I have been in a short series of blogs that are a synopsis of my current sermon series. The sermon series is based on the two biggest lessons I learned while teaching a class on evangelism at a local Bible institute.

Both of the lessons are applicable to all of us in the Church. First, I see the need for us to connect to non-Christians. Second, there is a need for the ability to communicate the gospel to those non-Christians. As a pastor friend of mine used to say, “Lifestyle evangelism is often more about lifestyle than evangelism.”

So – imagine you have made a new friend and they are genuinely interested in your faith. You now have a chance to share the story of Jesus for someone, maybe for the first time. How do you do it?

Here are three suggestions:

1. Use your story – One of the easiest ways to teach the gospel is to personalize it. Every person’s story has three essential parts: A) Where my life was before Jesus B) How I came to accept Jesus as my Savior C) How my life has been different since I made Jesus my Savior. Usually the other person will connect to one part of the story and what helped lead you to faith may help lead them.

2. Use a proven method of sharing the faith – Often we feel like we need to “reinvent the wheel” when it comes to evangelism. This is simply not true. People have been sharing the gospel for years and years and have come up with some good ways. I suggest “The Bridge Illustration” of the gospel, the “Roman Road,” “Evangelism Explosion” questions, “Four Spiritual Laws” or (a new one to me) “The Wordless Book.” You can Google anyone of these and numerous websites will walk you through how to use them. Sometimes the old ways are best.

3. Use the Church as a resource – We do not have to share our faith alone. We can use staff members, elders, deacons, small group leaders, or any number of people in the Church to help us. You can invite a friend to an evangelistic event like Easter or Christmas and the gospel will be explained for you. You might simply ask someone to help you. You are a part of a body – it is okay to use it.

These are some of the ways I have shared my faith in Jesus through the years. Hopefully they will help you overcome one of the biggest obstacles to sharing your faith.

In my last post I stated that one of the biggest problem most of us have in sharing our faith is that we have no relationships with non-Christians. How do we solve that problem?

I believe there are two simple answers.

1. Jesus was a friend of sinners.

Jesus moved outside of religious circles to connect with people who needed the forgiveness he offered. Are we willing to do the same? But Jesus took it a step further, he ate with tax collectors and “sinners.” He opened up his life with a group of people and treated them as important.

Let me ask you: “When was the last time you ate with a non-Christian?”

2. Jesus purposely shared his life

The best story to illustrate this point is in John 4:1-26. There Jesus encounters a woman at a well. In this encounter I see several possible points of application of how we can make connections with non-Christians.

A) Adjust your life pattern – Jesus went to the well at noon; not the normal practice of the day.

B) Start a conversation – There was no technology to hide behind, Jesus talked to people.

C) Look for the meaning behind their questions – The woman wants to talk about water and worship, but Jesus knows she is searching for love. The kind of deep love that only God can give.

In John 4 Jesus moves from being a stranger to this woman to being her messiah. There is nothing really miraculous about the story or anything that appears beyond our capabilities. It is a simple story about how one man opens up his life and is able to connect with another person. Let me ask you, “When have you done the same?”

This Sunday I finish a two-week series on evangelism. Last fall I taught on this topic at a local Bible institute and as any teacher will tell you, “I learned as much from the students as I taught them.” Well, after the class was over I boiled down the two biggest lessons I learned and turned it into a two-part sermon series called “Eats With Sinners.”

Last week I started the series by talking about the first problem the students encountered. All of them believe that other people need to know Jesus but many of them have no relationships with anyone outside of the Church. There is a huge disconnect between what we say about the importance of sharing our faith and the number of people we are actually sharing it with.

This week I am talking about the second problem I encountered. All of them want to share their faith but they have no idea how to do it. They are willing to make friends with non-Christians but they never get to the explanation of the gospel.

I believe that both of these problems not only exist at this Bible Institute but that they are present in each and every Church.

Think about your life. Are either of these true of you? What about your Church?

The next couple days I will look for answers.

I hate most quotes. Some are unique one-liners, but most are not. Quotes can be pulled out of context. Quotes can be misused. As a result I use them on an extremely rare basis.

Once in Iowa I conducted a 20 minute phone interview on a topic for the local newspaper. I was happy how the interview went and was excited to read the article. When I went and picked up the paper I found that I was only quoted 2-3 times and all of them were sadly misused. After that I vowed I would rarely use a quote unless I knew the context.

