The Problem With What We Read

The top two authors United Methodist pastors read are Will Willimon and Henri Nouwen.  That’s a problem.  Willimon has jumped the shark in the UMC’s meltdown, and I suspect that may affect his readership numbers.  Be that as it may, Nouwen and Willimon are not evangelism and discipleship writers.  They are by and large shepherd/teacher writers.

But we are in a discipleship and evangelism crisis.  We won’t get out of this mess following the leaders who got us there.  Our clergy will have to reinvent themselves.  It’s been too easy for too long to be a United Methodist pastor.  We keep getting paid and the institution keeps rolling along in spite of the free-fall of worship, membership, and finances.

“The split” will not fix it.  I have no doubt that the centrist/progressive church will die.  But to be honest, I don’t really care what happens to a centrist/progressive church.  The orthodox Methodists will not thrive, however, just because they split.  Our choices look like “status quo plus gay marriage” and “status quo minus gay marriage.”  Both of those mean death.

So, we need to change what we read.  By all means, keep Henri Nouwen on the bedside table.  But we really need to catch up with some heavy reading to change our ministry habits and equip us to do what Jesus did.

For starters, I think it would be good to spend a year reading and implementing the conclusions of  3 books:

The Master Plan of Evangelism, by Robert Coleman

The Training of the Twelve, by A.B. Bruce

Discipleshift by Jim Putman and Robert Coleman

Fishing With Clyde

The first disciples Jesus called were fishermen.  It is important to note that when He called them, He called them to evangelism: "I will make you fishers of men."  You'd think I would get tired of saying this over and over that each Christian is called to verbally share their faith.  Naw. Never gonna happen!

I learn a lot about evangelism from fishing.  The metaphor of fishing, as Jesus uses it, is loaded with tips and tactics.  Sunday afternoon, I went fishing with Clyde Chandler, first time we had fished together, first time he had gone to this great creek I have been loving to wade fish ever since Mike Adams first showed me the place. It was one of the best times I have ever had fishing.  There was this day on the Gulf when we caught so many sharks and mackerel that I was giving away slabs of meat for days.  There was a day three years ago on this same creek where the action was so fast and furious, I almost felt guilty for catching so many fish.  And then there was Sunday with Clyde.  I was glad because I was worried maybe I oversold Clyde on the awesomeness of  the fishing... and what if we got skunked?  Sometimes it happens.  You catch no fish. Jesus tries to prepare His disciples for the times when you get nowhere no matter how hard you try.  Fishermen don't give up when that happens. That's the key.  I am not sure if Mike and I have ever been skunked on this creek.  I mean, I am sure we have, but it is blocked out of my mind!  Fishing is so good and so fun I am right back in it.  To be honest there have been days when Mike and I just got nowhere.  It was hot.  caught nothing and one of us just hollers how much we hate fishing and we are giving up and never going back... but net week there we are again because we just know there are fish!!!  This is totally how Jesus is trying to get you to think about evangelism!! There are people who have never heard the Word of salvation.  Some days they just never bite no matter how much you throw it out there!  But a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work, and all I can tell you is even when I get skunked sharing Christ, it is still awesome to talk about Him and do His work!

Ok, ok, ok, so what about fishing with Clyde?  What did I learn about evangelism thru this awesome day of fishing?

First, just get out there and do it!  Clyde and I have been talking about this for a while.  Time to quit talking and finally do it!

Second, Get that line in the water.  The real lesson that day was you have to cast everywhere because sometimes you will catch fish where you never have!  But you just have to start!  Where I like to jump in at, we almost never catch fish.  But we started early with some tiny largemouth bass.  Nothing worth writing home about, but, hey, we were at least catching something!

Third, keep trying different things and see what works. You don't always know what they will bite on from day to day.  Clyde tried a few different lures, caught a lot of fish with a small grub and also with a swimmer bait.  I was getting little fish with something called a Ned Rig, with a worm-looking thing in "PB&J" colors.  Just catching little things, until in a long deep pool I caught a slob of a bluegill, the defensive linemen of bluegill actually; fish was almost as wide as it was long.  Then my lure got caught on a rock and getting it back messed up the hook... and that's when...

Fourth, you just never know where or how you will catch them.  I put on another Ned Rig.  Tired of small fish I wondered if maybe the big boys might like something else, maybe in a sickly green color?  We were casting all over, toward the banks, along the edges of riffles, under logs (and at this point let me say Clyde can retrieve lures that seem impossibly tangled up in trees.  No clue how he does that...)  Then we came to a small pool, maybe 20 feet long by 4 feet wide.  5 feet deep.  We were in calf-deep water casting into it, to the other bank, where a foot below the water a rock ledge ran the length of the pool.  Rock bass started hitting hard.  I caught 7 in maybe 10 minutes.  Clyde was hitting em that fast, too.  We had found the honey hole.   I have never caught fish here before.  Not one.  And now, they were going nuts.

