May 9th, 2012 admin
When I served as a layperson in the church, I went through several evangelism training courses, and have led some. I found value in each one of them and have been able to use them to lead people to Christ. Now that I am in a staff minister role, I wanted a tool that I felt would be easy, but complete for an average church member to do. Your website led me to believe that How to Share Your faith would be just that.
I received the kit the other day and went over the material. What I love is the fact that is uses the teaching principles of repetition and practice. I also believed that it would be effective for children as well.
I work for a secular organization on the side that brings me in contact with children. When one girl, aged 9, asked me spiritual questions, I decided to put this newest tool into practice. I asked her if I could show her a simple drawing that explains how to know God better.
At the end, she asked if she could pray right now! I am so glad to say another has been welcomed into God’s family! Thanks for this wonderful resource.
Your friend,
Justin Grice
Cool Springs Baptist Church
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February 1st, 2012 admin
Carrie was very friendly single girl. For seven years she has worked in the lab at Kaiser drawing blood from patients for various tests. I asked her how she liked her job but she hesitated. She liked working for Kaiser, but she didn’t like hurting people. It created stress in her life and it stayed with her after work. My goal is always to find out where a person is on his or her spiritual journey. So, after a little more chitchat, I asked her if she went to church. She said she had been once and therefore would consider herself a Christian. With a big smile, I compared her one visit to one date with a guy. She laughed and said she didn’t like large crowds. I explained that if the pastor’s preaching is really meeting needs so that lives are being changed, marriages restored, families strengthened, people experiencing God’s love, peace and confidence instead of anxiety, then they will be telling their friends and the church will be growing. If he keeps doing it, the church will keep growing. Then I asked, “How do you tell a good restaurant from the street?” She said, “I get it.”
I said, “Carrie, God loves you. He values you. You are precious to him. He wants to help you, guide you, and pour his love into your life. His desire is to help you experience his peace, confidence, direction and to give you the grace you need to cope with whatever life throws at you. But here is the deal. He won’t force himself on you. He waits for you to sense the need for him and turn to him and receive Christ. Once you do, then he will walk with you throughout the journey.” Even though there were several others waiting, Carrie didn’t take her eyes off mine or even move. Then she said, “God really wanted you to talk to me today. Thanks.” That was it. I was a link in the chain. It was a personal touch to point her toward Christ. And we both knew that God was in it.
-Kent
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January 1st, 2012 admin
I needed some repair work on our home security system so when I called the customer service department the representative identified herself as Brook. She asked for my phone number and then said “Is this Mr. Tucker?” I said, “Yes, is this Brook?” She laughed and gave me an affirmative answer. We talked a bit and I then told her what the security problem was and she told me what the solution was and began the process to schedule a repair call. In the meantime I learned that Brook was located in Wichita, Kansas, had been working there for six months and was glad to have a job. She had on new baby to take care of. I said, “Brook, when I think of you, how do you want me to pray for you?” She asked me to pray for direction in her life, both for career direction and her relationship with the baby’s father. She shared that they lived together but he was depressed because he had been out of work for so long and that brought a lot of stress into the relationship. I asked about her church background. She had been raised in a Christian home and received Christ at an early age but had drifted away from God. I encouraged her to get back on track with God because life doesn’t work real well without a close relationship with him. She really affirmed what I said based on her current experience. I asked if she knew of any good churches in the area. She wasn’t sure. So I suggested she contact the Christian bookstore she knew about in the area and ask the manager to tell her the top three or four healthy, growing churches in the area. The people from those churches buy Bibles, books, materials, CDs, etc. He will know which one’s to recommend. Then I suggested she go online to the websites of those churches. That will help her to set priorities. She really liked that process. I encouraged her to be proactive, to take the initiative to find a church and get back on track with God. I suggested that since the baby’s father was depressed, he would probably tend to withdraw. So I encouraged her to take the initiative, find a good church and invite him to go with her and seek to get everyone on track with God. She was very grateful for the encouragement and said, “It is just the nudge that I needed.” She sensed that God had arranged the phone call. I told her I thought God was reaching out to her to point her in the right direction. She agreed. She said, “God has always been there for me.” I asked if I could pray for her right then and she said she would really like that. I prayed that God would guide her to find a church, that she and her boyfriend would begin to grow spiritually and provide security and stability for their daughter through their home and marriage and that God would help them as they seek his direction for the future.
