Soul-winning made "easy"

Call me crazy, but I think I have found a less-intimidating method of soul winning. I must admit a couple of things first. (1) I got the idea from watching "The Way of the Master." (No, I'm not just going to parrot their approach.) (2) The phrase "All things old will become new again" has never been truer than what I am about to say.

In soul-winning (which is STILL something I don't do enough of), you must first get used to talking with complete strangers. Just saying those first few words is a daunting task for some, unless you live in Texas where you can make an instant friend out of almost anyone by declaring the idiodessy that is Jerry Jones.

A good exercise to use to get comfortable talking to strangers would be to get in the habit of greeting everyone you meet. You're walking down the produce aisle at Walmart, and another customer is walking toward you. As you pass by, just greet them. New Yorkers might say, "How you doin'?" Texans might say, "Howdy." In the Deep South, the greeting might sound like "Hey y'all." Whatever the official greeting in your language is, just get used to saying it.

Before long, you may find yourself totally engrossed in a conversation with a complete stranger. In doing this, it is entirely important to remember names. Remembering names is the chief way people will know that you care about them. Plus, people like to hear their names. My favorite name memory trick is to use their name as soon as possible after they tell me. It goes like this.

"Howdy."
"Hey, y'all."
"Cool weather these days, huh."
"Man, you ain't kiddin'. It's cold enough out there to freeze your Winnebego."
"Hi, I'm Leland Acker. Pleased to meet you."
"Good to meet you Leland. I'm Bob Barker."
"Bob, it's good to know you. So how are you liking Texas?"
"Pretty good. Hey! How'd you know I was a foreigner."
"Your Winnebego is frozen."

As soon as they give you their name, turn around and use it again. Get used to doing that, and you'll get used to knowing people by name.

People love to talk. In Texas, talk ranges from the weather, to the Dallas Cowboys, to the weather, to whether or not the Longhorns are going to win another title, to the weather, to the Dallas Cowboys, to the weather, to whether or not Texas A&M will ever play Division I football again. (Hey, 6-6 ain't too shabby. Sherman really has worked hard to clean that mess up.)

If you wait on a natural opening in the conversation to work in the Gospel, you'll likely be dissappointed. For one thing, Satan's forces are all around to make sure the natural progression of the conversation stays as far away from spiritual matters as possible. For another, the Gospel sounds so ridiculous when you try to say that Jesus paid the yardage for your penalty flags. No, you must intentionally steer the conversation over to spiritual matters. Doing so is easier than you think.

To intentionally steer a conversation toward the Gospel, all you need is a little courage (faith of a mustard seed) and a pocket full of tracts. Simply pull the tract from your pocket, hand it to your new friend, and say, "Did you get one of these? It's a Gospel tract."

Chances are they'll take the tract, if only to be polite. You may then ask, "Do you go to church anywhere?" or "Do you have a Christian background?" or so on. Regardless of how they answer the question, you have now successfully steered the conversation into matters of eternal significance and have a real opportunity to share the Gospel. Once the conversation has been steered into this place, I have found it effective to utilize the methods of the Way of the Master... but you should do what God leads you to do and what works for you.

People are amazingly tolerant of discussing these things. You'll find that more often than not, people wil be polite and talk with you. Some may turn away in disgust. Don't let that discourage you. Now, let's get out there and win some souls for Christ!