Thursday, March 10, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
While I have a few minutes of free time...
After my week 4 adventures (a blog update will eventually come, I promise), there's a very small part of me that wants to take a break from the normal Gospel preaching and just go out and pray for people. And when I was thinking about it, it reminded me of a movie I watched a few years ago that I think some of you might enjoy. If you come from a conservative Christian background, this might be a little bit weird. But I like the overarching message about love vs. agenda.
Here is the playlist I just put together.
Here is the playlist I just put together.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Week 3
Time and time again, I am reminded how little I have to give to God in order for Him to do something with it that is completely beyond all my expectations (and usually just plain ridiculous). More on that in later blog posts, but for now, I do want to give one small example of the unintended consequences caused by this Gospel project: Laura Hairgrove's willingness to preach the Gospel on the streets of CWRU.
Laura is one of the founding members and Executive Director of The Halo Ensemble, an internationally acclaimed Christian conductorless chamber orchestra of which I am also a member (So technically I just preached the Gospel with my boss. How's that for an employee/employer relationship?). While she loves Jesus and clearly wants to spread the Good News, she's never been the kind of person to accost people in the streets. A few weeks ago she started to read my blog, and after considering it, she decided that this form of evangelism wasn't so bad after all. But I figured she still might need some convincing, so here is the lengthy texting conversation that followed:
Me: Want to preach the gospel from 3:45-4:45?
Laura: Haha! Sure. You're on. :)
That was easy enough.
WEEK 3: Preaching the Gospel with Laura
Let me go in reverse order today, because I can't stop thinking about the last person with whom we conversed. His name is Kayden (spelling is approximate). He came into the conversation thinking that the primary reason Jesus came to Earth was to help people understand and cope with life. When asked about the prospect of eternal life, his understanding of it only included "living on in others' memories". Inspired by the video in my last blog post, I took him through John 3:16, and while he wasn't necessarily ready to give his life to the Lord, he was willing to pray with us (by that I mean I prayed and he listened). Basically the prayer went something to the effect of "God, make You and Your love unmistakable".
I couldn't see his face, but Laura said afterwards that something was definitely going on inside Kayden during the prayer. For those of you who are prayer warriors out there, this might be a good time to pray for him. He could use it.
There's more to the story that I might mention in a later blog post, but for now, let me take you through the rest of the afternoon. Laura and I met near Qdoba (good, slightly overpriced burritos- after 1000 points aka 10 burritos, you get one free. Sundays are triple point days, so it works out to a good deal.) and prayed a bit before talking to anyone. I don't know why I was such a wimp to start out; we passed probably 15 people before talking to this first lady in her late 20s to mid 30s. I'm glad she was the first person we met- I would hate for Laura's first experience with street-preaching to be with someone more hostile, someone who hates Christians for doing exactly what we were doing (driving those kinds of people further from Jesus was her main fear in street-preaching), and we did have such an encounter later. But this lady was quite friendly and very happy to meet us. She told us that she was a Christian, and that she had just been to a Bible study the night before. After pressing further, she admitted that she had not been very good about making time for Jesus lately (struggling to balance work and other things) but that she sincerely wanted to be better about it. In retrospect, we probably should have asked if she wanted to pray with us, but it didn't occur to me until much later. I whiffed on those kinds of things all afternoon. Thankfully, Jesus' strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).
The next guy we met, Hawwah, was a native Clevelander in his 40s who seemed one step away from your classic Cleveland religious zealot, mentally disabled due to heavy drug use over the past few decades. They typically hold bizarre views on the Old Testament- others have Revelation memorized but have no knowledge of the rest of the Bible. Nowadays I try to avoid these conversations at all costs (even though I know I shouldn't)- logic just has no place in these conversations. It's incredibly easy to get sucked into a half hour cyclical argument. I still love these guys, but I just don't know how to relate to them in the slightest.
After talking to him for a while, though, I do not think that Hawwah is quite one of those people. Despite a heavy religious barrier, he did seem to respond to some logic, and our conversation was almost coherent. When asked who he thought Jesus is, he responded that Jesus was a prophet. He then went on a rant about Abraham being African. I agreed with him that humankind probably did start on the African continent, but despite the common ground, he still thought this point critical to the understanding of why Jesus was just a prophet. Before we could completely dissect the matter, a car arrived to pick him up, so I took his phone number. If I have any free time in my schedule between now and May, I will meet him at a coffee shop somewhere and discuss further.
