Evangelism Coach

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I was cleaning out my file cabinet this week (isn’t that fun?). 

Actually, I found a lot of stuff that I had forgotten I had, and of course, lots of useless junk that went straight to the shredder. 

• A clipped article about Microsoft Certification from 1993? 
• How about a marriage inventory? 
• Building permits from a construction renovation project I led.  Building has been occupied for 7 years, don’t think I need that. . . .

Found a Gem: Barriers to Witnessing

I did find a useful inventory that you can use for your own personal evaluation. 

Listed are some of the barriers we all encounter that keep us from witnessing. As you read through them, think about your own personal barriers and put a check mark by any that you think may apply to you.  So I’ve scanned it in for you, cleaned it up, and give it too you as a free download.

What now?

Download Overcoming Barriers to Witnessing.

Take it, and feel free to contact me and discuss the results?

Want you own evangelism training in your city?  Contact us to arrange a seminar for your church or area.

Our primary model in our seminars for doing personal evangelism is Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch.

The basic premise:

When God "underlined" the eunuch for Phillip, (with "Go stand next to THAT chariot"), Phillip obeyed and found a spiritually thirsty person.  Phillip then began a conversation that lead to the eunuch coming to faith.

Our model is to encourage the same.  Notice who God underlines, position yourself in the right place, and then engage in a conversation.

In God’s sovereignty, a misdialed number:

Recently, I taught a seminar in a church, where the group had this as their practical assignment.  The testimonies that were shared in small groups were amazing — people found it easy to share their faith when they put themselves "next to" someone that God underlined, and began a conversation.

For example, the phone rang at a participant’s house.  The caller said, "Congratulations, and Happy Birthday."

"Well, I am very happy, but today is not my birthday.  I supposed you’ve got the wrong number" — she replied.

"Oh I’m sorry to have misdialed"

But before he hung up, she felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to say  "Even though today is not my birthday, I’m happy all the time because I know that today is another day that God has given me."

"You are a Christian lady?"

"Yes"

"I quit going to church many years ago, but recently been thinking about the mess my life has become .. . .  ." — the stranger confesses.

At that point, the conversation continues in a natural flow, with the stranger ultimately praying with the evangelism seminar participant to rededicate his life to the Lord and return to church.

You can do this!

This participant simply felt prompted to make such a statement that opened the conversation. 

Wondering if perhaps in God’s sovereignty the caller had misdialed, she threw out an opening line to see where the conversation might go. 

Simply, she took a risk with a stranger who crossed paths with her.

This is how simple evangelism can be — noticing who crosses your path in God’s sovereignty and engaging in a conversation.

Let me ask you this: 

Can you see who will cross your path today that God might be bringing you to connect with?

I was reading a thread on one of the Bible Forums I belong to, and came across a great post answering the question "How do you start witnessing to somebody?" 

That’s a great question.

I’ve been a Christian for nearly 20 years and witnessing simply seems natural to me.  It is the overflow of my heart — I have a vibrant relationship with Christ and that spills out of me.  But how does one start when you are a young Christian?

Here is a partial list from one of the responses:

1. Make known that you are a Christian. (2 Corinthians 3.2)
2. Be blameless as you are an ambassador for Christ (2 Peter 3.14)
3. Pray for opportunities (1 Thess 5.17 and 1 Peter 3.15)

To that list, I would add the following.

1. Notice when the Holy Spirit "underlines" the moment for a conversation.

Noticing when God prompts you for a conversation is a skill that is learned as you grow in your relationship with Christ.  There is no script for that.

Let me ask you this?

Have you developed the art of noticing whom God is underlining for you?

I’ve just wrapped up an Evangelism Conference at Calvary Presbyterian Church, Enfield CT, on Listening Evangelism, Evangelism in the Power of the Holy Spirit.

What a great group of people! Several churches, different denominations, gathering to learn about our approach to Evangelism. Congregational, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Christian Missionary Alliance, were to name a few of the different streams in the body of Christ. It was a privilege to have been invited to share on Evangelism.

The high point of the evangelism conference was the Lab Time, based on Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. This is a feature of our evangelism conferences, where we take one afternoon session, leave the church, and go to the town to do listening evangelism.

When we gather back together, we tell stories of God’s leading and the conversations that happened.

Several gave testimony of praying with people in Wal-mart, at their neighbor’s house, and prayer walks in neighborhoods. A few reported some deeply significant spiritual conversations with neighbors.

For the folks coming to the website after the conference, here are some of the resources I promised to post:

Books:

• Questioning Evangelism, Randy Newman
• They like Jesus, but not the Church by Dan Kimball
• Confessions of a Reformissional Rev by Mark Driscoll
• Reimagining Evangelism: Inviting Friends on a Spiritual Journey, Rick Richardson
• Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism (Real Life Evangelism Series) by Martha Reese
• Discipling the Nations: The Power of Truth to Transform Cultures
• Walking with the Poor.
• unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters

Video:

• Jesus vs. Christian
• Evangelism Linebacker.

