The Gospel Plow

One of our church members, Norma, told me about her response to my surfer-discipleship story.  She said that she loved her Dad, and one of her strongest memories is how he would plow their fields with a one-horse plow, and she would walk behind him, making sure to walk in his footsteps.  Wow!  I am not sure you can wear out the Gospel implications in that!

It reminds me of something that our friend Theo has said, "Memorize what the backside of Jesus looks like so you can be sure you are following Him."  He goes on to say we should know what His heels look like!  I am reminded of Teddy Ray's prompting me to have a Holiness/Evangelism/Discipleship conference called "Beautiful Feet."

Yesterday, another member, JoAnn was talking to some people at the grocery store.  She told them about our church and invited them.  The two she talked with were interested, saying they had been thinking of going to church.  JoAnn asked for their numbers, if they were interested in the pastor calling them.  They gave her the numbers.  Awesome to work together in the fields of the Lord!

Critical Mass

Here is my “conversion chain” not sure what else to call it. These are the moments of witness that I remember, things that when I came to Christ I realized were the people whose words and actions added up to the moment the Holy Spirit had His way and I came to Christ. I cannot completely put them in chronological order. It's close though. I do this for two reasons:

1. There is no pastor on this list. That's a good thing, not a slap against pastors. I was hostile to Christians and church so there would be very little chance for a pastor to reach me. You lay people have to do this!
   
2. Your seemingly small things, things you probably do not remember have worked with others to bring a harvest of repentance and salvation that you won't know about this side of glory. You won't always or often be like Larry Isitt, Dane Conrad, James Sims and Drew Barnes and get to see that I came to Christ after they witnessed to me.

Ed Higginbotham, my dad's commanding officer when I was 4 or 5, invited us to a service at a Presbyterian church
C.S. Lewis. No lie, in third grade, the idea that Aslan—an innocent—died for the sins of others stuck in me, even tho someone very important and influential in my life told me that was a ludicrous idea. I could not let it go.
Kids playing basketball in my subdivision in Texas. I knew one of them from Germany (Air Force brats...) I cussed while we played. The boy said simply “we don't talk like that here.”
FCA group playing flag football on a weekend at my high school. I was on a long bike ride and stopped to play, too. Same story. I cussed. They said please don't. Older kid tried to tell me about Jesus.
Kathy Kedzierski. Open about going to church.
Tim, from Governor's School. Just told me about salvation and asked me if I wanted to accept Jesus. He was totally ready to pray for me right then and there.
Guitar player at a party. He shared with me about the blues and Jesus.
Abortion protesters on a street in San Luis Obispo, CA.
JoAnn, my cousin. She invited me to church with her a lot while I was in college in Mississippi.
Anastacia Feldman, history professor.
Audrey. Can't remember her name. Would not go out with me because I was a pretty rank pagan. That stuck with me, too.

Erwin Burt, a friend who let me hunt on his land, and took me to church with him.

Tommy Blanton, boss

Stan Hauer, English professor
James Sims, English professor

Larry Isitt, fellow college student

Two girls from 37th Avenue Baptist Church who asked me if I knew where I'd go if I died.

Dane Conrad, fellow college student
Drew Barnes, fellow college student
Buddy Pittman, co-worker
Robert Allen, co-worker
Barry Burruss, co-worker

The Gideons. Getting that Scripture in October of 1994...

There are 23 items on this list.  There are no doubt some I do not remember.  The point is, will you be intentional about telling someone about Jesus, and be ok with always being number 13?  Never knowing that the person you share with will come to faith or not?

A Surfer's Joy

I have been reminded recently of something I saw a number of years ago, something that is speaking to me again about evangelism and discipleship. I think it has to do with a theme of joy. I was fishing with a friend who has not quite decided what he thinks about Jesus. His kids came to our Vacation Bible School. His comment about the closing ceremony was revealing. He said that he was impressed that everyone was smiling, that the kids were having fun. “There was a lot of joy. I think that's what church ought to be like."

I am reminded of an image that sticks with me. I was visiting family in California. We had gone to Morro Bay. I saw a fellow, perhaps in his 60s, long salt-and-pepper hair, in a wet suit on a surfboard. He was there with his granddaughter, perhaps 7, with her own wetsuit and child-size surfboard. What sticks out at me is not just the neat silhouette they made together, but the great joy he had in teaching his granddaughter to surf.

I think that is how we must be about evangelism and discipleship. Specifically with our children; let them see and know our joy in following Jesus. Do we pray with them, to teach them how, to hear and see the quality of our relationship with Him? Do we teach them to love to read the Bible? Do they know our joy when we are in worship with them?

And I suppose the same can be true with our friends who don't know Jesus. Do they know our joy? Do we share who Jesus is? What He has done for us? And the joy we have because of Him?

Recommendation

I want to recommend that you subscribe to a blog written by my friend, JD Payne.  JD is a church planter, was professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, and is now on staff at Brook Hills Church in Birmingham, AL.  His work is on how to be effectively in mission-- through evangelism, missions, and church planting.  He disseminates cutting edge information about the current needs in mission and evangelism, with a strong Biblical foundation.

Check it out: http://www.jdpayne.org