ways to be in company with people who are not in church and who may be far from God. So the leader who expects the church to engage in evangelism needs to prioritize building relationships with unbelievers. Then as you do that, involve some of your people who can pick up the idea and form their own personal ministries of outreach. There’s no way one individual can possibly make as big a difference as a group of individuals united and engaged in an intentionally evangelistic lifestyle can.

Bibliography of Where My Personal Beliefs About Evangelism Come
The Message, Eugene Peterson
The New Living Translation, Second Edition, Tyndale House
Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem
The Moody Handbook of Theology, Ennis
The Baptist Faith and Message, 2000
The Holman Bible Dictionary
Matthew, Holman NIV Commentary, Anders
Matthew, Communicator’s Commentary, Augsburger
More Ready Than You Realize, Brian McClaren
An Unstoppable Force, Erwin McManus
Friendship Evangelism, Joseph Aldrich
Lifestyle Evangelism, Crossing Traditional Boundaries, Joseph Aldrich
Dog Training, Fly Fishing, and Sharing Christ in the 21st Century, Ted Haggard
His Heart, Your Hands, NAMB Publication
The Jesus Way, Eugene Peterson
The Church of Irresistible Influence, Robert Lewis
Searching For God Knows What, Donald Miller
The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren
Bible Navigator Software, version 4
Libronix Digital Library System
Following Jesus, N.T. Wright
To Follow Him, Mark Bailey

Welcome to the tribe!

One of the things I have always wanted to learn to do is fly fishing. My son Sean bought me an outfit for Christmas this year and I've been reading online about how to best begin. I sent off for a free decal from a company named Reel Pure, Inc.

It came in Saturday, and I couldn't help but make the connection to what I do as a pastor. "Welcome to the tribe!" was the salutation on the letter than accompanied the decal.

"Forever Fish," was the closing remark.

It was sent by the "Director - Attitude Adjustment"

LOL. I love that passion!

So I'm adopting their motto.

Forever Fish,

David

(who is available for free fishing trips anywhere :) )

"The World Was Not Worthy Of Them"

"Elderly Burned Convert Dies In Bangladesh," from BosNewsLife (thanks to Religion of Peace):

DHAKA, BANGLADESH (BosNewsLife)-- Christian villagers in a Muslim-majority area of Bangladesh on Tuesday, February 5, mourned the death of a 70-year-old woman who died from burns she suffered when a mob reportedly set her home ablaze as a punishment for converting from Islam to Christianity.

Rahima Beoa, who was planning to be baptized on February 13 in Cinatuly village in Rangpur district, 248 kilometers (154 miles) northwest of the capital Dhaka, suffered burns on at least 70 percent of her body, local villagers said. Suspected Muslim extremists set their home, made from bamboo and wood, ablaze on January 7, while she and her 9-year-old grand child were sleeping, reported Compass Direct News, a Christian news agency.

The pastor of the local evangelical Isha-e-Jamat (Jesus’ Church) Bangladesh denomination, Abdul Mabud Chowdhury, reportedly said that the mob was also upset that Beoa’s daughter and son-in-law, 40-year-old Ashraful Islam, converted to Christianity and about their involvement in evangelistic efforts.

A lack of access to adequate medical care was believed to have contributed to Beoa's death on Friday, February 1. No relatives or neighbors allegedly came to put out the fire and the family reportedly also lost two head of cattle in one corner of the structure.

32 ¶ And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets,
33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions,
34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection.
36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison.
37 They were stoned; they were sawn in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and ill-treated--
38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
39* These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.
40* God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
12:1* ¶ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 11:32 - 12:1

If we've forgotten the cost many have paid, here's your wakeup call.

Therefore, since..

throw off...

RUN!

KEEP RUNNING!

On This Date In 1984

Apple introduced the Macintosh personal computer - and everything changed.

Well... Not really.

But it did have an impact on the future of personal computing - and still does. I'm a veteran of the computer wars, and have operated Basic, Geos, C/PM, MS-DOS, Win 3.1 and every one following (except Vista), SCO Unix, Ubuntu and Kubuntu Linux, OS2 and OS2Warp, and now OS X.

To my right sits an IBM Thinkpad with XP, and I type this on a Mac. So I've been around and in this revolution since the beginning.