Laura was quick to initiate conversation yesterday. The first time I ever went out, I had a crutch of handing out church fliers, so I hardly talked to anyone. Even when that crutch was removed, I was the wimpiest street preacher ever. I had to work myself up into a spiritual frenzy before I would even consider going out, and then I would poop out 15 minutes in. I think the turning point was that time my friend Charles had me singing an obscure hymn at the top of my lungs in the middle of Coventry while he talked to confused passers by. That was pretty great. Anyway, Laura did a good job. Anytime I had no words to say, she stepped right in without hesitation. She really knows how to wield the sword of the Spirit- any time she prays, God's spirit inside of me just goes, "AMEN!"
There was one guy in Thwing who was less than happy to talk to us, though I didn't realize it until after the conversation ended. We asked him what parts of Jesus' teachings he didn't like, and he mentioned the part about hating your father and mother, wife and child in order to be Jesus' disciple (Luke 14:25). I said I didn't know exactly what it meant but suggested that it was a comparison, and I brought in my own testimony about how my love for Jesus completely dwarfs my love for other people or other things. He still wasn't convinced that's what the Bible meant, so he moved on to a teaching he said he really liked- the part where the Bible says you should parade around your faith. I had no idea what verse he was referencing, and he split before I could figure it out. I had no idea that his last comment was meant as a passive-aggressive attack on our actions until Laura mentioned it later. I am amazed at my potential to be oblivious. The scene made her a little bitter, and it inspired a good conversation about unforgiveness later, so I guess some good came out of the conversation.
There were other conversations that I can't remember, simply because they happened yesterday and because the conversation with Kayden overshadows most of those memories. BTW, Thanks everybody for the prayer support.
One other thing: I can't believe how much I'm loving preaching the Gospel. Both yesterday and last week I went into the afternoon feeling spiritually drained. Spending time in prayer and/or in the Bible always helps, but there is a kind of spiritual revival you get from preaching the Gospel that you don't always get by reading the Bible. There's a joy in preaching the Gospel that you don't always get in a prayer meeting. It's true that one guy was upset that we were talking about Jesus, but his attitude hardly compares to the joy of sharing the Good News to all those other people and seeing lives affected by Jesus.
Go Jesus!
Laura is one of the founding members and Executive Director of The Halo Ensemble, an internationally acclaimed Christian conductorless chamber orchestra of which I am also a member (So technically I just preached the Gospel with my boss. How's that for an employee/employer relationship?). While she loves Jesus and clearly wants to spread the Good News, she's never been the kind of person to accost people in the streets. A few weeks ago she started to read my blog, and after considering it, she decided that this form of evangelism wasn't so bad after all. But I figured she still might need some convincing, so here is the lengthy texting conversation that followed:
Me: Want to preach the gospel from 3:45-4:45?
Laura: Haha! Sure. You're on. :)
That was easy enough.
WEEK 3: Preaching the Gospel with Laura
Let me go in reverse order today, because I can't stop thinking about the last person with whom we conversed. His name is Kayden (spelling is approximate). He came into the conversation thinking that the primary reason Jesus came to Earth was to help people understand and cope with life. When asked about the prospect of eternal life, his understanding of it only included "living on in others' memories". Inspired by the video in my last blog post, I took him through John 3:16, and while he wasn't necessarily ready to give his life to the Lord, he was willing to pray with us (by that I mean I prayed and he listened). Basically the prayer went something to the effect of "God, make You and Your love unmistakable".
I couldn't see his face, but Laura said afterwards that something was definitely going on inside Kayden during the prayer. For those of you who are prayer warriors out there, this might be a good time to pray for him. He could use it.
