Evangelism in the closing days of life

We had the funeral for Don Cherry yesterday. He was 76, led a full life, and died after a long illness. The funeral was more of a memorial service, where we were intentional about NOT ending the service with the benediction, but continuing in a time of fellowship after. That was really neat-- to see so many people come from all over, long distances, to pay respects and love on the grieving family.

During the homily, I mentioned how in the last few times I visited him, talk turned to eternal matters, and I was able to share with him that we can indeed have assurance of salvation, knowing that God saves us by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.

His daughter-in-law came up to me afterwards and said how thankful they were to hear that,and to thank me for sharing the Gospel with him.

What else is there to do? What else can we say? It was so simple. It often is. When a person is dying, their thoughts are on the heavy things in life. If they do not say it, you can ask about it. Trust me, it's there, just below the surface.

And then you share simply our simple faith:

Saved by grace. It is a gift. Not earned. Not a reward for good deeds or hard work, even if done in the name of the Lord! We turn to faith in Jesus, that when He died on the Cross, He died in our place, for our sins. If we believe this, we have forgiveness of sins. And He was resurrected that we, too, might have with Him a new and eternal life. If we believe that, we will be in Heaven with Him.

Don't complicate it.

National Discipleship Forum

I am back in Morehead. When we left Orange County, it was sunny and 82. We got into Cincinnati at 10 p.m. and it was cold and raining! Jacob Wilson and I were mock-crying, “Why did we leave? Why did we have to come back? It's so warm out there! And there's In-N-Out. And Laguna Beach.”

This morning I woke up and looked out at the mountains surrounding Morehead, and in 5 days the leaves have changed. What a beautiful thing to come home to.

Mike Adams, Jacob Wilson, and I were at the 2014 Exponential West Coast Conference. But we added to that a pre-conference, the National Discipleship Forum. It was too much. Seriously. I am not sure I can unpack what happened. It will take a while to figure out what happens from here, but it was life-changing.

The National Discipleship Forum was a kind of living room conversation between some of the top “disciplers” if we can say that: Bill Hull, Jim Putman, Jeff Vanderstelt, Francis Chan, K.P. Yohannan and Robert Coleman.

It was amazing to hear these men talking about their passion for making disciples, to hear that there are people who are pressing hard after the same stuff that obsesses my ministry. It was good to hear that I have intuited a lot of it and been doing a lot of it (because it just flows naturally when you decide to follow Jesus) and also to see that there is so much to learn, so much of an adventure yet to go on. I don't have words to explain the Holy Spirit presence. We were all just stunned. Like we were sponges that had been plunged into water and then wrung out.

Maybe one day I can express what happened. For now... I talked to a few of the directors and they were blown away, too, didn't see it coming, the intense presence of the Lord, the real tension on the stage between hard-nosed disciplers resolved by a love for Jesus and His Mission. But they also say they are planning to do this in some other places across the country, maybe Louisville. Get ready. Clear your calendars so we can go together.

Maybe all I can say for now is that this thing that has been building inside me-- that if it is not evangelism leading to discipleship, I don't want to do it-- has finally come out. Now I just want to talk to people about Jesus more than I ever did. I want to submit every aspect of my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and invite others along, more than ever.

What a disappointing post! I wish I was able to say all that is churning around in my spirit. But maybe that's what Sunday sermons are for...

It was great to be there with Mike and Jacob, wish I could have had more there. I see a network of evangelists and disciplemakers flowing out into the highways and byways of Eastern KY, one of the least-churched places in America. I think that if we had 20 people sold out, fearing nothing but sin and Hell and loving no one but God, Satan's kingdom would come down.

There's this guy I met at the church in Lexington, Jake Bell. He is a phenomenal drummer. He left for LA in 2010. He is paying the rent with his rock, playing with a band that has gigs at Toby Keith's in Las Vegas. He is an in-demand studio musician. We have kept in touch and I knew I had to get out there to see him. So we met up and it was so good to see him happy and doing well. He told me one of the teachers from the boys' school in Lexington is out there, and she remembers the little dudes!

Jake is working with Tim Hutton, a producer in LA, works with well-known bands. Jake is the drummer at his recording studio. So Jake says, let's go up to see Tim at his dad's house. His dad is Danny Hutton, from Three Dog Night. My dad had to remind me of how often I used to sing “Shambala” as a kid! No way! I thought I told Mike and Jacob but they weren't ready to see gold records on the wall. Danny Hutton wasn't there... but next time, because we were invited back.

Can you imagine driving out of North Hollywood up Laurel Canyon Drive? It's like heading straight into the country from the city. So beautiful. Reminded me of my aunt and uncle's house in Topanga Canyon. Steep hill, steep driveway. Incredible hillside homes and views. All the way there, I was praying, “Please Lord, give me a chance to share the Gospel with whoever we meet tonight.”

Well, there was an R&B singer there who was coming to the studio to do some recording. While we were standing around, after getting over the initial wet-blanket of having three pastors in the house, the singer said, “I am just going to put myself out there. I don't know anyone here, first meeting. But I am having a problem with forgiveness. There's a past relationship that I just can't get any forgiveness on.”

I gulped, thanked Jesus and gave my 2 minute presentation on forgiveness. I even got to finish by telling them that the most important thing is that we get forgiveness from Jesus, and that I would pray and they should pray for Jesus to reveal Himself to them, and that they would be His followers. Awkward silence. Did I say too much too soon too uninvited? He looked at me, squinted a moment and said, “I know that. I know that. I just needed to hear it again.”

I am going back next year. Maybe sooner if we get the chance. We were invited back to the house. In fact, after eating burgers in the Roosevelt Hotel (because that's just how we roll) Jake got a text saying if we were still around, they'd be down in 30 minutes to hang with us... but it was late and we had an hour drive and early sessions...

Always ask God to open the door to share what Jesus has done.