All my life, I have grown up in churches that taught the importance of personal soul winning. I have been challenged to go out of the church building and tell as many people as I can about Jesus. Every Christian ought to be a witness for the Lord, Jesus has commanded that we “Go and Tell”. In my adult life, there have been two occasions in which someone confronted me with the Gospel. I want to tell you about both encounters:
The first encounter was when I was working at Panera Bread. I was in seminary in Florida. I had just gotten married and was earning my Masters Degree. I worked at Panera to pay my school bill and for us to survive. I often worked at the cash register and had the privilege of meeting a lot of people. One day, as I was taking a lady’s order, after she paid she handed me a piece of paper, she smiled, and simply said, “Read this paper when you have a chance, it will show you what the Bible says about going to Heaven!” And then left. Of course, this blessed my heart. I am already saved, but it is always nice to see other people spreading the Gospel. I looked at the paper (we would call it a tract), the church named on it was a local non-denominational church. As I read what the tract said about the Gospel and the plan of salvation, I was pleased to see that it was doctrinally sound, a person could read it and be saved by believing!
My second encounter was actually yesterday. I was pumping gas, and a truck pulled up onto the other side of the pump. A man got out and started pumping gas. The man said hi to me, and I said hi back. I was wearing a suit coat and tie because I was about to go to a funeral, and maybe that was why he asked me, “Are you from Hartwell?” I then told him that I was actually the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church. He went on to talk to me about the Bible. He told me that he was a Mennonite and we talked a little about Biblical interpretation ( we were in agreement that the Bible ought to be taken literally). After that, he asked me about how I was certain about Heaven! I was shocked and pleased. Most people, after hearing that they were talking to a pastor, would not have the courage to ask that question. But this man was not afraid, and he asked me about my soul. I explained to him that I was saved by grace through faith, not by my own works but by the finished work of Christ on the cross. We shared a little bit of conversation about the Gospel and how sweet it is. After that he said to me, “A long time ago, I made a decision to tell as many people as I possibly could about the Gospel!” What a blessing!
As I dwell on both of these encounters, I cannot help but be convicted by them. There are actually two things about these encounters that convict me:
First, why do I not witness like that? This may come as a surprise to you, but I am a relatively shy person. I am very introverted and it makes me nervous just talking to people that I do not know. As I think about my encounter from yesterday, I cannot see myself suddenly initiating conversation with a random stranger at the gas station. But I most certainly can do what that woman did when I was working at Panera. We are already forced to talk to people at fast food restaurants that we are ordering from, why can’t I take an extra 5 seconds (at the most) and say, “Hey, can you read this when you have a chance? It’s about how to know you will go to Heaven when you die!” It is not that hard. I am convicted by the fact that, yes, I am a soul winner. I try to get out every week to knock on doors and spread the Gospel and as pastor of Calvary I enjoy creating opportunities for our church to spread the Gospel even more through special days, Love Works, Neighborhood Bible Time, and others. But when I see someone taking relatively mundane experiences like ordering at fast food or getting gas and then turning them into soul winning opportunities, it shows me that these people are truly serious about the Gospel. I need to have a heart for lost souls like these two wonderful people have, not just at designated times of the week, but ALL THE TIME.
Second, those of you who come to Calvary or are familiar with me know that I am an independent Baptist. I am more than an independent Baptist: I am an independent, fundamental, Bible-believing Baptist. These two that witnessed to me were non-denominational and Mennonite. I will preface what I am about to say with this: I have very little issue with Mennonites and very little issue with (most) non-denominational churches. I have met many sincere and doctrinally sound people in both of those categories. But I am an independent Baptist, and I cannot ignore that. As I said, all of my life I have been brought up in independent Baptist churches that have told me that I need to make my Gospel witness personal. And to be honest, I do not think I have ever met an independent Baptist pastor who was not also passionate about personal soul winning in his preaching. But again, the two times I was witnessed to were when a non-denominational lady gave me a tract and when a Mennonite asked about my soul. I’ll take it further, the only time that someone has ever knocked on my door to ask me about my eternity was when the Mormon missionaries came by (I understand that they are in doctrinal error, but they did show concern for my soul). As independent Baptists, we claim that we have a fire and a passion to see people get saved, but from my personal experiences I have seen that this is mostly not true. Baptist friends, stop talking about soul winning and start actually soul winning. Nothing gets accomplished by talking about something you ought to do, things get accomplished when you actually do it.
Pretty negative post, so let me tell this story to balance things out a little bit. My family and I were traveling from Florida back home to Georgia a few weeks ago. We stopped at a Chick-fil-a to get some food before continuing our journey. At one point I went to the restroom. When I was at the sink washing my hands, there was a Gospel tract from a Baptist church sitting against the mirror. I examined the tract, the pastor of the church was listed, I saw that the pastor was a close friend of my dad’s. This church was all the way in North Carolina, and I was in a Chick-fil-a in Georgia. I realized that someone from that North Carolina church, in their travels, left a Gospel tract in the restroom to try to be a witness to whoever was coming next. What a blessing!
Being a witness of the Gospel can truly be simply, but we MUST determine to actually do it. In closing, here are a few simply ways you can share the Gospel in your day to day activity:
- Give a tract to the fast food worker that you give your money to
- Leave a tract (and a good tip) for your waiter/waitress at a sit down restaurant
- Leave a tract in a public place where someone will easily find it (a restroom, a condiment stand, an ATM, or at the laundromat)
- Take opportunities to talk to people (gas station, in lines, in commute)
Soul winning is more than a weekly church activity or something we do on Sunday, it should be a part of our daily lives, bleeding into our most basic of interactions. The Gospel message is deserving of it. Be a messenger of the Gospel.
Question for the comment section: How are you being a witness in your day-to-day activity?
Don’t forget to check out my new book- Level Up!
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