Evangelism Coach

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This past week, I’ve had fun with some new friends in Palmer Alaska, while teaching The Evangelism Dunamis.  

One of the joys I get in my travels as an evangelism trainer is meeting new people all over the country. 

Pastors from various denominations and gifted lay ministers. 

At this conference, new mission outreaches were launched as well as the initial groundwork to start a new tract of the Dunamis project sometime next year.

Breathtaking Alaska Scenery

It’s hard to talk about Alaska without speaking of the jagged mountain peaks, glaciers, and an all around cross cultural food experience:

Moose tacos and reindeer sausage. 

I also enjoyed the first sight of snow for me this season. 

It was also new to me to try an get a grasp of the size of Alaska.

The state is bigger than Texas, and I’m told that two Texas sized states would still fit in Alaska.  The Aluetian island chain actually crosses the International Date Line and as such, is the only US state to experience two days at one time, and the first state to experience the brand new day.

I invite you to see the full photo album mountains at my Facebook photo Album.

Evangelism Training 101

The Evangelism Dunamis is focused on personal evangelism training.  (See related article: 10 Practical Ways Of Sharing Your Faith)

People arrived on Wednesday and the conference continued through the celebration on Sunday morning, finishing with a communion service where people offer their stories of what God was doing in their life during the event.

Much of the content for The Evangelism Dunamis is found in various pieces here on Evangelism Coach, and it is always fun to present the material live. 

We focused on some theology, including the kingdom of God, but much of the teaching time was also given over to lots of practical work, praying and sharing in small groups:

• Sharpening the focus of your testimony
• Using a Gospel Scripts.
• How To Practice A Gospel Presentation 
• Praying for those who don’t know Christ.
• Listening for God’s call to a particular region or people group.
• Sharing in small groups about your faith journey.
• Learning how to recognize Kairos moments.

Given the remoteness of the location at Victory Bible Camp in the rugged Alaska mountains, we didn’t really have an “on the street” opportunity.  We usually like to include a live practicum, based on the Phillip and Ethiopian Eunuch.story.

Conference Follow up.

For my newest subscribers through the EvangelismCoach feed and Monthly EvangelismCoach Newsletter, here are some important links that I highlighted at the Evangelism Dunamis.

• Using a Gospel Scripts.
  • Personal Testimony Questionnaire
  • Evangelism As Storytelling
  • The Power Of Testimony
  • A 2 part Questionnaire

Upcoming Evangelism Dunamis

The Next Evangelism Dunamis will be in Mount Vernon Washington (Oct 23-25), just outside of Seattle. 

If you are in the Pacific Northwest, or even want to come down from Alaska, see Seattle WA Personal Evangelism Training Conference for registration. 

Registration covers only catered meals.  A love offering for advancing the vision will be received nightly.

A divine appointment is recognizing God’s prompting a moment that will impact someone’s life in their jourey to faith.  These are kairos moments.

I want to give you examples of how this can play out in real life.

• God’s presence is with us. – My tutor hears the gospel
• Seminar Testimony - a wrong phone number
• Is he a PC USA Pastor? – Divine moment in Cracker Barrell
• What is an Evangelist? – Student wants a definition
• Reflections from Enfield CT - Walmart Stories
• Evangelism Motives: Why bother? – taxi driver shares Jesus

The point is to have developed an intimate relationship with the Lord so that you can be in the right place at the right time.  Listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and see what happens.

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?

Here is an interesting way to get your testimony out there:

3 minutes could change a life

The general premise: Visit the website, listen to the testimony, fill out a few questions, and indicate if you "prayed the prayer."

Baptist churches report having found it a useful form of evangelism. 

Visit the article to read the whole thing. 

Let me ask you this?

What do you think about this?  How often do you get to share your testimony?

I can’t say it any better.  Read the story of Pete… « CHRIS ELROD DOT COM

Some people find it hard to talk about their personal faith journey.

It could be that you have never been asked, or it could be that you’ve not taken the time to think it through. You simply know that you follow Jesus.

This questionnaire can help you grow comfortable in talking about your faith, and can also be used to help small group members get to know one another.

1. My first recollection of being in church was
2. The closest I have felt to God in my life was
3. The time I have felt the greatest doubt or distance from God was
4. If I could thank God for just one incident in my life it would be ______ and why?
5. If I could thank God for just one person in my faith journey it would be _______ and why?
6. If I could name a turning point in my life for my relationship with God it would be ________ and why?
7. If I had to tell someone why I am a Christian I would have to say

Free Download

Download a free copy of this as a PDF to distribute: Personal Faith Inventory

You are free to download and distribute this as long as you leave the credit to www.EvangelismCoach.org in Place.

One church, Solana Beach Presbyterian in Solana Beach California, has and effective small group ministry.  One thing they are doing a little different this year is using the small groups to help people grow comfortable in doing evangelism — a place to practice telling their stories —

“stories that testify to why they have put their trust in Jesus Christ.

To help implement this idea, the senior pastor gave a 10 week sermon series devoted to evangelism as storytelling, which modeled story telling as a way to communicate your faith.  

Some of the sermons used principles found Just Walk Across the Room, Bill Hybels (get your copy from Amazon), which I have found to be a great current resource for Evangelism [1]

The small groups become the place where people can grow comfortable talking about their own faith, and then sharing their own stories with friends.  Presumably (but not shared in the PGF article), people report their story telling encounters in their small group.

For the full resources (as of January 08), visit the church’s website for audio and video and look for November of 07

Two Videos

Living in 3d

 

 

See the original article here: PGF Outbox: ONE CHURCH MAKES MISSIONAL STRIDES THROUGH SMALL GROUPS

[1] These products can be ordered directly from Amazon

• Just Walk Across the Room, Bill Hybels
• Just Walk Across the Room Video Cirriculum, Bill Hybels
• Simplemente acercate a ellos: Pasos Sencillos Para Guiar a Las Personas Hacia La Fe, Bill Hybels

Let me ask you this?

What steps do take to practice telling your faith story?