There's more to the story that I might mention in a later blog post, but for now, let me take you through the rest of the afternoon. Laura and I met near Qdoba (good, slightly overpriced burritos- after 1000 points aka 10 burritos, you get one free. Sundays are triple point days, so it works out to a good deal.) and prayed a bit before talking to anyone. I don't know why I was such a wimp to start out; we passed probably 15 people before talking to this first lady in her late 20s to mid 30s. I'm glad she was the first person we met- I would hate for Laura's first experience with street-preaching to be with someone more hostile, someone who hates Christians for doing exactly what we were doing (driving those kinds of people further from Jesus was her main fear in street-preaching), and we did have such an encounter later. But this lady was quite friendly and very happy to meet us. She told us that she was a Christian, and that she had just been to a Bible study the night before. After pressing further, she admitted that she had not been very good about making time for Jesus lately (struggling to balance work and other things) but that she sincerely wanted to be better about it. In retrospect, we probably should have asked if she wanted to pray with us, but it didn't occur to me until much later. I whiffed on those kinds of things all afternoon. Thankfully, Jesus' strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).
The next guy we met, Hawwah, was a native Clevelander in his 40s who seemed one step away from your classic Cleveland religious zealot, mentally disabled due to heavy drug use over the past few decades. They typically hold bizarre views on the Old Testament- others have Revelation memorized but have no knowledge of the rest of the Bible. Nowadays I try to avoid these conversations at all costs (even though I know I shouldn't)- logic just has no place in these conversations. It's incredibly easy to get sucked into a half hour cyclical argument. I still love these guys, but I just don't know how to relate to them in the slightest.
After talking to him for a while, though, I do not think that Hawwah is quite one of those people. Despite a heavy religious barrier, he did seem to respond to some logic, and our conversation was almost coherent. When asked who he thought Jesus is, he responded that Jesus was a prophet. He then went on a rant about Abraham being African. I agreed with him that humankind probably did start on the African continent, but despite the common ground, he still thought this point critical to the understanding of why Jesus was just a prophet. Before we could completely dissect the matter, a car arrived to pick him up, so I took his phone number. If I have any free time in my schedule between now and May, I will meet him at a coffee shop somewhere and discuss further.
Laura was quick to initiate conversation yesterday. The first time I ever went out, I had a crutch of handing out church fliers, so I hardly talked to anyone. Even when that crutch was removed, I was the wimpiest street preacher ever. I had to work myself up into a spiritual frenzy before I would even consider going out, and then I would poop out 15 minutes in. I think the turning point was that time my friend Charles had me singing an obscure hymn at the top of my lungs in the middle of Coventry while he talked to confused passers by. That was pretty great. Anyway, Laura did a good job. Anytime I had no words to say, she stepped right in without hesitation. She really knows how to wield the sword of the Spirit- any time she prays, God's spirit inside of me just goes, "AMEN!"
There was one guy in Thwing who was less than happy to talk to us, though I didn't realize it until after the conversation ended. We asked him what parts of Jesus' teachings he didn't like, and he mentioned the part about hating your father and mother, wife and child in order to be Jesus' disciple (Luke 14:25). I said I didn't know exactly what it meant but suggested that it was a comparison, and I brought in my own testimony about how my love for Jesus completely dwarfs my love for other people or other things. He still wasn't convinced that's what the Bible meant, so he moved on to a teaching he said he really liked- the part where the Bible says you should parade around your faith. I had no idea what verse he was referencing, and he split before I could figure it out. I had no idea that his last comment was meant as a passive-aggressive attack on our actions until Laura mentioned it later. I am amazed at my potential to be oblivious. The scene made her a little bitter, and it inspired a good conversation about unforgiveness later, so I guess some good came out of the conversation.
There were other conversations that I can't remember, simply because they happened yesterday and because the conversation with Kayden overshadows most of those memories. BTW, Thanks everybody for the prayer support.
One other thing: I can't believe how much I'm loving preaching the Gospel. Both yesterday and last week I went into the afternoon feeling spiritually drained. Spending time in prayer and/or in the Bible always helps, but there is a kind of spiritual revival you get from preaching the Gospel that you don't always get by reading the Bible. There's a joy in preaching the Gospel that you don't always get in a prayer meeting. It's true that one guy was upset that we were talking about Jesus, but his attitude hardly compares to the joy of sharing the Good News to all those other people and seeing lives affected by Jesus.
Go Jesus!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Need Some Weekend Motivation?
One of my pastors made this video about 5 years ago. I hope it inspires you to go preach the Gospel. It's Saturday! What better day?
I'm told by my pastor that the second guy (the one with the younger girl) accepted the Lord that day.
Zane
I'm told by my pastor that the second guy (the one with the younger girl) accepted the Lord that day.
