Note: this post was written while I was on staff at Oakland Avenue Baptist Church in Catlettsburg, KY.
I am a believer in door-to-door evangelism.
My pastor while I was on staff at Lexington Baptist Temple, Pastor Earl Smith, taught me the value of hitting the streets to tell people about Jesus and our church. After he went to be with the Lord, Pastor Derek Holmes continued this focus.
Why do I do it? Several reasons…
1. There are few activities a minister can do that are more purely evangelistic. The only agenda is to give the Gospel and invite people to church.
2. It strengthens my connection to my community. There’s just something about walking the streets of the city in which I serve.
3. It reminds me what ministry means. Too often, I sit behind a desk, doing my thing and working with other Christians. Someone once said that it is impossible to be “witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” from within the walls of any church building.
4. It puts a face, or a series of faces, to a “town.” When I speak of serving in Catlettsburg, I can point, not only to those in my church, but to those I have come across as I have ventured out.
Why am I writing this? Because until recently I had been “too busy” to knock doors. I didn’t make it the priority it once had been. Then all of a sudden, the majority of the messages I was hearing and the studying I had been doing pointed in one specific direction: “Jon, if you see a need within the body of Christ that you can meet, you need to meet it. There are people in Catlettsburg that need Jesus, and they may never come to your church, or, for that matter, any church. Go talk to them.”
Now, I don’t think one of those messages I heard or any of my studying had that particular thought emphasized. But that is what I needed to hear. Funny how the Holy Spirit works.
What does this have to do with being USEFUL? I didn’t set out to write this article as part of this series, but, towards the end of writing it, I realized it was meant to be part of it. Too often we aren’t useful to God because we simply don’t do what He wants us to do. We get busy. We get prideful. We think certain tasks are beneath us. We cower in fear at what is being asked of us. We hopelessly rely on our own talents and abilities. We forget that Jesus is who He said He is, that He will never leave us, never forsake us, and that He has chosen us to be His hands and feet in a world that desperately needs what His love offers.
I’ve had to learn to abandon my pride and take uncomfortable steps into the unknown. And I’m still learning. But I’m also learning that my Savior is worth my discomfort, because He endured a lot more for me. J. D. Greear wrote this on his blog today: “Gospel is spelled ‘d-o-n-e,’ not ‘d-o.’” Jesus paid it all.
I have a lot of self that I need to deny every day. May I be willing to do whatever I’m called to do, regardless of what I may think about it.
Not a Camouflaged Soul 