Evang-e-listen

This morning I read a blog that a guy up in South Carolina writes. His name is Clayton King, I try to read his blog regularly. What I read was about 4 teenage girls who did evangelism the right way. You can read it here. They did something that most of us Christians don't... they intentionally made friends with unbelievers. Moreover, these girls they reached out to were into Wicca. They were invited to an evangelistic event. They didn't respond and receive Christ in the service, but they did respond to these 4 teenage girls who intentionally befriended them. They gave their lives to Christ in the hotel room that night!


I went to Starbucks yesterday and got a cup that I have received three times now. Starbucks coffee cups have little sayings on them, this one particularly got my attention. Here's what it reads.

The Way I See It #280
"You can learn a lot more from listening than you can from talking. Find someone with whom you don’t agree in the slightest and ask them to explain themselves at length. Then take a seat, shut your mouth, and don’t argue back. It’s physically impossible to listen with your mouth open." - John Moe Radio host & author

After reading this 8 months ago, I thought to myself, "What a way to evangelize!" Why should they listen to us, if we won't listen to them. We're too afraid that we'll be indoctrinated with what's false. Valid point, but we do have a copy of the Bible! Take everything you come across everyday and filter it through the word of God. In the end you will have the truth.

Too many times all we are concerned about is the bottom line of whether or not we can convince a person to believe in "our" God (which I know is THE God. Track with me here for a second). Do we really care about the other person? We say we do, but do we really? When was the last time you intentionally tried to create some sort of friendship with a lost person. It's ok to do that, I know we've been conditioned to believe otherwise. How much time have you spent with them? A "hello" in the hallways, a "how are you" at work, or even a "I'd like to invite you to church". How much time did that take? Have you ever had them over to dinner at your house? I think that the world may be ringing Paula Abdul's words, "What have you done for me lately?" One of the complaints I sense from the lost is that Christians just don't listen. Let me encourage you to listen to the lost. If they feel like they have been heard, when it comes time for you to share the gospel, they'll listen and know that you are for real.

One of Promiseland's soon to be core focuses is to "engage the world". That 's what the Church in America needs to do. Fellowship with believers IS important don't get me wrong, but what about the person out there who may or may not be kicking the tires on Christianity, wondering if you really care? Take some time to intentionally invest in people that don't believe the same thing you do. I know it's a cliche, but people don't care how much you know (about the bible, Jesus, or Christianity) until they know how much you care (about them).