Another time I had a group of teenagers take my sermons and cut them apart and mash them up into a new sermon for me. They took some lines about sin, about abortion, about marriage and made a funny and shocking story. Once again, I was quoted exactly, but way out of context.

So please, be careful if you quote someone. Try to find the context of what was said and why it was said.

Finally, knowing my dislike of quotes I bought a T-shirt that I am wearing today with a quote on it. It says, and I quote:

“The problem with quotes found on the internet is that they’re not always accurate” – Abraham Lincoln

I was recently talking to a man who knows my love of second chances. He told me that he thinks I a limiting grace too much. He though it might be better to say we serve a God who “gives us another chance.” He told how he thought God had given him way more than two chances. He felt like it might be better if my blog were called something like “Give me another chance” pastor.
Maybe he is right.

On New Year’s day I turned on the TV for a few minutes to see what was on. The station that appeared was already showing a football game with the University of Central Florida, so I stopped to watch. It was near the end of the game and the announcers were talking about the coach George O’Leary.
You may not remember his name, but it is burned into my mind. You see, I am a fan of the Notre Dame football program and in 2001 they hired George O’Leary from Georgia Tech. As he ascended into the public eye on a more national level the press started to write articles about him and his past. Well, upon research it was discovered that the had lied about playing football in college and he had lied about a master’s degree he had received from a fictitious university. Both of these inaccuracies had been on his resume for years and apparently helped him get a job early on in his career. Neither were of significance for the Notre Dame job, but his integrity was shot and within weeks he resigned before coaching his first game.
Now the rest of the story. George knocked around through a couple of professional coaching jobs as an assistant until he finally accepted the job with Central Florida. Within a few years he has turned around the program and produced a bowl winning team.
When I turned on the game it was about over it was clear that Central Florida was going to win. The announcers were talking about George’s checkered past. They roughly quoted Mr. O’Leary as saying something like this, “I can only put the past behind me and do my best with the chances that lies ahead.”
In my eyes, George O’Leary was given a second chance and he is making the most of it. And for that George O’Leary – I salute you!

I love this time of year. It is not just the holidays and all the time I get to spend with my family. I love the fact that every year we get to take those old calendars down and throw them out. I love that we get a new year with new possibilities all lying ahead of us.
Last year is past, this year is ahead of us and it is completely unwritten.
This week, each of us get another year and another chance to live better and more fully. Happy New Year.

The week that the Church celebrates the incarnation of Christ is a two-fold experience. First it is exhausting as we are a part of numerous events and special programs. It is also exhilarating as we celebrate the coming of Christ into the world, as we spend time with family and as we get a little break. For me, I have taken the Sunday off after Christmas since I can remember. I finally get some quiet time to enjoy with my family during this holiday season.

With that said – First let me wish you a very merry Incarnation Day and a Happy New Year.

Second – I will being writing again after the new year. I have lots of thoughts to share from my experiences with basketball, teaching at Alaska Bible Institute and a host of other experiences. I pray you will stop by to read more in 2014.

Lord Bless

One year ago I decided to start blogging again. I came up with a title, which took a while. Then I developed a few ideas for posts. Finally I started working on the format. Well, I am now on my 200th post.

I believe that if you had told me I was going to write 200 posts just one year ago I would have thought it was impossible. But when you take it one day at a time, one blog at a time, or one of anything at a time, it really adds up quick.

So what am I going to start next year? What are you?

Last week I wrote a post about making connections in the Church over HERE . I had hoped to write a lot more, but I have busy. So today I want to follow-up with some more thoughts on making connections with other believers.

1. Don’t Eat Alone – Each one of us has to eat everyday. What if we used that time for making connections? Invite someone over to eat with your family at night or on the weekends. Take someone out to lunch and spend some time visiting together. Use this everyday opportunity to make a connection with another person or family.

2. Start Somewhere – The greatest relationships in my life were started over a conversation about math, small talk over a meal and a conversation about moving to Alaska.

3. You will have to take the initiative – Every relationship runs two ways. Your phone will call them. Your email will go to them. Your vehicle will drive across town. If you wait for people to come to you, you will rarely form deep relationships.

4. Allow yourself enough time – Through the years a number of people have walked through the Church doors and left within a year because they didn’t have any relationships. I usually tell them that they do have relationships but they simply are not “deep” yet because they haven’t had enough time. Think about it, “How long have you known your best friend?” I bet it has been a long time.

These are some of my thoughts on making connections in the Church. I hope they will help you as you think about your relationships.