Grace Blog
Encouragement from Leisa
On Thursday, September 15, Leisa Goodall did something she had never done before. Having been a Christian for only a couple of years, she has developed increasing desires to share Jesus with strangers but had not followed through - until recently. At the conclusion of the previous Sunday night’s message by Pastor Tom Ascol about the relationship of the mission and the church, God had convicted Mike and Leisa in the area of evangelism. With tears in their eyes, they told me, “We will be there Thursday night. You can count on us.”
Sure enough, Mike and Leisa were the first ones to show up. I had not realized this was Leisa’s first time going out (and Mike’s second) in the neighborhoods to share Jesus and invite people to come to our “Worship @ the Park,” so I asked Mike if it would be okay to take Leisa with me. Of course, the devil would have you believe the worst when you are entering “enemy territory” and desiring to take the light of the gospel into the darkened hearts whom he is seeking to keep in ignorance and rebellion against God. And, frankly, I was a little concerned that the potential rejection and angst we could receive would discourage Leisa. Nevertheless, we went out and ended up visiting roughly 40 homes, only to be stopped by a torrential rainstorm.
In all, we talked to 19 different families and individuals, and to my surprise and shameful unbelief, all 19 people warmly received our invitations and a couple of them even assisted us in who to visit next! I asked Leisa to briefly describe her first experience, and here is what she sent me:
I do have to say being this was my first time going door to door reaching out to the community that I was a bit nervous. Pastor Timmy and I teamed up and after about the 5th house I felt better about talking with people, especially when the first lady I talked to worked at Publix. After we finished our 25 houses I was ready to do more. I didn’t know what to expect or how people would react to us, but out of all 19 people we talked with all of them seemed to be thankful that we had invited them to the picnic. This is really out of my comfort zone, but I know in my heart that this is something that I have a desire to do, so I’m thankful that I went and hope in the future to do more for the community, and if the Lords wills doing short term mission trips.
The encouragement from Leisa did not end there. What she did not say was that the next morning, Leisa went by herself in her neighborhood inviting them to the outdoor worship gathering and desiring to talk to them about Jesus! How cool is that? Evangelism and witnessing is one of those things that is better caught than taught. Two hours of going with Leisa and doing the work of evangelism brings more fruit than twenty hours of talking about evangelism in a Bible Study. The fear, intimidation, and anxiousness that precedes the obedience of God’s people almost inevitably changes to joy, passion, and earnestness afterward.
I pray that the encouragement from and example of Mike and Leisa as new Christians getting out of their comfort zone to share Jesus will inspire and challenge you to do the same. God has so designed the church to be the vehicle through which He accomplishes His saving purposes, and you play an important part of that–yes, you! As good stewards of the Great Commission, let us all follow Jesus to His harvest field with the confidence in His promise to make us fishers of men.
Labels: Encouragement, Evangelism, Great Commission, Witnessing | posted by TimBrister at 2:08 am | Categories: Encouragement, Evangelism, Gospel, Jesus, Testimonies of Grace |
Word on the Street
David Fairchild, an elder of Kaleo Church (San Diego, CA), recently posted a couple of street videos asking people such questions as “What Is the Gospel?” and “Who confident are you that you are going to heaven?” I am posting these videos for two reasons: (1) this should be a sober reminder of how desperate our world needs the gospel and (2) what would folks in our city and neighborhoods say in response to these questions?
1. Assurance & Heaven
Street Survey 1 from David Fairchild on Vimeo.
2. What Is the Gospel?
Street Survey 2 from David Fairchild on Vimeo.
Labels: Evangelism, Gospel, Heaven | posted by TimBrister at 10:22 am | Categories: Evangelism, Gospel |
Ordinary Living Saturated with the Gospel
“Major events have a role to play in church life, but the bedrock of gospel ministry is low-key, ordinary, day-to-day work that often goes unseen. Most gospel ministry involves ordinary people doing ordinary things with gospel intentionality. . . . The ordinary needs to be saturated with a commitment to living and proclaiming the gospel. The gospel is a message, and so mission only takes place as we share that word with people. A commitment to mission through community works only if the priority of the gospel is a strong value within that community. Otherwise we simply form good relationships that never go anywhere.”
- Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church: A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel and Community (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008), 63-64.
