More on this book
Kindle Notes & Highlights
For the first time, I understood that these unscripted adventures on the high seas of personal evangelism are what give excitement, fulfillment, and ultimate purpose to a life of faith. After all, what’s more important than being a messenger for the Creator of the universe to someone whose eternity is hanging in the balance?
This is the missing ingredient in so many Christian lives. I’ve never heard anyone complain by saying, “My spiritual life is so dry right now; it’s like I’m living in a desert,” and then add, “Oh, by the way, I’m actively trying to reach a friend for Christ.”
One person summed up Paul’s impact by saying he sparked revivals or riots wherever he would speak. In other words, his life was one big moving adventure.
When we tell God, “Please surprise me with opportunities to tell others about you,” we can have confidence that he will take us on white-knuckle adventures that will make an eternal impact on others while at the same time giving us the thrills of a lifetime.
Nothing is more fulfilling than seeing ordinary people turned into extraordinary followers of God, imbued with his Spirit and enabled by his power to make incredible differences in the lives of others.
This is what gets me up in the morning: the thought that somehow, in some way, God might take this seemingly routine day and surprise me with an opportunity to tell someone about the good news that has the power to turn their life inside out.
You don’t need to have all the answers to every theological question. You don’t have to master a polished gospel presentation that you mechanically recite whether people want to hear it or not. You don’t have to pretend you’re the next Billy Graham. All you have to do is authentically follow Christ in your own life and ask him to ambush you with opportunities, then trust that he’s going to use you in spite of (and sometimes even because of) your shortcomings, foibles, and quirks.
We were redeemed, in part, for the purpose of reaching others for Christ. Therefore, we’ll never be complete in our experience with God until we allow him to use us to spread his message to others.
You can begin to transform the culture of your church by first seeking God’s revival in your own soul, reinstating in your own heart his vision for reaching this lost and dying world. Cultivate passion and excitement for the unexpected adventure, and you’ll be amazed at how you—regardless of your age, gender, background, or experience—can stir up your church to become a more spiritually dynamic and contagious place.
Christians often miss the adventure of spiritual conversations because they’re afraid they’re going to get asked a question they can’t answer. They don’t feel very conversant with why they believe what they believe, and consequently they censor themselves and avoid evangelistic interactions altogether so they won’t be embarrassed by what they don’t know.
One of the greatest enemies of the unexpected adventure is our insistence on always expressing ourselves within the bounds of Christian normalcy. So we end up dressing, looking, talking, and acting like a hundred other people in our church, fearful to express our true individuality and possibly stymieing our unique ability to connect with people in our circle of influence. As if God were the creator of clones.
Patience is important in personal evangelism. We want to validate the seeking process of others, and we don’t want to push someone any faster than he or she is able to go. All that is fine, but if we go too far, waiting for that absolutely perfect opportunity to talk about Christ, then there’s a good chance we’ll never get around to talking about spiritual matters at all.
More often, if we’re alert to opportunities and attuned to the Holy Spirit’s promptings, we’re going to find some appropriate way to get into a conversation about Jesus. It may not be the ideal circumstance, but if we approach the situation with sensitivity and empathy, chances are that God will take our meager efforts and use them in the life of our friend.
