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Last night I was watching a documentary on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and they mentioned that his "I Have a Dream" speech could be found in it entirety on YouTude. I thought I would share it with you today with little comment and let it speak for itself.
Basketball coach, Stephen A. Brennan writes, "Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success." I was encouraged last week by the post of a young pastor, Steve McCoy. Steve is developing a personal evangelism pIan for 2008 and sharing his journey on his blog. I wish every pastor and church planter would develop a specific plan to raise their evangelistic game!
Steve writes, "I decided a couple of weeks ago that as I welcomed in the new year I was going to make this a year of more focused evangelism. I don't know how much of what I'm doing will translate into blog posts, but I assume it will consume a lot of what I say at Reformissionary since it will consume a lot of what I'm thinking and doing.
Here are some specific things I'm doing in 2008 to grow in the area of evangelism. I'm sure this will be tweaked as I sharpen my approach.
1. Study/Reading: I'm going to read or reread a number of evangelism books. I have nearly 100 books/tools in this area already in my library. Plus are also many books on theology, the church, etc, that will have sections on evangelism that I'll be checking out. I'm also going to look into sermons and podcasts on the subject. I want to think through the thoughts of many on evangelism this year, though I already know which folks I won't be listening to.
2. Evangelism Journal: I'm keeping an evangelism notebook for recording quotes and notes from books on evangelism, my plans and ideas, experiences I've had with evangelism during the year, etc. I'm using the small plain cashier's notebook from Moleskine. I'm guessing I'll fill up a handful over the year. I'm using this notebook because I can tuck it under the elastic on another Moleskine that I already carry with me, and it takes up almost no space. Keeping this journal will be of tremendous value this year for me.
3. Evangelism Plan: I see my evangelism in basically 5 areas: personal, family, small group, worship gathering, and TBA." (HT)
I am looking forward to hear how God is going to use Steve over the next year as he positions and re-positions himself and his church in God's redemptive flow.
What is holding you back from developing an evangelistic plan for 2008? The old proverb says, “A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow." Start writing down your evangelistic plans today.
Here here are some more insights in how to Sharpen Your Evangelistic Skills in 2008.
As I reflect back over the last year I am amazed and grateful at the impact of the Your Journey Blog. Since I made the commitment to spend a year writing on evangelism we have gone from 70 hits a week to over 1100 hits a week!
Here are Your Journey's top ten most read blogs of 2007:
1. October 1, 2007 - Five "Quick Hits" on Denominationalism
2. September 4, 2007 - Midwest is Launching Five New Churches This Fall
3. November 29, 2007 - Ten Lessons a Bartender Can Teach a Pastor
4. August 27, 2007 - Spiritual Conversations - My Paradigm Shift
5. September 10, 2007 - Spiritual Conversations - My Paradigm Shift - Part 2
6. October 31, 2007 - Five "Quick Hits" on Public Speaking
7. December 5, 2007 - Church-Centric vs Mission-Centric Equipping
8. November 11, 2007 - Six Causes for Evangelistic Entropy - Part 3
9. November 27, 2007 - Six Causes for Evangelistic Entropy - Part 5
10. August 8, 2007 - Engaging in More Spiritual Conservations - Part 2
My prayer for 2008 is a simple prayer the Apostle Paul prayed for his friend Philemon, "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." (Philemon 1:6) The more we embody the gospel in word and deed, the more we experience the gospel in depth and power.
