
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-04/08/2008

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20th annual Crossover enlisting volunteers
by Mickey Noah
Date: April 08, 2008 - Tuesday

INDIANAPOLIS (BP)--For the 20th consecutive year, Southern Baptists' "Crossover" will relay the Gospel throughout the host city for June's SBC annual meeting.

"Crossover'08" -- June 6-7 in Indianapolis -– will add to the spiritual results amassed since the inaugural outreach prior to 1989's SBC annual meeting in Las Vegas. Nearly 40,000 persons have prayed to receive Christ as result of the annual evangelistic effort. Dozens of new Southern Baptist churches have been planted. And thousands have participated as Crossover volunteers from churches across North America.

This year's Crossover, prior to the SBC's June 10-11 annual meeting at Indiana Convention Center, will be jointly sponsored by the SBC's North American Mission Board, the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana and the Crossroads Baptist Association in Indianapolis.

Crossover'08 aims for eight new churches -- one Hispanic, one Chinese, one African American and five Anglo -– to be byproducts of the outreach, said Jimmy Kinnaird, NAMB's Crossover coordinator in Alpharetta, Ga.

"Our goal is that when we leave Indianapolis, we will, at the same time, ensure that the Gospel stays there and spreads," Kinnaird said. "We want Southern Baptist churches to be strengthened and new churches started. We want Indianapolis to be a place where Jesus is known even better after Crossover'08 and the convention."

John Rogers, missions and evangelism team leader for the Indiana convention, said the state convention and NAMB are playing support roles to the local Crossroads Baptist Association for Crossover'08.

"It's their heart, their vision and their strategy," Rogers said. "When it's locally led and locals take ownership, we think the results will be longer lasting. We see Crossover'08 as a process, not an event. We want Crossover to be felt long after people have left Indianapolis."

During the week and weekend leading up to the SBC annual meeting, volunteers are being enlisted from dozens of SBC churches in Indiana and around the nation to take the Gospel to Indianapolis' inner-city and metro areas.

Kinnaird said Crossover'08 strategic events will include 27 block parties in African American, Korean, Hispanic and Anglo neighborhoods; door-to-door evangelism spearheaded by eight local churches; projects to fix up 10 houses in the Indianapolis area under NAMB's World Changers ministry; repair and renovation of a school playground or local park by NAMB's Baptist Builders ministry; and roving ICE (Intentional Community Evangelism) teams who will blanket the city's core-city area, witnessing to those they meet on the streets during the week prior to the Crossover weekend.

Rogers said Crossover'08 will entail extensive follow-up. "We want to see baptisms as a result of Crossover'08, which will help our churches grow," he said. "So we're putting a lot of resources and personnel into follow-up."

Five Indianapolis churches will anchor the ICE campaign: Cornerstone Christian Fellowship, Living Word Baptist Church, Eastside Community Baptist Church, Gabriel Baptist Church and Warren Baptist Church.

Leading the Crossover/ICE effort for the seventh consecutive year is Victor Benavides, NAMB's urban center evangelism coordinator. Benavides said a minimum of 40 ICE volunteers from across the country will come to Indianapolis to share the Gospel on the city's streets.

"We look for high foot-traffic areas to witness in," Benavides said, "like busy intersections and bus stops, shopping centers, apartment complexes and even outside liquor stores."

Echoing Kinnaird and Rogers, Benavides said he wants to see Crossover'08 bear lasting results.

"We want to impact the areas of prayer, outreach, visitation, building relationships, the assimilation of people into local churches and starting new churches, long after the ICE teams are gone," he said. "We want to help make churches healthy in all these facets."

Benavides said another goal is to promote Crossover to other churches throughout the SBC as an opportunity for mission trips to future SBC annual meeting cities -- Louisville, Ky. (2009), Orlando (2010), Phoenix (2011) and New Orleans (2012).

Indianapolis is the 13th-largest city in the nation, with 2 million people in the metro area. Indiana has 417 Southern Baptist churches with more than 96,000 members.
--30—-
Mickey Noah is a writer for the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board. For additional information about Crossover'08 in Indianapolis, to register as a volunteer or to participate in ICE, go to www.crossover08.com.


