Evangelism Gone Wrong? Part 3: An Atheist’s Complaint

61 CommentsAtheist Tuesday, Ev Tips/Tools

A frequent atheist contributor to this blog has taken exception to the way we evangelize in public, and is also disturbed at some of the places we do it. This atheist is thoughtful and reasonable, but does she make a valid point? I answer her concerns afterward. (Read original comments in context here. Start at part 1 of the series by clicking here.)

perdita wrote: “[T]he more I read here the more I’m convinced that your evangelizing is just a way for you to feel good about getting into people’s way, being rude, and creating conflict.”

Wrong places to preach, according to perdita, were outside beer gardens, inside elevators, the DMV. “When you do that,” she explained, “you’re just being a passive-aggressive bully. Yeah—and don’t preach to kids unless their parents are there and okay it.”

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Evangelism Gone Wrong? Part 2: Get Back on the Horse

28 CommentsEv Tips/Tools, Open Air, PERSECUTED!

So you blow it as an evangelist. You mess it up. Should you quit and head back to the pew never to stick your neck out again? Of course not. Quitting is never an option. (Click here to read my BIG mistake in part 1.)

My friend Steve Pivovaroff wanted to hang it up a few weeks ago when he (at my urging) preached to an unwitting high school band waiting to march in the Golden Dragon Parade in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. Here’s how it went down:

Right in the middle of a wonderful presentation of the Law and Gospel, two older women took issue and shouted at him to stop though he was doing nothing wrong and had every right to be there. Being an apt pupil, Steve heeded my earlier advice to always continue with the message no matter who tries to interrupt you, unless of course, the interrupter has a gun.

Fortunately for Steve, these women had no guns.

Since they couldn’t stand being ignored by the big man they resorted to drastic measures. One woman took matters into her own hands and did something that shocked even me!

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Evangelism Gone Wrong, Part 1: Mistakes Were Made

55 CommentsAtheist Tuesday, Ev Tips/Tools, Evangelism Gone Wrong, PERSECUTED!, , , , , , , , , , ,

Those unbelievers out there can be so darn difficult.

They don’t understand the Gospel message—or don’t care; they’ll try to get the evangelist off his game by ridicule, loud shouts of disapproval or verbal abuse; they’ll mock you and the God who made them, sometimes even blaspheming his name. And it’s possible they may even try to get you to stop preaching that message of eternal life by using force.

What’s a Christian to do? We’re called to be gracious, gentle, respectful, loving, kind, helpful and prayerful, especially to our enemies. But what happens when things go wrong—desperately wrong—and the witness for Christ is totally blown? And what about those other guys; you know, those who call themselves brothers but don’t represent Christ at all in action and attitude when witnessing about him? What should you do? What about Gospel tracts that don’t tell the full story of the Gospel, are imbalanced, giving a skewed picture of the Savior?

This is the first part of a series that will offer some perspective when evangelism goes wrong. I’ll be sharing a few missteps on my part in a moment, but first let’s read about what happened to Ray Comfort long ago:

He tells the story about a woman who was heckling him so badly, using filthy language and caustic comments, that he blew it. She asked him a question that went something like this: “I’m a lady, but I don’t agree at all with you about what you are saying about women.”

Ray flippantly responded with, “You may be a woman, Ma’am, but you certainly are no lady…”

He then explained how the “lady” proceeded to beat him up.

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