The Well Palmdale, CA

Recently I had the opportunity to spend some time with friends.  They invited me over to their place for a BBQ after a big event at our church.  I was honored to be a part of it and excited to spend time with them and to meet new people.  I will begin by saying that I always love meeting new people.  I'm fascinated by who God has created and the stories that they have carried around.  That being said...I'm often terrible at parties (and a terrible evangelist).  I'm a natural extrovert who loves being in groups of people, but sometimes, for some reason, I turn into a socially inept wallflower in certain contexts (with no rhyme or reason to it, either).  I exhibit the sort of behavior that makes Buster Bluthe look suave and sofisticated.   

Back to the BBQ. 

I'm hanging out with an overflowing house full of people who, for the most part, all know who I am, what I do, and where I stand with Jesus...and I had only met a few of them.  Well, as I'm hanging out only with my wife and my daughter (who are phenomenal company, but only hanging out with your family a party is not the most gracious thing to do at a party).  Soon, after arriving I notice that slowly but surely I had one person after another approach me saying things like "I enjoyed the worship service.", "I liked your sermon today...it was different from what I've heard before...I appreciated your words.", and even seemingly innocuous statements about our church, my pastoral training, and other church related things.  Seriously...it was like I had a fellow from Ethiopia ask me to explain the Scriptures to him and then ask me to baptize him (Acts 8).  In evangelism, this was a rare slam dunk (baptismal pun intended).  Well, I must confess, in each of them, I was rather unimpressive.  2 Corinthians 10:10 seemed to be a verse about me instead of Paul.  These people who, only a couple hours earlier, experienced a worship service with us and were impressed by the love of Jesus, were probably unimpressed with me "in person".  I'm not being falsely humble...seriously...I was an evangelistic and social train wreck.  I had all of these open doors to truly dive into potentially life changing spiritual conversations, and I settled for saying things like, "Thanks" or "Great!" or "So where are you from?" or "How 'bout this weather, huh?" as if the only thing I wanted to do was change the subject. 

On the drive home and later that night God began to reveal to me the open doors that I chose to ignore or slam shut.  I beat myself up for a while about it, and then a certain peace came over me in prayer the next day.  I knew that I was forgiven for neglecting the spiritual needs of others, and trying to put a bushel basket over the light that Christ gave me.  As the weeks went on I felt that Jesus began to open my eyes to how I can be a better evangelist/proclaimer of the Gospel outside the pulpit.  God's Spirit began to give me more and more questions which I've began to put into practice in my conversations with others.  For those who I know are faithful I ask "How is your faith?" and "What are you reading in the Bible right now? What has God been teaching you there?".  For those who do not have faith, I first am working on gauging the situation and if the Lord provides a door, I make sure to ask something about Jesus like "What do you think about Jesus?" or "Do you know that Jesus loves you?" or "Have you talked to God about it?", and "You are forgiven."

Now, I know that libraries of books have been written about how to evangelize others, but, to be honest, most of them make me nervous because they require me to stand on a street corner with a sign and a bullhorn, or they make me angry because they ignore the power of listening to the spiritual needs of someone. 

Well, in the past few months I've learned a few hard lessons (just FYI...this party scenario has happened a number of other times since the initial "awakening"), but God is renewing me and shaping me into who He desires me to be.  The biggest lessons that I've learned are that I need to listen to what is truly going on in the hearts of people, and then simply show them that Jesus is the answer.  No formula, no memorized speech, or well crafted apologetic response to a hypothetical or philosophical argument...just Jesus.  The other lesson I am learning is found in 2 Corinthians 12:19 "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."  If I am to share the love of Jesus, and be a witness to others of the restoration He's doing in me...then His grace must first be sufficient...it must satisfy...it must transform...it must be my strength.  His grace should be what liberates my mouth to proclaim, because it is only His grace that has the strength to liberate such a stubborn and neglecting mouth.  It also means that in my selfishness towards others and buffoonery, I'm forgiven.  My slate is washed clean and I have a second chance.  Jesus forgives me, and presents me with more opportunities, and more Spirit and more grace so that I can be fully equipped to head out into the harvest fields. 

Often times, as a pastor, I encourage all of you to share your faith...to share Jesus as the answer to the longings of the souls around you, or, as we often put it at The Well "Be Christ in that place".  Well, I want you to know that I'm quite imperfect in sharing Christ, but I feel that Christ is also making me better and that excites me.  He's building me up as an evangelist, and He desires to build you up to.  Just go out and try (i.e. stop covering your light).  You may do amazing (after all...Ephesians 4:11 says that some simply have the gift), or you could do terribly.  You may slam the door Jesus opened shut without hesitation.  In those moments it is best to confess to Jesus our neglect of the salvation of others, and in that same moment He will speak to you those same words "My grace is sufficient for you".  You are forgiven.  You are loved, and light is still yours.  In those sorts of moments when we're forgiven, Jesus somehow...in His divine, mysterious strength empowers us to proclaim the truth...when we rest in His grace, setting our bushel basket on fire with the light of Christ and letting our light shine before others actually becomes an urging for us.  Trust me...from a brother who is still seeking to grow in faith and love towards Jesus and others...He has the power to help us in our weakness.    

May Jesus be our strength.

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