How to Use Facebook for Evangelism

Facebook has become a place where gossip spreads, untruths circulate, and marriages fall apart. So is it all evil?

Actually, far from it. I believe Facebook is one of the greatest tools for Evangelism the world has ever seen. If you live your faith it is obvious to others.

However, if you do not live it out you can do irreparable damage to your testimony. A lot of Christian's lives are the very excuses for others to reject Christ. "The church is full of hypocrites" is their popular mantra.

Let me just say that posting random Bible verses is only compelling to Christians. In fact Facebook does not put some of your friends in your news feed. The algorithms that control Facebook put the people with the most in common with you in your news feed.

The people that you want to see the verses you post probably won't anyway. So how does one go about reaching those without Christ online?

Try making a "Hit List" of 5 to 10 people that God has put in your life who do not know Christ. After you have your list make sure you click on it at least once a day. You will see the news feed of only those people.

Pray for your list and interact with the people on it. Like their pictures, comment on their status, but do not preach at them.

You will earn the right to speak into their lives by doing this. They will begin to look at your feed more as well. And perhaps most importantly, you will train yourself to periodically leave your Christian bubble.

There's No Poop on my Penny!

Sharing the Gospel can be a scary thing for many believers. Especially if you are the one bringing it up. The hardest part is getting someone to understand why our sin is so bad in the first place. 

I am going to quickly teach you a method I have been using one on one and in my message invitations for years. A quick and easy way to take a complete stranger (or friend) to the Gospel in one minute without being pushy.

Have you ever picked up a penny? Of course you have.  Would you fish a penny out of a toilet or the bottom of a trash can? Of course not! I certainly wouldn’t either. I would hate to reach my hand into a toilet or trashcan more than I would love to get a penny.

Suppose you went outside and saw a fresh, steaming pile of dog poop with a penny sticking out. Would you take it? Of course not!

Now, imagine for a moment that this room (or wherever you happen to be) is filled completely with fresh dog poop and there is a penny somewhere in the middle. There is no way you would try to rescue the penny.

What if the penny is you and the poop is your sin. God is repulsed by the smell and site of it, just like you would be of the poop. The difference is that He loves you more than He hates your sin. If you ask Him, He will wade through it all, clean you off, and add you to His collection. Acts 3:19  says Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.

Now you are ready to share the Gospel and only a minute has gone by. The best part is that you do not have to be the one to start the conversation. I have developed shirts that do the leg work for you.

Christian tee shirts have become repellant to most unbelievers. They already have an assumption of who Christians are. “There’s no poop on my penny” shirts do not look like Christian shirts at all. People will ask you what it means and within a minute you will be ready to share the Gospel.

You can order your own at the InsideNatesHead store. 

(Sales from the shirts go to help my wife and I go on a mission trip to India this)

WARNING: Do not wear this shirt if you are unwilling to share Christ, because once someone’s curiosity is peaked it's too late!

It's Never too Late

        When John D. Rockefeller died his accountant was asked how much Mr. Rockefeller had left behind. The accountant responded by saying, "He left it all". My basketball coach in high school used to tell us to leave it all on the court. After all what good would a little extra energy do for us after the game was in the record books. We should live life this way. After all, you will leave it all, so why not make it count? 

        My great Aunt Ethel passed away on Saturday at 81 years old. She not only left it all behind, but she left it all on the court. Ethel volunteered in a youth ministry and gave of her own time to visit teens in a children's home every week until she was well into her 70s. Years after her peers were speaking in "used to" phraseology she was still going strong. Why? Because our time here is short and she loved teenagers. In the end only the ravishes of cancer could pull her from her calling. Instead of quitting though she began to focus her attention toward mentoring my mother, which she continued until the end.

        Many people fear, that what they have to say will not be relevant. Teens do not care how much you know until they know how much you care. You will also find that your knowledge and relevancy increase in any area that you love. My aunt was reading the newest, most cutting edge ministry books before I was even aware they were out.

