BROWNSVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Ask Bob Williams any of these questions and you can be assured the name of Jesus will be in the answer:
1) What do you know?
2) How are you feeling?
3) What have you been doing?
Williams, pastor of New Vision Community Church in Brownsville, Tenn., wanted to help his church members “get Jesus’ name in every conversation in a natural way.”
More than a year ago, Williams began to ask God to give him a “witnessing method that could be a part of everyday conversation for the average layperson and not sound canned, judgmental or intimidating.” It was part of a search for ways he and others could “counteract the devil’s schemes to destroy the Christian fabric of our great country and the world.”
Williams counts it an answer to prayer, the idea of answering three questions by turning everyday conversations toward Jesus.
— What do you know?
Williams’ answer: “With the world in the shape it’s in, I am not sure I know anything except I know Jesus loves you and me!” The pastor couples the answer with John 3:16-17: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
— How are you feeling?
Williams’ answer: “I have had my share of bumps and bruises, lumps and bumps, but I am going to make it fine by the love and grace of Jesus!” Williams selected 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 to amplify his answer: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
— What have you been doing?
Williams’ answer: “I have been doing a lot of things but none of them really have eternal value except praising and serving Jesus!” And his Scripture, Romans 12:11-12: “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Bringing Jesus into the most basic of conversations yields “the opportunity to plant a seed, water a seed or harvest a soul in the power of the Holy Spirit,” Williams said.
He said he has had positive results with the three answers, noting, “People’s expressions and dispositions have changed in a very meaningful way since I began using this method.” Various members of his church, meanwhile, “have shared testimonies regarding their experiences and how they have been encouraged in their own faith while providing encouragement to others.”
“I know this works,” Williams said, “because I have experienced a spiritual boldness and closeness to the Lord that I had not experienced consistently previously.”
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Lonnie Wilkey is editor of the Baptist & Reflector, newsjournal of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. For more information or to get a copy of a “What Do You Know” tract Bob Williams has written, contact him at 731-780-1350 or [email protected].
