The Great Commission - Coming to a Church Near You.

I am an unashamed Southern Baptist. If you cut me, I bleed the cooperative program. I believe that my denomination has the best mission sending capability of any Christian denomination in the world. This does not mean that God doesn't use other denominations by any means; in fact, I do work with other denominations all the time.

Recently, leaders in our denomination have called for a Great Commission Resurgence - a return to gospel-centeredness and active proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ. Considering the current state of decline in our denomination - evidenced by the fact that we have reached a 22 year low in baptisms - I say it's about time!

So many churches have lost confidence in the power of the gospel message. We are often told that evangelism doesn't work anymore and we have to use other methods to reach people. Of course evangelism doesn't work when you don't do it.

I believe we need a revival of confidence in the power of the gospel to save whosoever, whenever wherever it is proclaimed.

I have been privileged to share the good news in 10 different countries and 16 different states. I have shared the gospel with many people in places like Mombasa, Kenya, Los Angeles, CA, San Antonio, TX, Kampala, Uganda, Indianapolis, IN, Denver, CO, Cartagena, Colombia, Portland, OR, St. Johnsbury, VT and Raleigh, NC - just to mention a few. I have shared in every kind of context you can think of from refugee camps, to special events, to churches, to the streets and so forth.

In every context that I have ministered in, I have seen God at work in the hearts of people. I have seen people experience genuine life change through Christ. I have seen people become followers of Jesus. It was not because of me, but in spite of me. It was all about God.

I believe that every church and every denomination can experience a Great Commission Resurgence when we become the resurgence that we long for. In other words, enough talk - now is the time for action. It's time to get out there and obey God.

As John Piper said, "Go, send, or disobey."

I'm Open

My apologies for not posting an article last week. I was in New Orleans doing street evangelism prior to Mardi Gras and did not have access to a computer.

Speaking of Mardi Gras, I had many people look at me prior to my trip with the "deer-in-the-headlights" look when I told them I was going to Mardi Gras to witness. The sentiment ranged from "you're insane" to "You are a brave soul man."

I guess that is somewhat understandable considering the atmosphere that I was going into. Mardi Gras has to be one of the most, vile, wretched, debauched and disgusting "celebrations" in the world. While standing on Bourbon Street at 10:00 PM in the middle of the whole drunken spectacle, I started to think that God might owe Sodom and Gomorrah an apology. (Of course, He doesn't, but you get my point.)

But the most amazing thing happened while I was there. People actually stopped - even came back - to talk to me about Jesus.(Not all conversations were positive.)

Quite frankly, I thought we would have better opportunities to witness during the day time as opposed to the night when people were getting drunk. The opposite was true. People were more open at night. In fact, I encountered more hostility during the day.

In my witnessing experience, I have found that the very people that I assumed would be closed to the good news were most open, while the ones I thought open were closed.

We had this discussion last night in an evangelism class at church. One of the learners said he wanted to go out to White Oak (Which is a shopping center near Garner) when it came time to put our evangelism principles into practice. This was after I offered to take everyone to Moore Square (Where the homeless people are) and Bragg Street (Where the drug dealers and prostitutes are.)

I just smiled because I know from experience that the people in the later areas are far more receptive than those frequenting the former.

Total strangers are easier to share the gospel with than people that you have built a relationship with. 95% of the time, they will grant you an ear and listen out of politeness. Those that are not open to listening will tell you point blank that they don't want to talk about these matters. In that case, you move on to someone else. I rarely encounter open hostility.

Conversely, it is much more difficult to witness to people who are close to you. The closer they are to you in relationship to them - from casual acquaintance to family member - the harder it is to share the gospel. That is because you have more of an emotional investment in those relationships.

You will keep silent - when the Holy Spirit tells you to speak - for fear of damaging the friendship. In fact, I would venture to say that the longer you know someone, the less likely it is that you will share the gospel with them. This is why friendship evangelism - as it is taught - is not as effective as it's adherents claim.

The moral of the story is don't assume that someone is not open to the gospel based upon their position, their actions, their appearance, or any other limiting factor. You do not know what God is doing in their life to draw them to the cross. So go out and tell someone about Jesus today.

Do me a favor. Take time to read the recent article that my friend and mentor Victor Benavides posted on his blog; you will find it here. It confronts much of the modern research that says that evangelism doesn't work anymore. Those of us who practice evangelism know better.