evangelism Archives - Page 21 of 21

If you were sharing with someone how they can have eternal life, where would you go in Scripture to show them what God says?

Do you have a passage or two picked out?

If so, what are they, and why would you go there?

Let’s hear what you have to say in the comments below.

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Dirtbags…Not for the girly-man

By Jeremy Myers

34 Comments

A while back I was on vacation in Montana and attended a Friday morning men-only Bible study called “The Dirtbags.” As with the Cowboy Church I visited in Plano, The Dirtbags met in a bar.

The study began about 10 years ago with 10 men. Now, they have two meeting times, 6:30 and 8:00 am, with about 60-80 men at each. Most of these men were the rugged, outdoorsy, work with their hands, salt of the earth type men, and here they were, spending 90 minutes with other men, studying the Bible. So don’t tell me men aren’t interested in the Bible! They just need a Bible study without all the frills and “girly-man” stuff.

The Dirtbag Decor

And there was nothing “girly-man” about this study. The bar decorations themselves were…interesting. In the Plano, TX bar church, there were a hundred neon beer signs. This bar had those also, along with about 20 bikini-girl posters. I had to practice Proverbs 4:25, and keep my gaze fixed on the face of the man leading the study.

The Dirtbag Pastor

The leader of the study was quite a character. I was told he is (or was) on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. He began the study with a few announcements, followed by some jokes that were e-mailed to him. The jokes were fairly off color, and would have done more than raise a few eyebrows in most churches. The typical pastor would probably get fired for telling jokes like these. However, I will admit that I laughed along with all the other men.

The Dirtbag Evangelism Strategy

The leader also mentioned that they were going to have a golf tournament, and he wanted every man there to invite a non-Christian friend or co-worker. He begged and pleaded with the men to not invite their “religious” friends since there was probably going to be some bad language and excessive drinking that went on.

He explained that the religious people would be aghast at such behavior taking place at an event sponsored by a men’s Bible study, and would call and complain about how it wasn’t right to hang out with such sinners (cf. Matt 11:19; Luke 7:34). He said he didn’t want to waste his time listening to the complaints of religious people, so the easiest thing was to just not invite them.

The Dirtbag Prayer Requests

He then took prayer requests for about 20 minutes, which surprised me some, since men are notorious for not asking for prayer when they need it. But these men just kept raising one request after another. Maybe men only don’t ask for requests when women are the room…

The Dirtbag Bible Study

His Bible study also lasted about 20 minutes. It was helpful, practical, down to earth, and best of all, Biblical. He didn’t have a main text, but went to several texts throughout Scripture. Personally, I think sticking to one text would have been better, but these men didn’t seem to have too much trouble flipping through the pages of Scripture. He used two mild words of profanity in his talk, and nobody batted an eye.

The Dirt on Dirtbags

All in all, I think this Bible study shows that men are interested in spiritual things, but they feel most comfortable receiving and talking about them in a manly way. If you haven’t read it yet, you must read Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow to see his findings on this.

On a related note, I recently read a book called Preaching That Speaks to Women by Alice Matthews. Maybe I am wrong, but as I look around the average church in America today, I don’t think we need to work on preaching that speaks to women. Our churches reveal that we’ve got that mastered. What we need is preaching that speaks to men.

What are your ideas on how to get more men involved in church?

Are bars, bikini-posters, crude jokes, and profanity the way to reach men, especially if the purpose is evangelistic? Is this taking the “meeting them where they are at” concept too far, or is this redemption in action? Practically, what can you and your church do to better reach men in your community?

I visited a Church in a Bar

By Jeremy Myers

16 Comments

My friend Kyle wants to plant a church called “St. Pete’s Church Bar and Grill.” It would be rather convenient for communion since the wine is close by, and you wouldn’t have guys getting antsy to go home for the football game. They can watch the game right from their padded bar-stools in church.

Kyle isn’t joking about this…

Church in a Bar

The cool thing is that I am already aware of some churches around the country doing something similar. I wrote a while back about the group in Montana called “Dirtbags” that meets in a bar, and I have also read about I heard about Vince Antonucci and his church in a bar in Virginia Beach. Then there is “Church in a Bar” in Rome, GA, and a few others around the country (If you know of one, leave a link to it in the comments below).

