What’s Your E-vangie Tale #33

NEWSFLASH!!! WITH TWO WEEKS LEFT TO GO,
A MAJORITY OF THE STUDENTS ARE STILL IN THE CLASS!!!
QUICK! CALL MOM!!!

“Boldly and without hindrance [Paul] preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 28:31

Our newest six week evangelism class, “Sharing Your Faith Without Fear,” has seventeen students. Will the 50% rule apply? I sure hope not. Pray for them.

The 50% rule is fairly standard for those who teach evangelism classes. Half of the students drop out before the class is done; in fact, most drop out before the fourth class starts. Why is this? I have a theory: When you take a theology class, at the end, you will be a little smarter. If you take a course in prayer, by the time you graduate, you will know how to pray. And you can do that alone. But when you enroll in an evangelism training, you will be required to share your faith at the end of the class.

That’s too much to ask for many Christians. They’d rather let those who have “the gift” of evangelism do that. Hence, a 50% drop out rate!

This is the place to post your very own evangelism adventure. Every other week I’ll bring this post back to the top of the blog. Remember students, you get one bonus point for every three sentence adventure that you write about.

My teaching notes and student notes—over 100 pages of material—are available free of charge, except for postage. Just email me your address ([email protected]) and my awesome assistant Barbara will get these out to you. Soon they will be online.

Comments (29)

  1. Humir

    Reply

    I had an appointment with my doctor today at Kaiser. After the appointment, I mustered up the courage to give him a 1M bill. He goes, “Oh I’m rich now”. By the time next appointment comes Lord willing I’ll be able to preach the gospel to him verbally.

  2. Humir

    Reply

    Something weird happened upon walking out of Kaiser after getting my blood test. A middle-aged lady was walking towards me, raises her hand high up in the air (trying to get my attention), and yelled “Jesus loves you and your family”. I tried to tell her that I’m a Christian by showing her my stack of 1M bills. I gave her one, and she just walked away without saying a word. I don’t know if she believes in the modern gospel that preaches Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Hopefully if she reads the tract she’ll embrace the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ

  3. Reply

    I have been one-to-one witnessing for about four years now. I will never forget my first adventure. Here’s the short version of my first adventure.

    I had just been convicted that I was not doing anything to reach the lost in my home town area after watching and episode of the Way of the Master. I ordered season one of the show and learned how to share my faith using Law before Grace.

    I bought 200 patriotic tracts to hand out by myself on the 4th of July during a local fireworks show. I figured I could hand out the tracts and walk away before anyone had a chance to ask me what they were.

    When I arrived at my starting point I was a nervous wreck. I prayed that God would calm my fears and give me the courage to go through with what I set out to do. I saw that the grounds were covered with people waiting to watch the fireworks and I looked at the 200 tracts in my hands.

    I headed toward the first groups of people and just said, “did you get one of these?” The people took the tracts from me and I went on to the next group. Wow, that was easy I thought to muself. I gave out more…and more…and more. Everyone said thanks and just starting reading them.

    Until…….

    I handed off a tract and the guy I handed it to said, “what is this?” I turned back around and said it was a Gospel tract and kept walking away. I heard him say, “Oh, you’re one of those”. I started to keep on walking and not worry about what he said but I knew I wa supposed to stop and talk to him.

    I said, “One of what?”……he said, “one of those cults or something.” I said no, I’m just an regular Christian handing out Gospel tracts.

    The I did it! I asked him the million dollar question. “If you were to die, right now standing on this corner, would you go to Heaven or Hell?”

    That’s all it took. I started my first witnessing conversation! I took him through the good person test (WDJD) and then shared God’s amazing grace with him.

    Since that day I have talked with hundreds of people and given out thousands of tracts……but it all had to start somewhere!

    For those of you out there that are like me (a little shy and kinda introverted) God will give you all you need! Let compassion swallow your fears and let God do an amazing work through you!

  4. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    After leaving Steve’s first class I was determined to pass out a 1M bill to the first person I saw. The next morning it happened to be the two guards standing at the front gate of my work place, so I whipped out my tracts and placed them near their hands and they took them, WOW! I was so pumped I passed out another to the janitor along the way to my desk.

  5. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    While at Starbucks I observed a pretentious businessman with his two small daughters scolding them for talking while he was on his cell phone. I walked up and handed a 1M bill to each of the young girls hoping to get the attention of their father. Well it worked, so I gave one to him also and stated that there was some information on the back that he might find helpful. He stood up with his chest puffed up and said “huh, this is only the second million dollar bill he had ever seen” (not sure what that meant there’s no such thing, right?) so he thanked me and I returned to my coffee.

