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Evangelism:  The Power of “THE ASK”

Orginally published on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 11:09 AM
by Todd Rhoades

Chris Elrod writes, "This is Pete. Pete has smoked since he was teenager. Pete struggled most of his life with alcohol. Pete used to shoot people when he’d get angry. Pete spent 15 years behind bars. Pete has cancer…a bunch of cancer. Pete has been given only a few months to live. Pete has a tattoo on his leg that says “Hell Bound”. Pete won’t be going there. Pete came to know Jesus two weeks ago. Pete was baptized today." But there's a story behind how this happened...

Perry Noble shares an email he received from Chris Elrod on Pete’s decision to accept Christ:

Perry:

First of all…thank you for the link on your blog about Pete…I’m having the single highest day of hits.  grin

Secondly, I wanted to let you know that YOU played a HUGE part in Pete’s conversion.  You remember the phone call we had about altar calls and invitations during the service?  I took your advice…began to get a little more aggressive and frequent with them…and really trying to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Two weeks ago your words were running through my mind before the service…during the service I kept feeling the Holy Spirit leading me to speak more “confrontational” about sin.  I gave a time of “invitation”…Pete accepted…it was his first Sunday at Compass Point.  He told me later that many times he had felt that God was speaking to him…and that he needed to give his heart to Christ.  The reason he had never done it before (in his 71 years)…is because no one had ever asked him to make that decision…or told him how to pray to do.  Had you not talked with me…I probably would have never thought about doing “altar calls”…and Pete would still probably be “Hell Bound”.  Thank you for your friendship…mentoring…and Godly example.

Finally, tell your staff that the impact of the ministry of Newspring reaches far beyond Anderson, South Carolina.  If you don’t believe me…just ask Pete!!!

Grace and peace:

Chris Elrod

What stood out to me in this whole story?  ‘The reason he had never done it before (in his 71 years)…is because no one had ever asked him to make that decision…or told him how to pray to do.’

The biggest reason Pete never accepted Christ?  No one ever asked him to!

How many times are we too shy about “The Ask”?

Todd

PS—Two GREAT blogs, by the way:  Perry and Chris.  Check them out!


This post has been viewed 2496 times so far.


  There are 59 Comments:

  • Posted by

    “How many times are we too shy about “The Ask”?”

    I’ve got a slightly different slant about this.  The reason why we don’t ask people to “accept Jesus” is because WE SHOULDN’T HAVE TO.  The preaching of the Gospel should cause people to ask us what they must do in order to be saved.

    In almost every situation in the Bible, when Jesus and the Gospel are preached to lost people, those people respond by asking what they must do to be saved.  To my recollection, there is not a single situation where we have a disciple initiating the question, asking someone to, “accept Jesus into their heart.”

    When people are truly convicted of their sins, they cry out and ask for what is needed to save them.  And, like John The Baptist, Jesus Christ, Peter, and the Apostles said, we need to tell them to repent of their sins.  Not to, “say this prayer,” not to, “accept Christ,” and not to, “make a decision.”

    --
    CS

  • Posted by Stewart

    I don’t know CS, I agree that often in Scripture people hear Jesus or the apostles speak and at the end ask what they must do to be saved. But you also have Jesus issuing summons to the people who would make up the 12 “come follow me” without being prompted by the “what must I do to be saved” question.

    I suspect that there are lots of ways to come to Jesus - some which aren’t even covered in the Bible.

    I think when we ask people to make faith decisions we are simply providing language to something which is already in their hearts. That’s how I read Chris’ post.

    The challenge for me is how to ask without ending up manipulating. I want people to respond to Jesus, not my passion.

  • Posted by Peter Hamm

    CS,

    Again, I think you’re finding fault where there is none to find.

  • Posted by Brian L.

    What about this?

    “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is heavy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

    If that’s not an “ask” then I don’t know what is!

    I think the point is that many are good at the “repent, you sinner” part, but not good at the “let me help you take Christ for yourself right now if you would like” part.

