Gone Fishing by elphaba2 @ sxc.hu

I asked the traveling evangelist Keith Parker, “What are you seeing as you travel throughout the nation preaching in campaigns for churches of Christ?”  His response was convicting.  First, he noted that brethren are the best people on the earth.  They are good people who are doing good things!  But then he stated, we are not doing enough evangelism.  

The simple principles of fishing and farming teach us about evangelism.  If we want a big catch or harvest, we must cast a big net or lots of seeds.  Yet, we typically cast our net and seeds in the same places — the church building!  

Keith said that Acts 4:4 is a simple two-step guide for evangelism.

“But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about 5,000.”

1.  People must first hear the word of God.  They must be exposed to the Bible.  The Bible is the seed (Luke 8:11).

2.  When they are exposed to the word of God, many will believe in Jesus (Rom. 10:17).

Our problem today is that we are not doing personal Bible studies.  We are not sharing the word of God with people. The days of the Jule Miller film strips have long passed.  Think back to those times, when Christians were regularly going into peoples homes and studying the Bible with their friends and neighbors.  We are casting too small of a net and too few seeds today.  We need to “think studies.”  

I have not done as many personal studies the last couple of years as in years past.  I am committed to getting more personal studies.  We must expose people to the word of God.  There are many great methods out there from the Jule Miller studies on DVD, to WVBS DVDs, the Open Bible Study method, or using a correspondence course.  I have five lessons I use which are available on the classes page.

Will you join me in casting a bigger net for Jesus?