“I shouldn’t need training to talk about someone I love. If I love Jesus, I will naturally talk about Him.” This statement, often heard as an objection to personal evangelism training, is both true and untrue. It is true that we do not need training to talk about someone we love like one’s spouse, children or grandchildren, or in this case, Jesus. It is untrue, however, that Christians do not need training when it comes to personal evangelism.

The primary reason we need training is when we open our mouth to speak of Christ, the spiritual forces of Satan and his army of demons are unleashed upon us in the form of fear, pride, cowardice and much more. Every soldier going into war needs training. Sharing Christ with those who are held captive by Satan is in fact spiritual war and as witnesses for Jesus, we will benefit from specialized training.

For Josh Schmidt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Grayson, one of his favorite witness training tools is “Three Circles: Turning Everyday Conversations into Gospel Conversations.” 

Schmidt was first introduced to the personal evangelism resource by his Kentucky Baptist Convention Regional Consultant Paul Badgett.

The KBC Evangelism Team conducted dozens of equipping events statewide and Badgett provided personal training for Schmidt and the members of First Baptist. To date, nearly 100 members of the church have been trained and the evangelism results are encouraging.

Schmidt said a woman who accepted Christ as her Savior through the Three Circles method in April 2018 “has not stopped talking about it since.”

“Now she uses it to reach others,” he said. “Several of her family members have been saved and she continues to reach out to others with the gospel.”

Schmidt told me he has made the Three Circles tool an evangelism staple in the life of First Baptist.

“Every leader, deacon and Sunday school teacher goes through Three Circles personal evangelism training. Every new member goes through the training in the new member class and we also offer it as a stand-alone class,” Schmidt said.

First Baptist set a goal of having 2,100 gospel conversations in a nine-month period. When the nine months passed, that goal was met and surpassed. Schmidt doesn’t just talk about others doing evangelism, he practices it by setting a personal goal of having at least one gospel conversation every week.

Because of the Cooperative Program, 2,400 KBC churches participated in training more than 100 members of First Baptist in Three Circles Evangelism. Through the faithful and generous gifts of KBC church-es, Family Church (Fla.) Pastor Jimmy Scroggins was able to partner with the North American Mission Board to produce the Three Circles Evangelism training kit.

The KBC Evangelism Team was then able to purchase 600 of these kits and train Kentucky Baptist churches and pastors in personal evangelism. KBC Regional Consultant Paul Badgett was then able to train First Baptist Church of Grayson in Three Circles Evangelism and Pastor Josh Schmidt has continued to carry the ball forward.

We are truly better together. We must continue to work together to reach Kentucky and the world for Christ.

Todd Gray is team leader of KBC Evangelism, Church Planting and Collegiate Ministries team.