In fishing, there is a euphoria that kicks in when you are really catching them.  The euphoria is the exact opposite of the despair you have when you catch nothing.  You totally block out the days you got skunked.  but when the bite is hot, you think crazy stuff like: "we can't go home.  we have to stay here and keep fishing."  or, "I am here because my caveman ancestors were such great fishermen and I carry on the noble tradition in my superior genes."  And then you get cocky.  At some point, Clyde said, "Now that we have been catching a lot, we really need to set our goals high and catch the big ones."  And occasionally, you can back up all that talk!  There in that little pool, where we probably had already caught 15 fish in 15 minutes, Clyde and I both landed giant smallmouth.  One of the things I was looking forward to, moving to Kentucky from the Gulf Coast 25 years ago, was fishing for smallmouth.  Has not disappointed.

Fifth lesson: if it is working, keep doing more of it.  Once I switched to the sickly green colored ned rig z-man lure, I did not change. I didn't have time to even if I wanted to!  You ask, "if you were catching so many fish, why would you want to?"  Well, Church, it's because in evangelism, a huge barrier is wanting it our way.  We have a whole set or preferences and prejudices that keep us from doing effective evangelism.

We do not want to go door-to-door.

We do not want to go that part of town.  We want people who are more like us.

We do not want to have to make a verbal proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  "I will just let my actions speak."

We go into it thinking the fish should like the bait we are using.  We want to do things the way we are comfortable with, and sadly, this has meant that most churches have no evangelism plan or goals!  My evangelism professor, Bob Tuttle, used to say that he really did not like it that door-to-door evangelism works.  He wanted something more elegant, more "theologically sophisticated." But it works.  So do more of it!

Over the past few weeks, my other fishing buddies Mike and Shawn have seen giant muskie prowling our little creek.  They saw one guy catch a 44 inch muskie that was trying to eat the trout the fellow had caught!  Clyde and I saw lots of gar swimming around. So there are more and bigger fish than we have ever caught!  Jesus was on to something when He used fishing as a metaphor for evangelism.  Just go fish. Keep at it.  Sooner or later you will start catching. You don't always know how or why.  Just do it. And as you try all different kinds of ways to catch the fish, go with what is working when it is fast and furious!

Clyde and I will be back at it soon.  One day we will catch a muskie.

Spiritual Biographies

Many years ago, Elsworth Kalas spoke on the importance of reading biographies and biographical preaching. I think he is right; biographies, particularly of ministers, have been hugely important in my growth. Biographies show us how people in the past thought and acted, for good and bad. I suspect that if there is a biography about someone, he or she was interesting, courageous, or visionary in ways that are worth learning and thinking about.

In the past two years, I have read biographies of Asbury, John Newton, John Hus, William Tyndale, and the one I am reading now is Martyn Lloyd-Jones. My all-time favorite, though, is John Nelson, an early Methodist preacher. John Wesley's Journal, while not a biography, has truly been a school and guide to me.

In the Lloyd-Jones biography, I am marking up pages right and left. One thing I just read sticks out. Immediately after WWII, he spoke on ecumenical unity: "if we united all denominations and added all the powers which each has together, even that would not create spiritual life. The burial of many bodies in the same cemetery does not lead to ressurrection."

Not long after, he spoke on the causes of church decline: " the churches lost their significance and power because the authority of the Bible had been undermined and...[churches] had become too politically minded... we had stressed the social aspect for the past fifty years and men had turned their backs on us"
Interestingly, when I asked Elsworth Kalas why he thought Methodism was in such decline, he said pretty much the same thing. Speaking of a biography, one on Elsworth Kalas would be a great idea!!

Evangelism, etc

It has been an interesting few weeks. The highlights:

I mope a lot when people you work with leave the church. I should be happy--and I am-- but I think what if the 30 or so names I pray for in the front of my Bible were all in one place? What a dream team! Or is it that since they are in a whole bunch of places, there is a much greater expansion of the Kingdom than if we all stayed together?

Two evangelists moved away in the past year. But a new guy stepped up...who will be leaving in December...

There is nothing better than working a neighborhood on a crisp Fall day with another guy who loves going door to door. It is great to talk about Jesus to people and to pray with them for their needs. A close friend, whenever I complain, will ask, "have you told anyone about Jesus today?" Because when I tell about what He has done for me, I am blessed to remember and I forget my troubles, or they are put in their proper perspective.

