Philemon 6 - "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ."

In 1991, a complete stranger knocked on my door and shared the gospel with me.  I placed my trust in Jesus that night and have never been the same!  The last twenty years has been filled with a passion to proclaim the gospel as often as I can.  I have personally attempted to witness to over 5,000 people since 2004.  I have learned an awful lot through continued practice about how to get into gospel conversations in everyday life.  Here are some basics for anyone desiring to be a better witness.

Pre-evangelism:

Just like a farmer prepares the soil to accept the seed, so also prayer prepares the soil of hearts to receive the gospel.  Before you became a believer, you were a prayer request!

-Top 10 List: make a list of 10 (or more) people with whom you would love to share the gospel. Commit to pray through the list everyday for at least 30 days.  Then look for open doors to share your faith.

-Jericho prayer: I call this Jericho prayer because I walk around an area (my neighborhood) for seven days in a row, praying that spiritual walls to the gospel would fall and that I would have opportunities to share my faith in Jesus Christ.  It's a great first step!

-Serve well: most people respond to a kind act done in a meaningful and timely way.  Take your neighbors trash cans to their house from time to time, cut their grass, and help them with groceries.  These kind acts pave the way for an opportunity to tell them about Jesus!  I always share Mark 10:45 when someone asks me why I'm serving them (Jesus 'came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many').

Evangelism:

Use the right tools.  Sometimes getting into a gospel conversation is as simple as having the right tools

Find triggers: a trigger is some way to pique curiousity in order to have a gospel conversation.  Example: I carry stacks of million dollar bills.  These are actually gospel tracts that answer the 'million dollar question' - "if you died today do you know for sure that you would go to heaven?".  People see these and immediately want one. This is an easy lead in to the 'million dollar question.'  Another great trigger is I Am Second.  I wear a different IA2 shirt each day and someone almost always asks me what it means.  "It's just a clever way to say that Jesus is first in my life," I explain.

Small steps: make a commitment to share with at least one person per day.  Each day we see hundreds of people who don't know Jesus.  You will likely never ever see those same people again!  What could it hurt to take a chance and tell someone about Jesus?  I often interact with strangers and transition to spiritual things at some point in the conversation.  A good transition is: "I know this sounds unusual, but is there anything that I can pray for you about?"  Rarely does anyone reject prayer.  Sometimes I'll ask them, "what's the most important thing that's ever happened to you?"  This question is positive and neutral and more often than not, leads them to ask the same question to you.  At that point I share my story of how I met Jesus and how He changed my life.

Pocket power: consider joining The Pocket Testament League.  They print and send you small gospels of John.  You commit to read, carry, and share one each day.  These are free, but they ask for a donation. (www.pocketpower.org)

Million dollar bills: available through the ministry of Living Waters (www.livingwaters.com)

I Am Second gear: this has been of the most fruitful evangelism tools that I've ever used.  Check out their ministry at www.iamsecond.com, or the parent ministry at www.e3partners.org

For more help with evangelism, feel free to contact me!  gibson@riversideconnect.com