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!

Major Barbara

Did you ever see Major Barbara, the 1941 film based on the George Bernard Shaw play? I did. I watched it during a college English class at Jacksonville College.

Shaw was a socialist, and he satired not only capitalism, but just about every facet of every day life, from business, to marriage, family, and so on. In fact, many of these very things were satirized in the Major Barbara play. Imagine, a Major in the Salvation Army who was a woman, Major Barbara. Or how about a man named Dolly (Major Barbara's love interest?) Or a wealthy weapons manufacturer looking for an heir to his empire (he didn't want to pass it down to his kids because he didn't want his kids to take over a business they didn't understand.) One comical line came during the movie when said weapons manufacturer was asking his son what line of work he'd like to enter into. Upon exhausting a list of possible skills, all of which the son said he didn't have, the weapons manufacturer replied "I suppose then the only thing left for you then is politics."

I don't share Shaw's views, but his plays (Major Barbara, The Chocolate Soldier, and others) were good reads.

One thing that came out in Major Barbara, that I believe is infiltrating the churches of the Lord today is the price of salvation. After Major Barbara compromised her principles in order to receive a large financial gift from a wealthy donor, one of the transients at the Salvation Army began to ask, "What's the price of Salvation now?" He continued to ask this question over and over again.

Over the past few years, I have noticed this question is becoming relevant in today's churches. Business meetings, missions meetings, and associational meetings are dominated, not by the validity of the missionary's work, but rather, if the body wants to commit the funds to it. How much will it cost, what's our obligation, how long will this mission project continue to need financial support, hasn't this work been financially supported long enough, and can't we do something more efficient with this money, are all questions that arise on the floor in any given Missionary Baptist meeting.

Now I agree that we need to be good stewards of the funds God has given us, and I also agree that missionaries should be held accountable for what they do with funds sent to support them. I also agree that we need to have a general idea of what the purposes of the general fund and the missions funds are.

However, while we deliberate the direction of our missions programs, let's not forget the reason we labor, give, request, and report for the Lord. It is the millions of souls in Texas, and worldwide who currently do not know the Lord as their Savior. It is the millions of people who will die in their sins and go to Hell.

Our goal is to win these souls to the Lord, baptize them and disciple them... help them grow in their faith and watch, help and enable their Spiritual growth. The result of this is new churches that are solidly planted in God's truth.

So while we debate questions as to what the definition of missions is, how much a missionary should be paid, how long he should be paid, and how much money he should receive for the mission/church he is working to see planted, let's keep in mind the value of the human souls reached... or to put it another way, "How much is the cost of salvation now?"