2010-Our Year of Evangelism

As we embark on a new year of evangelism, I want to ask each of us to think about the people who introduced us to Jesus. Research says that in order for a nonbeliever to come to Jesus, he or she must meet at least 5 people who model Christ in an authentic way.

I came to Christ as a teenager, largely because of the witness of the other teens in the youth group. I had met my 5 people. But I didn’t come to Jesus personally until one of my youth sponsors confronted me with the Gospel. He took the time to see that God was at work in my life. In fact, he noted both my keen interest in spiritual things (I was always at church) and he noted my struggle to go to the altar Sunday after Sunday (I didn’t make it). In short, he took the time to care for me.

Eventually, he lovingly confronted me with my hesitation to embrace Jesus, and he led me in the prayer of salvation. Then, he loved me into maturity—sort of—I’m still not there. Let me stress perhaps the most important part of this process. He cared enough about my soul to confront me with my need for a Savior.

Many of us are more than happy to use “friendship” evangelism to reach out to someone, but we bristle at the idea of asking someone if he or she wants to come to Jesus? Where would you be if the person who asked you about your soul did not have the courage to ask?

How can we all be more intentional about sharing our faith? Let’s figure this out TOGETHER.

Pastor Andrew