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Students drawn to worship at 'Paradise'
by Erin Roach
Date: April 08, 2008 - Tuesday

LA CYGNE, Kan. (BP)--In the fast-paced world of youth culture, student ministers are eager for their high school and college students to experience worship free of distractions -– something they're expecting at "Paradise," May 25 in an open field in Kansas.

All the attention will be on Jesus, the only name promoted at the gathering. Nothing will be sold or advertised, no one will make money, and no agenda will be advanced.

"We love and respect all Christian students, &#91;some of whom&#93; need famous singers and famous speakers to be excited about an event," said Richard Ross, a student ministry professor who set forth the vision for Paradise. "We're thrilled to discover, though, that there are other students who don't need star power to attract them. They just desire Jesus.... &#91;T&#93;hose are the students who will join us on May 25."

Early on that Sunday morning, thousands of students from across the nation will gather just outside Kansas City for a day of worship through music, Scripture and prayer. Sixty members of Christian bands and worship teams will lead the music, but they'll be out of sight so they won't be a distraction, Ross said. Instead of a stage, the worshipers will gather around a symbolic "foundation of the throne" as described in the Book of Revelation.

"The students we talk to are anxious to attend," J.D. Simpson, executive director of First Priority of South Mississippi, told Baptist Press. "They can't wait to see the body of Christ covering a field in one accord. Students have never seen or participated in anything of this magnitude."

Simpson said students are starving for truth and authenticity, and a gathering with a focus purely on Jesus is the draw to Paradise. As a youth leader, Simpson said he is praying for thousands of students to return to their cities with a purpose and mission after the gathering, "not settling for mediocrity but pursuing excellence in the name of Jesus."

"We are praying that their worldview will be changed and challenged, that students will see how Jesus longs to be part of every aspect of their life," Simpson said.

In his 24 years of student ministry, Simpson said he has seen plenty of fads. What is unique is how God moves when organizers don't focus on numbers, agendas or their own egos, he said. Having participated in the national True Love Waits rally in Washington in 1994, Simpson said he expects Paradise to be broader in scope and purpose than the gathering that ignited an abstinence movement.

"I truly believe that we will point back to Paradise and see it as a spiritual marker in our youth culture," Simpson said.

Phil Newberry, minister to students at the Memphis-area Bellevue Baptist Church, told Baptist Press that Paradise is unlike anything that has ever been available to the youth he leads. Students are asking questions such as "What? We're going where? Doing what? Who's the band? Who's speaking?

"I love the fact that this is so out of the norm for us and is pushing our youth group out of its comfort zone," Newberry said.

Ross said he has heard many stories indicating that when students believe Christ has called them to worship, they are willing to overcome obstacles to attend Paradise. Some are traveling thousands of miles; others are boarding buses immediately after graduation ceremonies.

"I heard of a youth group that already had been promised a senior trip on the beach, but when the seniors found the Paradise website, they went to their youth minister to say, 'We're not to be on the beach. We're to be worshiping before the King,'" Ross, a professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, told Baptist Press.

Among the reports from youth leaders who e-mailed comments to Baptist Press:

-- "The students are excited about what could come from the event," Clay Carter, a youth minister at First Baptist Church in Perryton, Texas, wrote. "I believe many of them are still trying to wrap their hands around what really is going to be taking place since none of them have ever done anything like this before."

-- "This day is about Him. Not a band. Not a speaker. Not anyone else," Jerome Smith of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, wrote. "The focus of the day is on the King of Kings and Lord of Lords."

-- "Every event is always tainted with the question of who is going to be there and what will I get out of it," Bill Burnett, a father from Benbrook, Texas, wrote. "Paradise is simply about worshiping without those distractions. In some ways it's more like worshiping in your car or with your iPod plugged in than it is going to a 'worship concert.' By that I mean you are carried by word or song (from your heart) into the presence of the King and worship Him. No one else matters right then."

-- "The most common attitude among students can be summed up in a quote: 'I'm not missing this for nothing!'" Frank Teat, minister to students at First Baptist Church in Henderson, Texas, wrote. "There is a sense of awe and expectation, even the unknown about Paradise. Students don't want to miss it."

