From New Life Community Church:

I have not been very good at this evangelism stuff. I never have. I am shy. I like people. I just don’t know what to say to them. So asking me to talk to people, especially strangers, is hard.

So this is what I am doing. In the seminar, Randy said we should pray behind people’s backs. That’s what I am doing. I am praying for the people who cut me off in traffic. I am praying for their safety. I am praying for gardeners I see in my neighborhood. I pray that they can make it financially in this place that is so expensive to live. I am praying for people I see waiting for the bus. I imagine they are trying to get to work, or back to their homes. I pray for their forbearance, and endurance, especially in all this heat this summer. I pray for the checker at the grocery store. I pray for the old man down the street who is constantly sweeping his sidewalk. I pray that they all find some hope, and purpose in this life of ours.

I don’t know if this really counts as evangelism. But what this has made me do, is become more focused on other people. I am not so selfish and self-centered. I think that is good.

My landlord professes to be an atheist and I sent her a funny, cute email like I often do to cheer people up. She has recently lost her two sons, one to HIV and one to suicide. Very sad!

The email mentioned God in it. I didn’t mean to disrespect her atheistic beliefs with my email.The email didn’t name “Jesus”, just “God” in general. She got VERY upset me. She asked me to not email her anything with God’s name or any mention of faith. I just wanted her to know that I cared.

The next few days were silent between her and me. I prayed behind her back like we learned to do in the Doable Evangelism Seminar. I prayed for her health, for her well-being, for her happiness and for good things for her.

Guess what!??!! She called me! We then had the nicest, loving, God-inspired dialog. A good ending to a well intentioned email gone bad!

-Sheri

My friend Helen Mildenhall, blogmaster for Off The Map and self-described “almost Atheist”, posted this over on her blog (Conversation at the Edge), so I’m of course stealing most of it and posting it here where it belongs. God told me it was ok. Honest.

I was encouraged to read about Russell Jackson this morning on CNN. As CNN reports

in 1997 [Russell] gave up his career as an Alabama firefighter, moved in with friends and dug into his retirement account to start Kid One Transport, a nonprofit organization that provides rides for needy children in his home state.

In 1992 Russell responded to an emergency call for a toddler. They were unable to save the child’s life. This profoundly affected Russell.

To process his grief, Russell accepted the suggestion of a counselor to get involved in volunteer work. When he did, this is what he discovered

“When I drove into the community, it was a world of its own. It was a lot of homes that were deplorable. And that’s really the only way I can explain them,” he says.

Jackson says he was instantly ashamed by his own comfortable lifestyle.

“All it took was the one visit,” he recalls, “and I knew I really wanted to come out and work with these folks, hand in hand, and do whatever I could to help make life a little bit easier for them.”

When social workers told him about the neighborhood children who had no way to travel to and from appointments for chemotherapy, physical therapy and even for regular checkups, Jackson started driving them there himself.

Before long this one-man operation grew into a 13-van team covering 30 counties. Though Jackson recently stepped down from a daily role in the organization he founded, he says the best part of his work has been meeting the families and witnessing firsthand so many medical transformations.

There were some who learned to speak, another who learned to walk, and others who recovered from life-threatening illnesses — even when doctors were less than hopeful.

“I saw so many lives changed, so many determined children and parents who wanted to beat the odds that were against them,” Jackson says.