This little story begins in 1971. My family and I attended a Southern Baptist church in Houston, Texas, where I came to be saved by the blood of Jesus when I was12 years old. It was real, miraculous, and exceedingly powerful. I suspect many of my generation who accepted the gift of salvation in Christ in their early years have stories very similar to mine.
I had accepted salvation, but somehow neglected to make Him the Lord of my life, and sure enough, over time, I became caught up in the world and what it has to offer. By the time I got married at the age of 24, I was totally prodigal. And I continued to live in a way not pleasing to God for many years.
But true to Hebrews 13:5, He never leaves or forsakes us, even when we behave like Jonah and run in the opposite direction of where he wants us to go. I have always been interested in Bible prophecy, and this is how our Lord led me back from the depths of my sinful ways into His loving arms. From my study many years ago and looking at the news of today, I became convinced that we are indeed living in the final days before His return. I repented from my evil ways, and this time I made Him my Lord!
When I gave Him the Lordship of my life, I immediately became convicted that I should help spread the gospel, but like perhaps many of you, I was afraid of evangelizing. What would people think about me? Would I get beat up? Would I lose my job? Would I lose my friends? But I was sold out for Christ and purposefully chose to follow Him.
Now I don’t know if this approach will work for everyone, but it has definitely worked for me. I started out by buying some Bible tracts locally and just leaving them lying around everywhere I went. I left them all over the grocery store, the pharmacy, the sporting goods store, public restrooms, coffee shops; basically anywhere I went I would leave many tracts.
Sometimes I would see someone pick one up and it would thrill me to see that. I don’t know if any of these tracts have proven central in leading anyone to Christ, but I looked at it like spreading seed. Maybe someone else would reap.
This approach was satisfactory in my heart for about a year, and then I started getting convicted again about doing more. So I started actually handing tracts to people. I found by trial and error that if I presented the tract as a gift, not only would people accept them; they would even thank me for them. Wow! This emboldened me even more.
Now I present these little tracts, and tell folks that it has the gospel in it. Many times people don’t even know what that word means…BANG! There’s my opening to actually verbally witness to folks. I now carry a supply of Bibles in the trunk of my car. (You might be surprised how many people; especially young folks don’t have a Bible.) So I now have been able to put many Bibles in the hands of lost people. While I don’t claim to be an apostle Paul, or a Billy Graham type of evangelist, I have seen God bless this little ministry and He has given me many opportunities to spread His word…and for this I am truly thankful.
And the most surprising part of this story is this: When I tell a lost person about the salvation that is available to them through Jesus, the blessings that come, MY WAY are awesome. It truly makes my walk with Him so much closer in so many ways.
So if you are a believer, but you maybe don’t tell too many folks about your Savior, you might try this approach. He has helped me step by step to become bolder. And now days, I’ll bring up the subject of sin and salvation to just about anybody, anywhere. I don’t think you necessarily have to be the boldest person out there proclaiming Jesus, but with prayer and obedience He will lead YOU into the ministry He has for YOU. God Bless and “GOOD FISHIN!”
Eric Corgey