I think it is time to get the band back together with so many people who have gone door to door with me... and to really blitz this town!!

Our worship service Sunday was...hit by the Holy Spirit. When you say that, we often think of something very boisterous or highly charged. The worship music was sublime. We were ready. I was preaching on the power of the Word, using William Tyndale as an example of how we should not take having a bible to read for granted. I went a direction I did not intend, confessing to not heeding the Bible as much as I needed to, not amending my life as I ought, not trusting its promises over my fears and worries. I called people to commit to hearing and doing... and the altar was packed.

I came across something in Neil Cole's excellent book, "Cultivating a Life For God," about Life Transformation Groups, which we use in our church. He says that the accountability questions need to have one "that holds the group members accountable to openly sharing a testimony of Christ's goodness with others. It should be something that goes beyond living as an example but also includes a verbal witness" (66). This leapt out at me because so often church members default to "letting my example speak" rather than imitating Jesus in verbal proclamation and invitation to discipleship.

Jesus has been good to me.

The Imitation of Christ

What if you did ministry the way Jesus does in the Gospel of Mark (Mark, bc it is quick and stripped down)?

First thing you'd do: tell someone to repent, that they can be forgiven of sins.

Second thing you'd do: call some disciples from people who respond to the first thing

Third thing you'd do: teach the Word.

Fourth thing you'd do: cast out demons.

Fifth thing you'd do: spend a lot of time with your disciples

Sixth thing you'd do: heal the sick

Seventh thing you'd do: find a solitary place to pray

Eighth thing you'd do: keep preaching the Gospel (see first thing)

When Christians Get Together

I got to spend some time with two of my favorite people—Scott Wilson and Mark Wilson, not related.

Scott and I have known each other since middle school—in Germany.  That’s a long story!  We did not see each other for about 15 years, but reconnected in seminary.  He is also a United Methodist pastor in Kentucky.  It seems I find out something new about him and his testimony every time we meet.  This one really got me because we have such a similar experience.  Both of us had a power encounter with God at 16 years of age—but neither of us gave our lives to Christ at that time.  But when we did give our lives to Christ, we both experienced that the very next day we were called into ministry.

Mark Wilson told us a story that is so gratifying to an evangelist heart.  He planted a church in Virginia Beach.  As part of his weekly routine, he would eat at a particular restaurant and would witness to one of the waitresses.  Her heart was touched, but she would not give her life to Christ.  Mark left that church.

One day, someone he knew was visiting family in Virginia Beach and went to church.  A woman got up and was giving thanks for a guy who constantly witnessed to her.  She had finally accepted Christ and said, “If anyone knows Mark Wilson, tell him how thankful I am!”

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.

Let Me Say it Again: Don't Wait to Share the Gospel

I suppose if I could convince the average Christian of one thing, it would be that there are people just waiting to hear the Good News, to hear a word of hope, to have someone pray with them-- they are ready with an open door to the Gospel.

I was thinking about my first real evangelism visits in the first church I served.  I have told the story many times. It has many layers, some that keep cropping up that I did not realize at the time!

Basically, I was at a loss for what to do, young pastor, first appointment.  I remembered of course the many times my mentor Howard Willen would take me with him on visits.  And I had a powerful word from God, "Every house to the county line is mine." Of course, He has them all, everywhere, but it seems He was pushing me to get to work where I was.  So I started at the first house as you leave the city limits on the way to my little church, 12 miles away.  The first few houses people weren't home, and one lady went to the Christian Church.  I made it up a hill to a beautiful farm house. I knocked.  A man answered and when I told him who I was, he said he was glad I cam and ushered me in to see his wife.  She was in great grief and distress over the anniversary of her son's death in the army. We had a great time of prayer (I still wasn't sure what I was doing!) But that first day of visiting opened a relationship with this family, their two grown children, a son-in-law and granddaughter, all coming to Christ.

It  happens so many times!  Not always, but often enough, someone has just been waiting to hear about Jesus!  I have learned to not worry about whether I will be received, but rather have come to pray and expect that God is sending me somewhere He has prepared.

Don't Wait to Share the Gospel

This is how it happened… or maybe I should go back just a bit…

I cringe, I hate it, makes me puke whenever someone says you should wait before you share the Gospel with someone.  Inevitably, they say “it’s all about relationship.” Or if they want to double down, they say, “St Francis said you should preach the Gospel, use words only if necessary.” First, don’t slander Francis by suggesting he would ever say that, beause he didn’t.  And second, hardly anyone TALKED about Jesus more than Francis!