Zane
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Week 2
On the surface, there's no reason why today should have been such a great day. It rained earlier, then snowed. Now the ground is a sheet of ice, and the sky is still gloomy. On top of that, all the free cupcakes that miraculously found their way into my house yesterday were gone by this morning. Did I really need that fifth cupcake last night? Maybe not, but probably definitely yes.
The one bright spot of the day was the fact that my late-afternoon brass sectional for an upcoming concert of Broadway show tunes (two hours of off-beats) was canceled. So how did I celebrate this unexpected free time? Well, I started off by wasting a half hour on Facebook. Then I ate some party mix for about 5 minutes. Then I checked Facebook to see if I had missed anything, and I stayed there for another 30 minutes.
Eventually, it occurred to me that I love Jesus (I really need to stop forgetting) and that I should probably get off my bum and do something productive. Unfortunately, that thought alone did absolutely nothing for me in the way of motivation, so I spent a few minutes alone with Jesus, just praying with absolutely no agenda except to spend time with Jesus. And what do you know! My day got better.
Then Jesus suggested that I go out and preach the Gospel. My housemate Peter was in the adjacent room practicing his cello when this all went down, so I asked him if he wanted to join me. 10 minutes later, we met up at school and embarked on our adventure.
WEEK 2: Preaching the Gospel with Peter
Once again, I don't know much in the way of results. The unbelievers who spoke with us generally didn't seem too interested, and arguing seemed counterproductive, so we scattered whatever spiritual seed we could and then went on our way. If my objective in this Gospel experiment was a high number of (initial) salvations, today would be a sad day indeed. But I'd like to think I want what Jesus wants, and Jesus really cares about building up his church. And on that front, it was an eventful hour.
More than half the people Peter and I met today are Christians. It begs the questions: Are there really this many Christians already here? And if CWRU really is 30-50% Christian (which admittedly might not be true), why does Jesus have such a low impact on campus? What good does it do to have a gazillion Christians on campus but virtually no Jesus? What can we do apart from Jesus? We're sinners. Apart from Jesus, we're kinda pathetic. Are we somehow better than unbelievers when it comes to helping others or consoling others? If we want suffering people to stop suffering, we don't need empathy. We need Jesus! He's the one who can help! He's the one who can console!
Anyway, once Peter and I arrived at the Thwing Center (the same building in which Rex and I went 6 days prior), we didn't waste time. In fact, I could hardly keep up with him. I was shocked at his boldness. At one point I turned to him to ask, "Should we talk to that person next?", but before I could open my mouth he had already walked over and started a conversation. I think we freaked out an entire room in 30 seconds flat. It was great!
Once everybody within 20 feet knew what was going on, my first instinct was to find another room. Not Peter. Even from the very first conversation, I saw people in the background shrink away. As soon as it was obvious that the first conversation wasn't going anywhere, we thanked her for her time, and Peter made a beeline for those same people. And you know what? We got somebody's contact information! He wanted to know more about some of the on-campus fellowship that happens throughout the week.
He may have been uncomfortable at first; he wasn't a terribly serious Christian. He said he thought he would get more serious about Jesus after he got settled down with his career. The conversation turned for the better when one of us asked him, "What's your major?". After that, he didn't need much convincing to realize that as a premed student, his life is probably far more settled now than it will be once he's a doctor.
After another encounter or two I finally vocalized my concern that we were scaring onlookers, so we left the room and headed outside. Once outside, we got blown off a few times, but had a few really awesome conversations, mostly with believers. This one guy, Sam, decided to follow the Lord when he was robbed at gunpoint. Interesting technique- maybe I'll try this method of evangelism later. Sam also gave us a phone number, so hopefully I'll see him again soon.
We got an email address from another Christian named Chris. Here's a fun fact: today wasn't the first time I had met him. We had last seen each other months ago on a miserable rainy day when I just happened to be carrying a few extra umbrellas with Gospel messages attached. Apparently he liked his gift and the fact that Peter and I were preaching the Gospel in 20ยบ(F) weather, so he wasn't against the idea of hanging out with us in the future. He figured at first that we were charismatics (I'm not entirely sure that I'm not), which sparked a short conversation about healing and miracles and that time a few days ago when God fixed our washing machine (true story).
