#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.]