-- "I think when students can gather with other students and worship together, that is exciting," a parent from LaGrange Baptist Church in LaGrange, Ky., said. "They can look around and realize that there are lots of other teenage believers just like them. With that also comes the realization that other students are going through similar spiritual battles that they are. Our spiritual journey is not based on emotion, but I feel like a spiritual high -- when done correctly -- is a really big boost."

-- "We live in a nation with the greatest amount of Christian literature and learning resources in the history of the church," Walter Norvell, assistant professor of Christian ministries at Williams Baptist College in Arkansas, wrote. "We can deliver the Gospel and Christian teaching in more media than ever before. You cannot surf the Web, cable TV or your car radio without realizing the presence of such Christian influences.

"Yet, the church has never before been so biblically illiterate. Christianity may have never been so popularly cultural. Just knowing God has not been enough," Norvell said, adding that he is believes Paradise can help more students fall in love with Jesus. 

Ross said he has been surprised by the way Paradise has struck a chord with adults. 

"I hear from adults who, like Simeon and Anna, seem to believe that they are about to see the full glory of Christ before they die," Ross said. "They honestly believe that Paradise may spark something wonderful among students that will have implications for all ages of believers.

"We are hearing of increasing numbers of parents who plan to bring their high school students rather than send their high school students to Paradise," Ross added. "We are hearing of senior adults in the church who are coming to Kansas to pray over and intercede for young people as the young people stand before their King."

To prepare their hearts for Paradise, many youth and some parents are working through Bible study material available on the Paradise website, and others are networking through an online community of students anticipating the pilgrimage to Paradise. Most will travel by van or bus, and some will stay in hotels while others will be hosted by churches in the vicinity of Paradise.
--30--
Erin Roach is a staff writer for Baptist Press. For more information about Paradise, visit www.paradise08.com.


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AFA refutes McDonald's e-mails to citizens
by Erin Roach
Date: April 08, 2008 - Tuesday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Concerned citizens who e-mail McDonald's to protest the restaurant chain's support of the homosexual agenda are receiving an e-mail response from McDonald's defending their actions.

The American Family Association, which encouraged thousands of supporters to contact McDonald's, is refuting McDonald's in a point by point response.

"Unfortunately, McDonald's is attempting to confuse the fact that they are supporting the homosexual agenda in an e-mail they are sending to those who contact them about the matter," Don Wildmon, founder and chairman of AFA, wrote in an Action Alert to supporters April 7.

Wildmon said the key indisputable fact is that McDonald's joined the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and has an executive on the chamber's board of directors. 

Wildmon clarified to Baptist Press that someone forwarded him the e-mail AFA is responding to after he sent an Action Alert April 3. Other citizens have indicated to Baptist Press that they received a different e-mail from McDonald's, carried in its entirety later in this article.

According to AFA, McDonald's includes the following statement in at least one version of an e-mail response to concerned citizens: "At McDonald's, we treat all our employees and customers with dignity and respect regardless of their ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or any other differentiating factor."

AFA said in response, "We are not telling McDonald's who they can hire to work for the company, nor are we demanding that they stop serving Big Macs to homosexual customers.

"This issue is about the world's largest fast food chain allying itself and partnering with an organization that lobbies Congress to enact laws that we feel can be used to repress religious freedom or undermine the sanctity of marriage," AFA said.

Another statement in the McDonald's e-mail says that "while one McDonald's employee is affiliated with the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), McDonald's is in no way 'aggressively promoting the homosexual agenda' as suggested in the &#91;AFA&#93; newsletter."

AFA, in response to the statement, said, "To refer to Richard Ellis, who is the vice president of communications for McDonald's, as 'one McDonald's employee,' as if he is a teenager flipping hamburgers, is disingenuous at best."

Though it admitted that "aggressively" is a subjective term, AFA said "giving money to and partnering with a homosexual lobby organization is certainly an enthusiastic promotion of the homosexual agenda."

McDonald's pointed out that the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting economic opportunities for the homosexual business community. But AFA noted that the chamber's website makes clear that it also lobbies Congress on a wide range of issues related to the homosexual agenda.

McDonald's, in its e-mail response to citizens' complaints, noted that "there are numerous other Fortune 500 companies that serve as corporate partners with NGLCC."