    Too often we’re great at discussing the problem - sin, but not offering the solution - taking Christ.  It could be that this guy heard his whole life that he was a sinner and maybe even heard about Jesus a whole lot.  But maybe he never heard that Jesus offered HIM the opportunity to be forgiven and have eternal life.

    Brian L.

  • Posted by

    Todd,
    I have been a lurker on MMI for about 2 1/2 years but have never posted.  Your site is a tremendous blessing to my husband and I thank you for it.

    CS,

    I praise God that someone 1) asked me the question “Do you want to ask Jesus into your heart?” I was a fourteen year old metal-head going in a very wrong direction. 
    2) Prayed the sinners prayer with me.

    I didn’t know what all that meant at the time.  All I knew was that at that point I was saved from hell and needed to live for Jesus. To do this, I was told, meant giving up my secular rock and roll music and my soap operas (think General Hospital Luke & Laura on the tropical island days) in exchange for the “Imperials “ (Ouch!) and TBN (OUCH!).  It also meant reading my Bible and praying. 

    Well, I did do those things, even though I didn’t know what sanctification and repentance and all of that meant.  God honored my simple acts of obedience, however and radically changed the direction of my life. 

    That was 26 years ago.  I ended up going to a Bible believing church, attending a Christian high school, then graduated from an evangelical Christian university with a minor in Bible.  I met and married a wonderful godly man and he and I were missionaries together for 16 years before entering pastoral ministry 2 years ago.  My commitment to God preserved me from all the vices that I was headed toward—I never got drunk, smoked, did drugs, had sex.  The first man I ever kissed was my husband.  I have had the honor of privilege of leading several people to the Lord, including my three children.  I have the joy of seeing my kids dedicating their lives to serving the Lord and leading others to Christ.  At the time of receiving Christ, I had heard the gospel many times.  I actually thought I was saved.  But it took someone who knew me to point out my sin to me and ask me if I had ever given my life to Jesus, before I recognized that I needed to do that.
    God continues to work in me—conforming me more and more to His image.  He continues to search my heart and convict me of sin.  I now know and can define such words as repentance, sanctification, eschatology, Supralapsarianism, etc.  But all that mattered 26 years ago to a very lost 14 year old girl was that “Jesus loved me and had a wonderful plan for my life”.

  • Posted by

    I never would have asked how to be saved, even though I had a great longing in my heart to be set free from the burden of all the sins I had committed in my life.

    I would not have asked because I felt unworthy, and knew I was a sinner.  I had been convicted.  I felt like the last person on earth that Jesus would call.  I had /no idea/ that salvation did not depend on works, but instead on simple belief.

    I figured I’d try to be good, try to be better until maybe one day I’d be saved.

    I had been slinking in and sitting in the back row of my wonderful church for 3 months before I answered the Altar Call.

    I will be forever grateful to my Pastor for making that call, and to the Holy Spirit for prompting him to do so.

    And thank you Lord for giving me a kick in the rump that made me go up there.

  • Posted by

    Chevette:

    I praise God for your story and that He saved you.

    You said one key thing in one of your latter paragraphs.  “But it took someone who knew me to point out my sin to me and ask me if I had ever given my life to Jesus, before I recognized that I needed to do that. “

    Up until that time, from what I can see in what you wrote, you did not recognize your sin and what it truly was.  As you also said, “I had heard the gospel many times.  I actually thought I was saved.” But it wasn’t until someone caused you to look inward that you realized what your defiance, disobedience, and rebellion were in the eyes of God. 

    I would wager that after hearing that point, you wanted to know what you needed to do in order to become right with God.  You wanted some way to escape the flames of Hell.  And that person told you to repent (without using the specific word), through giving up those worldly things (Soap Operas, music, etc.) and believe in Jesus.  And you obeyed, beginning the process of sanctification.

    This is the same sort of thing that I intended in conveying in my original post.  When we hear of what our sin is, like those people in the Bible, and when the Holy Spirit convicts us of that sin, we want to do whatever is needed to avoid eternal punishment. 

    What I read in the original post seemed more like the modern preaching of Jesus, “standing at the door and knocking.  Won’t you please let him in?” In rereading it, I believe I overreacted a little bit, overlooking how Chris was turning up the preaching about sin, and how he likely shared the Gospel in accompaniment. 

