Two Big Reasons Evangelism Isn't Working

  I found this article on the Desiring God Ministries page and, as usual, found some good insight into why evangelism today isn't working.

   We could go to a third world country, and find evangelism working in ways that it doesn't work in America. The dynamic is different. There is more community in nations that aren't so materially prosperous.

   But let's look at the article (written by Jonathan Dodson) and investigate what he has found to be true today, concerning evangelism. (Quotes from the article are in bold and italics).

    Here is his first question and answer. I am not going to comment at the moment, and we want to be careful not to read things into this that he isn't saying, but listen carefully:

The first reason our evangelism isn’t believable is because it isn’t done in grace for each person.

Paul isn’t just saying evangelism is our responsibility; he’s telling us to do it “in person.” Unfortunately, a lot of evangelism is an out of body experience, as if there aren’t two persons in a conversation. It’s excarnate, out of the flesh, not incarnate — in the flesh.

  Evangelism should be personal. Sure, there are ways to get the word of God out via the media, and we all know that God's word does not return back to Him void of it's purpose. But, one of the main characteristics of God is love, and when we love people, we won't treat them as projects or numbers. 

I like what he says about treating people like people, not projects. We think that we are evangelizing when we troll blogs and try to win arguments with people about spiritual matters, but in reality, we lose them. 

These approaches are foolish because they treat people like projects to be completed, not persons to be loved. Have you ever been on the other end of an evangelistic project? Perhaps from a Jehovah’s Witness or Mormon at your door. Or a pushy pluralist at work? You don’t feel loved; you feel used, like a pressure sale.

   Evangelism is hard work. Not everyone is ready to hear the bad news, but they must be told. How we tell them matters quite a bit. Do we feel successful if we win an argument with someone who is opposing us? Can we love that person and take time to listen to their story, in order to understand the context of their life? 

     How many books are out and even classes and seminars where you learn how to give a certain answer to a particular objection? How many methods have an evangelistic speech to give or certain sentences to ask the person we are explaining the Gospel to? What happens if a person asks a question that is not covered in the book or the list of responses to objections? Are we ready to help a person understand what God is communicating to him or her?

Paul says “know how you ought to answer each person.” This means that most of your gospel explanations will be different, not canned. It also implies a listening evangelism. How can we know how to respond to each person, if we don’t know each person?

   I am reminded of a video made by Mark Cahill in which he went to a Gay parade in GA. He had a few conversations with people and none of the conversations were alike. I don't know what you think of Mark Cahill, and I know there are some problems with those in evangelism groups with him, but, this man has a handle on how to do evangelism right. We can learn from his experiences and conversations with people. 

   Mark Cahill does not go up to people and speak a couple of words of the Gospel with the hopes of people responding to it. He develops a conversation with people and some of those conversations on the video were very long. He asks a lot of questions and he is careful to let the other person speak. I noticed in one of the conversations he was having with a woman, her daughter, and a friend who was a guy. At the beginning of the conversation, the guy would not talk much. Most of the first part of the conversation was between Mark and the two women. The man was very conservative. But whenever any of them had something to say, Mark would stop what he was saying and give the other person the mic. By the end of the conversation, the man was opening up and talking as if he had been a friend of Mark's all along. 

    Friends, we are not going to persuade anyone of the value of the Gospel by winning arguments or controlling the conversation. People have blocks in front of their eyes that keep them from seeing the Gospel clearly. If we just keep ranting and pressing the Gospel on them, the blocks will still be there. They need to be removed and this could take a lot of time.

When Francis Schaeffer was asked how he would spend an hour with a non-Christian, he said: “I would listen for fifty-five minutes, and then, in the last five minutes I would have something to say.”

   I am a firm believer in talking with people about the Gospel. I want to hear their objections. I hate it when they make assumptions of what they think I am going to say to them. I never want anyone to feel like I am pressuring them to respond to the Gospel. But what I do want, is for them to take the word of God home with them, and have them ponder the words of truth. I want them to be disturbed, but not because I am the cause of their disturbance! I want them to wrestle with God's word. And if they feel comfortable enough around me, I want them to contact me for further help and information. 

   This reminds me of a story of D.L. Moody in an evangelism encounter he had one night. Under a street light, Moody was sharing the Gospel with a businessman. The businessman was not happy after that and must have complained to his boss. The boss came after Moody and hollered at him for evangelizing the businessman. Moody was disappointed in that situation. Had he done something wrong? A couple of days later, there was banging on his door. The businessman banged on Moody's door to tell him that ever since he talked with him a couple of nights before, he had not had a good night's sleep! Moody was able to minister the Gospel to this man! 

