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!
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Saturday, October 8, 2016
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.
Thursday, August 25, 2016
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
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
Thursday, July 21, 2016
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.
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.
Friday, July 8, 2016
A Call to Repentance
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!
Friday, June 10, 2016
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!!!
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!!!
Monday, March 21, 2016
Something Robert Coleman Said
I love Robert Coleman. I mean, there's probably no real way to express how much of an influence he has been on me. First and foremost is, of course, his classic book, "The Master Plan of Evangelism." I love that book so much I mined the bibliography to find another great book, "The Training of the Twelve" by A.B. Bruce.
I first me Robert Coleman at an evangelism resources dinner in Wilmore, KY. He gave the invocation. I elbowed a few people in the buffet line to get a chance to talk to him!!!
I have been privileged to hear him speak a number of times... at the Exponential Conference, when he came and spoke at Morehead (!) and at the National Discipleship Forum. That latter one, well, two years later I am still trying to unpack what happened in my spirit.
Long story short-- any conversation about discipleship and evangelism, we are having it because of Robert Coleman. All the flurry of books on discipleship these past 10 years, it's because the crisis that was long predicted has hit the church with full force, and we are sitting back and saying, "Hey, didn't that guy write a book about how Jesus did evangelism and discipleship?" There's no Exponential Conference-- the largest gathering of church planters on the planet-- without Robert Coleman's simple work of asking us to do what Jesus taught His disciples to do!
SO... I wrote to Robert Coleman a bit ago. A number of times, actually, trying to gain insight on how he has run his legendary small groups. I asked him, "Which books have been most influential on you?"
Here's what he wrote back:
"Books that have helped me across the years include:
John Wesley's Sermons
works of Jonathan Edwards
Charles Finney
Francis Asbury
J.I. Packer
Ajith Fernando
John Bunyan
Francois Fenelon
Brother Lawrence
Richard Baxter
Blaise Pascal
Phoebe Palmer
Robert Murray McCheyne
John Charles Ryle
E.M. Bounds
D.L Moody
John Watson
Andrew Murray
along with the great hymns of the church.
He added, "I also like to read the Fathers of the Church and biographies of great missionaries. This is enough to get started. God bless you."
After I read it, I sat there stunned. I have to admit, I was looking for some long-forgotten tome (like Bruce's "The Training of the Twelve"), some pivotal but obscure discipleship book that I could learn from that made Robert Coleman into the man of such profound long-term influence that he is.
In short, I was asking for a drink of water, and he took me to the well. "this is enough to get started." I had to chuckle. This is enough to last a lifetime. And I am heartily reminded that discipleship is about following Jesus.
I first me Robert Coleman at an evangelism resources dinner in Wilmore, KY. He gave the invocation. I elbowed a few people in the buffet line to get a chance to talk to him!!!
I have been privileged to hear him speak a number of times... at the Exponential Conference, when he came and spoke at Morehead (!) and at the National Discipleship Forum. That latter one, well, two years later I am still trying to unpack what happened in my spirit.
Long story short-- any conversation about discipleship and evangelism, we are having it because of Robert Coleman. All the flurry of books on discipleship these past 10 years, it's because the crisis that was long predicted has hit the church with full force, and we are sitting back and saying, "Hey, didn't that guy write a book about how Jesus did evangelism and discipleship?" There's no Exponential Conference-- the largest gathering of church planters on the planet-- without Robert Coleman's simple work of asking us to do what Jesus taught His disciples to do!
SO... I wrote to Robert Coleman a bit ago. A number of times, actually, trying to gain insight on how he has run his legendary small groups. I asked him, "Which books have been most influential on you?"
Here's what he wrote back:
"Books that have helped me across the years include:
John Wesley's Sermons
works of Jonathan Edwards
Charles Finney
Francis Asbury
J.I. Packer
Ajith Fernando
John Bunyan
Francois Fenelon
Brother Lawrence
Richard Baxter
Blaise Pascal
Phoebe Palmer
Robert Murray McCheyne
John Charles Ryle
E.M. Bounds
D.L Moody
John Watson
Andrew Murray
along with the great hymns of the church.
He added, "I also like to read the Fathers of the Church and biographies of great missionaries. This is enough to get started. God bless you."
After I read it, I sat there stunned. I have to admit, I was looking for some long-forgotten tome (like Bruce's "The Training of the Twelve"), some pivotal but obscure discipleship book that I could learn from that made Robert Coleman into the man of such profound long-term influence that he is.
In short, I was asking for a drink of water, and he took me to the well. "this is enough to get started." I had to chuckle. This is enough to last a lifetime. And I am heartily reminded that discipleship is about following Jesus.
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