Peter didn't even want to approach this one premed student because he felt uncomfortable talking to such a beautiful woman. Let that be a lesson to you, all you single men. Preaching the Gospel is a great way to meet attractive single Christian women. Motivated? Anyway, we invited her to Friday Christian Fellowship (FCF) and got an email address. Then we went home.
Both of us finished the hour with more energy than when we started (not because of the beautiful premed student). You know, some people think the Christian life is boring. They think the Bible disallows anything fun. They don't have a clue! Preaching the Gospel was the highlight of my week! I need to do this more often!
Great day.
The one bright spot of the day was the fact that my late-afternoon brass sectional for an upcoming concert of Broadway show tunes (two hours of off-beats) was canceled. So how did I celebrate this unexpected free time? Well, I started off by wasting a half hour on Facebook. Then I ate some party mix for about 5 minutes. Then I checked Facebook to see if I had missed anything, and I stayed there for another 30 minutes.
Eventually, it occurred to me that I love Jesus (I really need to stop forgetting) and that I should probably get off my bum and do something productive. Unfortunately, that thought alone did absolutely nothing for me in the way of motivation, so I spent a few minutes alone with Jesus, just praying with absolutely no agenda except to spend time with Jesus. And what do you know! My day got better.
Then Jesus suggested that I go out and preach the Gospel. My housemate Peter was in the adjacent room practicing his cello when this all went down, so I asked him if he wanted to join me. 10 minutes later, we met up at school and embarked on our adventure.
WEEK 2: Preaching the Gospel with Peter
Once again, I don't know much in the way of results. The unbelievers who spoke with us generally didn't seem too interested, and arguing seemed counterproductive, so we scattered whatever spiritual seed we could and then went on our way. If my objective in this Gospel experiment was a high number of (initial) salvations, today would be a sad day indeed. But I'd like to think I want what Jesus wants, and Jesus really cares about building up his church. And on that front, it was an eventful hour.
More than half the people Peter and I met today are Christians. It begs the questions: Are there really this many Christians already here? And if CWRU really is 30-50% Christian (which admittedly might not be true), why does Jesus have such a low impact on campus? What good does it do to have a gazillion Christians on campus but virtually no Jesus? What can we do apart from Jesus? We're sinners. Apart from Jesus, we're kinda pathetic. Are we somehow better than unbelievers when it comes to helping others or consoling others? If we want suffering people to stop suffering, we don't need empathy. We need Jesus! He's the one who can help! He's the one who can console!
Anyway, once Peter and I arrived at the Thwing Center (the same building in which Rex and I went 6 days prior), we didn't waste time. In fact, I could hardly keep up with him. I was shocked at his boldness. At one point I turned to him to ask, "Should we talk to that person next?", but before I could open my mouth he had already walked over and started a conversation. I think we freaked out an entire room in 30 seconds flat. It was great!
Once everybody within 20 feet knew what was going on, my first instinct was to find another room. Not Peter. Even from the very first conversation, I saw people in the background shrink away. As soon as it was obvious that the first conversation wasn't going anywhere, we thanked her for her time, and Peter made a beeline for those same people. And you know what? We got somebody's contact information! He wanted to know more about some of the on-campus fellowship that happens throughout the week.
He may have been uncomfortable at first; he wasn't a terribly serious Christian. He said he thought he would get more serious about Jesus after he got settled down with his career. The conversation turned for the better when one of us asked him, "What's your major?". After that, he didn't need much convincing to realize that as a premed student, his life is probably far more settled now than it will be once he's a doctor.
After another encounter or two I finally vocalized my concern that we were scaring onlookers, so we left the room and headed outside. Once outside, we got blown off a few times, but had a few really awesome conversations, mostly with believers. This one guy, Sam, decided to follow the Lord when he was robbed at gunpoint. Interesting technique- maybe I'll try this method of evangelism later. Sam also gave us a phone number, so hopefully I'll see him again soon.
We got an email address from another Christian named Chris. Here's a fun fact: today wasn't the first time I had met him. We had last seen each other months ago on a miserable rainy day when I just happened to be carrying a few extra umbrellas with Gospel messages attached. Apparently he liked his gift and the fact that Peter and I were preaching the Gospel in 20ยบ(F) weather, so he wasn't against the idea of hanging out with us in the future. He figured at first that we were charismatics (I'm not entirely sure that I'm not), which sparked a short conversation about healing and miracles and that time a few days ago when God fixed our washing machine (true story).