Brook was a believer who had drifted from God and was struggling. When I asked her, “When I think of you, how do you want me to pray for you?” she shared below-the- surface struggles in her life. I tried to help her understand God’s perspective of what was going on in her experience and point her in the right direction. Before the conversation was over, we both knew that our chance phone call was a divine appointment. God was in it, drawing Brook to Himself and, according to her, it was just what she needed to get back on track with him.
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December 1st, 2011 admin
Irene is a mother of three and a good friend of the family. We have been meeting her
needs and sharing Christ with her for over fifteen years. Our relationship is close, but we
have sensed no openness in her relationship to God. She had a religious upbringing but
experienced no personal relationship with God. There seemed to be a wall between her
and God.
This past week, we were chatting about nothing important when I told her I was going to
meet with a man whose daughter committed suicide. Irene recounted that when she was a
teenager she attempted suicide. She had taken a bottle of pills and slit both of her wrists.
Because of the trail of blood, they found her right away and saved her life.
She said that a feeling of emptiness had driven her to do it. I asked her if she had prayed.
She said she had prayed before the incident but not since then—about 20 years ago. I
briefly explained the difference between Churchianity and Christianity, between religious
rituals and a personal relationship with Christ. I suggested that, back then, she had been
going through the religious motions but that she did not have a personal relationship with
God.
She then added that one of her objections to Christianity was the greed she had personally
seen in some ministers. I did not defend them, but I mentioned that just as there are bad
cops and bad teachers, there are also bad ministers and priests. I encouraged her to not
base what she thinks about Jesus Christ on the basis of certain bad ministers. They do not
reflect God’s heart. I assured her that God cared for her personally.
She also said that she often struggled with anxiety and fear. I told her that God could help
her with that, too, but she needed to turn to him and ask him to forgive her and come into
her life. I said, “You can do this at any time on your own, or, if you want, I could lead
you in a prayer right now. You will be talking to God, and I’ll just guide you as to what
to say.” She said she wanted that. It was a sweet time.
After the prayer, I told her that God had forgiven her for all her sins, even the ones no
one else knew about. I explained how she could start growing in her relationship with
Christ and that God promised that he would never leave her no matter what. She seemed
very eager to begin the journey.
Her emptiness, her fear, and her anxiety kept reminding her of her personal need for God
and kept moving her toward the Red Zone of her spiritual journey. She believed that God
had not been there for her during the suicide incident and that she did not matter to him.
However, when she began to see the incident differently and to sense that God really
cared for her, the wall came down. She received Christ and began a personal relationship
with him. How sweet is that!
-Kent
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October 1st, 2011 admin
I sat down in my seat and settled in for a long flight to New Jersey. Next to me were two guys, a doctor and a scientist, who just met each other and were fully engaged in a conversation. After a while, one of them looked at me and said, you have a remarkable presence about yourself. Are you an actor (I couldn’t wait to tell my wife)? Have you made any films? I told them I made a film for Christians that is shown in churches. They quickly dismissed that as a possibility of something they have seen. I asked them about their church background. It was a very negative experience for both of them.
I asked further questions about their negative church experience and then explained the difference between churchianity and Christianity, between religious rituals and rules and a personal relationship with Christ. That made sense to them, but they had questions. Why believe the New Testament when it was written by men? What about other religions? What about those who have never heard about Christ? What about the hypocrites? Why couldn’t a person get saved and then live the rest of his life just as before? Why shouldn’t a person wait till the end of his life to receive Christ?
They were very appreciative of getting answers to these long held questions. Then they began to share more personally. The scientist said his best friend died a year ago at age 35. He was concerned about what happened after death. Science did not have an answer for that one. I explained again about the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ, that it was a gift and not something we could work for, earn or deserve. The doctor then shared that he just learned that his mother was dying of cancer. He did not know what to say to her. I gave them a gospel track entitles, “Would you like to know God personally?” I went over it with both of them, especially so the doctor would know how to lead his mom to Christ.
