“I do not have the gift of evangelism!” Those are words I heard many times while serving as a pastor and teaching church members about the importance of personal evangelism. I also hear those same words sometimes from students as I present evangelism as a spiritual discipline in the spiritual formation class I teach at Clear Creek.
The one thing I have always reminded believers in our conversations about evangelism is that we each are experts in one thing — that is the way that Jesus Christ has changed our life. Every believer has expert testimony as to how Jesus Christ has saved us and delivered us from the penalty for our sins. No one else has our specific testimony as to how Jesus Christ has worked in our individual lives to make us into that new creature in Christ.
So when I hear those words, “I do not have the gift of evangelism!” I quickly remind believers that, if you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you are an expert witness to what Christ has done in your life. Every believer has that specific gift to share exactly how Christ has changed their life. What a privilege to share with others how Christ has changed our lives!
The one thing I am most proud of about Clear Creek Baptist Bible College is our focus on practical ministry training. We encourage our students to “learn by doing” outside of the classroom while they are here. We provide them practical ways to share their expert testimony with others about how Christ has changed their lives. I am always excited to see how God uses our students to share with others about how Christ can change their lives just like He did their own.
This past academic year, our students were involved in 1,650 hours of servanthood evangelism through their Christian service assignments. These hours were logged in partnership with local churches who were intentionally engaging unreached and unchurched people beyond the four walls of the local church with a specific emphasis on facilitating gospel conversations.
Students logged these hours using a variety of servanthood evangelism outreach opportunities such as Upward Basketball ministries, evangelism rallies, door-to-door evangelism, Celebrate Recovery ministries, chaplain ministries in hospitals and nursing homes, First Priority Clubs and volunteering at public schools.
These Christian service assignments afforded our students 1,591 opportunities to have gospel conversations and minister through various opportunities such as preaching, teaching, personal evangelism, specific evangelistic outreach events, children’s ministry events and music ministry events. These “learning by doing” opportunities resulted in 597 professions of faith this past academic year.
As believers, we are each experts in what Christ has done specifically in our lives. May we all be more intentional in sharing that expertise with others.
Donnie Fox is president of Clear Creek Baptist Bible College.
Donnie Fox