Peter didn't even want to approach this one premed student because he felt uncomfortable talking to such a beautiful woman. Let that be a lesson to you, all you single men. Preaching the Gospel is a great way to meet attractive single Christian women. Motivated? Anyway, we invited her to Friday Christian Fellowship (FCF) and got an email address. Then we went home.
Both of us finished the hour with more energy than when we started (not because of the beautiful premed student). You know, some people think the Christian life is boring. They think the Bible disallows anything fun. They don't have a clue! Preaching the Gospel was the highlight of my week! I need to do this more often!
Great day.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Week 1
"Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that
"they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven."
And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."
-Mark 4:3-20
I'd love to say the time I had with Rex today was marked with people getting saved, limbs getting physically healed, and bacon falling supernaturally from the sky (can I get an "amen"?), but I have no idea what the result of today was. But this I can tell you confidently: seeds were scattered. And from that standpoint, this might have been the most successful one-hour Gospel-preaching adventure I've ever been through. People actually engaged us in conversation! Some were challenged, some were encouraged, some just felt awkward and mildly offended. Here's hoping those seeds found good soil. So here's what I learned:
For one, "Hey, could I take a few minutes and just blatantly try to convert you to Christianity?" wouldn't have worked today (though it's started good conversations in the past- watching the confused and shocked expressions before "Well... yeah. Sure. Go for it." was admittedly half the fun). Here was Rex's conversation starter:
"Hey, do you have time to answer one question?"
"Sure."
"Well, we're both Christians, and we've been surveying different people, and we wanted to know: in your opinion, who is Jesus Christ?"
It's direct, but not terribly invasive. It's a good conversation starter. And only one person really blew us off, simply saying, "I'm agnostic!" before bolting. Everybody else (about 8 or 9 people) seemed to enjoy talking to us.
I did notice a few things about the way people operate. Among the 8 or 9 people, there were really only 4 or 5 kinds of people that each had very similar ways of thinking about the world. Knowing the way people think is important because just as different kinds of seeds grow in different soils and climates, not every person responds as easily to the same methods of evangelism. I am a dude and therefore thickheaded. I haven't spent much time in my life thinking about the way people think. So if there's anything I could get out of this experiment personally (besides the joy of seeing people come closer to Jesus), it would be an understanding of the way people think.
I hope this doesn't sound manipulative- because it could be manipulative very easily if my goal in this knowledge was something other than what the Bible prescribes. There's a verse in Philippians (check out 1:9-11) that says, "I pray that your love will abound in knowledge and discernment." In this verse, love is somehow improved through knowledge and discernment. Imagine this scenario: I have a friend that I care about, so I bake him a pecan pie. Then when I give it to him, he says, "I can't eat this. I'm extremely diabetic and I'm allergic to pecans."
Oh snap!
I love people, but that love is kinda pointless if I don't know how to express it. People need Jesus! If there's anything I can do to be a more obvious sign post pointing to Christ, I want to do it! I don't want this knowledge to be better at arguing, I want this knowledge so people can see the love of Christ!
So I guess that's all for now. Thanks for your prayers, everyone.
Zane
And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that
"they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven."
And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."
-Mark 4:3-20
I'd love to say the time I had with Rex today was marked with people getting saved, limbs getting physically healed, and bacon falling supernaturally from the sky (can I get an "amen"?), but I have no idea what the result of today was. But this I can tell you confidently: seeds were scattered. And from that standpoint, this might have been the most successful one-hour Gospel-preaching adventure I've ever been through. People actually engaged us in conversation! Some were challenged, some were encouraged, some just felt awkward and mildly offended. Here's hoping those seeds found good soil. So here's what I learned:
For one, "Hey, could I take a few minutes and just blatantly try to convert you to Christianity?" wouldn't have worked today (though it's started good conversations in the past- watching the confused and shocked expressions before "Well... yeah. Sure. Go for it." was admittedly half the fun). Here was Rex's conversation starter:
"Hey, do you have time to answer one question?"
"Sure."
"Well, we're both Christians, and we've been surveying different people, and we wanted to know: in your opinion, who is Jesus Christ?"
It's direct, but not terribly invasive. It's a good conversation starter. And only one person really blew us off, simply saying, "I'm agnostic!" before bolting. Everybody else (about 8 or 9 people) seemed to enjoy talking to us.
