Last Tuesday, I was able to spend a little time with my good friend and brother in Christ, Jerry Tallman. Jerry is an evangelist at heart. During my years of ministry in Michigan, Jerry was my friend and sharpener (Solomon referred to it as “iron to iron”). We met almost every month at the area ministers’ luncheon and kept one another accountable for teaching evangelistic Bible studies, sharing the gospel, and bringing people to Jesus. It was a friendly and spiritual competition because the ultimate glory was always for God and the numbers we shared and the challenge we felt was limited to our own relationship–no broader bragging rights. Of course, whatever success we have in sharing the good news is due to the power of the gospel, but friends and encouragers like Jerry provide motivation to keep on keeping on. The truth is that our monthly check-in and mutual accountability brought hundreds of souls to Christ during that time.
The circumstances of getting to be with Jerry last week focus his story and his evangelistic heart. I was in Michigan and I knew he was going to be relatively close by, but we did not see how we would find time to get together. Then, on Tuesday he called to say that he needed to use the church building in Lansing (where I was ministering in a mission emphasis effort) for a baptism. Through another Christian, Jerry had made contact with and studied with an individual who wanted to be baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of sins. We were able to visit briefly after the baptism–Jerry was in a hurry to go and share with other members of this new Christian’s physical family.
Jerry has written a book about evangelism. The book summarizes the approach he uses to bring people to the Lord. He summarizes his approach as “His Eternal Plan.” That is the title of his book, and also of his website: www.hiseternalplan.com. On his website, you will see that Jerry is available for evangelism workshops in local congregations. He is a brother that has done evangelism and continues to do evangelism.
As we concluded our brief visit, we discussed and prayed about how we can help regenerate evangelistic fervor in local churches and in the mission work of the churches. We prayed for our individual ministries in outreach through evangelism and missions.
My opinion after 40+ years of ministry and mission work is that continual evangelism begins with the church leadership and those who serve as ministers, preachers, and evangelists, but that is the subject of another blog. (Note: Part 2 of these reflections will appear on this blog day after tomorrow.)