The tasks I do on whatever computer sits in front of me are still pretty much the same as they were at the beginning, though as software has progressed, certain tasks I used to have to do on other platforms are now integrated within the PC. It's all good. I love technology - when it helps.

I've been reading lately about the different ways Christianity has approached culture. As I've studied modern approaches, I had this feeling that I was missing something by not looking back at the way Christianity was able to spread in the earlier centuries despite (or perhaps because of) no support, or even hostility towards it from the people and governments it related to.

In that search I stumbled across a book called "The Celtic Way of Evangelism" by George Hunter.

Wow.

So much of what Hunter shows of Patrick's model for evangelism is exactly the model we could use today.

Funny how at times we need to go back, to move forward. Hunter quotes an ancient Chinese Poem in the book's conclusion.

Go to the people.
Live among them.
Learn from them.
Love them.
Start with what they know.
Build on what they have.

On this day in 2007 - that makes a lot of sense.

The final paragraph in the book is this one:

The supreme key to reaching the West again is the key that Patrick discovered - involuntarily but providentially. The gulf between church people and unchurched people is vast, but if we pay the price to understand them, we will usually know what to say and what to do; if they know and feel we understand them, by the tens of millions they will risk opening their hearts to the God who understands them.

With all my heart I pray that millions of us will wake up in time to reach millions of those who live not far from God.

Update on Rockbridge Core Evangelism Textbooks

Optional Textbooks

Ancient-Future Evangelism: Making your Church a Faith-Forming Community by Robert E. Webber
Church Evangelism: Creating a Culture for Growth in your Congregation by John Mark Terry
Evangelism Outside the Box: New Ways to Help People Experience the Good News by Rick Richardson
More Ready Than You Realize: The Power of Everyday Conversations by Brian D. McLaren
Reimagining Evangelism: Inviting Friends on a Spiritual Journey by Rick Richardson (forewords by Brian McLaren and Luis Palau)
Reinventing Evangelism: New Strategies for Presenting Christ in Today’s World by Donald C. Posterski
The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church by Alan Hirsch (foreword by Leonard Sweet)
The Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren
The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

On Evangelism

In two days, I'll begin the new term at Rockbridge Seminary and start the core course on Evangelism.

The Theology & Practice of Evangelism E5301
This course is a study of the doctrines of man and redemption and of God's purpose to reach the peoples and nations of the world for His glory through the church. Emphasis will be given to the biblical mandate, the church's outreach in history, the mission task today, and how mission translates to the level of the individual believer. Learners will design a mission's mobilization strategy for their congregation, ministry, or small group.

I've already taken an elective under the evangelism banner -

Next Steps in Planting and Growing a Missional Church E6408
This course is for those who are in the initial stages of a church plant and need to know how to take their new work to the next level. The course will address the spiritual formation process of leaders, expanding the church's influence, multiplication through evangelism, weathering crisis points, measuring health, and knowing when and how to leave.

As well as having taken Personal Evangelism at New Orleans, participated in the trial of an evangelism strategy program for the FBC,(the Intentionally Evangelistic Church - spearheaded by Dr Don McCutcheon) learned and taught EE, Contagious Church, and will soon be teaching "Just Walk Across the Room".

And yet, I am not an evangelist.

If anyone should be, by virtue of training and experience, I should be. But I do not have the gift of evangelism, I just do the work of an evangelist and hope to train others to do the same.

The singularly hardest part of evangelism is to keep after it in prayer. No it's not the program, and it's not in my view the actual work. It is to open yourself to correction and instruction, to petition God to give you opportunities even if those opportunities put you far outside your gifting and your comfort zone.

I am so very aware that I need God in this.

Years ago, I thought that this was a skill I needed to master, and that once I had the skill set, I would be blessed with amazing tales of evangelistic success and would one day be trotted out on stage at the convention to applause.

Little did I realize that the skill is useless without the Holy Spirit's empowerment.

My background was in sales, and I was successful there. Here, I was giving away the keys to heaven, and though I delivered the "pitch" perfectly, most of the time either nothing happened, or the person made some weak profession not followed up with life change.