"AFA rejects this 'everybody's doing it' excuse offered by McDonald's," the AFA rebuttal said, "and is asking the fast food company to remain neutral in these controversial skirmishes of the culture war."

McDonald's also said all references to comments from Jim Skinner, McDonald's CEO, in the AFA Action Alert e-mailed April 3 "are complete fabrications."

AFA conceded that they wrongly assumed his comments were specifically addressing the promotion of the homosexual agenda, and the pro-family group apologized for the confusion.

"However, the actual comments attributed to Mr. Skinner were not fabricated, but instead came from McDonald's own Web site," AFA wrote. "They were a direct quote of Mr. Skinner's comments, posted by Vice President Bob Langert, made by Mr. Skinner at the Annual Shareholders' Meeting in 2007. 

"When Mr. Skinner said, 'We have an obligation to use our size and resources to make a difference in the world,' we now have come to believe that part of that vision, as evidenced by McDonald's partnership with the NGLCC, is the promotion of the gay agenda," AFA concluded.

Ellis was elected to the advocacy group's eight-member board of directors in March, according to a news release from the NGLCC.

"I'm thrilled to join the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce team and ready to get to work," Ellis said, according to the news release. "I share the NGLCC's passion for business growth and development within the LGBT &#91;Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender&#93; community and I look forward to playing a role in moving these important initiatives forward."

The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, according to its website, "represents the interests of the estimated 1.4 million LGBT owned businesses in the United States. Through its affiliated network of 45 state and local chambers and business organizations, the NGLCC is the largest LGBT business development and economic advocacy organization in the country."

McDonald's is listed on the chamber's website among "corporate partners and organizational allies."

"You have to buy your way onto the board," Don Wildmon, founder and chairman of AFA, told Baptist Press April 3. "In other words, McDonald's paid money to be a member of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. ... I was surprised at McDonald's, and I think it's going to hurt them pretty bad."

Wildmon told BP a boycott of McDonald's "is always a possibility" in such a situation.

At least one other e-mail received by citizens who complained to McDonald's reads as follows:

"Thank you for contacting McDonald's. We appreciate this opportunity to share information regarding our commitment to our employees as well as the communities that we serve.

"First, it's important to note that McDonald's respects and values people. Diversity and inclusion are business imperatives and integral components of McDonald's culture. We believe that by embracing our differences we are better enabled to value and respect other people as well as understand differing points of view.

"We have a long and proud history of leadership in these areas. We continually strive to maintain an environment in which everyone feels valued and accepted. We encourage employees to recognize and appreciate the contributions that all diverse groups and individuals bring to the McDonald's system.

"Thank you for sharing your personal point of view on this topic with us."
--30--
Erin Roach is a staff writer for Baptist Press.


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National Right to Life endorses McCain
by Michael Foust
Date: April 08, 2008 - Tuesday

WASHINGTON (BP)--National Right to Life has endorsed presumptive Republican nominee John McCain for president, giving him a significant boost in his effort to attract social conservatives.

National Right to Life's board of directors passed a resolution saying it is encouraging pro-lifers to support McCain, describing the Arizona senator as having a consistent congressional record in opposing abortion. National Right to Life, the resolution says, "strongly opposes" Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, both of whom are pro-choice. 

The endorsement first was reported by LifeNews.com.

McCain, the resolution says, "has consistently taken a strong pro-life position against abortion, has a strong pro-life voting record against abortion and opposes Roe v. Wade." By contrast, Obama and Clinton "have strong positions and voting records in favor of abortion on demand and strongly support the appointment of only U.S. Supreme Court Justices who favor Roe v. Wade."

"National Right to Life supports Senator John McCain for election as President of the United States and strongly opposes both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and urges all pro-life citizens to do likewise," the resolution concluded.

McCain has been at odds occasionally with pro-family leaders on some significant issues, and that divide has prevented some parts of the social conservative community from rallying to his campaign. Perhaps the most significant divide has been on embryonic stem cell research, which McCain supports. But, his pro-life supporters note, he has been on the right side of other life issues, including supporting a ban on both therapeutic and reproductive cloning.