  6. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    I went to the Teen Challenge car show on Saturday and was able to pass out about fifty tracts. Every time someone handed me a flier I would hand them a 1M bill. The funny thing is that people wanted more of them, ripe for the harvest.

  7. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    I was sitting in my cubical yesterday admiring our class photo when a young engineer asked what I was looking at. I explained to him that I was taking a class at my church about evangelism. We entered into a conversation about God and how I was saved when another young engineer dropped by. Now was the time, so I gave them each a 1M bill and without hesitation I asked the question, ” If you died today…” man did the Holy Spirit take over! As I took them through the Ten Commandments (it only took 4) I was able to witness the sobering effect that the Law had on these two young men. I know I did a lot of stuff wrong but I was out “making mistakes”, I think I even misquoted John 3:16 if you can imagine that. In the end they are both excited to visit Hope Chapel and did I mention the first young man’s dad was just ordained as a Catholic deacon? I can’t wait for our second class!

  8. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    I had to pickup a relative at the airport last night. Once I arrived, I pulled over to the curb, opened the trunk and noticed a bunch of people standing around waiting for their rides. I couldn’t resist, I started passing out tracts like a mad man until I noticed a large police officer yelling something like move that d** car. The good thing is by that time my relatives had all their luggage loaded into the trunk. I know what you thinking, no It hasn’t my aunt or my grandma, I was picking up my rather large nephew.

  9. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    I guess one good thing about working for a large company is there are always new faces. I noticed they rotate the guards at the front gate often so I had the opportunity once again to pass out a tract to the “new guy”. Now my mission is to lead ALL the guards to Christ.

  10. Pat Leavy

    Reply

    7/13/09

    I gave a million dollar tract to a sales lady and told her that it’s a gospel tract. She said she would give it to her grandson. He died a few weeks ago, on the baseball field. His grandpa was able to bring him back with CPR. Evidently, it was put in the Daily Breeze. WOW!

    Pat

  11. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    I picked up a pack of Michael Jackson million dollar bills last night a church. So today I took a cruise on my Harley and passed them out at the red lights or to any car that had the window down.

  12. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    Stopped at Starbucks in Hawthorne this afternoon to grab an iced coffee, I passed out some more Michael Jackson million dollar bills to all the employees and man they all wanted more. While I was sitting out on the patio there was a couple there I had given a tract to on my way in to get my coffee. I was asking God to give me the strength to go over to them and ask them the million dollar question. I was already pretty nervous and the coffee wasn’t helping any. Just then two men approached the entrance, one entered but the other just stood and stared at me. I said hello and asked how he was doing. With tears in his eyes, he answered “terrible”, so I invited him to sit with me. I realized it was this man I needed to ask the million dollar question, not the couple seated behind me. Once we exchanged greetings, I used a million dollar bill to make the transition to the million dollar question. By this time his friend had returned so I posed the question to him also. As we went through the law the two men responded just as God designed, by the time I got to the good news the second man was weeping uncontrollably. Long story short, the two men repented and accepted Christ. Glory to God!

  13. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    My wife Jody and I were shopping at a local department store on Sunday. She needed to to pickup some make up so I soon found myself in a swanky section of the store that I didn’t even know existed. We were soon surrounded by a number of effeminate sales men, albeit very polite and helpful. Jody completed her transaction and we headed out. Before we got too far I was lead to return and give every one in the store a 1M bill.

  14. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    Well here’s another guard story, I’ve become the “guy with the million dollar bills” at the front entrance so this week I’ve been going through the back entrance. There’s a whole new crop there and they really dig the Michael Jackson tracts.

  15. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    I’m not sure if anyone else has tried this, but I think I found a good location to hand out tracts. I was at the ATM today and while I was conducting my business a line started to form behind me. I grabbed my cash and turned around and started passing out 1M bills, man you should have seen their faces, for a moment they thought they hit the lottery (if they read it, they’ll realize they have). I didn’t have time to ask the million dollar question, but I bet no one would have left their place in line, maybe next time.

  16. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    Well I finally made it out with Eric to the Redondo Pier. We had a really good time and were joined by a couple of our classmates, Polly and Sara. We survived without even a scratch, we passed out a bunch of tracts and all of us asked the million dollar question many times. Polly and I even had the honor of “closing the deal” with a man right there in the middle of the pier. Looking forward to spending the day with Ray Comfort next weekend, and you too Steve!