My most successful period occurred while I worked at a ministry center and gave out the gospel to people who were in need. I would come home fired up and amazed at what God was doing. That little house was seeing more conversions than the mega church across the street. But we weren't a church, and though we tried mightily to get the converts placed in churches, our track record was horrible.

So over the last few years I have come to see that the Holy Spirit's work of evangelism does not require trained evangelists, just available people. And that if the spark of spiritual awakening is to become a flame that consumes the converts self, it requires community to make it so.

Here at New Hope, we've pushed out into affinity groups and small group Bible studies, as well as taking the message to parks, community events, and points of contact such as schools. It's in the spirit of Francis of Assisi who wrote "preach the gospel everywhere - if necessary, use words." We'll be ready when the Holy Spirit says go.

I hope I'll learn more in the course, but really, I hope the people I serve and I will do more of the work of evangelists in 2008 - in our homes, our workplaces, and in the community. We need to share our faith, not try to sell it.

Sweet Tea and Fried Chicken, Oh, and Jesus

Tonight I played a video provided by the International Mission Board as an aid to pastors like me when we are trying to inform and encourage our congregations to give to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering for missions.

This year's focus is on Eastern Europe. One of the people whose lives are spotlighted this year is a Russian named Genady who lives in Moscow. This is his story.



When I previewed it in my office I wasn't prepared for the effect it would have on me. Seeing the man unashamedly cry while admitting that he had no way to verbalize what God had done in his heart, really moved me. In so many cases here in America, we don't see the emotional response to the taking away of sin as a repentant heart meets a loving Savior.

What we get is a reaction like being asked to join the Rotary or the loyal Order of Elks.

Makes me wonder if we are preaching the same gospel. I believe I am. But maybe our culture has been on such an "I'm okay, you're okay" run that people have come to the opinion that God would do well to have them join His organization.

But when I watched Genady, I remembered what I felt that night when I surrendered to Christ and how great it has been to see people since then come to Him too. I read the last part of John to the folks tonight. You know, the part right after the woman at the well?

Jesus is sitting there talking to the woman and the disciples come back and can't figure out what's going on. I mean what's the rabbi doing sitting there with a woman - a Samaritan woman? "Do you want something to eat Jesus?" they ask. "No, I'm good" he replies. "What? Did you pick something up while we were gone?"

"Yeah, I got filled up."

They didn't get it. Most of us don't.

But see to Jesus, talking about the father's love for lost people is better than fried chicken and sweet tea. He'd rather miss a meal than ever miss a person. Cause He knew what really matters in this life is how many people you are going to bring with you into the next.

I'd forgotten just how good that kind of food tastes.

Thank you Lord for letting me see Genady's testimony.

We're going to baptize Sunday. I can't wait!

Great quote

“So long as there is a human being who does not know Jesus Christ, I am his debtor to serve him until he does.”-
Oswald Chambers

Can You Reach Seekers and Be Missional?

One of the great concerns as I lead our folks out from the mother ship and into those strange new worlds of our neighborhoods, the offices, and the places we live is whether or not the emphasis on pushing the main thing away from the Sunday morning gathering and into everyday life will decrease our effectiveness at reaching seekers.

Yes, I do lose sleep over things like this.

My however many years I have left mission is to reach people for Christ. If I'm not seeing our church being more effective in that, no matter how many disciples we have becoming more mature, we've missed the point.

So I look for people who are successfully pulling off both and shamelessly steal from their ideas. Here, Bob Roberts Jr. gives great insight into pulling it off. Read the article. Print it out and give it to your leadership. Put his ideas into practice along with your own.

Then write me and tell me what they are so I can steal them too.

The Searchers

It's been five days now, since adventurer Steve Fossett took off from a private airstrip near his home and disappeared. The area in Nevada that it's presumed he may have crashed in is so remote and so rugged that the only way to really search it is from the air. So planes, helicopters, and even satellite imagery are being used in an effort to find Steve.

Last night, I got an email from Amazon asking me if I'd like to help. Since I'm a tech geek, I signed up for their "Mechanical Turk" program that essentially keeps you in the loop on new technical advances. So I guess since Steve Fossett is someone who has contributed greatly to those advances, the folks at Amazon are counting him as one of their own and enlisting everyone they can - even people thousands of miles away - to find the lost by pouring over Google maps images of the search area..

