Friday, September 24, 2010
Special Alert!
I HAVE NOTED THAT THERE HAVE NOT BEEN MANY WHO HAVE VISITED THIS SITE LATELY. IF YOU ARE ONE WHO HAS AND LIKE WHAT I HAVE POSTED OR WOULD LIKE TO SEE OTHER THINGS POSTED, I NEED YOU TO CONTACT ME (yonashiro@bellsouth.net). I AM CONSIDERING SUSPENDING POSTING ANY MORE THINGS UNTIL I AM SURE THERE IS EVEN ONE PERSON WHO WOULD LIKE TO READ WHAT I POST HERE. Thank you, Stan
Thursday, September 16, 2010
#25 - Evangelism in My Experience 2 – Invite, But Be Ready to Personally Share
I grew up in a nominal Buddhist home, by which I mean my parents observed Buddhist traditions as their families had for generations but they didn’t know nor teach (Praise God!) my brother and I anything about Buddhism. (This is just as many Christians church-goers observe Christmas and Easter but have never clearly heard the gospel.) And so, throughout my life, I was never exposed to what it means to be a Christian nor did I have any Christian friends who could be an example of someone living for Christ
Then, during my semester of student-teaching in college, a student colleague began stuffing Four Spiritual Law tracts in my pocket every time he saw me. He would simply say, “You gotta read that” before dashing away. I remember going home and simply tossing the tracts in my desk drawer. Well, on my last day student- teaching, the guy pulls up to me on his motorcycle and says, “You’ve gotta come to the university this Friday night to hear my cousin give the message at a student meeting.” Well, that Friday night, I was driving to a high school football game when I suddenly found myself turning the wheel of the car and headed instead towards the university and ended up at the Christian student meeting. (Since I had no intention of going to that meeting, I’ve always believed that God somehow took control of that car and had me drive to that meeting. I have no other way to explain it.)
At that meeting, I enjoyed the music and the message was okay but it was all a bit over-the-top for me with my background. Fortunately, as I was enjoying refreshments afterwards, a student approached me and took the time to read through with me that same booklet that I had multiple copies of at home. When he asked me after a few minutes whether I would like to have Christ in my life or outside my life (the choice presented in the booklet), I saw my choice clearly and said, “Yes, I would like to have Him in my life.”
Lessons to Remember:
1)Unlike the guy who merely kept sticking tracts in my pocket, don’t just give a tract to someone. Do everything you can to sit down and go through it with him/her. Assure them at the start that it will take no more than 10 minutes and you’ll be likely to get an affirmative answer.
2)Of course, you should invite people to Christian outreach events. But as with the tracts (above), offer to personally escort the person you are inviting to the event. In that way, you are most likely to be sure the person attends the meeting BUT ALSO it assures that the person will not feel alone at the meeting and will have someone they can easily ask questions of afterwards.
3) Be sure not to rely on the person giving the message at the Christian event to have clearly communicated the gospel. Many people – such as myself – respond more often to someone PERSONALLY sharing the gospel with them than to a speaker’s invitation. Even if they do say they prayed with the speaker, going through the gospel personally with the individual will confirm that they truly understood what they prayed. (Too often, people who SAY they prayed to receive Christ do not truly understand what they have done.)
IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T YET DONE SO, YOU MIGHT CONSIDER:
1) Gathering with friends and parents and have a PRAYERWALK at your school. See my Post #10:
http://stan4youth.blogspot.com/2009/08/10-inviting-god-to-your-school.html
2) PRAYING FOR THE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS IN YOUR CLASSES. See my Post #12:
http://stan4youth.blogspot.com/2009/08/12-back-to-school-challenges.html
Then, during my semester of student-teaching in college, a student colleague began stuffing Four Spiritual Law tracts in my pocket every time he saw me. He would simply say, “You gotta read that” before dashing away. I remember going home and simply tossing the tracts in my desk drawer. Well, on my last day student- teaching, the guy pulls up to me on his motorcycle and says, “You’ve gotta come to the university this Friday night to hear my cousin give the message at a student meeting.” Well, that Friday night, I was driving to a high school football game when I suddenly found myself turning the wheel of the car and headed instead towards the university and ended up at the Christian student meeting. (Since I had no intention of going to that meeting, I’ve always believed that God somehow took control of that car and had me drive to that meeting. I have no other way to explain it.)
At that meeting, I enjoyed the music and the message was okay but it was all a bit over-the-top for me with my background. Fortunately, as I was enjoying refreshments afterwards, a student approached me and took the time to read through with me that same booklet that I had multiple copies of at home. When he asked me after a few minutes whether I would like to have Christ in my life or outside my life (the choice presented in the booklet), I saw my choice clearly and said, “Yes, I would like to have Him in my life.”