Then the doctor shared that his wife was an atheist. I told him that, usually, one cannot win over an atheist by intellectual arguments. Usually with an atheist there is a traumatic experience, something very bad that happened to them. The atheist then concludes that if there is a God who is good, loving and powerful, and he let that happen to me, then I must be of no value to God. He has rejected me. But that is a very painful perspective of the situation. It is easier for them to believe that there is no God at all, than to believe that there is a God, but he has rejected me. The doctor then told me that his wife was repeatedly, sexually abused when she was a young child. I told him that God had nothing to do with that. When people turn away from God, the further away they go, the more evil they become. What happened to her was evil. It broke God’s heart and God has promised that he will exercise vengeance on those who do evil. But what about her? Satan’s goal is to get her to blame God and turn away from him. In doing that, she is turning away from the only one who can heal her heart and rebuild her life. She needs to see her situation from God’s perspective and turn to him for healing and rebuilding her life. But you can’t help her or your mother until you personally turn to Christ and receive him yourself. He said that he would do that tonight. They both said that they were going to do that and thanked me several times for answering their questions.
Then the scientist said, “I have prayed every day for the last six weeks. I thanked God for the day and all my friends and asked him to help me through the day.” Was that an OK prayer? I said it was a great prayer and all he needs to do now is invite Christ into his life and the relationship would become even more personal. He assured me he was going to do that.
After that I referred back to the explanation of how God usually leads missionaries to the people who are seeking Him. He just somehow makes the circumstances work out so they meet each other. Divine circumstances. I suggested that God put us together today for that very reason…he is reaching out to you because he knew what was going on in your hearts, he knew your hearts were open to him. They both nodded in agreement and said thank you.
-Kent
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September 1st, 2011 admin
One of the questions that should always be on your mind when you are getting to know people is “Where are you on your spiritual journey?” What you want to find out is this: Are they far from God, are they moving closer, or are they in the red zone of their spiritual journey? However, if you ask a person “Where are you on your spiritual journey?” he or she may get confused about how to answer.
I find two questions to be helpful: 1) What is your church background? and 2) When I think of you, how do you want me to pray for you? The answers to those questions usually lead to more questions and answers, and before long you will have a good feel for where they are spiritually and which direction they are moving.
When you keep in mind the question “Where are they on their spiritual journey?” you will become aware of other questions to ask. Look at the following examples.
Jennifer called the church to get help on which bible to purchase. She said her family and she had been coming for six months and thought it was about time to get a bible. I helped her with that, and then I asked, “What happened six months ago to cause you to start coming to church?” She said there was a health issue in her family. I thought she would say the issue was with her husband or one of her children, but the illness concerned herself. After more conversation, she told me that six months ago she was diagnosed with ALS–Lou Gehrig’s disease. We talked about a support system for her and her family. I then asked her if she knew, for certain, that she had eternal life. She said she wasn’t sure, so I told her how she could be sure and–right on the phone–she prayed and received Christ. Her spiritual journey was forefront in my mind as we spoke.
Michelle was a waitress. While at a restaurant, she shared about her life. It was apparent that she was under a lot of stress. Again, with her spiritual journey in mind, I asked her if she prayed. She said she had not prayed in the last five years. So, I asked about her church background. She told me her church’s denomination, and that she had not attended for five years. Five years is a long time, so I asked her what happened five years ago. She told me her baby had died in her arms and that she blamed God for the death. Our conversation then and later conversations helped her to get free from blaming God. Since then, she has recommitted her life to Christ and now attends church with her whole family.
My doctor told me that he was Muslim, but that he also went to a Christian church. I asked him what prompted him going to church. He said he had faced an insurmountable problem, but when he turned to Christ, God helped him through the problem. He felt God was reaching out to him, and that afternoon, he asked Christ to be his Lord and Savior.
In all three cases, the key question in my mind was “Where are they on their spiritual journey?”
When you keep that filter in your mind as you get to know someone, then other questions will present themselves. Soon, you will have a good feel about what God is doing in their lives and how you can cooperate with Him to help them in their spiritual journey.
