Evangelism

  • Church Life,  Evangelism

    When You Can’t Shake the Dust

    It’s happened to me several times, and I would guess it has happened to you also. How do you handle it when you have tried and tried to reach someone with the Gospel or to win someone back to the Lord, but there just seems to be no change–no movement–on their part? When I have struggled with that, people will just say, “You’ve just got to shake the dust off your feet and move on.” I know what they mean. There is just a time to move on and try to reach someone else. I get it. (It’s possible I’ve even given that advice at some point, although I can’t…

  • Bible study,  Church Life,  Evangelism

    Try to Imagine…

    It goes without saying that our world is terribly divided. Nations look with suspicion at one another. The leaders of those nations make threats and take actions that make things worse. Sadly, division is not limited to various nations. Our own society is seemingly hopelessly divided along political, regional, racial, moral, generational, and other lines. At times, the division even exists within families. While all of this is sad to me, the saddest of all of the divisions that exists today is the division that is easily observable among people who call themselves “Christians.” One can drive a street in a town or city of almost any size and find places where people who…

  • Bible study,  Church Life,  Evangelism

    A Budget Item Every Congregation Should Consider

    There are many reasons I love worshiping at Central. To list them would take awhile. Do we have problems at times? Of course! We are people, and people have problems. But this is a loving family and those who worship here see that on display all the time. One reason that is the case is because of our elders. These men are truly shepherds who “feed the flock.” There is not a soul at Central who wonders about our elders’ love for the Truth, and no one questions if they care for each person. Those two things–love for the Truth and love for each member–even show up in our budget.…

  • Church Life,  Evangelism,  Tech

    A Tale of Two Social Feeds

    Feed #1 This is my social media. On it, I want to tell you what I have done. I want you to read what I think about things. I want you to know where I am, what I am doing, and who I am with. Through my feed, you will see who I am wishing a happy anniversary and who I am telling “happy birthday” to. On here, you will see pictures of me. You will see my new clothes and you will see me standing by my new car. You’ll know that I voted…and who I voted for (or against). Through my social media feed, you will know what…

  • Church Life,  Evangelism

    What Never Works in Personal Evangelism

    “We’ve used ‘House to House,’ and never really got any contacts.” “Door knocking just doesn’t work in our area.” “We had a huge Fall festival and almost no one came.” “We tried Facebook ads, and it just flamed out with no real response.” Do any of these sound vaguely familiar? Oh, the specifics might be different, but I have heard similar things said nearly countless times. And, to be honest, I have said similar things more times than I care to admit. I’m spending quite a lot of time currently preparing for a class that is coming up quickly. The elders at Central asked me to teach a Bible class…

  • Church Life,  Evangelism

    The Most-Forgotten Important Part of VBS

    As this is being released, we are right in the middle of VBS week at Central. Our Vacation Bible School runs from Monday evening through Thursday evening and is a true highlight on our church calendar. After 2020, when we couldn’t have VBS and after 2021, where we had it, but tried to “cap” the numbers a bit, it is a joy to see young people everywhere in our building for this special week again! I have “directed” VBS approximately 16 times over the years. I will admit that my job is basically getting amazing people to lead various departments and letting them shine. It always makes me cringe a…

  • Church Life,  Evangelism

    Say Something

    I love the heart of those who want their congregations to help their communities. There can be no doubt that Jesus “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38) and that we are to be as much like Him as we can be. While we can’t miraculously heal or feed people, with God’s help we can help a lot of people. Christians should want the hungry to be fed, those who are without clothes to be clothed, and the hurting to be comforted. In fact, we will be judged, at least in part, by our efforts–or lack thereof–in these types of areas (Matthew 25:31-46). That said, there is often something that seems…

  • Church Life,  Evangelism

    Send, Take, or…

    I don’t remember the first time it happened when I was present, but it was a number of years ago. It has only happened, maybe, a half-dozen times when I have been present, but it continues to cause me to think. We were getting ready to sing the old hymn, “Send the Light.” That great old hymn is a tremendous missionary song, reminding us that there are people all throughout the world who need to hear the Gospel, and that we have a responsibility to send “the blessed Gospel light.” However, a few times I have been present where a song leader took a good amount of time telling us…

  • Church Life,  Evangelism

    Focus Everything On Souls

    I would hope that every congregation of God’s people would agree that their number one priority is to win souls to Jesus and help keep them growing closer to Him. You may choose different wording for that, but I would hope that would be what we are about. But are we really doing that? I’ve sat through a lot of meetings and conversations lately at Central where this has been talked about (thankfully). Obviously, for a congregation to run as efficiently as possible, there will be some matters that may seem mundane, like the condition of an air-conditioning unit or when some event needs to go on the calendar. We…

  • Church Life,  Evangelism

    Of Saving Cats and Saving Souls

    A fairly interesting football game over the weekend was overshadowed by a few moments of excitement in the stands. As the Miami Hurricanes struggled to defeat Appalachian State, the attention of a large number of the fans was drawn to something happening away from the field. A cat was somehow hanging from the upper deck and unable to climb back up. Fans in the upper deck tried to reach out to the cat, but that only scared the feline. Some fans below were formulating a plan, though. They had brought an American flag to the game–it was the 20th anniversary of 9/11, after all–and unrolled it, holding it underneath the…