A second reason people find our evangelism unbelievable is because it is foolish.

Paul isn’t just telling us evangelism is personal; he’s telling us to do it with wisdom. Wisdom possesses more than knowledge; it expresses knowledge through understanding. It considers life circumstances and applies knowledge with skill. Another word for this is love.

     Evangelism should be personable. The Gospel is the Gospel and nothing will ever change it. But the way we reach people with it will vary with each person. 

   The Gospel should be administered in love. After all, God is love. Love is not another word for tolerating sin. It is not a word that allows us to stay in our sins. In a way put by someone, it is not a 'pampering love'. 

   God loves us. That doesn't mean that He is giving us permission to sin, just because He 'understands'. I used to think to myself, if God loves us so much, then He would not send us to hell. But rather than God just allowing us into heaven with our sins, (which He can't do anyway), He provided a way for us to not only be forgiven of our sins, but also for us to be free from sin and its entrapments. His love made a way for salvation. It doesn't skip over the need for salvation. It provides the person with salvation. 

   Perhaps we are so afraid of creating false converts if we talk about God's love, or even if we show or experience God's love. Somehow, we think that people will misunderstand about sin if we have love in our hearts for God and for them. But nothing can be further than the truth. We can evangelize out of the love of God in our hearts. God will make it clear to those who are His, concerning His love and their need for a Savior. 

Love is inefficient. It slows down long enough to understand people and their objections to the gospel. Love recognizes people are complex, and meets them in their need: suffering, despair, indifference, cynicism, confusion. We should look to surface these objections in people’s lives. I was recently having lunch with an educated professional who had a lot of questions. After about thirty minutes he said, “Enough about me. You’re asking me questions. I should ask you questions.” I responded by saying, “I want to hear your questions, but I also want to know you so that I can respond to your questions with wisdom.” He told me some very personal things after that, and it shed a lot of light on his objections to Christianity. 

       Love is also inconvenient. It involves time and dedication. We as Americans today are not used to doing things that are hard. 

Rehearsing a memorized fact, “Jesus died on the cross for your sins,” isn’t walking in wisdom. Many people don’t know what we mean when we say “Jesus,” “sin,” or “cross.” While much of America still has cultural memory of these things, they are often misunderstood and confused with “moral teacher,” “be good,” and “irrelevant suffering.” We have to slow down long enough to explore what they mean, and why they have trouble with these words and concepts. Often they are tied to some kind of pain.

    Some people are so troubled by certain things like, 'What about those who never heard the Gospel?' and 'Why would a loving God allow children to die every day from hunger?'. Don't ignore these questions. When you are talking to a person, and if you have not allowed him or her to express what they are thinking or ask questions, they are not even going to hear what you are saying. 

  Again, I go back to an incident explained by Mark Cahill. He was sharing the Gospel with people and a young man was very angry. Mark was able to develop a conversation with this young man, and the young man opened up and explained what his difficulty was. His sister went to a youth meeting one night and was raped afterward. This young man experienced a lot of emotions and pain because of that, and when he heard Mark explaining the Gospel to him, it reminded him of that painful event which involved some bitterness toward Christians, I am sure. 

We need to explain these important truths (and more), not simply assert them. When we discerningly separate cultural misunderstanding from a true understanding of the gospel, we move forward in wisdom. But getting to that point typically doesn’t happen overnight.

We need to see evangelism as a long-term endeavor. Stop checking the list and defeating others. Be incarnate, not excarnate, in your evangelism. Slow down and practice listening and love. Most conversions are not the result of a single, point-in-time conversation, but the culmination of a personal process that includes doubt, reflection, gospel witness, love, and the work of the Holy Spirit.

And remember, don’t put pressure on yourself; conversion is in God’s hands. We just get to share the incomparable news of Jesus.

In sum, how you communicate the gospel matters.

  So, there you have it, an article rich in wisdom on the subject of doing evangelism. I hope this is helpful to all my readers. The article was written by Jonathan Dodson, for the Desiring God Ministries. 

Source: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/two-big-reasons-evangelism-isn-t-working

Calling the 'Wrong' Number For The Third Time?