    Yet, my point has merit, because many preachers share watered-down messages and then have invitation after invitation, badgering people into conversion, as opposed to messages that would lead to genuine repentance and people asking, “What must I do to be saved?” This is where things are dangerous and we have to speak out.

    --
    CS

  • Posted by

    CS,
    Baloney!!!
    There are SO MANY souls out there who are so lost and broken, and all they’re looking for is a hand to lift them out of the darkness.
    Jesus went TO the people, he didn’t sit in a temple and wait for them to show up.

  • Posted by Peter Hamm

    Frank, you’re so right…

    Back to the original point, ‘asking” is a great thing.

  • Posted by

    CS,
    By “many preachers” do you mean those “relevant mega-church pastors?”
    I have been involved in two Mega-churches in the course of my discipleship, in addition to other smaller, more conservative churches.

    I have experienced more challenge to walk in obedience, live out my faith, share my faith and spend time in God’s word and in prayer in the “relevant” mega-churches than I ever did in the small, non-relevant Baptist Church I attended. I also saw far more lives saved and transformed.  In the Baptist church I attended there was a lot of infighting and politic-ing.  It was one of the main reasons I left.  However, because we were involved in an interdenominational missions agency for so long, I know of other churches from the same Baptist denomination that seem to be healthy churches.  I am certain there are many small conservative Baptist churches that are shining examples of Christ’s church and are leading many to a saving knowlege of Him.  However, if I placed every Baptist church into the same category as the one I attended, based on my limited experience, I would be unfair and in error.  It seems that many people want to lump all emmergent/mega-/relevant churches and pastors into one group—those that preach a watered down gospel.  I am afraid that is what you may have initially done with Chris.  While I am sure there are Mega-churches out there preaching a watered-down version of the gospel, please be careful about making quick assumptions about all of them.

  • Posted by

    Chevette:

    Thanks for the reply.  I enjoy reading your responses to this thread.

    By “many preachers” do you mean those “relevant mega-church pastors?”

    No.  I have seen pastors in small Methodist churches, large “relevant” megachurches, and all sorts of places in between preach a watered-down, non-Biblical message, have invitations to walk down the aisle, and lead throes of people to become false converts.  I know; I was one of them for a long time.  That’s part of the reason why I take such a hard line on posts like these and look at them with such scrutiny. 

    --
    CS

  • Posted by

    Cs,
    Thanks for your reply.  I was just sitting down to write an apology to you. I realize that I was the pot calling the kettle black regarding assumptions I ASSUMED you made.  I don’t know you or where you are coming from and it was wrong of me to lump you into the same category as the nay-sayers that I mentioned in my response.  I am sorry for that and I ask your forgiveness.

  • Posted by Chris Elrod

    Todd - Thanks for the link about Pete.  I am enjoying the conversation and banter here...and am being stretched as a pastor just by reading it.

    Keep praying for Pete and Compass Point as the discipleship process has already begun.  The doctors tell us it could only be a few weeks until he is in a hospice care facility.  Pete’s desire is to be Scripturally sound enough to share the Gospel with those he’ll meet while he is there.  After that he’ll “retire” Home.

  • Posted by

    Chevette:

    No worries there; you are totally forgiven.  You were right on calling me to narrow down my “many” into more specific categories.

    In light of my comments about having been a false convert, and how I can’t find similar actions for asking people to engage in an invitation to say a prayer or ask Jesus into their hearts in the Bible, do my comments and zeal make a little more sense?

    --
    CS

  • Posted by

    What a wonderful account of how God can work in the lives of His children-both as vessels of the Gospel, and the reception of the Gospel.  This experience is a perfect example of being lead by the Holy Spirit.  Anyone who has been in ministry for very long will have experienced times where he or she was hampered from saying much to an individual.  Yet, there are other times where the urge to speak up in some way is very strong.  There are times where God leads in differing ways, and being sensative to the Spirit is what makes any of us useful instruments for His grace.
    Praise God for His work.