So yesterday was one of those days where I was very distracted by a lot of things that had to get done but were not hugely important.  The urgent was crowding out the important.  On top of that, it was a hard day to be a pastor and a dad—a lot of pain going around.  About 11:30 I said to myself I better spend some real time in the Word and in prayer, or this day will get out of control.

About 3 o’clock, same thing.  So I cut thru the hospital on the way to church.  I felt like I wanted to sit at a bench outside the hospital.  I have never sat there before or thought about it, so why today?  I opened the Bible, was reading Psalm 34.  I was struck by the title, “When David pretended to be insane before Abimelech.”  A few minutes later out comes a guy pushing an IV pole.  There are many other places to sit, but he made a bee-line for me.  He asked, “are you a pastor?”

He proceeded to ask for prayer.  I asked him if he was a believer in Jesus.  No, but he needed prayer.  I told him more than prayer he needed salvation in Jesus’ name.  He proceeded to tell me a lot of stuff that you wouldn’t just confess to people.  Under 5 minutes after the conversation started, I had shared with him the wonderful love, forgiveness and sacrifice of Jesus for him, and he believed in Jesus as his Lord and Savior. “I haven’t felt peace like this before,” he said.

So there you go.  God gives everyone divine appointments like this.  You need to be ready because people are waiting for you to tell them the Good News!!

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.

VBS is almost over.  Maybe I should wait until tomorrow to write about it.  But I can’t.  It has been an amazing 4 days.  I don’t really want it to end tomorrow.  I know, I know, the volunteers will be spent.  They have really poured it out… working on decorations, crafts, writing and performing, music, singing, dancing, telling the story, playing games, cooking and preparing snacks, registering, being in the classes with the kids, being a listening ear… what haven’t they done?

I simply do not think there is an adequate way to thank them.  What could we say or do?  The amount of time, effort, and love has blown me away.

The crazy thing is, I get to run around and be crazy and soak it all in and sing and shout and answer serious questions about Jesus.  I put in the least but I get to have the most.  What a gift.  What a church to be a part of! You give us a place.  Money. You let your pastor take about 2 weeks helping and hanging out at VBS.  And then you pour out such creative energy!  I realized this VBS that I talk a lot about how cool it is that we write our own VBS, but there is no way it can happen without so many people who are so talented and dedicated.  Jessie has done an amazing job cultivating volunteers and casting a vision with energy that WE CAN DO THIS!

Tomorrow, I get to share Jesus plainly with kids who have been immersed in the Word all week long.  Will you pray with me that hearts are ready to respond?

After VBS today, my son John, Mike Adams and Michael Crouch went out and did some door to door evangelism before it rained.  Mike caught a huge bass when he was done visiting houses, while he waited for me and Michael.  We had a divine appointment… I’ll write about it later… but can you imagine? VBS and door to door evangelism in one day?

Rollin With The Syndicate

I’d like to tell you about a great time we had today.  A few weeks ago, my evangelism study group decided to get out of the books and hit the streets.  We were looking to do some evangelism in ways that could really benefit our ministries, help hold each other accountable, and just make sure that we were really getting after it.

So we are making a circuit of our towns—Frenchburg, Salyersville, Morehead, and Camargo.  7 of us hit Salyersville—me, my son John, Mike Adams, Taylor Wilson, Jacob Wilson, Matt Ellis, and Andrew Donner, the pastor of Salyersville.

We met for breakfast and then we hit a neighborhood behind the parsonage.  With 7 of us, we really made short work.  Matt Ellis and I worked a section, and it was a good day, on a bunch of levels.  What ends up happening on a weekday is that you find a lot of people not home, and that’s ok… because part of what you are doing is getting the word out about your church and its services.  You can come back later of an evening or weekend and catch them at home, and they have already had some contact.

But you also find some people at home.  Three visits stick out.  We met a woman from the Church of Christ.  She was very happy that we were out talking to people about Jesus.  I find that happens quite a bit—Christians are happy to bless you in the work.  And I hope they are inspired to give it a try, to get out there and witness!

We walked up to a guy reading on a porch.  We saw pretty quick he had a Bible and a commentary out.  He is a Baptist Sunday School teacher, very committed to building up a small church in the country.  We had a good laugh because he thought we were Mormons. “Never been so glad to see some Methodists,” he said.  He offered us some cold water bottles.  It was getting hot.  He had a horse in his front yard.  It grazes a little in his yard then goes up to a cousin’s house and then to another house before it goes to the barn to sleep.  Ah, life in a country town.