So I decided to see if there was one in the Dallas metroplex. I did a little searching, and found one with the Narrow Trail Church, which meets outside in the beer garden of a local restaurant, and decided to go visit. It turns out that this was not just a church in a bar, but was also a cowboy church.

Having previously pastored in Montana, I immediately felt at home when I walked in since most of the people were wearing cowboy hats, boots, wranglers, and big belt buckles. One bearded, heavily tattooed guy drove up on his Harley.

Breakfast in a Bar Church

I showed up at 9 am for their free breakfast and sat by a young couple who hadn’t been in church for three or four years but decided to check out the church that meets in a bar because “It’s not churchy.” Looking around, I knew what they meant. Where else can you attend church with one hundred neon beer signs and only one cross? However, as I was later reminded, “One cross is all you need.”

As I ate, I had a dozen or so people come up and welcome me. I was back in an area of the beer garden that was hard to reach, so one guy got up and just walked across the top of the tables so he could come greet me. That’s another thing you won’t see in the average church—people walking on the pews just to go greet a visitor. Since this church meets outside, I asked what they do in bad weather, and the guy proudly informed me that “rain or snow this is where they meet.” This is, after all, a cowboy church, and they are “tough as nails.” Part of the beer garden was covered, and so my guess is that when bad weather comes, they just gather under the covered area.

The Church Service in a Bar

The beginning of the service did not begin with a “Welcome” but we did have a “Howdy.” They had a few announcements and then the musician sang. The music was country western, and the songs weren’t really they type that people sang along to. It was more like you were in a bar listening to the house band. Considering the crowd that was there, I think this was a good idea since most of the people didn’t appear to be the singing type. This isn’t an insult; it’s just that some people don’t feel comfortable singing.

I did notice that when the music leader got up to sing, he had a Starbucks coffee in one hand. If you read the post on my Emergent Immersion, you will know why this is funny to me. It seems like all singers, songwriters, and artists drink Starbucks. I half expected him to pull out an iPhone.

Of course, he probably drank Starbucks becuase the free coffee was pretty bad. I met the guy who proudly told me he made the coffee, but then confessed he can’t stand to drink coffee. (Note to all churches: The person who volunteers to make the coffee should be somone who actually drinks coffee). So anyway, Starbucks and all, the songs were good quality, and since I like country music, found myself tapping my foot along to the music. I guess the musician has some CDs out, but I can’t remember his name…

The Sermon in a Bar

After the music, the pastor got up to preach. I had met him when I first walked into the beer garden, and he introduced himself at John Myers. I don’t think there is any relation to me. But he did graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary, so I guess I’m on the right track. Speaking of tracks, as soon as he got up to preach, we heard a train whistle off in the distance. He said, “Well, I guess I’ll wait for the train.”

It didn’t take me long to find out what he meant. About thirty seconds later, the train came rumbling by not twenty feet from where we were seated, blowing its whistle and drowning out anything the pastor could have been saying. Not many pastors have to deal with trains coming through their church before they preach, but everybody took it in stride.

Once the train was gone, the pastor taught for about thirty minutes from John 15. His sermon was not full of Christian lingo and theological jargon, but was clear, simple, and down to earth. He peppered his sermon with cowboy terms like “get ‘er done,” “have at it,” and “ain’t.” He even used a word in his sermon which would offend the gentler ears of most Christians, but which seemed right at home with this group.

When he was done, they closed out the service with a few more songs and then a rousing rendition of “Happy Trails to You.” On my way out, one man stopped me and asked if I would like to start teaching Sunday School next week. He either didn’t know I was a visitor, or wasn’t serious. I hope it was the latter because it’s probably not a good idea to ask visitors to teach Sunday School.

All in all, I really enjoyed this church and felt more at home than I have in a while. I felt welcome and I was instructed and challenged by the teaching of the Word. May churches like this flourish across America where the theology is conservative and the preaching is strong, but the church is flexible enough to meet the people where they are at.

You Be the Judge…(not really!)

By Jeremy Myers

57 Comments

I indicated in a previous comment that I would refrain from debating this gospel issue any more because none of us on either side are getting anywhere with the others, and I have better things to do. But in light of what I came across today, I am compelled to begin another post.