  • Posted by

    praying after someone does not mean a person is saved, its according to the heart at the time, if the holy spirit is convicting them and in their heart they want the lord to save them ok, but if they are just repeating the words, thats about dead as road kill, a lot of churches want people to repete after them just for numbers, to say look what i done, but i think if the preacher preaches the gospel, gives an alter call and let the holy spirit deal with their soul/spirit there will be more true repentance, because the gospel is the power of god unto salvation, the holy spirit takes this preached word and shows a person that they need the savior, i have saw people under such conviction they will cry out save me lest i die, it can be a little different with each person, but the same holy spirit that does the convicting, god needs us to preach and teach the word, but then it is left up to god for the rest. one plants , one waters, but it is god that gives the increase, i had a baptist lady once to ask me if i wanted to be saved, i said yes, so i repeted a prayer after her, and she told me i was saved, but i knew in my heart i was not saved, but when god saved me i knew i was saved, when a person gets saved there is a change in that person, i have seen so many people that said they got saved and still lived like the devil wanted them too, there was no change, brian l, in matt. 11:28-30. jesus said that his yoke was easy and his burdon light, i know you know what it says, you just miss quoted it, we all do that .

  • Posted by

    Stewart,

    The Bible DOES tell us the ONLY way we can “come to Jesus’.  God’s Word tells us that no one can come to Jesus UNLESS the Father draws him.  All this “Ask Jesus into your heart”, “Make a decision for Christ”, “Accept Jesus as Lord” are all unbiblical.

    CS has it right....when we tell people the whole Gospel - sin, righteousness, judgment to come, and the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ then God will use the foolishness of the message preached to save those who would believe.

    I can remember being broken over my sin to the point of uncontolled weeping and I didn’t wait for anyone to ask....I ran to the Cross and begged His forgiveness because someone was faithful to preach the whole counsel of God!

  • Posted by

    Katrina and CS,

    One of the actions love brings has to do with believing all things or as some might say, believing the best about another.  Many of your posts seem to assume the worst or believe less than the best.  They seem bent upon splitting hairs and judging semantics rather than rejoicing when a sinner comes home.  Your posts remind me of the older brother in the story of the lost son.  I am so glad someone asked me if I wanted to give my heart to Christ 41 years ago. 

    In my church we have seen 21 people give their hearts to Christ since January 13.  These are people being invited to church by friends, asked at the end of a service if they would like to meet Christ, and by the prompting of God’s Holy Spirit saying yes.  I am seeing marriages healed right before my eyes as these folks surrender their hearts to Christ and follow him in obedience.  I am seeing families restored, people discovering sobriety and freedom for the first time ever.  I ask every week and more often than not God is adding to his church those who would believe. 

    I would love to engage in dialog with some of these subjects but I don’t have time to have every word split for the worst possible meaning.  I implore you both, lighten up a bit.

  • Posted by Camey

    Shouting time indeed!  Know numerous churches that over the course of the last few years have either stopped asking or do so almost apologetically. What is there to apologize for in asking? If we truly care about individuals - we should be willing to offend them if necessary.

    Yesterday, on a Tuesday, we had a man walk into our physical church building where I am on staff. I have a camera at my desk upstairs and can see everyone who walks into the front doors downstairs. Little did I know he was walking into those doors because someone had asked him a question ON A TUESDAY.... He couldn’t stand it any longer… He had to get right with God. His story is amazing. I look forward to sharing it in the future. For now, his details are safe.

    While I think it’s imperative for us to ask on Sundays or whenever we have our cooperate gatherings… I think it even more necessary for us to be willing to ask on any given Tuesday… or Thursday… and etc. But of course, in order to do so that means being involved… connected to/with individuals outside our “holy huddles"… or walls.

    Thank you Chris and Perry for not being afraid to go there…

  • Posted by Camey

    Cooperate? Yes, that’s necessary too. wink

  • Posted by Peter Hamm

    So, Katrina and CS,

    Is it possible that if the Spirit is drawing a person to Jesus that a human asking if they want to “make a decision” might be valid?

    In that case, is it okay to “ask”?