I have to talk up Matt Ellis a little bit.  He took most of the visits and did a great job.  He wasn’t done when we left Salyersville.  He was still witnessing at a gas station when we stopped for drinks in West Liberty!  I have to say that some good ministry happened there with Matt, too.  I was able to tell him one of the secrets of evangelism.  One of my best buds Steve McKinney, if he hears me whining or complaining asks, “have you told anyone about Jesus today?”  It’s good advice, because as soon as my feet hit the street I’m a brand new man, telling people how good Jesus is to forgive us.  I get to pray for people who have it worse than me and at any rate I realize the Lord has been pretty good to me.  There will be a lot of hard fighting, but I’ve read the back of the book and we win. Pretty soon, my grievances and resentments are gone, and even my real sorrows fade away.

The visit that was the most important: we met a guy who told us that he had been hurt badly on  the job, showed us some wicked scars from surgery, and told us he lived in constant pain.  I was immediately transported to India, where I saw so many worn out bodies and heard so many stories of healings.  Why don’t we see it?  Probably because we don’t believe it, don’t know how badly we need it.  So we prayed right there for him fervently.  I am still praying that Andrew may get to visit him and hear a marvelous testimony of healing and the power of the presence of the Lord in our suffering.

The other two teams have their own stories to tell.  I think we are going to see a lot of fruit from this thing we’re doing.  I’m calling us “The Syndicate.”  If I am dreaming, we will expand this to a big team of other pastors and lay people and we will go out and hit the streets and country roads and byways.  How cool would it be if we prayed each other up and got together with our teams in each others’ towns and just blitzed it?! If 15 or 20 people handed out 100 flyers, tracts and door hangers, praying for the needs of people and sharing the Good News of Jesus?  I might be getting close to showing a critical mass of people that door-to-door evangelism is not weird or useless.

Commitment

So I wrote this last week.  Sorry I did not post it then.

It’s been a killer week so far.

I rebuilt Mondays because they had become a depressing time sink of no real plan, just catching up and doing whatever came along.  So Mondays is now discipleship, evangelism and Bible study.

Yesterday was awesome because first thing I met with three university professors who want to do evangelism training. Well, alright!

I had some awesome testimonies in a noon discipleship group about listening to God and then being in the right place because of it, as well as some heavy prayer cover from those guys.

Evening discipleship group was awesome for some more prayer cover and then some great words about how God has dealt with us!

Today I met with a guy, Michael, who usually does evangelism with me on Mondays, but he ran a marathon on Sunday and was thinking we should go Tuesday because he might want to rest. Whatever, dude.  We spent some time working on our elevator pitch testimonies.  There was a lot of creative energy.  We talked about writing a book called “World’s Worst Evangelists,” where we only talk about the times we screwed it up or nothing happened, just so people will know it’s not an amazing train of awesome conversions on every street corner.

He tells me this great story.  He was coming back from the marathon and stopped to get gas and lunch.  He saw a homeless guy sitting on the curb.  He felt God tell him to go witness to the guy.  So he drives by and asks the guy if he wants to get lunch.  He can tell the fellow is high, and it takes him a while to process what was going on and to work out if it’s safe.  Michael admits it must have seemed pretty sketchy—skinny white kid in a black neighborhood asking a dude to get in his car.

They go to McDonald’s and Michael tries to share Christ with him, but the guy is so high he just can’t really talk without a long delay.  Michael takes him back to the gas station and drops him off.

Here’s the thing.  This is a win.  God knows Michael will obey, without worrying about whether it will be “successful.” God knows He has his man.  But I think one day someone is going to share Christ with this guy, or he will need some help and he will remember a guy tried to help him in Jesus’ name.  Michael is is a link in this guy’s conversion chain (what's a conversion chain?).  I pray that the other people God sends to talk to him will also obey sincerely and promptly.

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!

SoCal

There’s a lot to say about my recent trip to California.   I went to do a wedding for two friends, Jake and T’Nique.  And then National Discipleship Forum and The Exponential Conference.  The wedding was in Goleta, CA, right outside Santa Barbara.

Jake was a kid who started coming to the Rock (the church I was at in Lexington) because his bandmates/roommates lived around the corner.  Jake and our whole family hit it off.  It just clicked.  Anyway, Jake is a great drummer and he moved out to play in LA, and pays the rent with his rock.  He met T’NIque out there.  I got to meet her two years ago, at a burger joint in North Hollywood.  I was so  happy to get to hang out with them.  When they asked me to do their wedding… of course!