Whatever it takes. Reminded me of another search party.

1 By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. 2 The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, "He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends." 3 Their grumbling triggered this story.
4 "Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? 5 When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, 6 and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' 7 Count on it— there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue. Luke 15:1-7 (MSG)

They can count me in.

I come from a long line of people who know what it's like to be lost, and who are trying to follow the example of Jesus, who left everything to find sinners like me and bring them home.

Grace and peace,

David

The 100

The 100... million

"You live and learn" is what people say.

But is it just me, or does much of what we learn not get used?

Algebra... now when is the last time you used that. (Don't get me started on Trigonometry etc.) Some of what we learn just gets outdated. I knew how to use a slide rule once upon a time, could run MS-DOS off a command line prompt, and could tell you a lot about handball. But none of those are in use anymore, at least not by me.

But once upon a time I was a wiz.

One of the areas of knowledge I still do use is statistics. So when I read this week about the 100 - the 100 million people who haven't been to church once in the last six months, my keen intellect determined immediately that first - 100 million is a lot, and second, people are inclined to stretch the truth about going to church. So I am very sure it's more than just 100... million.

And here's what bothers me about those stats.

I know some of them.

They are people I care about.

And if I have lived and learned, then why aren't I - and the church that I serve better at helping them find Jesus?

Why aren't we all?

100,000,000 souls..........................

Like A Bear Fed By Tourists

Ed Stetzer gets it.

Today, the church is like a bear fed by tourists. It's lost its natural ability.

We need to share Christ in meaningful ways without just inviting people to a congregational event. I can just suggest one brief idea: let's get that back by starting where people are, listening to them, building a relationship, telling them about Jesus, sharing with them the story of redemption, and bringing them to a bloody cross and an empty tomb.
Ed Stetzer

HT: Catalyst

Counting Conversations

Counting the Conversations

The last few days, I've had an opportunity I seldom get - a chance to slow down. One of the things you realize pretty quickly as a pastor is that there is more to do than you can lay your hands on, and more beyond that you'd like to do. One of the skills necessary then is to be able to decide what absolutely has to happen each week, and how you can best accomplish that. Then you let everything else fall into place after.

One of the convictions I orient everything I do around is the idea that we are to be intentional about helping people find Jesus, and equally as serious about teaching them how to follow Him. So when I read this quote from the movie "Big Kahuna" it made me take a minute to think.

Phil Cooper (In the "Big Kahuna") : It doesn't matter whether you're selling Jesus or Buddha or civil rights or 'How to Make Money in Real Estate With No Money Down.' That doesn't make you a human being; it makes you a marketing rep. If you want to talk to somebody honestly, as a human being, ask him about his kids. Find out what his dreams are - just to find out, for no other reason. Because as soon as you lay your hands on a conversation to steer it, it's not a conversation anymore; it's a pitch. And you're not a human being; you're a marketing rep.

One of my goals for this year is to really accelerate the process of our folks working within their existing networks rather than forcing things. It's become apparent as I've counted off the various ways of evangelism that the most effective evangelist is the person who is asked to tell about Jesus. It happens more than we think, but almost never happens the first time we meet someone.

And as "Phil Cooper" points out above, unless you have an invitation, it's a sales call.

Having made thousands of those, even from the perspective of a salesman who wanted his clients to prosper so that my company would too, it's still about selling something. We don't "sell" Jesus, we share what He has done for us with the hope that the person we care about might decide to love Him too.

So how do we measure success in the effort?

After thinking about it for the last week or so, I think we have to help people discover their networks, equip them to always be prepared to give an answer, and count conversations. Not like a salesperson counts sales leads, but like a human being counts their friends. If I inquire about a person's kids, or their mother whose ill, and gain the opportunity to say "can we do anything? Would it be okay if my family prays for them?", then we've had a countable conversation. If a person says "I wonder why we are here on earth," and we can help them with a discussion of purpose and God's plan, again, we've had success. We have to remember that salvation is God's work, and we are just His instruments.

Each of us working within the networks of family, coworkers, friends and neighbors should have multiple opportunities weekly to be ambassadors for Jesus. Sharing when we come together of how God is opening doors for us will be contagious. Contagious Christians. Sounds like a plan.