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Evangelism Gone Wrong, Part 11: My Big, Fat, Huge Mistake

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I love WW2 vets! Every time I meet one I thank them for their service…and try to give them the Gospel. William Stokes is a believer, in fellowship, and he wished me the best in my church plant at JiffyLube. He loved is Giant Money Gospel tract, too. This encounter went well, very well.

 Start at the beginning by clicking here.)

WW2

The next encounter, not so.

When I used to teach my evangelism class I would start the first week off by saying that the motto was: “Go and Make Mistakes!”Well, I took my own advice and made one. I made one.

Yep, I went a little too far.

shameAt Jiffylube, after talking to the WW2 vet and having a great conversation, I went over to a businessman, who, like me, was waiting for his car to be serviced. I offered him a trillion dollar Gospel tract and invited him to church.

He showed extreme disinterest, barely looking up from his iPhone to acknowledge me. I told him about the “Good Person Test” on the back, saying that if he passed I’d like him to come to my church.

He interrupted me with, “Not interested.”

I pressed a little harder, reminding him that he could end up in Hell if he ignored the information.

To that he replied, “Get out of here.”

And this is where I blew it, not in pushing too hard, but in allowing my pride to get the best of me. “I don’t have to get out of here,” I replied, somewhat defiantly.

Frustrated, he had nowhere to go because I was right: He had nowhere to go.

But I was wrong.

As an ambassador of Christ I am making my appeal as if Christ were speaking through me. I’m a minister of reconciliation, not a “stand by my rights” defender.

So what did I do next? What would you do? If Jesus could make a mistake (He can’t), what would He do?

This is what I did: I apologized to the JiffyLube worker who witnessed the whole thing, then I got in my car, and drove away, shaking my head with disgust for “getting in the flesh.”

Then I pressed on and witnessed to about ten more people.

And I did it a whole lot differently, thank you very much.

Read part 12 by clicking here!

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