Sharing the Gospel

I want to honor the memory of a fellow, and not make it seem like he an object of evangelism in this post.  Ric Collis was the son of long-time church members, but had not lived in Morehead for decades.  He gave the church the biggest gift I have ever known someone to give.

A few weeks ago I found out he had terminal cancer.  He himself had only found out a few weeks before.  There was nothing to be done, except maybe some palliative care.  I called him and he was remarkably calm about it.  there were some tests to be done, to see what could be done to slow the disease, but he would die from it.

A few days after that call, his best friend and my church member Jim called and said it was progressing very rapidly.  I decided that I could not wait until some business took me to Louisville, it was now.

A lot conspired to keep me back, especially the threat of weather.  People were well-meaning, but I needed to go, and what else is 4 wheel drive for if not nasty weather?  As I drove up, the Lord placed Acts 10 on my heart, Peter at Cornelius' house.  I knew it was because Ric had grown up in a believers' house but had not professed faith in Christ, and was a generous person... much like Cornelius.

In the hospital, we spent some time reminiscing... and then we had to get down to business, sharing Christ.  Jim and I emphasized that salvation is about faith in Jesus.  Because of grace God does not hold our sins against us if we repent and believe in Jesus.  But that is hard to believe!  The lawyer in Ric wondered how God could leave all our sins on the table like that. I told Ric that I felt God wanted me to share from Acts 10.  By verse 4, the tears were flowing.  And yes I read almost the whole chapter!  At verse 43, salvation came.  Ric clasped our hands and we prayed for him to receive Christ, to have peace in his final days.

He died 5 days later.  He is home.

VBS Update

I think I am supposed to give a decent update on VBS.  But I am worn out from all the awesomeness and I am not quite sure what to say.  So let me leave at this for now:

36 kids gave their lives to Christ at VBS yesterday.  God rained down blessings.

What Do I Know?

I have some crazy friends.  Just got off the phone with my best friend, John Crissman.  He said, “Gotta go.  Just drove up on an accident.  Need to call 911 and go pray with some people…” You need people like that in your life.

But wait there’s more crazy people in my life.  A few weeks ago Michael Crouch asked me something in our LTG (Life Transformation Group.  Check it out at www.cmaresources.org ).  I am not sure what we were talking about that led to this, but Michael said, “Do you know anyone who does door-to-door evangelism?”  Seth, our other partner fake-coughs and points at me.  Michael asked, “so when do we go?”

Today, we got our act together and headed out.  Before we left, I gave a few pointers, answered a few questions he had.  Here are some basics.  When you go door-to-door during the day, you won’t meet as many people as on an evening or on a weekend.  You’re trying to get out as many cards with your church info as you can.  And you come back later, evenings or weekends, and people remember that you came by.

Michael asked, “does anyone invite you into their house?”

“not very often.  Usually when they do, they are Christians who are amazed and thankful that there are people out there doing visitation.”

I mentioned that we are also trying to form relationships, to look for ways that the Gospel touches a need in their lives (think Paul in Athens, Acts 17).  I like to ask people if I can pray for them, and if they are cool with it, to pray right there on the spot.  It means a lot to people, and it gives you something to talk about when you come back, because you will go back, right?  RIGHT?  RIGHT!

So. We go out armed with some great cards Debbie Perry made us and a pile of tracts that Phyliis Varnado got for me.  Tracts? you say.  Yes.  “Do they work?” you ask.  My response: I don’t do anything that doesn’t work.  It’s why I go door-to-door.  Because it works.  And I took a vow to do it.  All Methodist pastors take that vow. But that's another story for another time.

We find a lot of people not home.  So we leave a card with church info.  We run into a few people who go to the Christian Church.  I meet Sue Wells’ nephew.  Isn’t it funny how Sue fits into so many of my evangelism stories!?

This was a great day because we got the door shut in our faces by someone who claims atheism.  I was glad that Michael got a little taste of how it goes sometimes.

And the best… we run into Craig Melzer, who flings open the door and angrily asks what we are selling.  I don’t know if it shocked Michael, but I think he was happy I knew Craig and that he was just joking!

I find that Michael is really gifted in keeping conversations going on the front porch!  I mentioned that to him, and he says it’s like a recruiting visit (he is a college coach).  He says you just have to get over the jitters.

Michael watches a little.  Then he says, “I think I have the hang of this, let me try.”  At this point, I have a tear in my eye. How awesome is that—he wants into this evangelism gig bad!  And he does really well.  So I just hand it over to him for the rest of the visits.

At the end, we have the best evangelism visit I remember in a loooooong time.  We knock and a voice hollers, “Come in!”  We open the door and there’s a guy on the couch who is surprised to see us.  “I thought you were my friends!”  I said, “we want to be your friends.”  And he invites us in.

Turns out he is from Saudi Arabia, studying at the university.  He has a soccer jersey on his wall that looks like Borussia Dortmund’s, so I ask about it and it is actually for his favorite team in Saudi.  Michael opens up some conversation about faith and the young man says he is a Muslim.  Michael says he has started reading the Koran, and has finished the first chapter, “The Cow,” and the young man is impressed and happy that we care.  We talk a bit about Jesus in the Koran, and I ask if he has read the “Injeel,” Arabic for the “evangel” or Good News.  He has a little bit.  He mentions that “Christians think Jesus is something like God, but Muslims believe there is only one God.” Michael suggested that he read the New Testament to see what Jesus has to say for Himself.  We encountered what I have heard is a common objection Muslims have—that the New Testament, because of translation has been corrupted.  I think we will be back. And we hope to form a great friendship with this guy.  Michael and I have both been impressed by Muslims’ willingness to talk about serious issues—way more than the average Americans.  I wish, in retrospect, that we had not gotten sidetracked on apologetics issues and had been clear about the Good News.  I think we were blown away that we got invited into a house, and that our new friend was so happy to talk.

As we walked back to the church, Michael gave me some grief: “I thought you said we wouldn’t get invited in to anyone’s house.”

So in a few weeks, Michael and I will hit the same streets again one evening or on a weekend, hopefully to talk with pray for, and hopefully get the chance to share the Gospel with some of the people in our town!

First, I want to thank the folks who come across this blog and email me about evangelism.  It is always good to talk to you.

Two Sundays ago, a young man came to the church for the first time.  At the end of the service, he came forward to give his life to Christ.

The simple reason: I asked.  I suppose altar calls are out of favor.  If you are wondering how to help people know Jesus, present the Gospel clearly and ask them if they want to receive the free gift of salvation offered in Jesus.

But there is always more to it, especially that the Holy Spirit works to bring people to the point where they can hear the Word.

In this particular case, the young man was not intending to come to church.  But he woke up with the real sense that he needed to go to church.  He came to our Methodist Church because during a difficult time in his childhood, he spent some time at the Methodist Home for Children.

If you go back and look at this post you can see a little bit about the importance of many ways the Gospel was at work in people's lives before they accept Christ.  In this case, one of them was a mission agency of our church.

Stop and pray for someone you want to share the Gospel with. Then be amazed at how quickly God opens that door!