Evangelism Encounters
This is the story of a bodybuilder named Morgan. Well, sort of. It’s actually more about multiplication of gospel witness. Let me explain.
Last year, during our final day of the EETN Test Driver’s Competition, Devin Van Egdom, one of our EETN trainers, walked up to a 330 pound man named Morgan to ask him The 3 Big Questions. At the time Devin was being trained by Keith Tinson.
Devin did a great job asking Morgan the questions, and communicating the gospel to him. Morgan’s answers included us being created by aliens, and that this life might be a test to lead us to an afterlife. The conversation ended with Devin encouraging Morgan to consider the gospel message. Morgan expressed a desire to follow up with friend’s of his who had been bugging him to come to church with them.
CLICK HERE to see a sample of this conversation.
Days later, one of our cameramen, Robert Lawrie, sent our group a video of a popular YouTube fitness channel that featured Morgan in a fun weightlifting challenge. You can see that short video HERE
This reminded all of us to pray for Morgan.
Months went by, when out of the blue, Keith sent the group a text with a photo of him with Morgan! Keith had bumped into Morgan while participating in a GO Team at Spencer Smith Park in Burlington. Keith was bursting with excitement to share the news that Morgan had become a follower of Christ!
“Gentlemen, since we last saw him he has given his life to Christ!! We chatted for 25 minutes about what God has done to him… He said he often thinks of that conversations [with Devin]… Our conversation was rich, and we opened the word, talked about salvation, assurance, perseverance… We ended in prayer…It was an amazing experience.”
The whole group was ecstatic. And we have since been in communication with Morgan to schedule a follow up interview once he returns from a bodybuilding competition overseas.
God seems to use people in training to bring folks to the Lord — sometimes more so than us veterans! It’s like he wants to encourage them early in their evangelism journey, so that they know (or we the trainers know) that salvation is ALL a work of God, not the skill of man.
As the Apostle Paul wrote,
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 (ESV)
A Paradigm Shift
A shift in my own thinking has occurred since joining The Cross Current ministry. I have learned that it’s not just about how many lost people can I share Christ with, but rather, who am I equipping for the work of evangelism?
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry…” Ephesians 4:11-12 (ESV)
This is the idea behind Equipping Evangelists. They are disciple makers in evangelism. As Cory says, “Evangelism adds, but discipleship multiplies”.
Adding is beautiful. We love when new souls are added to the Kingdom. But multiplying is even better because it reaches even more souls with the gospel.
The exciting thing to consider is that this model of evangelism, with its emphasis on discipleship, is producing more gospel witness than any single evangelist could ever do on his or her own. This is the big idea in the book The Master Plan of Evangelism, by Robert Coleman, a TCC recommended resource.
The Multiplication Continues
Devin is now training others in evangelism, who will go on to train others, who will train others… And in the process of training others, the Morgans of the world will come to know Jesus.
Will you please continue praying?
In closing, please pray for Morgan, Devin, and all those involved in expanding the Kingdom for the return of the King!
Until the whole world hears (Rom. 10:14),
Daniel Bayssassew is a Missionary Evangelist with The Cross Current. Having accumulated extensive experience in media production and conversational evangelism, the Lord is using Daniel to equip the Church to engage the culture through our gospel outreach media ministry.
Connect with Daniel directly at: daniel@thecrosscurent.com
- Please pray for the planning and promotion of our November Gospel Galas and for every table to be filled with generous supporters.
- Please pray for our ministry as we on-ramp new team members to further our goal of equipping entire churches for evangelism together.
- Please pray for another busy month of equipping evangelism ministry, as displayed in the Events section of our website HERE.