I had a bit of downtime Friday and Saturday to look around.  The thing about the Southern California coast is that it is perfect.  4,000-ft mountains almost on the shore.  I often meditate on why we take things for granted.  I have tried very hard not to take anything in Morehead for granted, especially not the beautiful scenery—hills, forest, streams.  But it’s so easy to take things for granted.  I remember thinking, “if I l lived in Goleta (or anywhere on the coast) I would be on the beach all the time” Probably not true.  Definitely not true.  But when you are a visitor and in awe, you wonder why everyone is going about  their business, not paying attention to the mountains and the ocean…

So I spent the early mornings on the pier, praying and reading Scripture.  I drove up into the mountains.  In less than half an hour, I was about 3000 feet up, looking back at the Pacific, coming across microclimates where thick stands of trees filled the air with some fragrance that I can’t identify (some kind of bay?) that is a smell I remember that always said we were close to my great-aunt’s house. {she is kind of a vegetarian but loves me so much she was the first person to introduce me to chili dogs…)  I stumbled across some Chumash tribe cave paintings.

The wedding was awesome.  Rehearsal, too.  Meeting the bride and groom’s friends and family.  Jake’s sister and brother in law are heavily involved in small groups at a church plant in Indiana.  His parents—so good to meet them after so many years of knowing him and hearing about them.  T’Nique’s dad is a Raiders fan, and I am too, from before I was born (long story).  One of John and Joe’s teachers from Lexington was there! She lives in LA now, too.  Three people from the Rock moved to LA to follow their dreams.

Jake and T’Nique wanted me to share a word from the Bible.  So cool because there were people from all kinds of backgrounds.  So I got to share the Gospel (tears in my eyes as I write this because I can’t believe that God even lets me preach) and people came up to me after and thanked me, and I was fielding spiritual questions at the bar.

Then it was on to Orange County to get ready for the Discipleship Forum and Exponential conference.  Sunday, I hit Mariners Church for service.  Blown away.  Then I went to catch a late lunch with my cousin Joey.  I took the Coast highway from Long Beach to Laguna Beach, and headed to Costa Mesa where my hotel was. The Pacific Coast Highway is always a highlight of my trips to Cali.  Then I picked up Mike Adams and he had to have In N Out immediately or he was going to die.

The Conference was pretty good.  The best speakers are the ones who don’t boast about their church but just drop Gospel truth.  It always takes me a few weeks to figure out what happens at Exponential.  So much material, encouragement, information. You can’t imagine how inspiring it is to be around 2500 people who think the whole world is going to be baptized tomorrow.  I spent most of the breakouts sessions writing and processing and talking to people I don’t see much.

Last day, Mike and I headed to Newport beach at 6 to catch sunrise.  We thought maybe we’d be there in solitude.  Nope.  Surfers were already in the water.  I thought, alright! These dudes are living it up, getting in some surfing before the day starts.  So cool that 8 dolphins were swimming just outside the breakers.  Mike and I had some huge prayer and some huge Holy Spirit action as the sun came up.  A lot of it for me was reflecting on the surfers.  We will get up for what we love.  These dudes are up to surf.  Early morning is a huge free time for almost everyone.  But will we get up for the Word or Life Transformation Group?

I get why people surf.  Or maybe I should say what I love about the coast is the relentless pounding of the surf.  In all the Germanic languages, the word for “time” is the word for “tide.”  I think it is a recognition that it does not stop, it keeps rolling.  There is an elemental force, something mysterious, at work in the tide.  And the wide expanse of the ocean at once inspires us to wonder how do I get on it? where would I end up? and also draws us into a sense that things could be very different than they are.  I remember a huge, mystical moment of God-consciousness that happened to me at Big Sur.  I was sitting on the beach watching the sunset.  The sun appeared to be resting on the water, casting a cone of light onto the black-green water, and I just wanted to walk on to it.  I don’t know how I knew but I knew it was God calling to me.

The funny thing is, there on Newport beach, in the midst of the perfect California morning, all Mike and I were really digging into with God was the discipleship movement in Eastern Kentucky.  We are such freaks—a huge conference for planting churches where every Macklemore haircut hipster thinks he is planting the next mega church—and we’re just trying to start churches in towns that everyone has forgotten about, trusting that if we can give our lives to it, we can see a hundred or more churches that would have more believers than any single church we could plant.

Revival in the Ministry

Hey... one of you posted a comment on a blog from a few weeks back, and I did not "approve" it because I have not been here in a while.  Sorry!  Thanks for the comment, and I will try to address it in a while, if I can!

What I want to do today is give you another nugget from "Words to Winners of Souls," Robert Coleman's compilation of some words from Horatius Bonar.