Lessons to Remember:
1)Unlike the guy who merely kept sticking tracts in my pocket, don’t just give a tract to someone. Do everything you can to sit down and go through it with him/her. Assure them at the start that it will take no more than 10 minutes and you’ll be likely to get an affirmative answer.
2)Of course, you should invite people to Christian outreach events. But as with the tracts (above), offer to personally escort the person you are inviting to the event. In that way, you are most likely to be sure the person attends the meeting BUT ALSO it assures that the person will not feel alone at the meeting and will have someone they can easily ask questions of afterwards.
3) Be sure not to rely on the person giving the message at the Christian event to have clearly communicated the gospel. Many people – such as myself – respond more often to someone PERSONALLY sharing the gospel with them than to a speaker’s invitation. Even if they do say they prayed with the speaker, going through the gospel personally with the individual will confirm that they truly understood what they prayed. (Too often, people who SAY they prayed to receive Christ do not truly understand what they have done.)
IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T YET DONE SO, YOU MIGHT CONSIDER:
1) Gathering with friends and parents and have a PRAYERWALK at your school. See my Post #10:
http://stan4youth.blogspot.com/2009/08/10-inviting-god-to-your-school.html
2) PRAYING FOR THE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS IN YOUR CLASSES. See my Post #12:
http://stan4youth.blogspot.com/2009/08/12-back-to-school-challenges.html
Friday, September 10, 2010
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!
NOTE: I realize how scary it can be to share your faith with someone you know. But have you ever gone to prison for it?!! Well, I hope that the following prayer request will inspire you to consider the VERY HIGH COST students in other parts of the world are willing to pay to tell others about Jesus. Just think about the following prayer request the next time you hesitate to share the gospel with someone.
I've received the following URGENT prayer request from a friend in the high school ministry; I hope that you will take time to lift these students up for special prayer and let others know.
'Please ... be in prayer for 2 Ethiopian high school students who have been imprisoned for sharing their faith. Here is the update from our director: “Right after the life4All students conference, 44 students were divided in to the 3 towns namely Bahirdar, Debre Markos and Dejen for 20 days. The team that went to Dejen had to move to the next town called Bichena for they had saturated dejen just in 10 days. In the mean times, many of them have been [beaten] up and persecuted. Yet they pressed on and kept on sharing the good news. 2 of our students (boy and a girl) from the bichena town have been arrested as they were sharing their faith on the 25th of August. . . . We know that God is in control and everything will happen for good. So far, more than 3 people came to Christ in the jail.
* Pray for the students that God may encourage them and they may experience God’s presence.
* Pray for God’s protection in the prison.
* Pray that God would [interfere] and things will work out safe for them to come out of the jail.
* Pray for their family.
* Pray that God may use this time to mold the students for his eternal purpose and they will stand firm with their faith.” '
I've received the following URGENT prayer request from a friend in the high school ministry; I hope that you will take time to lift these students up for special prayer and let others know.
'Please ... be in prayer for 2 Ethiopian high school students who have been imprisoned for sharing their faith. Here is the update from our director: “Right after the life4All students conference, 44 students were divided in to the 3 towns namely Bahirdar, Debre Markos and Dejen for 20 days. The team that went to Dejen had to move to the next town called Bichena for they had saturated dejen just in 10 days. In the mean times, many of them have been [beaten] up and persecuted. Yet they pressed on and kept on sharing the good news. 2 of our students (boy and a girl) from the bichena town have been arrested as they were sharing their faith on the 25th of August. . . . We know that God is in control and everything will happen for good. So far, more than 3 people came to Christ in the jail.
* Pray for the students that God may encourage them and they may experience God’s presence.
* Pray for God’s protection in the prison.
* Pray that God would [interfere] and things will work out safe for them to come out of the jail.
* Pray for their family.
* Pray that God may use this time to mold the students for his eternal purpose and they will stand firm with their faith.” '
Thursday, September 2, 2010
#24 - Evangelism in My Experience I – The Vision Thing
(Please forgive me if you’ve heard this before.)
Dear Christian teen,
Less than 6 months after I had prayed to receive Christ, as I awaited graduating from college, I was challenged to consider entering into full-time Christian ministry. As a young Christian, I obviously had reason to hesitate and so I spent the summer after graduation helping with a summer project conducted by the ministry. Afterwards, I accepted the challenge of spending about 20 hours a week the following fall semester of school with the ministry staff – attending meetings with them and being introduced to their other responsibilities.
One day, one of the staff members, Craig Anderson, walked with me to the center of the campus to a spot just in front of one of the larger lecture halls. After a few minutes, the bell sounded and suddenly the campus was flooded with thousands of students exiting the lecture hall and other buildings. As we stood there taking in the sight, Craig suddenly pointed at the students exiting the building and said, “[Stan, no matter what those students learn in all the years they study here, no matter how many Phd’s they acquire, none of them will learn anything more eternally important that what you have to share with them when you tell them about the gospel of Jesus.]” (These were not his exact words but what I remember him saying.)
