Me? Evangelize?

Ten years ago (Facebook reminded me), I attended a seminar on evangelism, all because my friends in church encouraged me to join them. I could not tell them that. . . I do not have the gift of evangelism. I am not a verbal human. That would have been a cop out.   

Verbal. That’s what I knew about evangelism while growing up as a third generation Christian. It is to proclaim the gospel with our lips to people—after which, God will work in their hearts to bring them to faith.  

Sure enough, the seminar was all about the steps in evangelizing: how to approach non-believers, introduce the gospel via simple illustrations and verses, answer possible questions, and finally, praying with them the sinner’s prayer. 

The seminar ended with each one of us doing our personal poster with our name on it and the words “Jesus saves.” I gamely did mine. 

The lesson was all too clear, concise, coherent, and cohesive to everyone. I said silently, Why am I not getting it? Am I resisting it? 

That night I prayed for courage to do as taught. 

My co-attendees took the seminar to heart and soon, they were actually doing it (step-by-step) and reporting about their successes. 

And I could not even begin. 

One day, I received a letter from someone who has read one of my books. She said she has come to know the Lord more through my book. And may I please keep writing? 

Keep writing . . . 

That’s what I love doing most: writing about His grace and how it works in the lives of those I know and have come to know through their testimonies shared with me. 

I then realized that evangelism is not all about oral sharing (don’t get me wrong—that works for many others) to save souls but to glorify God. It is He, through the Holy Spirit, Who moves people.  

And I, through my pen (okay, keyboard), not my lips, can share about His grace through life-changing true stories that are underpinned by His Word.  

In short, I don’t and can’t preach. All I can do is weave stories with God’s truth from the good Book. 

Woven into these tapestries of narratives (over 60 published books to date) is my one main theme: “Jesus saves.”