     I heard my cell phone ringing last week, but the number I didn't recognize. Normally I am not going to answer when the called I.D. is not known to me, but this time I did. It sounded like an older man and he obviously dialed or keyed in the 'wrong' number. I explained that he had the wrong number and went on with doing my activities.
    A couple of years ago, I would have jumped on a situation like that and would have tried to draw the man out explaining that there are no 'accidents' with God, but I am really pressed for time right now and am not in a place where I can really talk to someone about the Gospel when the phone rings. Of course, I have to be careful how I word my sentences, as it could come across as a 'Divine appointment' which would mean one thing to me, but quite another to a man.
   I thought about the call later on in the day. There wasn't anything I could do about it though. Maybe I could have called him back, but that would have been really awkward.
   I was praying yesterday morning for God to provide opportunities for me and others in the church to speak the words of life to those He would arrange for us to talk to. As I was praying, I was thinking to myself, 'What am I praying? Will I be ready and do I have time to talk to people about the Gospel?' I would have time if I weren't at home doing homework and housework. It would be interesting to see how God will work this out in our lives. I was also thinking about the phone call and if this person were to ever call back (not sure why since he knew my number wasn't what he was looking for) I made the decision to share the Gospel with him.
   We meet once a month to feed the homeless and lo and behold, while on the way to the location, my phone rings. I don't have to pick it up while driving, but just have to click the thing with the phone icon. It was the same unrecognizable number I saw a week before. I answered, and it was the same man. Because I was driving, I really couldn't talk with anyone about anything in depth, so I told him again that he had the wrong number. It is hard to concentrate on driving and talking at the same time, at least for me it is. After I hung up the phone, I realized I should have talked to him about the Gospel, but failed once again to take advantage of an opportunity that came my way. Plus, I wasn't at home, so I would have had the time to talk. As I was pondering this, I thought to myself, if he calls back again, I will share the Gospel. I will trust God to help me drive, and to ask the right questions at the proper time. Why would he call back though? He knows that this is not the number he is looking for. If he did call back, I was pretty sure it would be God wanting me to share with him. The phone did ring one more time and it was his number. This time, I picked up the phone with the knowledge that I would be talking with him about the Gospel. He was very open to talking and I asked the questions well after we were involved in a good conversation, so it didn't seem so strange to stick the Gospel in there somewhere.
   The conversation lasted about 40 minutes and I was late getting into the location, or rather, getting out of my car, for I talked with him for a half an hour while I was parked. I also told him that I believe God wanted me to share this with him and that there are no 'accidents' with God. He saw it that way too. He was appreciative of hearing the Gospel, although I am not sure how much he grasped. He was struggling, like so many military veterans, with guilt about some things he was required to do while in combat. Please pray for this man. His initials are R.B.

Thank God for
modern technology

       R.B. lives in a nursing home, not too far away from where I'm at. He also has a former girlfriend working at one of the grocery stores in town. I will look to see if I can find her, as R.B. would like to get in touch with her again. Her name is 'Gail'.

Do You Cry For People?

     I was thinking of some of the ways I see people, especially evangelists, interact with people during times of evangelism. One trait I have noticed frequently is one of talking down to, or talking in a way that is condescending. I have seen this done by parents when disciplining their children (and have been guilty of doing so myself, sadly). The thinking goes something like this: 'If I am nice and loving to my child who has just disobeyed, then they will think that their activity is ok. It is like condoning sin.'. I have done that and been there, so I know why parents do that. You want to make sure your child wants to repent and not repeat the evil activity! This is natural and understandable thinking, but it doesn't work. It doesn't work in evangelism either.
   Put yourself in the recipient's place. If you were walking down the street, would you listen to someone yelling at you to repent? Would that cause you to want to get down on your knees and repent? Would you even know what it means to repent? Would you trust the person who is telling you to repent enough to stay and listen to the rest of what he has to say?*
   Two reasons come to my mind when it comes to the motive behind preaching or sharing the Gospel message. The first is humility. If we are humble, we welcome other people into our lives. The other is love. God is love. God made people who rebelled against Him and are in darkness now, and He sent His Son to redeem them. He loves people and pursues them. He wants people to be cleansed from sin, but He also wants people to be free from the snares of sin and the Evil One.
   My concern is that I sense people doing evangelism do not tend to give the proper credit to God for working in the lost person's heart. Much like the parent who wants to get the point across that he or she is angry at the child for disobeying, and showing it by anger, humiliation, and yelling, which we think makes our message more powerful, we are really distancing ourselves from the child or the lost person.
God is the One who works in their hearts. Even if we give a faulty presentation of the Gospel message, God will take the words of truth and will use them to minister to the lost person's heart.
   Finally, one more thing that is effective in evangelism or ministry. We actually do read about Jesus weeping for things. It is easy to overlook those things as insignificant, but, we can learn from them and embrace them too. We can weep for the lost person. The Gospel is not a bed of roses for the lost person. He or she needs to know what God's heart is for their souls. I remember reading something written by one of my favorite pastors, C.J. Mahaney and his trip to Starbucks one morning. He was standing in a long line of people who were ordering coffee. There were the usual complaints from people who live in America today and have to wait for any period of time. As he was waiting in line to order his coffee, he was thinking of the Gospel and how precious it was to him. He was thinking about how unworthy he was to be a recipient of the Gospel and how God had been so merciful to him. He was crying. Someone asked him why he was crying and he explained the reason. That should be our response to the Gospel. Instead though, we act like we own the Gospel and can do with it whatever we want. We really should be grateful for God's mercy to us and want others to experience this as well.
   Do we cry for lost people? Do we really love them like we should?