That turned out to be one of seminal moments of my life. It was never clearer to me until Craig said what he did just how powerful and important it was for anyone to hear the gospel. If someone had not shared with me one-on-one after I had “accidentally” attended a campus ministry outreach, I would probably have never heard the gospel presented again during my entire life. And I would have been destined for not just a lifetime but an eternity set apart from the God who loved and died for me. And it really didn’t matter how “good I was at it” nor how “confident” I felt doing it; if I was willing to step out and see God use me, I could see a life changed for eternity. Wow, how cool was that! And, after spending 33 of my adult years in full-time ministry, I can testify that there has NEVER been anything so thrilling as just sharing the gospel with someone – whether one on one or to a countless group of people. .
My challenge to you: Every time you walk in a hallway or walk between buildings at school during a class break or before or after school, just take a second to notice the throng of students rushing in every direction and remember that YOU have something that will change the life of every student who has yet to hear the gospel of Christ. By just taking twenty minutes of your time and either reading through a gospel tract with them or sharing your testimony with someone over lunch (in which you share about the need of everyone to receive Christ), you can change someone’s life ETERNALLY, something all the wealth, fame, or any other relationship they will experience can give them. Let that truth grip you and consider stepping out in faith and talking to someone you know sometime soon.
“…from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, … And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. WE are therefore AMBASSADORS, as though God were making his appeal THROUGH us….” [words capitalized mine for emphasis] (2 Corinthians 5: 18-20a)
I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR COMMENT BELOW. IT ALWAYS MEANS A LOT TO ME. THANKS!
[In the column to the left on this site, under "Links to Check Out," click on meant4more.com and on the title page look at the upper left and click on "Knowing God" for a copy of a tract called "The Four Spiritual Laws" that you can download, get familiar with, and use to share Christ with someone. You'll note that the site has some other helpful information as well.]
Dear Christian teen,
Less than 6 months after I had prayed to receive Christ, as I awaited graduating from college, I was challenged to consider entering into full-time Christian ministry. As a young Christian, I obviously had reason to hesitate and so I spent the summer after graduation helping with a summer project conducted by the ministry. Afterwards, I accepted the challenge of spending about 20 hours a week the following fall semester of school with the ministry staff – attending meetings with them and being introduced to their other responsibilities.
One day, one of the staff members, Craig Anderson, walked with me to the center of the campus to a spot just in front of one of the larger lecture halls. After a few minutes, the bell sounded and suddenly the campus was flooded with thousands of students exiting the lecture hall and other buildings. As we stood there taking in the sight, Craig suddenly pointed at the students exiting the building and said, “[Stan, no matter what those students learn in all the years they study here, no matter how many Phd’s they acquire, none of them will learn anything more eternally important that what you have to share with them when you tell them about the gospel of Jesus.]” (These were not his exact words but what I remember him saying.)
That turned out to be one of seminal moments of my life. It was never clearer to me until Craig said what he did just how powerful and important it was for anyone to hear the gospel. If someone had not shared with me one-on-one after I had “accidentally” attended a campus ministry outreach, I would probably have never heard the gospel presented again during my entire life. And I would have been destined for not just a lifetime but an eternity set apart from the God who loved and died for me. And it really didn’t matter how “good I was at it” nor how “confident” I felt doing it; if I was willing to step out and see God use me, I could see a life changed for eternity. Wow, how cool was that! And, after spending 33 of my adult years in full-time ministry, I can testify that there has NEVER been anything so thrilling as just sharing the gospel with someone – whether one on one or to a countless group of people. .
My challenge to you: Every time you walk in a hallway or walk between buildings at school during a class break or before or after school, just take a second to notice the throng of students rushing in every direction and remember that YOU have something that will change the life of every student who has yet to hear the gospel of Christ. By just taking twenty minutes of your time and either reading through a gospel tract with them or sharing your testimony with someone over lunch (in which you share about the need of everyone to receive Christ), you can change someone’s life ETERNALLY, something all the wealth, fame, or any other relationship they will experience can give them. Let that truth grip you and consider stepping out in faith and talking to someone you know sometime soon.
“…from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, … And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. WE are therefore AMBASSADORS, as though God were making his appeal THROUGH us….” [words capitalized mine for emphasis] (2 Corinthians 5: 18-20a)
I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR COMMENT BELOW. IT ALWAYS MEANS A LOT TO ME. THANKS!
[In the column to the left on this site, under "Links to Check Out," click on meant4more.com and on the title page look at the upper left and click on "Knowing God" for a copy of a tract called "The Four Spiritual Laws" that you can download, get familiar with, and use to share Christ with someone. You'll note that the site has some other helpful information as well.]
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