I did notice a few things about the way people operate. Among the 8 or 9 people, there were really only 4 or 5 kinds of people that each had very similar ways of thinking about the world. Knowing the way people think is important because just as different kinds of seeds grow in different soils and climates, not every person responds as easily to the same methods of evangelism. I am a dude and therefore thickheaded. I haven't spent much time in my life thinking about the way people think. So if there's anything I could get out of this experiment personally (besides the joy of seeing people come closer to Jesus), it would be an understanding of the way people think.
I hope this doesn't sound manipulative- because it could be manipulative very easily if my goal in this knowledge was something other than what the Bible prescribes. There's a verse in Philippians (check out 1:9-11) that says, "I pray that your love will abound in knowledge and discernment." In this verse, love is somehow improved through knowledge and discernment. Imagine this scenario: I have a friend that I care about, so I bake him a pecan pie. Then when I give it to him, he says, "I can't eat this. I'm extremely diabetic and I'm allergic to pecans."
Oh snap!
I love people, but that love is kinda pointless if I don't know how to express it. People need Jesus! If there's anything I can do to be a more obvious sign post pointing to Christ, I want to do it! I don't want this knowledge to be better at arguing, I want this knowledge so people can see the love of Christ!
So I guess that's all for now. Thanks for your prayers, everyone.
Zane
First post!
Hi everybody! I'm Zane. For those of you who know me well, you might be asking yourself, "How in good conscience could Zane give himself another excuse spend time on a computer and thereby remain single forever?" Great question! Well, just before winter break, my pastor Rex (Wrecks or T-Rex; you pick) sat down with me and told me to do something crazy. He told me to go out into the world at least one hour once a week to talk to total strangers about Jesus. On top of that, almost every time I go out I'm supposed to bring a new Jesus-loving friend with me and mercilessly burst their comfort bubble.
Cool. When Rex finished talking, I cowered in fear. A moment later, I smiled broadly, realizing that this was actually a really great idea. Then I cowered in fear again. And after going back and forth for a few seconds, I said something to the effect of, "That sounds awesome!"
I should have stopped there, but then I made the critical error of thinking. I always get into trouble when I think. "How can I keep myself accountable?" I asked, knowing that I have a tendency to start things and never finish them (so says about 150 unfinished thank-you cards from the past 15 Christmases and birthdays). His response was two-fold: 1.) I have to write this blog, and 2.) He's going to show the blog to other people, including my housemate, Ian, who could beat me up with his pinky.
Ian quickly (and eagerly) agreed to "help" me stay the course, and that brings us to today. I have a 1:30 PM appointment with Rex to share the Gospel. Prayers are appreciated.
BTW, leave a comment if you want to come with me to tell people about Jesus next week! It's a really cool thing to do. A lot of people don't like being approached, but if you love them and love Jesus, you'll do everything you can to point people to Him. The fact of the matter is that some people are just going to hell, and that bothers me. On the flip side, Jesus kinda rocks. Most people don't realize this.
I'll keep you posted on today's adventures!
Zane
Cool. When Rex finished talking, I cowered in fear. A moment later, I smiled broadly, realizing that this was actually a really great idea. Then I cowered in fear again. And after going back and forth for a few seconds, I said something to the effect of, "That sounds awesome!"
I should have stopped there, but then I made the critical error of thinking. I always get into trouble when I think. "How can I keep myself accountable?" I asked, knowing that I have a tendency to start things and never finish them (so says about 150 unfinished thank-you cards from the past 15 Christmases and birthdays). His response was two-fold: 1.) I have to write this blog, and 2.) He's going to show the blog to other people, including my housemate, Ian, who could beat me up with his pinky.
Ian quickly (and eagerly) agreed to "help" me stay the course, and that brings us to today. I have a 1:30 PM appointment with Rex to share the Gospel. Prayers are appreciated.
BTW, leave a comment if you want to come with me to tell people about Jesus next week! It's a really cool thing to do. A lot of people don't like being approached, but if you love them and love Jesus, you'll do everything you can to point people to Him. The fact of the matter is that some people are just going to hell, and that bothers me. On the flip side, Jesus kinda rocks. Most people don't realize this.
I'll keep you posted on today's adventures!
Zane
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)