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Mark Beeson: Leverage Your Evangelism Moments
Orginally published on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 9:54 AM
by Todd Rhoades
Mark Beeson is the Senior Pastor of Granger Community Church, and has recently started blogging! (No, that's not a picture of him!) Today, Mark has a great post on evangelism moments that I think you'll enjoy. It has to do with a gorilla, and opportunities to share Christ...
Here’s Mark’s post… I’d encourage to become a regular reader of Mark’s blog… he’s sharing some great stuff!
What do you think?
Todd
This post has been viewed 702 times so far.
There are 7 Comments:
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Posted by
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 11:42 AM
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Posted by Peter Hamm
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 12:39 PM
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Posted by Brian L.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 1:04 PM
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Posted by
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 1:05 PM
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Posted by Peter Hamm
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 1:22 PM
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Posted by Brian L.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 1:24 PM
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Posted by
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 1:33 PM
Post Your Comments:On Mark’s blog, he summarizes his post by saying, “When you are in the right place (proximate to a person unaware of God’s love) at the right time (they are awakened to their need) with the right equipment (God’s Word) and the knowledge to use it (speaking the Truth in love), leverage that moment!”
How do we balance this or harmonize it with Scripture that says things such as, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” or, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”?
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CS
CS,
With all due respect, are you just trying really hard to find fault with everything? There is no conflict between the blog post and the scriptures that you cite.
CS,
Part of the problem is that there are so few in Christendom who can share the gospel in a clear manner.
The man’s point is that Christians should be ready when the opportunity presents itself.
I have found that God provides many opportunities to share Christ, and because I am ready, I can have a good conversation that many times leads to the person giving their life to Christ.
But if a person is unprepared and unwilling, they lose opportunities.
I have to admit that I am not surprised at your comment, and find myself asking the same question as Peter.
Brian
Peter:
Nope, I’m not trying to find fault in everything, but I appreciate being kept in check.
Perhaps I misread the blog post, but I was getting the impression that Mark’s comments were more of hesitancy and timing, waiting for a specific time, and the Bible verses were saying to preach all the time. Sometimes in trying to discern, I tend to go overboard, but I have heard similar thoughts from other pastors where they almost have a reticence to preaching the Gospel and instead rely too heavily on “feeling things out.”
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CS
Fair enough, CS.
It might be a good idea to not necessarily assume the worst from folks, though.
just a thought…
CS,
I agree with the last portion of your statement regarding how many pastors feel they need to “feel things out.” We need to be ready whenever the opportunity presents itself (or should I say, when God presents us with the opportunity). We can’t wait until we feel we’re “in the mood” or the person says, “I sure wish someone would tell me how I can know my sins are forgiven and I can know I’ll go to heaven when I die...”
On the other hand, forcing a spiritual conversation that includes a presentation of the gospel is often a negative thing. So we do need to be discerning about the receptiveness of the person. They may be willing to listen to someone who comes across as actually caring for them rather than someone who’s just looking to score some evangelism points with God.
My main spiritual gift is evangelism, and to this day I regret how I approached some people, hounding them for a decision until they finally gave in and said the prayer. I hope that God truly does save them, and they they truly find the joy of believing and following Christ.
I’m also thankful for God’s forgiveness for my brashness!
Brian L:
“We can’t wait until we feel we’re “in the mood” or the person says, “I sure wish someone would tell me how I can know my sins are forgiven and I can know I’ll go to heaven when I die...””
There we go! Thank you for more eloquently stating the thought that I was trying to get across. That is where I couldn’t be certain in what Mark was saying, whether we are to “sense the mood” or share the Gospel.
“On the other hand, forcing a spiritual conversation that includes a presentation of the gospel is often a negative thing. So we do need to be discerning about the receptiveness of the person. They may be willing to listen to someone who comes across as actually caring for them rather than someone who’s just looking to score some evangelism points with God.”
I agree with this. All presentation should be done in love, that is right. If we are starting to share the Gospel with someone, and they react negatively, we should stop. There is no point in sharing Christ’s amazing gift to a person who is unwilling to listen. You can’t cram that through.
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CS
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