  • Posted by

    Interesting.  Personally, I just know what the Bible teaches.  God the Father does draw, the Holy Spirit does convict, the Son has delegated us the responsibility to go make disciples.  Jesus also said not only does the Father draw ... He also said that those who come to Him, He will not reject.  I do altar calls because everyone responds differently.  Some need to be asked after they have the facts of the Gospel, and they know they are sinners.  There is no music when I give the call.  There is no constant pleading.  I just state the Gospel clearly and ask them to consider their state.  I leave it up to God.  When a person does respond, I require a period of discipleship prior to baptism.  I strive to ensure that those who do respond are not doing so to please me or someone else.  The parable of the four soils teaches me to expect that some will respond for the wrong reasons.  I was one who was asked and I responded for the right reason - God was saving me.

  • Posted by

    A person called to seek the Lord may not know how to approach salvation.

    Perhaps they are not from a Christian background.  Perhaps they have never had the opportunity to learn about the teachings of Christ, or even more probable, perhaps they think they know the truth - but what they ‘know’ isn’t biblical at all.

    Perhaps they are shy or so broken that they can’t even bring themselves to move forward.  Perhaps they are embarrassed to be in a Church full of ‘perfect’ Christians when they feel as if they are entirely wicked.

    There are so many reasons to make the Altar Call.  Indeed the Holy Spirit may know that someone in the crowd needs the invitation, just as Peter suggests.

  • Posted by

    So many responses, so little time.  I’ll go with the punch line first, then come back to individual responses.

    Imagine that a doctor has diagnosed you with cancer.  He has, in graphic detail, told you what you will suffer, how your body will rot and become mangled, and illustrated in several ways the clear signs of the disease.  He tells you that you have not long to live.

    At this point, you naturally ask if there is a cure.  He says that, by the grace of a wealthy man, there is a remedy and it is free of charge. 

    Does the doctor really need to ask if you want the cure with all of this information?  Did you even have to wait for the doctor saying that there was a cure before you asked for it, in light of the knowledge of your illness?

    This should be the same case with sharing our faith with others.  In Acts 2, we see the same sort of thing happening when the people were pricked in their hearts and asked Peter what they needed to do to be saved.  And the answer was not to say a prayer or go to an altar call--he told them to repent.

    Instead, we hear stories now where “revivals” happen, and hundreds of thousands of people “come to Christ,” but then less than 1% of those can be found in churches a year later.  Why?  Because they have not done the very things that God commands through the Bible.

    Leonard:

    “They seem bent upon splitting hairs and judging semantics rather than rejoicing when a sinner comes home. “

    When a sinner comes home in repentance and faith, I completely rejoice.  There is nothing more wonderful than when someone is saved by the Grace of God.

    That is all when a person is truly saved.  In my experience, more and more people are being stillborn into Christianity because of the misinterpretation of the Gospel or bad teaching.  So what may appear to be “splitting hairs and judging semantics” may very well be leading someone into the mouth of Hell.  That is why it is so important to be exact with what the Bible says about salvation and examples of how people came to Christ.

    Peter:

    “Is it possible that if the Spirit is drawing a person to Jesus that a human asking if they want to “make a decision” might be valid?

    In that case, is it okay to “ask”? “

    I would look to Scripture for examples of such cases, and then observe what happened in other cases of the Bible for reference.

    --
    CS

  • Posted by

    Tell me please about where your experience is coming from.  Again and again you site your experience, can you help me understand where this experience is happening.  Studies of the American church tell us that less than half will have anyone come to faith in Christ.  That almost 200,000 churches in this country with the life changing message of Jesus Christ that will have no person place faith in Christ because of their witness.  And the average church in America leads less than one person to commitment Christ every year. 

    Far too many churches are not leading people into the mouth of hell as you state, they are just leaving them there.  Far too many Christians are not leading people into the mouth of hell, they are leaving them there.  But hair splitting Christians are beating up and criticizing the churches out there saying, “enough is enough” while totally leaving the impotent churches alone.

    CS the Truly saved is such a trite response in that it is what people use to justify their own ineffective witness for Christ.  The problem we have is not that we have made the Grace of God too good but not good enough.  We have shrunk grace by adding to it laws and rules.

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