*Note: I am not saying that we should not be telling people to repent. It's just the way it is done that is the key. Is it done with love and humility, or is it done with our nose in the air?

Are They Really Offended Because of the Gospel, Or Are They Offended At Us Because of The Way We Treat Them?

  Sometimes, those we would want to share the Gospel with are afraid of the check-mate factor. What I mean by this is simple. It doesn't apply to everyone we talk to, but some would think of it this way.
  The Gospel is offensive, and there are those who will not humble themselves and receive salvation because they want to do their own salvation. It is a matter of pride. But some people haven't even gotten to the Gospel, and yet are offended. We mistake their being offended for being offended at the Gospel when they really are offended at us! Then we write them off as having a hardened heart.
   But here's the thing about the check-mate factor that we need to consider. Sometimes, people are struggling with sin and really would like to not be struggling with sin. Yes, we all love to sin and we all try to hide from God. Some people are afraid of us, because they simply think that we are going to judge them and pronounce their judgment if they admit their sin to us. Instead of receiving an answer for their sin, they receive a pronouncement of judgment for their sin from us.
   Some of the people we would talk to have had bad experiences with professing Christians. Some professing Christians are not clear on how to articulate the Gospel message, nor are they clear on the subject of grace and forgiveness, let alone the whole issue of sin.
   Let's say a woman had an abortion and now feels guilty. She hears the voice of someone who is telling her about God's judgment to come. What will she hear next? Will the person tell her she is going to hell because she had an abortion? Will that make her open up to the person who is sharing the Gospel?
   "I'm damned if I talk to you and I'm damned if I don't". Some of these people put on masks to defend themselves against the evangelist. But really, if we could get them to open up to us, we could have a good conversation with them and perhaps they would be at the place where they would be ready to repent.
   I have to give credit to one man who does evangelism very well, and people end up feeling comfortable talking to him. This man will spend whatever time he needs to in order to reach people with the Gospel message. I watched a video where he was at a Gay Pride parade, and one of the conversations lasted about an hour and a half! You could actually see the people involved in that conversation begin to open up toward the end of the conversation. This man is Mark Cahill, and he is in no hurry to try to give out as many tracts as possible, or talk to as many people as possible. He is an excellent example of how evangelism should be done. He spends one to one quality time with people and makes them feel respectable. He takes the time needed to listen and show compassion.
   I will close with another one of his examples. He was at the beach and talking to people about the Gospel, when one guy was really angry. Mark took the time to draw him out about why he was angry with the church. While they were talking, the man opened up and said that his sister went to a church in a particular area and after an evening service, she was raped by someone who was part of that church. The man had a hard time working through it. Mark was able to help.
   Many of us would just tell the man to repent. We would tell him he needs to stop sinning and trust in Jesus. We would write him off when we see his anger toward the church. But really, shouldn't we take the time to draw people out and ask them questions that will help them look at their own hearts? Do we think we are in a different category than other people, and that it is ok for us to look down on unsaved people because they are sinning? How would we feel if someone were talking down to us? Shouldn't we try to give them a rope instead, so that they could be rescued from the hold of sin on their lives?

Jesus came to set the prisoner free, not to remind 

the prisoner that he is in prison and keep him there.

Two True Stories- Eternity will Reveal Many More

 You might be a nobody. God uses people who are nobodies. If you have become a new creature in Christ, and know the Lord Jesus Christ personally, then you are qualified to do the work of evangelism.

