I love this time of the year because we have settled in from summer vacations and are now back to "seriously soldiering for the Savior." It's the time of the year when pastors across the country are pleading for you to be a soul winner and to come join a team in order to either learn how to share your faith or to get back on track about being intentional by having a specific day, each week, to go out and share and encourage those in our community. You see this modeled in the testimony of Chris Murdock, Pastor of Ruhama Baptist Church in Fort Payne, Alabama.
When you participate in an organized evangelism strategy, you get an opportunity to obey the Great Commission, win souls into the Kingdom of God, and change the community in which you live. You also learn a highly effective method for sharing the Gospel in a comfortable, conversational way. I have used the FAITH outline to win souls during evangelistic visits in my own church field and I have taught it to the other members of my team. I get more excited than they do when they win someone to the Lord.
God has also given me the opportunity to use this Gospel presentation to win souls during Crossover events in conjunction with our SBC annual meetings, in associational crusades, and in personal encounters of all types. Recently, God gave me the opportunity to share the Gospel without even leaving my home. After returning from worship services one Sunday night, there was a knock on my front door. It was a couple in their thirties, Connie and Nate.
Connie and Nate had come to my home years ago to be married. During the pre-marital counseling I explained to them that their marriage would never be as good as it should be unless they trusted Christ as their Savior. They did not make that commitment at the time, but they did remember the conversation.
Unfortunately, they have a turbulent history. Both had served time in jail for illegal drug use, and both had been addicted to methamphetamine. Nate had taken an overdose of drugs and slit his wrists in a suicide attempt, but survived in spite of being left for dead by a friend who frequently used drugs with him. On another occasion, he attempted to shoot himself in the head with a pistol. He loaded the weapon and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. He removed the shell from the gun, and saw the mark from the firing pin on the shell's primer. It should have gone off but didn't. Nate still has the bullet. God definitely had a plan for Nate's life!
They had a particularly violent altercation on that Sunday morning, with each of them physically striking the other. When they cooled off, they said to each other, "If we're going to save this marriage, we're going to need God's help." They remembered what I had said on their wedding day.
I sat on my front porch that night and shared the Gospel with Connie and Nate. Both prayed to receive Christ as their Savior. Both eagerly agreed to be baptized the following Wednesday, at the close of our mid-week service. They were there early, with their five children, their parents, and other family members and friends.
At the conclusion of the baptismal service, as Nate and I were leaving the dressing room, I reminded him that he now had a responsibility to share his faith with others since Jesus had forgiven his sins. Nate replied, "I know. On the way to church tonight I stopped at my grandmother's house and told her what Jesus did for me, and she got saved!"
The only ones who do not know souls are searching are those who are not out searching for souls. Now is the time … you are the one. Don't waste any more time. Go and make a difference in someone's life this year. I'm praying for you, so send me your testimonies when Jesus blesses your socks off in a soul winning situation. Just remember, soul winning is like going to Walmart … you always come out with more than you went in for.