Labels: Community, Evangelism, Gospel, Total Church | posted by TimBrister at 12:59 pm | Categories: Community, Evangelism, Gospel |
Mark Dever on the Gospel and Evangelism
The 2009 Desiring God Pastor’s Conference’s theme is “Commending Christ: The Pastor, the Church, and the Perishing.” One of the fantastic things about DG conferences are all the media they make available both before and after the conference. Mark Dever, senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, is one of the speakers at the conference, and DG has recently posted several videos of Dever speaking about the gospel and personal evangelism. Check them out:
The Gospel
The Motive for Evangelism
The Gift of Evangelism
The Difficulty of Doing Evangelism
What It Means to Fail at Evangelism
If these videos are helpful to you, you may also want to check out Mark Dever’s book, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism (Crossway, 2007).
Labels: Desiring God, Evangelism, Gospel, Mark Dever | posted by TimBrister at 12:49 pm | Categories: Evangelism, Gospel, Resources |
Reformation Celebration Block Party Wrap Up
This past Friday night was a blast! Over 300 folks assembled for free food and games as well as a great time of fellowship and fun! I want to say a special thanks to Bradley Sissons, Daniel Stamps, and Ricky Davis for administrating this block party. Their hard work and dedication served to make the event a wonderfully successful evening. Many families from the community came and expressed appreciation and very warm sentiments about the Grace family. Furthermore, the gospel was communicated to several of them who are not only looking for a church to belong but for a Savior to believe in!
In the following days, I will be working to create a photo album of the block party to make available on our website, so if you have any images from Friday night, please take a moment to burn them on a CD and either bring them to the church office or myself.
To all of you who served in various capacities (canvassing neighborhoods, greeting, cooking, games, set up/tear down, etc.), thank you. Your labor of love is contagious and continues to further the culture of servant-minded Christ-likeness in our community!
Labels: Block Party, Evangelism, Reformation Celebration | posted by TimBrister at 8:52 am | Categories: Community, Evangelism, Events |
Cultivating Community Contacts, Part 5
There has been an ongoing debate through out the church’s history of the relationship of Christianity with the world. On the one hand, fundamentalism tells you that Christians are to be totally removed from the outside world, and the evangelical ghetto was developed. On the other hand, liberalism tells you that Christians should embrace the world, and thus the Christian distinctives were removed. Neither option are right, so what are we to do?
We are to look to Jesus Christ.
Jesus prayed for his believers that they be “in the world and not of the world” (John 17). If they are to be salt, they are the salt of the earth; if they are light, they are to be the light of the world. Jesus wants His people to love sinners and at the same time pursue holiness. As we are conformed more and more into the image of Christ, part of that will mean we live in the world incarnationally as Jesus did and love sinners with authentic gospel-devoted lifestyles.
John Stott, in his great little book Our Guilty Silence: The Church, The Gospel and the World, shares about the “holy worldliness” of the Son of God who became flesh. Consider Stott’s words as you continue to cultivate community contacts.
Of the Son’s ‘identification’ with the world into which He was sent, there can be no shadow of doubt. He did not remain in heaven; He came into the world. The word was not spoken from the sky; ‘the Word was made flesh’. And then He ‘dwelt among us’. He did not come on a fleeting visit and hurry back home again. He stayed in the world into which He came. He gave men a chance to behold His glory. Nor did He only let them gaze from a distance. He scandalized church leaders of His day by mixing with the riff-raff they avoided. ‘Friend of publicans and sinners’, they dubbed Him. To them it was a term of opprobrium; to us it is a title of honour. He touched the untouchable lepers. He did not recoil from the caresses of a prostitute. And then He, who at His birth had been ‘made flesh’, was in His death ‘made sin’ and ‘made a curse’ (John 1:14; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13). He had assumed our nature; He now assumed our transgressions, our doom, our death. His self-identification with man was utter and complete.
Therefore when He says to us ‘go’, this is what He means. ‘As our Lord took on our flesh, so he calls His Church to take on the secular world’; otherwise we do not ‘take the Incarnation seriously’. We are to go as He went, to penetrate human society, to mix with unbelievers and fraternize with sinners. Does not one of the Church’s greatest failures lie here? We have disengaged too much. We have become a withdrawn community. We have been aloof, instead of alongside.
Labels: Evangelism, Jesus, John Stott | posted by TimBrister at 1:51 pm | Categories: Community, Evangelism, Jesus |
Cultivating Community Contacts, Part 4
In this edition of cultivating community contacts, I want to encourage you in what I call missional patterns. Being on mission for God inherently means that there should be nothing done in life that is random and haphazard. This includes the relationships we enjoy, the places in the community where we benefit from the goods and service of others, and also the regular day-to-day activities that come from other mediums of connecting, such as school, sports, and hobbies.