    I know that there are more than the two stories that I am going to comment on, but these two stories have impacted the world and advanced God's kingdom in an amazing way.
   The first one I want to talk about is the man on George Street in Sydney, Australia. I know there are two different videos on Youtube showing this man's story, but only one of them is correct. The man's name was Frank Jenner (you can do a search on the internet and find the page on his story, written by family members). Frank Jenner lived near George Street and he would go out on a continual basis giving out tracts and asking people if they knew for sure if they were to die tonight, would they go to heaven or hell. I have the book also, from those who wrote the story. Frank Jenner faithfully passed out tracts for many years, but didn't see much fruit from what he did. But the results were amazing. Many, even those who were offended by him, came to Christ. These people lived all over the world, and came to Australia as tourists. A pastor in England heard recurring stories of how people came to Christ because of a man on George Street who gave out tracts and asked them the questions. The pastor made a trip to Australia to find this man on George Street and was able to locate him and went to his house to inform him of those who were reached with the Gospel because of his evangelism. Here is the accurate page on Frank Jenner: http://www.wordsoflife.co.uk/the-frank-jenner-story/
   The second story is about a man who was a country preacher in PA during the 1950's, who made a decision to spend 12am-2am praying, instead of watching television. During this time, he picked up a Life magazine which had an article about 7 boys who murdered a 15 year old handicapped boy in NYC. He was in tears while reading this and God made a way for him to visit NYC to try to find these 7 boys so he could give them the message of hope through the Gospel.
    David Wilkerson did indeed travel to NYC with the hopes of finding these boys, but instead of finding them, he preached on street corners and auditoriums where gangsters lived. Some of the gang leaders and warlords were on their knees repenting. A few of them had radical conversions (and I mean radical) and in turn started ministries of their own. One of the converts was Nicky Cruz, who was a gang leader steeped in darkness and bondage. His intent was to bring harm to David Wilkerson, but God prevented that from happening. All in an evening, he had a complete change of mind and was repenting and calling upon God for mercy by the end of the meeting. He went on to Bible college in CA. to study to be a pastor. Others came to Christ in NYC and now boys and girls who were seemingly destined for destruction, now became instruments of righteousness. Two churches were started in New York City from David Wilkerson's ministry, along with Teen Challenge, which has branches now in many inner cities throughout the U.S. (Read about his story in 'The Cross and the Switchblade').
    The stories of these men are just two examples of ordinary people who were filled with God's love and wanted to share it with others. Both men are deceased but their works will continue on, because the works are eternal, with  results that we will only see in heaven.
    I am a nobody, and I'm ok with that. My name will never go down in History, nor will anyone remember me 4 generations from now. But I can do the work of evangelism and the impact of that will go on for eternity. Those who I reach with the Gospel will, in turn, reach others. Ministries could be started from those conversions. Only God knows the far reaching affects of what will come out of our faithfulness in sharing the Gospel with people.
   The Bible says that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. God saves people. We don't. It is not our job to rescue people from their sins, but it is our responsibility to reach people with the Gospel message. God will work in the hearts of people when they hear His word.
   I don't know if the statistics are the same today, but a couple of years ago, only 2% of the church was involved in evangelism. Not sure of all the reasons for this. It could be from lack of discipleship in the church. It could be from fear of man. It might be from lack of training or experience. The church is to equip the flock to do the work of evangelism. It should be in each of our hearts to want to do evangelism. If evangelism is like pulling teeth, then we need to look at our hearts and see if we really have met the true and living God, for if we have, we should have no problem wanting our neighbors to meet the God who saved and rescued us from hell, destruction, and ourselves.
   

