Dear Foothills Family,

Many Christians become experts at talking about "fishing for men." But we're often not so good at actually "fishing for men!" In fact, many of us probably feel vaguely guilty about the whole subject of evangelism.

Researcher George Barna discovered that 9 out of 10 Christians surveyed feel like failures when it comes to sharing what they believe. Barna concludes: "Despite the divine command to spread the Word, many Christians redirect their energies into areas of spiritual activity that are more satisfying and in which they are more likely to achieve success."

COMMANDED AND GIFTED: In the Bible we see there is a command to evangelize and there is a gift of evangelism. Jesus said: "Go and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). That's the command. No Christian can "wriggle off the hook!" We are to do the work of evangelism – we are to share the good news about Jesus Christ everywhere we go.

But there is also a spiritual gift of evangelism which some Christians have (and others don't). The people with this gift have the unique ability to share their faith very naturally and effectively with other people. Several of my Foothills friends are coming to mind as having been given this gift. The Spiritual Gifts Inventory defines this gift as follows: "The special ability that God gives to certain members of the body of Christ to present the gospel message clearly to non-Christians and lead them to put their faith in Jesus Christ and also to equip other believers to do likewise."

In the Bible only one person is called an evangelist. His story is found in Acts 8. Philip had been one of the first deacons in the early church. In addition to his deaconing gifts, God also gave him the gift of being an evangelist. He went to Samaria and began to preach the gospel with the result that multitudes came to Christ (Acts 8:4-8). Then he went to the desert road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza. Along the way he met an Ethiopian Eunuch who was reading Isaiah 53. Philip got into a conversation with the eunuch, shared the gospel from that very passage, and introduced him to Christ (Acts 8:26-40)!

Our Head Elder, Tom, will share with us a powerfully practical message this week on various ways of being an effective evangelist. You could say that there are various "styles of evangelism" or "approaches to evangelism" and we can see ourselves engaging in one or more of these approaches as we desire to increase our evangelistic effectiveness.

Scripture says that "Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever" (Daniel 12:3). There is nothing more rewarding than telling the good news to someone who does not know it.

Most of us will never be like a D. L. Moody, Billy Graham, Luis Palau, T. D. Jakes, Brian Houston, Charles or Andy Stanley, Joyce Meyer, Mark Finley, John Bradshaw or Kenneth Cox. That's perfectly okay because God hasn't called us to be like them. Our call is to give the gospel to those whom God puts in our path and invite them to join us in the family of God. Jesus said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19). Our part is to follow him and his part is to make us fishers of men.

Your Pastor

Duff