Let Your Light Shine- Resources

The best way to cultivate a heart for evangelism is to study God's heart for the lost. Studying the scriptures and seeing how God's heart breaks for the unbelievers stirs up my heart to break as well.

Also knowing and being affected daily by the gospel and it's work in our lives stirs up my heart towards evangelism. Recently Chris gave me the morning out and I went to a local starbucks to read. The place was getting crowded and eventually a man sat in a chair near mine to wait for his drink. I had out my massive ESV study bible and he asked me what class I was studying for. I laughed and told him I was studying for the class on motherhood and showed him my bible. It definitely surprised him but he continued the situation by saying something like that's great. And how he thinks he should read the bible too. I asked him if he had ever read the bible and we continued on for about half an hour while I shared the gospel with him. I was bold and asked him lots of questions, he was really responsive and eager to talk. At the end of it all I invited him to church. I wish I could tell you he came with his wife and kids the following day and was saved, but he didn't. I trust that God allowed that conversation for a reason and hope others will cross paths with him one day which will lead to his salvation. The point of this story is that I don't consider myself bold. And I don't have a history of these types of stories. But I had just spent over an hour being fed by the word, convicted of sin and receiving forgiveness. I was pumped and ready to tell anyone who'd listen about the Savior's great love. Thankfully God did bring someone that morning who I could share His great love with!

Here are a few books Chris & I have read on evangelism:

Recently Chris and I have been reading some books by Randy Newman. One is Corner Conversations and the other is Questioning Evangelism. They have been excellent resources in equipping the saints in how to strike up conversations and how to answer the hard questions like "why is there evil in the world" or "why does there have to be only one way to God? Can't all ways lead to God?" I have found these books really helpful and at the same time stirring up my desire to evangelize. This book also challenged me to ask more questions of people rather than doing all the talking. That's always a great reminder :)

Another book I've read is The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever.

Al Mohler has written a book called Culture Shift: Engaging current issues with timeless truth.

Another great resource is Reason For God:Belief in the age of Skepticism by Tim Keller. This particular book is written for skeptics and believers.

Like I referenced in my last post, John Piper's new book Finally Alive just came out. I've read through most of it and at the end he writes about how our new birth in Christ positions us for evangelism.

I hope this week spurred you on to be "bold gospel tellers"!