-Kent
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August 1st, 2011 admin
I got the call on Monday morning from Greg who had just found out he had stage-four pancreatic cancer. He knew his time was short so he wanted to get married that night to make sure his fiancée would be taken care of after he was gone. They got their marriage license that day and I met them that evening. They had both been raised in a church but he was not certain about forgiveness or life after death. I shared with them the Bridge Diagram and it all made sense. He invited Christ into his life right then and for the first time felt peace inside. An hour later they shared their marriage vows with each other in front of their family and friends. It was very moving for everyone when they said “…for better or for worse, in sickness and in health… as long as we both shall live.” Then that night God whispered “Greg, I am with you.” The next day the PET scan showed that the pancreas was free from cancer. There was some cancer in the liver and small intestines but it was treatable. They were ecstatic because now they not only had the promise of eternal life; they had hope for life in this world as well. Within twenty-four hours Greg got saved, married and began the road toward healing. Now, that’s a good day.
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July 28th, 2011 admin
One of the things that makes How to Share Your Faith (HTSYF) unique is that we specialize in red zone evangelism.
In football, when a team moves the ball down the field to the place where it is close to the opponent’s goal, inside the 20-yard line, that area is referred to as the red zone. In a similar way, it is often a long journey for a seeker to come to faith in Christ, but when he gets to the point where he senses his need for God or that something is missing in his life and wonders if Christ can help him, at that point he is in the red zone of his spiritual journey. God wants us to seek to be a positive influence on lost people no matter where they are on their spiritual journey. But when they are in the red zone of that journey, we need to help them cross the line of faith. That is what HTSYF is all about—training believers to help seekers cross the line of faith.
David was married and had two adult daughters who loved God. But David had been far from God for years. Then early last year, he found out he had cancer and only a few months to live. When I visited him, I asked about his church background. He said that he had been angry at God for 30 years and stayed away from church throughout that time. But now in this last month, he had gone to church twice with his daughters. He was moving into the red zone of his spiritual journey.
I asked him “If you died and stood before God and He asked you, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’ what would you say?” He said, “I have a good heart.” I replied, “I know that you do because you have two daughters who really love you? And their greatest concern is: They want to know that when they get to heaven you’re going to be there.” He nodded his head and tears filled his eyes. I said, “Let me show you how that works.” I drew out the bridge diagram. It made sense to him. He had never understood what God had done for him. He needed God’s forgiveness, and he wanted to cross over into a relationship with God. That day, he received Christ as his Savior and Lord. A short time later, he was in heaven with the Savior.
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July 1st, 2011 admin
The doctor responded positively when he found out that I was a pastor, so I asked him about his church background. He said he was a Muslim, but that he also went to church. I was really surprised so he explained that he began going to church as a result of a crisis he had experienced. Through a Christian friend’s encouragement, he reached out to God and God helped him through the crisis, something he never thought could happen. I told him that God was reaching out to him and, to show him how to get closer to God, I drew out the Bridge Diagram for him. He said he wanted to cross over to a personal relationship with Christ. So I led him through a prayer to receive Christ. He was so appreciative. Who would have guessed that he was in the “Red Zone” of his spiritual journey? I’ve met with him three times since then to help him grow. He always says it is the highlight of his day and a real blessing to him.
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May 1st, 2011 admin
On Monday nights I am leading a group of believers through the “How to Share Your Faith” 4-week training process. After the first night, I suggested that they practice presenting the Bridge to Life diagram to some of their family and friends during the week. Russel practiced on his sister who was home from college that weekend. The next week he shared with us that his sister was deaf and so was his dad. Early on, he had learned sign language to be able to communicate with them. When he drew out the bridge diagram for his sister, he used sign language to explain to her the meaning of each part of the diagram and what God was offering her. When he finished, she said she wanted to cross over and receive Christ. He told her that he didn’t know how to do that. He thought it was a simple prayer but he wouldn’t know until the next Monday night and that he would have to get back to her. After the second week, when he learned how to guide someone through a prayer to receive Christ, he connected again with his sister. She had flown back to college so he contacted her through a webcam. Without any words spoken, he shared with her how to receive Christ and then guided her through a prayer. Both their eyes were open as he told her what to say to God. Phrase by phrase, sign by sign, he guided her in asking Christ to forgive her, come into her life and begin to lead her. When they were finished it was very emotional. Russel told her that he was excited that the first person that he had ever led to Christ was his sister. She said that she was excited because she got to be the first person he had ever led to Christ.
Pastor Kent
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