Dear Friends,
I was fortunate to spend 5 years on the staff at Calvary Chapel,
Old Bridge where my friend Lloyd Pulley is the senior pastor. During that time,
I was blessed to read his wonderful book, Patient Evangelism. It was
born out of his time witnessing to people in New York city following the
bombing of the World Trade Center.
Since I am preparing to lead a six-week course on personal
evangelism, I decided to revisit this wonderful book and review some of the
notes I had taken while reading it. It was a helpful reminder to me that
evangelism is not always a onetime event, but it can be a process that takes
place over a lengthy period of time. I may be one part of the
evangelism process, but I may not be the one who sees the end result of that
process. A conversion is a culmination of a journey, and journey's take
time. Seeds that are planted don't sprout up overnight. You can't rush the
process. Each seed has a certain timetable before its flower is produced. Think
about your own life. How many people did God send into your life before you
received Jesus?
Over the years I have had many opportunities to share my favorite
witnessing tool, the 4 Spiritual Laws, with unbelievers. I have seen people
immediately respond and come to Christ through this wonderful witnessing
resource. But most of the people I know who have come to Jesus, have come over
a period of time. One of my dearest friends came to faith in my office some 20
years ago, but it took many meetings over a six-month period before he
responded to the claims of Jesus on his life. There were many conversations in
my office and much time spent as we sat in the stands with one another while
watching our sons compete at various wrestling tournaments.
Often in our efforts to see someone saved, we feel we must give
them the whole gospel, and when they don't immediately pray the sinner's
prayer, we feel like we have failed. However, if we assume responsibility for
the success of our evangelistic efforts, we assume something that is not ours's
to assume.
As believers we are called to be witnesses. Those were our
Savior's marching orders. We are reminded in 1 Peter 3:15 that we are to always
be prepared to give an account to everyone who asks us for the hope that we
have within us, but we are never responsible for the person's decision.
Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) has a wonderful definition for
evangelism: "Evangelism is sharing Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit
and leaving the results up to God." We are not the ones responsible for
the person's salvation. We may deliver the message, but it is God who opens the
door to a person's heart. When we understand this, we will never feel a sense
of failure, regardless of a person's response to our message.
If you are in our area, I would encourage you to join us this
Sunday, October 24th at 9:15 for a six-week study at the New Monmouth Baptist
Church (corner of New Monmouth Road and Cherry Tree Farm Road) as together we
learn how to more effectively share "the hope within us."
Yours in faith,
Tom
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