SHARING THE GOSPEL ONE ON ONE

We rejoiced to see folks receive Christ through our team visits, but far more people came to know the Lord through a one on one encounter with family members, friends and fellow workers.  The purpose of Evangelism Explosion was to equip people to share their faith wherever and whenever.

Let me share a couple of stories that come to mind.  Frank was one of the two people that I had on my first team.  Frank's 12 year old daughter had been talking to a school chum about things that were going to happen in the future.  Talking about prophetic things frightened her girl friend.  This frightened girl told her father, Dave, and he phoned Frank asking him if he would talk to his daughter and ask her to stop frightening his daughter. Frank agreed to talk to his daughter, but said to Dave that if he was open to it, that he would be glad to meet with him and share what it was that they believed.  Dave welcomed the opportunity.  The result of their getting together eventually led to Dave and Janet receiving Christ as their personal Savior.  Soon after they started attending Rockyview Alliance Church,  Dave and Janet, like Frank and Lynn had done earlier, became trainees in the EE program in our second session.  It was my privilege to be Dave' trainer.

Dave and Janet became the greatest soul winning couple that I ever met.  Let me share one story, among many re their sharing the gospel.  Dave had his own electrical contractor business.  One day, while on the job, he met Bill who was installing alarm systems.  I don't remember all of the little details, but I believe that they began to eat lunch together.  Dave shared his faith with Bill and in due time, Bill prayed to receive Christ as his Savior.  Bill told Dave how he had immigrated to Canada from Scotland and was hoping that move might fill the void in his life.  He found that the emptiness could only be filled by the Lord Jesus Christ.  Bill's wife later received Christ and the two them became a part of  Rockyview.  Bill became one of our sound technicians for our Sunday services.  As for Dave, a few years later he started taking Bible College classes and eventually became a pastor.

A goodly number of those who prayed to receive Christ, whether a one on one encounter, during a training time visit, in a church service, etc. followed the Lord in baptism and membership.

One of many baptisms

It was a pleasure and a highlight of my pastoral ministry to be the senior pastor of a church where members were learning how to share their faith and making Christ known in their community.

Over the years we have tried to do our own one on one sharing.  So much of what we did was in connection with our ministry.  However, we have had the joy and privilege of leading two different couples to the Lord, both of them our neighbors.  Let me briefly share about a couple in Calgary.

One evening around dusk, a young girl, about 12 or 13 years of age, knocked at our door.  She was collecting money for some project.  She was a total stranger to us and I was wanting to know if she was a neighbor.  I found out that she and her parents were new neighbors, two or three doors down across the alley behind us.  She stated that they had moved from Brockville, Ontario.  "Brockville," I said, "I have a couple of uncles and their families that live in that area."  At that point her mother, who was accompanying her and standing near the curb walked to the door.  I stated that one of my uncles owned a dairy in Brockville.  Well, the husband and father of this wife and daughter had worked for my uncle Joe.  When they learned what I did, they showed up at church the next Sunday.  By the way, I did give her some money.

To make a long story short, they became regular attenders at Rockyview Alliance Church.  This couple was about our age.  We went back and forth a few times, for a meal, barbecue, etc.  I shared the gospel with them, but they were not prepared to receive Christ.  Once again we invited them over, along with their daughter, their youngest, for a Sunday noon meal.  After lunch we chatted for some time when suddenly he announced that they had to leave.  He had to take his daughter somewhere.  After they left, Leona said that she felt we weren't finished our conversation.  I phoned them later and asked if we could go to their place Monday morning.

Monday morning, I stated that I felt that they wanted to talk more.  They agreed.  Once again I shared the gospel with them.  That morning they both prayed to receive Christ.  Before we left, I asked why they had taken so long, seeing that they were quite regular in church attendance and had heard me give  invitations many times. Why didn't they respond to one of those invitations?   In fact one person told me one time that the lady walked out of the church crying.  This was their answer to my question as to why they had taken so long to make their commitment to God.  "We wanted you to lead us to Christ."  Here they had been holding out for some time because they didn't want some elder or other pastor praying with them.  They wanted us.  What if we had not persisted?  Praise God they continued on in their walk with the Lord.  The wife phoned us, just this spring, to say that her husband had passed away.  I am thankful that we know where our neighbor is now.  Maybe he will be our neighbor in heaven.

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