  17. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    My wife Jody and I went shopping at the mall last night to pick up a new shirt for a wedding we will be attending. Since she is still coming to terms with my new found excitement in passing out tracts, I walk a couple steps behind her as not to embarrass her. I saw a young lady wearing a Michael Jackson tee shirt, so you know she and all her family got a Michael Jackson million dollar bill, her grandma even asked for two. I did notice it is a bit more challenging to pass out tracts at Nordstrom’s, humm…

  18. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    I went out to the Redondo pier with Eric and a few of our classmates on Friday afternoon. I got to speak to a couple of the people I preached to the previous week and lovingly reminded them of our conversation. I was able to go through the WDJD method with two separate groups of people and in both cases I got promises they would repent and put their trust in Jesus.

  19. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    I learned an important lesson this weekend while going through the WDJD method with a group of youngsters (12-14 years old). It was going great, got through the “have you ever told a lie” and ” have you ever stolen anything”, or “misused the Lords name”. Then without much thought I launched into “have you ever looked with lust…” and then the wheels fell off. One of the youngsters, with that look of innocence in her eyes says “what’s lust”? Oh man could I have used a thesaurus. Unfortunately one of the teens was able to explain it better than I was. Anyway I was able to get back on track and make it through. So the moral of the story is to adjust your delivery so that it is age appropriate.

  20. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    I was handing out tracts the other day and offered up a million dollar bill to an older woman waiting to cross the street. She quickly refused and turned away, so I offered her an Obama million dollar bill. She still refused but kinda giggled, so I broke out the big guns and offered her my last Michael Jackson million dollar bill and she took it! Man those things work like a charm.

  21. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    I was at my wife’s grandmothers 90th birthday last weekend. I had the pleasure of speaking to one of her distance in laws that is currently in the Salvation Army’s alcohol rehab program. He stated he asked Jesus into his heart but admitted he really didn’t fully understand what that meant. That opened up the opportunity to take him through the law and to show him the importance of repentance and trust in Jesus.

  22. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    Well I experienced my first real challenging conversation to date. I was going through the WDJD method with three 17 year old boys. It was a good lesson on staying on point. They tried everything to distract me from pretending they were receiving calls on their cell phones to saying they just don’t believe in God. Thanks to the way of the master training and Steve’s awesome teaching I was able to preserver with only a bruised ego. My hope is that God will soften the hearts of these young men.

  23. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    I was at the hour of power at the Redondo pier yesterday doing the WDJD with a woman visiting from Texas and her daughter. We got through the 9th commandment, but I could not get her admission on the 8th , 3rd or the 7th man I was running out of commandments. She was just not being honest with herself or listening to her conscience. At one point she was so agitated with me she asked what church I was from and what was the name of my pastor (I should have given her Steve’s name). I finally got to the point that I was able to share the Gospel, the only reason I continued was for the benefit of her daughter that was admitting guild the entire time. We ended our conversation on a very good note and exchange hugs, God is awesome!

  24. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    While attending a wedding this weekend I had the opportunity to pass out a few more million dollar bills, one each to the bell hop, snack shop attendant and the three different valet attendants.

  25. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    I was getting my car washed yesterday just sitting there reading the way of the master and this woman moved from where she was sitting to the seat right next to me. My heart started pounding so I figured that was the Holy Spirit telling me to share my faith with her. I said hello and handed her a million dollar bill then launched into WDJD. As I tried to lead her through the 10 commandments she stated she was such a positive thinking person she could not even bring herself to call herself a liar. So I had to adlib and do a sudo open air sermon just to her. I think she got the message and after all this she said that she may visit Hope Chapel.

  26. Wayne Brackett

    Reply

    I had to drop my car off at the shop for a tune-up and standing in front of me was a cousin of mine on my wife’s side. God just keeps putting people right in front of me. He mentioned his friend was opening a restaurant that day and was telling me the situation behind the restaurant. It’s the one that burned down a couple years ago on Manhattan Ave. He went on to explain the father of his friend and owner of the restaurant was struck by a car and killed. This is how he inherited it. This was a perfect chance to transition to a conversation about God. My wife’s cousin is attend secular college and admitted the things he’s learning go against some of his moral values. So I took him through the law than shared God’s grace with him. He still has many questions but he is one I’ll follow up with.

  27. Monica Hastings

    Reply

    I think the Lord has found a new evangelist in this Wayne Brackett fellow. Don’t let me go Steve!!!

  28. Laurie Griffin

    Reply

    Wow, one man’s faithfulness… thank you Lord for Wayne Brackett who takes Your word seriously and put it into action… and sets an example for us all.

    I have been more diligent about handing out tracts and have had a few one on one conversations and written letters to loved ones. God has been faithful and gives me the words to say. I still have a long way to go, but I have seen how far I’ve come and I’m not turning back.

    Keep on doing the Lord’s work Steve, you are on my mind often and though I don’t often comment, know that you are a constant example.

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