Besides, I guess public “debates” like this are not really for the debaters, but for those who are “on the fence” trying to understand and decide between the two positions. Even still, my follow-up comments to this post will be limited.

Following the attempts by some of the commenters (from both sides of the debate) to get simple “yes” and “no” answers from each other to theological questions, I have a REAL LIFE situation to pose to the readers of this blog, and I want you to state with a simple “Yes” or “No” whether you believe the following woman is saved or not.

Certainly, only God knows, but based on how you understand the Bible, the Gospel, how people are justified, and what she says, is the following woman justified, Yes or No?

And just so you know, I am not making this woman up. She is a REAL woman I encountered today. So give her the benefit of the doubt. If she says she really believes something, let’s assume she really does believe it.

She says she believes that:

Jesus is God… i.e., He is fully divine.
Jesus is fully human, yet without sin. Also, He was born of a virgin.
Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead three days later.
She is a sinner and needed Jesus to pay for her sin through His death on the cross so that she could gain His righteousness.
Simply by faith in Jesus, she has everlasting life which can never be lost.So far, all of us would vote a hearty “YES.” I know I do. But here is where it gets interesting. She also believes that:
Humans are “divine like Jesus, but to a lesser degree” becuase we sin.
God is Allah, the same god the Muslims worship.
The Trinity is fiction… there is only one God and He is not in three person.
The Qu’ran is inspired by God and is on equal footing with the Bible. Since the two are in conflict on some teachings, neither can be taken literally.

So, what is the verdict?

And here are the RULES for the comments on this post. YOU MUST, IN YOUR FIRST COMMENT, BEGIN WITH EITHER A “YES” OR A “NO.” Following your one-word answer, you may then explain your answer. Also, in subsequent comments, you do not need to begin those posts with your answer, unless you change you answer.

Obviously, none of us are the true judges of a person’s eternal destiny (Isn’t that a relief?), and the Gospel is not even primarily about where one will spend eternity, but this exercise is for the purpose of helping us think through what the Bible says about how to receive eternal life. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don’t go around judging people the way we are doing here on this post.

How I Evangelize

By Jeremy Myers

49 Comments

OK, the cat is out of the bag (I guess it was never in the bag)…The article I referred to in the previous post about the Crossless Gospel is indeed the one by Tom Stegall. But I am also now including Rokser’s “Two Clarifications” from the most recent issue of the “Grace Family Journal.”

It appears from Comments to my previous post that although Stegall is accusing various Free Grace writers and speakers of having a “Crossless Gospel,” what he really means is that we have “Crossless evangelism.” I see these two things as distinctly different since nobody ever shares the entire New Testament gospel when they evangelize. So the issue isn’t whether the cross is part of the gospel or not. Of course the cross is part of the gospel.

Instead, the issue seems to be, “Does a person need to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to receive eternal life?”

So to help clarify the debate, I thought it might help to share what I try to do when I evangelize…after all, this is what it is all about, right? Please note that I don’t exactly know what the evangelistic method is of Zane Hodges, Antonio DaRosa, or any of the other Free Grace people accused of teaching a “crossless gospel.” I do, however, know that the evangelistic practice I describe below closely resembles what Bob Wilkin does. I know this, becuase I work with him, and we have talked a lot about it. Even still, I am not speaking for him, but for myself alone.

Stegall’s Gospel Checklist

But before I get to my practice, it is probably best to begin with what Stegall says a person must believe to receive eternal life. If I remember correctly, Stegall has five things he says must be believed if a person is to be born again. These five things were not listed in his article, but I think I heard him list them in a talk he gave at the Annual Fall Conference at Duluth Bible Church. (So my memory may be wrong on these five…).

He says that for a person to be born again, they have to believe in:

The death, resurrection, and substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ.
The full humanity of Christ.
The full deity of Christ.
The sinfulness of man.
Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Technically, this is more than five, but I’m not going to quibble over that.

My question for Stegall is: “Why these five?”

What if a person believes all these five, but doesn’t believe in the virgin birth and believes that Jesus sinned? What if a person doesn’t believe in the Trinity, and instead is a modalist? What if they believe these five things, but believe that Jesus is “a god” just like the rest of us? What if they believe these five things, but don’t believe in life after death, and “salvation” is only a good life here and now?