Cultivating a missional pattern simply means that you seek to develop an ongoing, perpetual movement in the city to connect with and bring the gospel to. For instance, if there is a place where you like to get gas, go to that gas station every time. Learn the names of those behind the counter. Not only go to the same gas station, but try to go on the hours where the same workers are present. The same goes for a favorite restaurant. Go regularly, find a particular server whom you’ve been able to converse with, and make it a part of your regular routine. There are numerous ways and places where one can develop a missional pattern in the city to maximize your interaction with unbelievers an intentional and incarnational way of life.
The purpose of these missional patterns is to develop community contacts and bring them to the next level. People will be less inclined to listen to the gospel and receive a invitation to church if you are not investing your life in them, and while your investments may be small at any particular moment, over time the repeated investments will communicate to your unbelieving friends that you desire their good.
Do you have a missional pattern in your life? Or are you maximizing your daily schedule for the cause of the Great Commission? As stewards of the gospel and entrusted with the mission, we are to live out our days not for ourselves but for the one who lived and died on our behalf. In the same manner that He was sent by the Father into the world, so are we sent to our world today. This means that we are to be conscious of the “sent” nature of ordinary days in order for extraordinary moments where we can display the glories of Christ to sinners who have yet to make much of Him.
Labels: Community, Evangelism, Jesus | posted by TimBrister at 9:20 pm | Categories: Community, Evangelism |
Cultivating Community Contacts, Part 3
Cultivating community contacts through a lifestyle on mission for God is, as we have seen, one that is deliberately kingdom-of-God focused in every sphere of life. Our lives should be such that, like Jesus, we should welcome unbelievers into our lives and into homes. I want to continue by encouraging you to think about the centurion who approached Jesus on behalf of his paralyzed and tormented servant.
In Matthew 8:5, the scene begins:
When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.”
A centurion undoubtedly was someone with considerable influence, for better or worse, in that culture. He was a high-ranking officer with delegated authority over a hundred soldiers. But in this scene, we find a centurion not acting as a veteran on the battle field but as a loving master pleading for help. English translations don’t do justice to the force of his request. Perhaps the best way of explaining the centurion’s actions was that he was “beseeching,” or “pleading” with Jesus, much in the same way a beggar pleads for food. The actual Greek word, parakaleo, is used when making a very strong request, with a thrust of urgency and desperation. Does it not strike you to find this socially intimidating figure humbly, respectfully, and passionately approaching Jesus?
Notice, too, that he was not making this plea on behalf of himself, but someone else in his realm of responsibility. A servant or slave was typically considered of no greater value or deserved no more care than an animal. Needless to say, a sick servant of typical centurion would not be a high priority or grave concern. Not so with this centurion. He had become close exposure to the anguish and pain of his servant. Indeed, the fact that he came to Jesus was indication that the misery the servant experienced had become his own. Things changed as a result. Life could not go on as normal–no business as usual. He was determined to find the one who could heal his servant.
Do you see the heart of this centurion? Standing between the misery of this boy and the mercy of God in the healing power of Christ was a man with a pleading heart, a passionate cry for help.
And the same is true for you and me.
We live in a world filled with miserable people who have bought into the broken promises and fleeting pursuits of sin. They are frustrated that these broken cisterns can’t hold any water and can never satisfy. These are people in our community who are not within arm’s reach of gospel, and that is why we are here. Missional love refuses to about life as normal. A pleading heart will refuse to see the brokenness of humanity and not be broken too. The hurting and pain will be shouldered by the love of Christ and a desire for the mercy of God to triumph over their misery, that they may be satisfied in Jesus Christ and the joy of knowing Him.
Is there a parakaleo in your daily agenda? Cultivating community contacts will require a cultivating of missional love–a parakaleo spirit, a pleading heart, a practice of being in the royal priesthood. I pray that, as we seek to engage our lost world with the mission and message of Jesus Christ, we will find ourselves between two worlds with one heart to help others find mercy for their misery and joy for their pain.
Labels: Community, Evangelism, Jesus | posted by TimBrister at 9:20 pm | Categories: Community, Evangelism |
Cultivating Community Contacts, Part 2
In my last post, I made the point that cultivating community contacts is a challenge we all must embrace as followers of Christ, and this week I want to follow up by looking where we can find such contacts.
