Randy Siever Joins Off The Map as Director of Doable Evangelism
By Jim Henderson
Ephesians 4:11 tells us that some are called to be evangelists… to equip the saints for the work…. My experience in church taught me just the opposite. Evangelists DO the work. They’re typically way too busy to train anyone. It’s the rare evangelist who realizes that his/her real work is not preaching or being on a stage but rather to give their gift away to others.
If Jesus modeled anything it was “restraint”. Instead of doing everything better he invited others to do it poorly and in doing that ended up developing a movement where ordinary people got to play rather than watch.
I’m not an evangelist. I started Off The Map largely out of frustration with the fact that when it comes to helping others connect with Jesus (a.k.a evangelism) ordinary people don’t get to play. I decided to create a new category of evangelism called Doable Evangelism (which of course is an oxymoron).
A few years ago I was lucky enough to run into Randy Siever who unlike me is a gifted evangelist. Randy Siever can lead people to Christ just about whenever he sees fit. They fall into faith when they get too close to him. Most of us, hard as we try, are not like that.
Randy took to Doable Evangelism because he truly cares about ordinary Christians getting to play. He wants them to experience the joy he feels when someone asks him about life and God. He believes they have a God given right to stand in God’s place when people decide they might want to know more about Jesus.
Randy and I have been co presenting the principles and practices of Doable Evangelism for the past few months. He is a real leader. People like him. Often after we finish presenting, it is Randy people want to talk with more than me (for which I’m grateful 
).
Our Board recently decided to invite Randy to take on the leadership of spreading Doable Evangelism to churches all over America and eventually around the world. We are receiving a continual stream of requests from pastors to bring Doable Evangelism Training events to their churches. We are grateful that Randy has accepted this invitation.
Randy is walking the talk of faith and stepping out at a time most people (including Christians) are planning their retirement. Frankly, churches not only need Randy’s gift of making evangelism doable they need his example of leadership, trust and sacrifice.
Want to learn more about Doable Evangelism Training events and consulting? Email Randy here: randy at offthemap.com
August 5th, 2007 · 5 Comments
Categories: Doable Evangelism
Jessica M said
am August 6 2007 @ 12:25 pm
Way to go Randy, I don’t think any one at SCF was worried about you when you gave notice. You have leaped into something perfect for you and just where the world needs you! Best wishes and God Bless!
Jessica
Randy said
am August 6 2007 @ 2:39 pm
Thanks, Jessica! And although some people actually WERE worried when I gave notice, I suspect that there might be MORE people worried about me now that I’ve joined this outfit!
I’m honored to be a member of the OTM team, and I can’t wait to see what Jesus will be doing through all of us who feel connected in the OTM family.
I know there are a lot of people who have been discouraged to the point of maybe being done with evangelism as a program. How fun is it to help them discover evangelism as a spiritual practice, like praying or reading your bible. Making evangelism doable for ordinary Christians (and tolerable for those they are trying to connect with) seems like a really important mission.
This is going to be a lot of fun…
Kevin said
am August 14 2007 @ 9:56 am
I can’t wait to see what is going to happen next! This seems so good, so right, so exciting. I echo Jessica… WAY TO GO!
Ramiro Medrano said
am September 21 2007 @ 1:27 am
Hey Randy. I don’t know if you remember me or not, but I was on Young Life staff in San Antonio many years ago. I was surfing the net looking for organizations who were involved in compassion and justice ministries and came upon your site. I read the article and was grateful to see that you and Geneva were both using your gifts to serve others in your respective organizations after your Young Life journeys were over. I too no longer work for them and believe that the Lord used that time to prepare me for this time and place at Willow Creek. May the Lord continue to use you in a mighty way to lead others to Himself! Peace.
Randy said
am September 21 2007 @ 2:07 pm
Ramiro,
Yes, I do remember you! We didn’t get to hang out much, but there weren’t a lot of Hispanic guys on staff back then, so you kind of stuck in my memory! Wow…Willow Creek! How is THAT going for you? How long have you been there? Is Alvin still there running things?
Write me offline if you want at randy @ offthemap.com. I’d love to hear about what you’re doing!