SOULWINNING EXPERIMENT #2: SURVEILLANCE MISSION

 

(“He who wins souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30 NKJV)

Dear Readers:

I’m so glad you stopped by. Today we’re going explore the results of the last week of sharing the gospel with others. Then we’re going to embark on Soulwinning Experiment #2: Surveillance Mission.

Results in last seven days:

• I shared the Roman Road gospel tract I made with the Marcos Pizza manager. He was friendly and accepting, but showed that he was very unaware what the tract was about. He leafed hurriedly through it, as he was busy . . . and I was reluctant to go through the details right there and then. I want to be braver in the future.
• I shared the gospel verbally with two former Amish men at different times. They were accepting and listened, and one acknowledged, as he pointed to his heart, that he is aware that people have a vacuum in their hearts that can be only filled by God. I don’t think that young man attends church on a regular basis, or professes to be a strong believer, although I think he thinks of himself as a believer. I want to be more forthright in the future to ask people where they're at in their beliefs about Jesus.

Now to Soulwinning Experiment #2: Surveillance Mode.

• Surveillance definition: "Close watch kept over someone (as by a detective or a spy)."

You might ask, “What does surveillance have to do with soulwinning?” I would respond, “A lot, because we determine what direction to take with our relationships with people by understanding where a person is coming from . . . what he or she thinks about things . . . and what motivates him or her . . . in essence, what makes them ‘tick’

Steps for our Surveillance Mission:

1. Pray to the Holy Spirit to guide you to people to surveil, or observe, like a ‘detective’, or a ‘spy’. People rush by us in a hurry in social or neighborhood settings, like in a store, and if you’re like me, we seldom think about, “What makes that person tick?”
2. Purposefully think to yourself “What are the circumstances around that person that may be troubling him or her?” or, “How does God want to reach down into the heart of that person . . . because we know that He does?”
3. Ask God if He wants you to reach out to him or her at that moment, and then follow God’s nudging. Let’s try to be as brave as possible.

What's the worst that can happen to us if we share the gospel with someone?

• As a mental health job developer I took the approach when engaging employers to convince them to hire my people, that the most they could do to me is to get mad at me and ask me to leave. I encouraged the same approach with people trying to find jobs. The employer couldn’t have us arrested for bothering them. 
• The same holds true in soulwinning. People can shrug you off, or they can get mad at you . . . but they very likely aren’t going to have you arrested for harassment.
• But on the other hand, they might be friendly and wonder what is it about you or me that make us care about them?

Again, let’s try to remember that right now we’re trying to develop a culture of soulwinning, to “sow seeds”, if you will,  as Jesus said in John 3:36-37: “The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’”

Let’s be content with sowing seeds for now, and we know that God will honor our effort. We’ll talk next week about how we did in our ‘surveillance mission’

See you next week,
Arlen

RESULTS: SOULWINNING EXPERIMENT #1 (BEGGAR TO BEGGAR)

 

(“He who wins souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30 NKJV)

Dear Readers:

I’m so glad you stopped by. Today we’re going explore what happened with Soulwinning Experiment #1: Beggar to Beggar.

Let’s try to remember that the goal is not to immediately go gangbusters with winning souls for Jesus . . . unless if the Holy Spirit leads us to do so, which would be wonderful. The goal is for us to think of soulwinning as more of a commonplace occurrence . . . and to make soulwinning a cultural norm, as opposed to an odd event.

Sharing where to get bread with another beggar should be a fun and meaningful experience. It shouldn’t be a sober and a downer experience.

So let’s get to it. How did we do? I’ll share my day by day rundown:

• Thursday, Day 1: No beggar found.
• Friday, Day 2: I talked to the Donatos Pizza lady about my relationship with Jesus. She reported also being a born again Christian herself. She smiled and went back to work in the pizza shop.
• Friday, Day 2 continued: I talked to my son on way home from the store about wonder of being saved, and the fact that I look forward to meeting loved ones in heaven, including his Daddy who died in 1995, and his Grandpa and Grandma who both died within the last 10 years.
• Saturday, Day 3: No beggar found.
• Sunday, Day 4: No beggar found.
• Monday, Day 5: I talked to a university women tour group at Mission to Amish People about salvation by faith that MAP emphasizes. I talked repeatedly about the Gospel, although I gave no clear invitation.
• Tuesday, Day 6: No beggar found.
• Wednesday, Day 7: I wrote on Facebook a post entitled "Wrath of God?" I encouraged the readers to take action at the end.

Results: 3 out of 7 days I shared to some degree the gospel four different times. I did nothing earth shattering, eye-opening, or jaw-dropping. I really didn’t expect to do so. Again, my goal was just to make soulwinning a more normal activity in our lives . . . one that comes naturally to us, and hopefully one that’s a more joyful experience.

So there you have it. I’m pleased with how things went. How about you?

Next week I’m going to try another soulwinning experiment where we focus on looking at people we encounter in a different way.

In the meantime I intend to pray every day for God to send people, beggars if you will, my way . . . and your way, to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with.

See you next week,

Arlen

SOULWINNING EXPERIMENT #1: BEGGAR TO BEGGAR

 (“He who wins souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30 NKJV)

Dear Readers:

I’m so glad you stopped by. We’re going to try to demystify (“to remove the mystery from something; to explain or clarify”), to destigmatize (“to remove associations of shame or disgrace from”), and to overcome the fear of soulwinning.

When we think of telling someone about the love of Jesus Christ, do we become fearful of not knowing what to say . . . and how to say it? Do we fear failure? Do we think that other people will think we’re religious fanatics?

I’m in the same boat as the rest of you if you think these things. There’s no shame in admitting it. The first step to overcome fear is to admit it and face it.

I’m going to propose an experiment that I plan to try in the next week. You can join me if you like. I’ll report on the results next Wednesday. Following are the steps:

1. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry . . .” Think about and internalize what Jesus said. Then the quote by evangelist D.T. Niles: “Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” Thinking of ourselves as beggars in need of the ‘bread of life’, then in turn telling other beggars where to find this ‘bread’, will demystify, and even destigmatize the act of soulwinning.

2. Pray for God to give at least one person in the next week to share this ‘bread’ with. Let’s start slowly. At this point don’t even worry about saying the right words, or quoting the right scripture.

I plan to do the same and tell you next Wednesday how it went. If I don’t find anyone to share with I’ll be up front and discuss that as well, and discuss what I think the barrier was. Then I plan to just move forward with further soulwinning experiments.

I’ll be praying for you, and ask you to pray for me as we embark on this experiment.

See you next week,
Arlen