McCain says he would stand up for the "rights of the unborn" as president and nominate Supreme Court justices like John Roberts and Samuel Alito -- two justices championed by pro-lifers.

Robert P. George, a pro-life constitutional scholar and a professor at Princeton University, wrote a column that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer in which he noted McCain's differences with the pro-life community. George concluded that McCain "offers pro-life voters by far the more appealing prospect" when compared to Obama and Clinton. 

"&#91;O&#93;n the issue of abortion, there is no comparison between McCain's history of support for the right to life and Clinton's and Obama's implacable opposition to it," George wrote. "While he has not been especially outspoken on abortion-related questions, there is no denying that his pro-life voting record is strong and consistent. Indeed, it is one of the best in the Senate."

McCain's pledge to nominate specific types of justices is significant, George wrote.

"Few elections in our lifetime have been as consequential for the pro-life cause as this year's is likely to be," George wrote. "The next president will likely determine the course of the Supreme Court for decades to come, and will make the difference between continuing the progress made by the pro-life movement in the past three decades or reversing course and reinforcing a culture of abortion and embryo destruction that rejects fundamental human equality.

"Over 40 years of political struggle, the pro-life movement has learned not to make the perfect the enemy of the good. This crucial election is no time to forget that. Pro-life citizens should continue to press the argument with John McCain on points on which we disagree with him. But we should also support him and work hard to get him elected. In a race against Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, he is by far the better pro-life choice."

Following is the full text of National Right to Life's resolution:

"Whereas the next President of the United States will be either the nominee of the Republican Party or the nominee of the Democratic Party,

"And whereas both contenders for the Democratic nomination, Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton, have strong positions and voting records in favor of abortion on demand and strongly support the appointment of only U.S. Supreme Court Justices who favor Roe v. Wade,

"And whereas the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, has consistently taken a strong pro-life position against abortion, has a strong pro-life voting record against abortion and opposes Roe v. Wade,

"Be it resolved that National Right to Life supports Senator John McCain for election as President of the United States and strongly opposes both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and urges all pro-life citizens to do likewise." 
--30--
Michael Foust is an assistant editor for Baptist Press.


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Abortion ban urged for Indian health bill
by Staff
Date: April 08, 2008 - Tuesday

WASHINGTON (BP)--Southern Baptist pro-life leader Richard Land is calling for passage of a measure to codify a ban on federal funding for abortion as part of an Indian health care bill.

The president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission expressed his support for a proposal sponsored by Rep. Joseph Pitts, R.-Pa., whose amendment to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, H.R. 1328, would establish a long-term ban that has been missing from the legislation. The Senate approved such an amendment with a 52-42 vote in February.

Though there has been a longstanding rule not to use Indian Health Service funds for abortion, Land told Pitts in an April 1 letter the ERLC fears "that without your amendment to permanently adopt this policy, a future administration could easily open up taxpayer dollars to subsidize abortions through IHS."

The amendment's language allows exceptions in the ban for abortions to save the life of the mother or in cases of pregnancy by rape or incest.

The Senate-approved amendment is similar to the Hyde Amendment, first enacted in 1976. The Hyde Amendment, named after the late Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois, prohibits federal funds for most abortions as part of the spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services. Unlike the Senate-passed amendment for IHS, the Hyde language has to be approved each year as part of the appropriations bill.

After it approved the pro-life amendment, the Senate approved the Indian health care bill with an 83-10 vote. The overall legislation establishes health care services for Native Americans, their tribes, tribal organizations and Indian organizations in cities.
--30--
Compiled by Baptist Press Washington bureau chief Tom Strode.


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Lawsuit dismissed against Ky. entity
by Drew Nichter
Date: April 08, 2008 - Tuesday

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--After an eight-year legal battle, a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Sunrise Children's Services (formerly Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children) challenging the constitutionality of the entity's state funding.

U.S. District Court Judge Charles Simpson III ruled that the lawsuit, brought about by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, "fails to demonstrate taxpayer standing" to challenge the funding.

In dismissing the case on March 31, Simpson cited last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision in Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, which stated that taxpayers could not challenge religious-based activities, such as faith-based social services, that are funded on the federal level.