"It is easier to speak and write about revival than to set about it.  There is so much rubbish to be swept out; so many self-raised hindrances to be dealt with; so many old habits to be overcome; so much sloth and easy-mindedness to be contended with; so much ministerial routine to be broken through; and so much crucifixion, both of self and the world, to be undergone....

"So thought a minister of the 17th century; for after lamenting the evils both of his life and ministry, he thus resolves to set about their renewal:

1. In imitation of Christ and His apostles, and to get good done, I purpose to rise timely every morning

2. To prepare as soon as I am up some work to be done, and how that I do it, and to engage my heart in it, and in the evening to call myself to account, and to mourn over my failings

3. To spend a competent portion of every day in prayer, reading, meditating, spiritual exercises, morning, midday, and evening and before I go to bed.

4, Once a month either in the middle or the end of it, I keep a day of humiliation for the public condition, for the Lord's people and their sad condition, for the raising up of the work and the people of God

5. I spend, besides this, one day for my private condition in conflicting with spiritual evils, and to get my heart more holy, or to get some special exercise accomplished, once in six months

6. I spend every week, once, four hours, over and above my daily portion, in private prayer for some special causes relating to myself or others

7. To spend some time on Saturday, towards night, for preparation for the Sabath

8. To spend six or seven days together, once a year, when I have greatest convenience, wholly and only on spiritual accounts

You Need an Evangelism Study Group

I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out: you need an evangelism study group.  I have done them in various ways, mostly short-term kinds of training. But I never really got long-term and systematic about it until the past year.

An evangelism study group, in my burgeoning understanding, is about training and learning, models and methods, but it is really about encouragement and accountability.

I have heard Robert Coleman say, and Jimmy Rose say that evangelism is an internal struggle: you have to decide, will I really obey Jesus on this stuff, to go and tell others?  Will I go down the street, door to door?  Will I speak up about the Lord?  Will I tell someone else about the peace I have found? Will I obey my Lord's Great Commission to go and make disciples?  You have to have a convert before you can have a disciple, so evangelism is key.

Our group started out with a modified form of T4T, or "Training for Trainers." Check it out: here
We wanted to be able to present the Gospel quickly and effectively, and enable anyone who responds to be taught quickly how to share it as well.

we also looked at situations we faced, what we did, what we could have done.

The real power, though, has come from weekly sitting down and reporting.  Did we talk to the people we listed and prayed for?  If not, why not?  We kind of pound on each other about wimping out or finding the usual excuses (not the right time, didn't feel comfortable bringing it up, they might think we are weird, we have known them for a while and never said anything, etc).  Pretty soon, the message is clear: quit the group or start talking to people about Jesus.  And once you start doing it regularly, you find it's easier than you think.  That's where we have seen the results.  As we can testify that no one yelled at us, or that maybe it was awkward but w pushed through to where it was no longer as awkward... we have started feeling much more bold and confident to share the god news of Jesus with neighbors and even strangers.

You need an evangelism study group.

A Call to Repentance

 

In 1994, the Billy Graham Center put out a book edited by Robert Coleman.  Dr. Coleman gathered some powerful words from a legendary preacher, Horatius Bonar, on evangelism.  He called it Words to Winners of Souls.  I have been greatly blessed by it.  A few days ago, I was reading it (been reading it slowly, because it really is a lot to absorb) and was blessed and convicted.

Bonar recounts that in 1651, the Church of Scotland made a confession of ministerial sin, acknowledging that the sins of the nation and God’s judgment upon it fell on their feet.  Elsewhere, someone has noted that the Methodists of England, in a period of decline, acknowledged their failings and developed a plan.  See Chris Ritter’s summary of it here

Bonar suggested that those who would be soul-winners need to repent.  He laid out, based on the Scottish confession, some sins to repent of:

1.       We have been unfaithful. “The fear of man and the love of his applause have often made us afraid.  We have been unfaithful to our own souls, to our flocks, and to our brethren: unfaithful in the pulpit, in visiting, in discipline, in the church…. Instead of the particularization of the sin reproved, there has been the vague allusion. Instead of the bold reproof, there has been the feeble disapproval.”

2.       We have been carnal and unspiritual “The tone of our life has been low and earthly.  Associating too much and too infinitely with the world, we have in a great measure become assimilated to its ways.”

3.       We have been selfish.  “We have shrunk from toil, from difficulty… We have been worldly and covetous.  We have not presented ourselves unto God as ‘living sacrifices’ laying ourselves, our substances, our faculties, our all, upon His altar.  We seem altogether to have lost sight of that self-sacrificing principle on which even as Christians, but much more as ministers, we are called upon to act.”

4.       We have been slothful. “Precious hours and days have been wasted in sloth, in company, in pleasure, in idle or desultory reading [tv, social media, video games], that might have been devoted to the closet or the study or the pulpit or the meeting!”