Beginning with our most intimate circles of influence, we start with our immediate and extended family. Whether we realize it or not, we bear the greatest influence over those who are closest in our lives, and there are none closer to us than those in our families. Are there any unbelievers among your siblings, cousins, aunts or uncles? While family members are often the hardest to win a hearing for the sake of the gospel, they have the most exposure to our lives, and we who are debtors to grace should pray and work to find avenues to extend that grace to our family members who need Jesus.
Secondly, cultivate community contacts with friends and regular acquaintances. It has been said that after two years of becoming a Christian, a new believer will have lost all contact with their unbelieving friends. This should not be so! Take inventory of the friends in your life. Are there any who do not know Jesus? If not, what are some ways to develop friendships with unbelievers? Being on mission with God means that we will not only experience true community among the fellowship of the redeemed, but we will also enjoy meaningful relationships with unbelievers as we seek to demonstrate the love of God and communicate the truths of the gospel to them.
Thirdly, perhaps outside the home, the place where you spend the most time during the week is your workplace. It should be natural (and obvious!) that the workplace is a great arena to develop community contacts. You work alongside them, go on breaks with them, perhaps even carpool with some of them. You talk about life, sports, news, and everything important to them. There is an ongoing, perpetual, and inherent relationship by virtue of your occupation and location, and you will likely spend more time rubbing shoulders with them than anyone else outside your family. It makes sense, then, to think redemptively about your workplace and how your job can be viewed as a mission outpost for the kingdom of God. Do them good through hard work and serve, and give them good news through sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ!
Fourthly, there are places in your city where you encounter various people on a regular basis. Have you ever paid attention to the mailman, sanitation workers, or package delivery people who come by your house on a weekly (if not daily) basis? What about the cashier at the gas station, the teller at the local branch of your bank, or the server at your favorite restaurant? Develop a missional pattern by going to the same places for gas, groceries, and eating out and learn the names and faces of those who work there. Start conversations with them and build an ongoing rapport with them. Over time, you will find there to be many opportunities to cultivate a relationship with them that otherwise would not have been possible without intentionally patterning your life around the mission.
Lastly, there are people you will see and meet randomly. For instance, if your child plays a sport, you will likely be sitting on a bleacher close to someone who needs Jesus. There are hobbies you have, sports you play, and other recreational avenues you enjoy that all can play a part in cultivating community contacts. See them not only as a means to relax and enjoy life but also as a springboard to help others come to enjoy God forever with abundant life in Jesus Christ!
It is my hope that we will lay hold of the many opportunities before us each day so that as the aroma of Christ, God might spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere (2 Cor. 2:14)!
Labels: Community, Evangelism, Jesus | posted by TimBrister at 9:17 pm | Categories: Community, Evangelism |
Cultivating Community Contacts, Part 1
In the initial stages of core group meetings, it is important to implement ways to cultivate community contacts. Scripture speaks of adorning and commending the gospel with a missional lifestyle that attracts sinners to the glory of God in Christ. Jesus declares that our light should shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:16). There are inward disciplines that should be done “in secret” (such as praying, giving, and fasting as seen in Matt. 6), but there are also outward disciplines to be done among a watching world who have not tasted the goodness of God’s grace. Jesus also says that our love for one another should be God-like and genuine, and as a result, the world will recognize that we belon to Jesus Christ (John 13:34-35). Not only has Jesus called us to be in the world, He has sent us there. In other words, being in the world and living among unbelievers is not haphazard or merely coincidental. God has purposed and propelled us into an existence where the setting for the salt is in the earth and the light is in the world, a place where “sinners and tax collectors” are not only within arm’s reach, but also welcomed at our dinner tables. Safe places are suitable to our insecurities and underscore our inaction. There is no need in getting messy, no worry about having to confront sin and the idolatry of unbelievers. But do remember, for our sake and their sake, that Jesus knew of no such safe place. He confronted sinners and the very idols of their hearts (e.g., the rich young ruler). In the center of pagan culture, Jesus asked the question, “Who do you say that I am?” The challenge before us today is getting messy for the mission, loving sinners while confronting their sin, and be willing to ask the earth-shaking question about who Jesus is and what He came to accomplish. Cultivating community contacts is a challenge, I pray, we embrace for the glory of Christ and the transformation of many lives by the sovereign grace of God!
Labels: Community, Evangelism, Jesus | posted by TimBrister at 1:27 pm | Categories: Community, Evangelism |