The Heart and Motive of Evangelism

     Maybe if I went through a little bit of my background you will understand the title of my blog better. When I first came to Christ and was Spirit filled, I wanted to share the Gospel with everyone I met. I had very little discipleship and I was just starting to grow in my knowledge of the Scriptures. My heart seemed to want to see people get saved. At least, that's what it seemed like to me.
   As time went on, I listened to many sermons, read a lot of books, learned much of the Bible, and became acquainted with other believers. Looking back, I have some observations on things I did, or others did, especially in evangelism circles.
   There used to be an emphasis on having people respond to the Gospel. In watching others present the Gospel, there was always that pressure to get the person to respond. It seemed like if you really were successful at evangelism, you would have had many people make a decision for Christ after you shared the Gospel with them.
  There are some reasons people do evangelism, that aren't exactly right on. I have had people who I was sharing the Gospel with, think that I was doing evangelism in order to earn Brownie points with God. I think some people actually do that. Some go out and share the Gospel because they feel guilty about having not shared the Gospel with people. Others tell the Gospel because they don't want their family or friends to go to hell. This is not totally wrong though. We are to warn people about hell. But there is a bigger reason for doing evangelism.
   Some wrong motives for doing evangelism are: guilt, pride, striving to please God, fear of failing God.
   Some right reasons for doing evangelism: love for God, love for people, making God's name known in truth, warning people about the Judgment to come.
   I think evangelism has gotten such a bad rap, not because people are offended by the Gospel, but because 'evangelists' are pretty hateful sometimes. We are commanded to love God. We are commanded to love people. But even more, if we are truly in Christ, the Bible says that we are constrained by the love of God.
   I think many people have no idea of the love of God. Christians don't seem to know either. That's probably one reason why there is such a battle over how evangelism should be done. Some people think that you should always serve people food if you are sharing the Gospel with them. They are afraid that if you just preach the Gospel, let's say, on the streets, then you really don't love them. It's like evangelism is something you have to tack onto your schedule, rather than it being an outworking of the overflow of the heart.
   Love starts before we go out and evangelize. If love isn't the motivation of our hearts, then we need to ask God to fill us with His love and give us new hearts. Evangelism without love doesn't work. And if we truly, really do love, we will want to share the Gospel with people. We will want to let others know of God's greatness and what He has done for us. We will die to ourselves and to our selfish desires that would interfere with evangelism.
  One example of this in my life was, when I was younger, I didn't know how to talk well. It was very hard for me to talk and communicate. As I got older, it never got better. I always wanted to do evangelism, but since I couldn't talk, the best I would ever be able to do is to give out tracts, so I thought. But then the desire to proclaim the Gospel became stronger. I had to pray for many years that God would help me learn how to communicate. After wrestling in prayer for a long time, I was now able to talk. God has helped me learn how to communicate the Gospel with people and to have good conversations about the things of God. I didn't just think to myself that I wouldn't be able to talk, so, I'll just pass out tracts the rest of my life. Thank God all that changed. I had to desire that kind of change. I had to be desperate for it. May God help us all to love one another, and to love the lost people who need to come to know Him.
  One question to ask ourselves: Are we evangelizing to be seen by men, or are we evangelizing to be seen by God?

Ways To Show Appreciation Open Doors To Communicate the Gospel

  A couple of years ago, a UPS man delivered a package. I thanked him and gave him a tract. My husband thought that was tacky. So, I redid the idea and came up with something that worked. It wasn't the best idea, but it was better than not doing anything at all.
  One thing I have learned in the past couple of years, is the importance of showing respect to people. People in America have lost their dignity and they feel like, well, you get the picture. The devil would like people to think that they are worthless. The other extreme, of course, is that people overrate themselves. Many believe they are God's gift to this earth!
  Another thing that is important is to be grateful. People appreciate being appreciated. It took me a long time to learn this lesson. I used to think that if I hired a person for something, he or she should be grateful that I hired them. That was it. I am at the point now, when we have someone working on the house or doing something we hired them for, that I make sure I offer them a bottle (or more) of water. This might seem like a small thing, but some of our workers really appreciate the water.
   The idea I came up with was this: When I knew someone was going to come over and provide a service for us, I would have ready a batch of cookies. It was good for a while, but some people can't eat cookies. Also, the chocolate melts in their trucks and probably became messy to eat. I would also give them a tract and hope for opportunities to talk with them about the Gospel. But, now I even have a better idea! Instead of making something to eat (which they might not be able to do) I will make soap for them. I will give them a bar of homemade soap, and, a tract. But maybe I could even give them a Bible. Or, I could give them a DVD with a Bible scene (I ordered some from VOM called, 'He Lived Among Us'). Wow, as I sit here and write, I am coming up with more ideas. But keep in mind, we want to serve them and show our appreciation for them. Otherwise, it could look like we are trying to butter them up for something. It could appear manipulative to them.
   Maybe I could come up with an illustration about soap and how it cleanses us. Maybe I could relate it to the Gospel message of how the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from sins. Whatever I end up doing, I need to be intentional. I can't think about it an hour before the worker arrives. I have to have it ready to go so that I can give it to him or her (or them). I also need to take time to talk with them if possible. I want to be an approachable person, so that, if they did ever have questions about the Gospel, or wanted to talk about the things of God, they would feel comfortable coming to me, even though they really don't know me. I want them to sense that I truly care for them, and that they are not just another number.
   Hmmm. Who is the next person we are going to hire?