        Aunt Ethel leaves behind a lasting legacy. Because of her faith and others in my family, most of those she leaves behind are firm believers. In fact myself and two brothers have also gone into youth ministry as well. 

        One day you will die. You WILL leave it all. Will you leave it ALL on the court or waste the God-given potential inside of you? You can decide to stand out and make a lasting difference. It's never too late to start. 

The Call

      
         Did you know that 80% percent of believers have never shared the Gospel with anyone? Poles and statistics are not a perfect science you say? Correct, I am using the most optimistic of the statistics that have come out. Many have shown that it could be as high as 97%. Since I am an optimist and have a profound love for Christ's church, I am giving us the benefit of the doubt at 80%.
      
        So what about you? Are you going to step into eternity as a failure in the only mission that He ever gave us? Sure, we have a commandment: to love God and love others, but this is our mission.

        The sad part is that the Gospel is so simple. Jesus has done all of the pre-work and the Holy spirit will do all of the post-work. People only need to turn from sin (choosing their way over His) to Him.

        I want to ask you to do something right now. Picture a person that you truly care about who does not know Christ. Do you have someone in mind? Good. Now, stop reading for a moment and take the next 30 second to ask God to use you to reach them.


-----------------------------------------------------PRAYER---------------------------------------------------------------

 
        Let's take the challenge one step further. Take out your phone and call them. Use me as an excuse. You could say something like, "I am reading a blog that asked me to think of a person that I care about who has not made a decision to follow Jesus and YOU were the FIRST person to pop into my head. Can I tell you what He has done in my life?" (Be sure to include; His death to beat sin, resurrection to beat death, our responsibility of repentance from what we've done and faith in what He did.) Ask you friend if he or she would like to make the same decision.

        Evangelism is nothing more than sharing His role in your story. We simply tell how we got from where we were to where we are now. Did you make the call? Did you have the courage? Please don't wait. Your friend is too important to waste time doing ANYTHING else. Once we get over the awkward stigma of sharing our faith it becomes a natural part of who we are.

        How did your phone call go? What was the response? Do not be upset if they say no. The point is that YOU were obedient to His Great Commission. Please comment on this blog about your experience in sharing the good news. Don't be one of the 80%.

Does the Gospel Include Emphasizing a Lifestyle Change?

     I recently had this question posed to me: When you present the gospel, how do you balance the emphasis on the unconditional love of God, while also explaining that trusting in Christ means a radical lifestyle change?

    There is often a temptation to try to force a new convert down the road to good works. This can stem from a lack of true faith in the transforming power of God. The Bible says, that all of our righteousness is filthy rags--I believe our post-conversion righteousness also falls into this category. It is easy to try to do what's right on our own strength, but we were never intended to live this way.

     The gospel is not only about God's love and the change that only He can bring, it is also the good news of a defeated enemy. That enemy is our sin. Sin is choosing our way over God's way. If we want to share the gospel clearly, then we will emphasis our separation from God. His love comes into play, when He decided not to leave us in separation, but to offer a way back to Him through Jesus.

     Far too many people are told to pray a prayer and begin behaving, without being asked the right question. Why do they want Christ? I always ask this question when leading someone to Jesus. Often the answer is related to problems at home, sickness, or people not treating them right.

     Jesus did not come to fix our perceived problems--He came to reconcile us to Him, by destroying the power of sin over our lives. When we come to Him for forgiveness, we can have a relationship with Him. He will walk with us through the bad times, while using these situations to make us more like Him.

     If someone changes their mind about sin and turns to Him, you will not have to emphasis works. Let the Holy Spirit do what only He can do. If He has convicted and drawn them, then He will continue speaking to them as they grow. We are tempted to play God, by giving them a set of start up laws. This will only ease people toward legalism. We will be better off if we realize, that only those who turn from their sin and come to Him, actually gain the promise of forgiveness.

     Those who are looking for a quick fix to their problems, remain in their sins. When the problems remain they will usually blame God and begin to pull away, because in their mind He has failed them. The reality is that the problem-fixer God, does not exist, but the sin crushing, stain lifting and walk with you through anything God does.