5.       We have been cold.  I think particularly of my own sense that if we do not share the Gospel to perishing sinners, we are cold, heartless, and ruthless.

6.       We have been timid. “Fear has often led us to smooth down or generalize truths… we have shrunk from reproving, rebuking and exhorting with all long-suffering and doctrine. We have feared to alienate friends or awaken the wrath of enemies.”

7.       We have been wanting in solemnity. We lack the seriousness demanded byt the task, as shown to us Methodists by Wesley or Nelson or Asbury.

8.       We have preached ourselves, not Christ. “We have preached too often so as to exalt ourselves and not Christ; so as to draw men’s eyes to ourselves instead of fixing them on Him and His Cross”

9.       We have used words of man’s wisdom.  We have acted “as if by well-studied, well-polished, well-reasoned discourses, we could so gild and beautify the Cross as to make no longer repulsive, but irresistibly attractive to the carnal eye.”

10.   We have not fully preached a free Gospel.  That is, we have not preached that we are saved by grace through faith ALONE, insisting on the sinner’s immediate repentance and turning to God.

11.   We have not duly studied and honored the word of God. “We have given a greater prominence to man’s writings, man’s opinions, man’s systems in our studies than to the WORD.”

12.   We have not been men of prayer. “We have allowed business or study or active labor to interfere with our closet hours.”

13.   We have not honored the spirit of God. “We have grieved Him by the dishonor done to His person as the third person of the Trinity.”

14.   We have had little of the mind of Christ. “We have had little of the grace, the compassion, the lowliness, the meekness of God’s eternal Son. His weeping over Jerusalem is a feeling in which we have but little heartfelt sympathy. His seeking of the lost is little imitated by us.”

I am  praying that the United Methodist Church, if only in Kentucky, could adopt this confession and repentance and get back down to the business of conversion and discipleship.  One of the things Robert Coleman has said has really stuck with me and revitalized my own faith-sharing is that "evangelism is an internal struggle."  That is, do I love Jesus enough to obey Him and go where He says go and speak what He says to speak?  At least I can repent and get up and move forward!

 

Baling Hay and Saving Souls

Today was good, long day.  Winding down watching the NBA Finals with Joseph.

After the last day of VBS, we went out and helped Charlie Derrickson and his grandsons bale hay.  Johnny keeps his calves at Charlie's farm, so it's kind of like rent.  It was a really good time for Johnny to see what it's like to bale hay.  May be the first kid who has never complained about it... It was, strangely enough, a great way to cap off a great day.  The hot work burned off some energy.  Doing something really productive on top of an amazingly productive Bible School just seemed perfect.

Bible School... you have no idea if you weren't there! We have been dissatisfied with the VBS packages put out by various publishers.  Dave Sheffel has been asking for a few years that we just write our own. We wanted something that had more evangelism, more discipleship, more spiritual formation.  I have to say, as soon as we started working on it, I was stoked.  The ideas for crafts and skits and content was so energizing. To sit around the table with Jessie, Dave, Peggy Fannin, Mike Breeze, Adam Foster and Emily Neal was a highlight of any week we did it.  I looked forward to the energy and excitement.  We settled on Jonah, and we were going to intentionally, every day, share the Gospel with the kids.  My contribution was I wanted slime to throw at the kids to remind them of the whale's belly.  Really, just any excuse to have slime!

Doing this set our people free to do the best work they have ever done.  It was an amazing bible school for start to finish. Drew and Mary Ellen McNeill did a great job leading an awesome worship that taught kids lots of Scripture. It was like a vision of how we could do awesome worship with families and help kids know Scripture and Jesus... 85% of people make a profession of faith between the ages of 4 and 14!!!

I think we made some great strides in meeting young families.  And then there was a Chinese woman, who has only been in the country for a week.  She brought her son. Anyway, I had one last Chinese Bible and gave it to her.  She ended up sitting on a couch in the lobby, and did not put it down for three hours.

I may blog a little bit more about some the specifics of VBS this year, but here is what I really want to get to.  I got a chance to ask the kids to give their hearts to Christ.  And it was so easy.  All I had to do was walk them thru the 5 points, one of which was the theme of each day.  They had sung the theme, watched a video about the theme, had a bible story time about the theme, did crafts about the theme, and journalled about the theme in a reflection time.  16 kids gave their lives to Christ today!!  We should do VBS all the time!!!

I had more people tell me they wished it wasn't over.  Three youth volunteers said, "we should do it just like this next year."

16 kids gave their lives to Christ today!!!