----- Original Message -----
From: "David Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 6:27
PM
Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] Mormons and Street
Preachers
> Bill wrote:
> > Please do not assume to know something which
> > you have not yet come to understand.
>
> Well, tell me a little more about what you are talking about. What you have
> shared sounds exactly like the way the church taught me to share my faith.
> I call it friendship evangelism. I would make friends with people, develop
> relationships, invite them to Bible studies, etc. Outreach consisted of
> establishing Bible studies on campus or in homes where people could be
> invited. Are you talking about something very different from this?
> > Please do not assume to know something which
> > you have not yet come to understand.
>
> Well, tell me a little more about what you are talking about. What you have
> shared sounds exactly like the way the church taught me to share my faith.
> I call it friendship evangelism. I would make friends with people, develop
> relationships, invite them to Bible studies, etc. Outreach consisted of
> establishing Bible studies on campus or in homes where people could be
> invited. Are you talking about something very different from this?
BT: The only thing I've ever heard
about this approach is what you've shared here on TT. I don't
approach evangelism programatically -- that's too structured for my
liking. What I do is take people seriously; if it matters to them, it is
important enough for me to care about. My greatest ministry has been to
fatherless boys, tough kids, mainly wrestlers, who think that to show the least
sign of weakness is to be an utter failure. I am very physical with these kids.
I have learned from my wife, who is a hairdresser, that if you want people to
open up, all you have to do is touch them -- appropriately of course -- and they
will almost immediately let down their guard and begin to talk freely with you.
So I'll put my arm around them when they are hurting, or give them a hug when
they're excited. And I do this everytime I see them. And whenever the
opportunity arises I talk to them about things that matter to them; and
everytime I do this I am amazed at how easy it is to work something in about the
goodness of our Lord. I have been doing this long enough to have watched some of
these boys grow up into fine and godly young men, men who otherwise
would not have had a chance, were it not for some old farmer in Eastern Colorado
who happened to take an interest in them.
My approach with other people is only situationally
different than this -- if it is a woman, I do not touch her. I have learned
what to say to get to people's issues, and once I am there I know how to show
them that I care. As soon as people know that I am genuine and, more
importantly, that I genuinely care about them, their life is an open book.
I have now gained permission to speak to their souls. I briefly shared the
gospel that I share with them the other day, and so I won't go into it here, but
I have found that, just like Zacchaeus, people cannot wait to come down out of
that tree when they know they have been loved and accepted unconditionally. And,
like I said, it is then that they will be honest about their sin, for O how
they want deliverance!
> Bill wrote:
> > And neither do the masses need you blasting at them
> > that this or that is wrong -- they already know it, too.
>
> Oh, Bill, you are so wrong. You really just do not understand. You need to
> go on campus and start preaching your gospel exactly as you understand it.
> Really. Just get out there and let God start using you. You will find out
> that they do NOT already know that it is wrong.
BT: There is a difference, David, between not
knowing that you are wrong, and not admitting that you know you are wrong. I
have yet to meet the Christian who if honest will say that she did not know what
she was doing was wrong; or that he had never thought of it as wrong until I
pointed it out to him. When people are old enough to know they are sneaking,
they are old enough to know it is wrong. They may not understand
the dynamics of their guilt or the nuances of their action, but they know
it is wrong. I do not expect to convince you of this, however, because you are
coming from a position of having put people on the spot so many times and having
watched them deny their depravity so often that you are now convinced you
are right. But again, I think this is probably because you have already put them
on the defensive with your approach. Nevertheless, David, I have grown weary of
this discussion. I guess I have a sense of knowing when I am at an impasse.
If you do not mind, I would be content to let it go with that.
Bill