Personally, I believe that the virgin birth, the sinlessness of Jesus, and the Trinity are all essential to the gospel, as well as numerous other truths. But do I expect a person to know and believe all of this in order to become a Christian? No. So I don’t have a “crossless gospel.” I have a gospel that includes all five elements Stegall includes, plus a bunch of other Scriptural truths that Stegall does not.

So the real issue is, “What do I share when I evangelize?” Right? Though not directly stated, it seems this is what people want to know. Here is how I evangelize.

How to Evangelize — No, this is NOT how I evangelize…

How I Evangelize

I share any truth of the gospel I think is necessary to get a person to believe in Jesus for everlasting life. All of the truths of the gospel either prepare a person to believe in Jesus for everlasting life, or prove that He can make good on His promise.

So, when I evangelize, I always begin with the gospel invitation and tell them that if they believe in Jesus, He guarantees them eternal life.

Then, I allow the convicting and drawing work of the Holy Spirit upon that person and their natural, logical questions to lead me into what other information about the gospel I might share. Most people, I find, already know and believe that Jesus was God, that He died on the cross for their sins, and that He rose again from the dead. Even most unbelievers believe this.

So generally, the conversation centers around how Jesus can guarantee eternal life to those who believe or how it can be only faith without works, or why a good person cannot get into heaven. This is when we get to Stegall’s five truths plus any of the other gospel truths that will convince the person to believe in Jesus for everlasting life.

One time, I actually talked to a person in the United States who didn’t know who Jesus was. I was pretty amazed that they had never heard of Jesus, but went on to explain to them that He was God, who came to earth 2000 years ago, and lived a sinless life, yet died a painful death on a cross for the sins of the whole world. His resurrection three days later proved that His death was acceptable to God as the payment for our sin. We were able to have a long and lively discussion about the gospel and the offer of eternal life. The conversation naturally led to all of Stegall’s five points, plus several others. But even if the conversation is short, I have still expressed the bottom line gospel invitation.

Natural Conversational Evangelism

This, it seems, is the most natural and biblical way to evangelize. It’s what Jesus did. It’s what Paul and Peter did. I’m not trying to run through a checklist of ideas, which have no basis anywhere in Scripture, or in actual practice. I can’t find any place in Scripture where a person shares all five of Stegall’s points when evangelizing or defining the basics of the gospel. Even 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans 10 don’t include all five of these truths. And when compared, those two passages don’t even include the same gospel truths. The truth is, I can’t find one Scriptural passage that includes all five of Stegall’s truths. He has to pick and choose from various passages to get his essential gospel truths, and these five seem pretty arbitrary.

He may accuse me of having a crossless gospel (which I don’t), but I can accuse him of having a cherry-picked gospel.

So what do I share?

When I evangelize, I share anything and everything I can in the time I have that I think will get the person to the point where they become persuaded that simply by faith alone in Jesus they have everlasting life.

Once, when I was a pastor in Montana, I was outside by my woodpile (we use wood to heat our houses in Montana) talking with a man about all of this, and he wasn’t persuaded. He said, “I just don’t know if all of this is true. If it is true, I wish God would just hit me over the head with a 2×4. Then I would believe it.”

I almost reached out and grabbed a 2×4 and whacked him on the head with it! If he said “Why did you do that?” I could have responded, “God told me to, and He wants to know if you’ll believe in Jesus for everlasting life now.” If I had done that, I would have called it the “2×4 gospel,” because not only did I share with him about his sin, the deity, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I also got a 2×4 in there…all in an effort to get him to believe in Jesus for everlasting life.

What are the best Bible passages for evangelism?

Dirtbags…Not for the girly-man

The Dirtbag Decor

The Dirtbag Pastor

The Dirtbag Evangelism Strategy

The Dirtbag Prayer Requests

The Dirtbag Bible Study

The Dirt on Dirtbags

What are your ideas on how to get more men involved in church?

I visited a Church in a Bar

Church in a Bar

Breakfast in a Bar Church

The Church Service in a Bar

The Sermon in a Bar

You Be the Judge…(not really!)

She says she believes that:

So, what is the verdict?

How I Evangelize

Stegall’s Gospel Checklist

How I Evangelize

Natural Conversational Evangelism

Theological Study Archives

Bible Study Archives

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