Yesterday, I met with fellow blogger Jimmy Kinnaird here in Atlanta to discuss personal evangelism.  We had a great meeting at Starbucks, and it was awesome putting a real face on a real person that I first met because of our blogging interest on personal evangelism.

An idea we kicked around is about an evangelism coaching group. 

It is a a group that meets somewhat regularly, for people who are passionate and excited about evangelism.  The group meeting has a simple structure to discuss questions of evangelism practice.  It’s meant to keep the personal evangelistic temperature high, and an accountability group to make sure we are doing personal evangelism.

Questions:

1. What has Jesus done with you or for you since we last met? (Noticing the current activity of God).
2. Who did you have a spiritual conversation with this week?

The follow-up questions are all to debrief a conversation

1. How did you notice that it was time to have a spiritual conversation?
2. How did it start?
3. Where is that person’s spiritual thirst?
4. What questions were raised?W
5. What questions did you ask?
6. In hindsight, what would you have done differently?
7. What do you think is the persons next step spiritually?
8. How can we pray for you in that endeavor?

By having a coaching group, we can continue to sharpen our skills in personal evangelism.

I’ve started an online version of this as an experiment.  Click to go to the post about the Evangelism Encounter Discussion Group.  It might work, might not, don’t know but thought we’d try.

It’s always a privilege to do Evangelism Training Seminars in local churches over the course of a couple of days and to watch churches get excited about doing evangelism.  It’s our mission to help you find your evangelism passion and provide training to help you express your faith.

It’s Sunday and I sit in the Branson airport, with some downtime to reflect on this week’s Dunamis Project on Listening Evangelism.  

This airport is so small, there is no person yet at the Delta counter to check-in and the flight is supposed to leave in about 90 minutes.

I’ve been with some fine folk at 1st Presbyterian Branson doing the Evangelism Training Workshop on Listening Evangelism.  It covers so many of the topics we cover at EvangeilsmCoach.  I picked up some great ideas that will find their way into the next evangelism training seminar in Enfield CT this coming weekend.

Is he a PC USA Pastor?

I did the children’s sermon this morning, using illusions with cards to offer a gospel explanation.  After the worship service, the pastor was asked by some visitors if I was a PC USA pastor, with the emphasis placed on the right brand. 

I don’t know why that was important to them, but pastor tells me they breathed a sigh of relief when he affirmed my credentialing in the PCUSA. 

A divine appointment?

After church, we went to Cracker Barrel for lunch, and we asked the waitress, “We’re about to give thanks for our food in a few moments, is there anything we can pray for you about?” 

Thinking of Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch, this was a moment where we felt God drew our attention to this waitress — “Offer to Pray with her.”  We took the step to obey the prompting of the Spirit and took the risk.   The reward was a deep conversation and a chance to minister to a woman in great need.  I can’t go into her whole story but suffice it to say that it was a divine appointment.

Let me ask you this:

Who can you pray for this week?

I’m not the first to point this out, but I’ve heard the expression: “A rising tide lifts all boats.” Perhaps you’ve heard it too. Perhaps it’s a cliche that is beyond trendy.

But, when one person is excited about evangelism, and doing it, sharing their experiences, and reflections, other people begin to get the idea that perhaps “I can do this too. ”

When you are causing the evangelistic tide to rise, others will rise up and do evangelism.

You keep your evangelistic passion high, other’s will increase as well.

It just pours out.

When I preached every Sunday, I always had a new evangelism story — a book I was reading, a conversation I had, a prayer that I had with somebody. People around me began to feel more comfortable doing evangelism, and within a few months, people were telling me their own stories of conversations.

That’s where I learned to love evangelism coaching. Asking folks to recall the conversation, explore it a little more, think about how to do the conversation differently the next time a similar topic came about — just like a debriefing. Asking questions to help sharpen the skills.

As long as my evangelistic temperature was hot, the people around me warmed up to evangelism.

Stoking the Fires

How does one keep the fires hot? Let me give you 15 right off the bat. It’s not a linear list and not exhaustive, but here goes:

1. Keep your relationship with God strong.
2. Read the Scriptures, meditate on them as your day goes on.
3. Enjoy noticing God’s activity around you.
4. Regularly tell others about God’s work in your life.
5. Regularly engage in evangelistic conversations
6. Review them as part of your devotional life.
7. Read evangelism books.
8. Read and comment on evangelism blogs.
9. Participate in the evangelism activity of your local church
10. Share your evangelism stories with others.
11. Join an evangelism coaching group that meets regularly to review conversations.
12. Worship deeply.
13. Pray regularly.
14. Notice the people around you and pray for them.
15. Practice explaining the gospel clearly and simply.

Let me ask you this

What would you add to this list?