Bill Hull’s book, Jesus Christ Disciplemaker, provoked an evangelism encounter in my life from twenty plus years ago.
It was sometime in the late 1980s. I was in Oxford, Mississippi, studying a new discipleship tool with a group of ministers. We were being trained as facilitators for MasterLife written by Dr. Avery Willis. Part of the instruction included sharing the gospel.
One evening a few of us decided to visit a local eatery to experiment with our new means of evangelism. After our meal I recognized a national politician sitting in a nearby booth.
Let me digress for a moment to explain how I recognized the national leader. There was a time in my life when I tracked politics much closer than I do now. At one time I seriously considered a degree in political science. The interest was born when I cast my inaugural vote in the 1984 presidential election. I sincerely enjoyed keeping up with politics.
Now back to the moment I met and conversed with a national politician.
After concluding his meal, several patrons stepped over to his table to shake his hand and greet him. Because of my interest, I followed suit. We engaged in a brief conversation. He was intrigued with my purpose for being in Oxford. When I explained I was a minister receiving training in discipleship he invited me to sit as his table for a moment or two. There were other people present.
The official was congenial. He was a very pleasant man. I also found him to be encouraging. He seemed genuinely interested in my story.
By the way, aren’t all politicians supposed to be that way?
Yet this man was different. He went out of his way to engage in a meaningful conversation. I was impressed. He was thousands of miles away from his district, yet he treated me as one of his own constituents.
In response to the warm invitation, I used the moment to share the good news of Jesus Christ. I do not recall the entire conversation, yet I do remember his response. The elected official informed that he believed in a “higher being”. He said he formed his belief before undergoing a major surgery earlier in his life. When pressed, the politician gave the same response – he believed in a “higher being”. There was no mention of Jesus and there was no confirmation of being born-again.
How important was that encounter? Check out JUSTONEMORE tomorrow and I will explain.