The Sunrise lawsuit initially stemmed from the 1998 firing of a female employee after it was discovered she was a lesbian. Alecia Pedreira was dismissed by Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children (KBHC) in October of that year, on the grounds that her sexual orientation was a violation of the organization's employment policy.

The suit, filed in April 2000, claimed that KBHC -- which changed its name to Sunrise in February 2007 -- no longer should receive reimbursement payments from the Commonwealth of Kentucky to provide foster care for children because of its religious affiliation and its policy which prohibits the hiring of homosexuals. The plaintiffs argued that such discrimination violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.

In a written statement, Sunrise Children's Services President Bill Smithwick noted that the lengthy legal battle has prompted the entity to enhance its services to the state's abused and neglected children.

"This long and stressful experience has made us a better agency by forcing us to look more closely at our procedures and practices," Smithwick said. "Without compromising our mission, we have improved service delivery to each child in our care."

Smithwick previously has noted that the contract between the state and Sunrise Children's Services includes a provision that the entity address the spiritual needs of the children without being coercive in doing so.

"We know faith is a choice," he added. "In order to make a choice, one must have an option. The opportunity for children to embrace faith is part of our mission."

According to the statement released by Sunrise, approximately 67 percent of its funding in 2007 came in the form of reimbursements "for services provided to abused children and teenagers in Kentucky." Smithwick has estimated that nearly $15 million of the entity's $23 million annual budget is provided by state funds. That money allowed the organization to serve nearly 2,000 children through its 10 residential facilities and its foster care programs last year.

Sunrise is one of more than 50 private child care entities in Kentucky -- many of them faith-based -- that have contracts with the state and are licenced by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which sets specific standards for all contracted organizations.

"Our mission motivates us to care for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the kids charged to our care," Smithwick noted. "We choose compassion over coercion. For us, choice trumps indoctrination and hope overcomes despair."
--30--
Drew Nichter is news director for the Western Recorder, newsjournal of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.


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Silent witnesses stymie the Gospel
by Keith Manuel
Date: April 08, 2008 - Tuesday

ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)--A recent USA TODAY article described the problem law enforcement agencies have with uncooperative witnesses to murders and other violent crime. The rate of solved murders throughout the United States is down because of the silence of witnesses.

Is there a valid comparison here with the church? Are salvations and baptisms down because of the silence of witnesses?

According to Jake Roudkovski, professor of evangelism at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, only 5 percent of believers ever lead one person to Christ. If this is the case, silence is killing our friends.

The population of the United States and Canada is 332 million. According to the North American Mission Board, more than 250 million people in these two countries do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Does that number include someone you know?

In the USA TODAY article, an FBI representative said criminals have created a climate of fear to silence witnesses.

I wonder how many times I've heard the same phrase used as the reason Christians don't witness. Fear is a powerful psychological tool.

A high school friend of mine was radically saved. The next Sunday he had a whole row of unbelieving friends at church. He told them about how "cool" Jesus was and invited them to church. Several of his friends surrendered their lives to Christ because of his witness.

Someone asked me why this young man was such an effective witness. My answer was simple. No one told him witnessing was hard. He just did what was natural. Something great happened to him and he told someone else about it. Case closed.

A simple definition of witnessing is bragging on Jesus. Jesus called us to be His witnesses. We are to tell what He does. More specifically, you are to tell what He has done for you.

A man named Tyler was the driver of the shuttle I took to a meeting at the North American Mission Board. He was a young man with a story. 

He attends a local church in Atlanta. When I asked him a simple question, "What have you been doing with the Lord lately?" I got the rest of the story.

This fine young man has a less than exemplary past, but he has a mother and stepfather who love him. More than that, he has a mother and stepfather who love Jesus.

Through our conversation, I found out Tyler had never surrendered his life to Christ. He was doing many things Christians do, but he was not a believer. 

After sharing the Gospel with him, Tyler said he didn't think he was ready to take the step of commitment yet. I asked why. He said he didn't know but he just wasn't ready. 

As we pulled up to the doors of NAMB, I asked one last question. "Tyler, do you think it was a coincidence that yesterday your mother and stepfather talked to you about the Lord and today you pick up two preachers on your first shuttle? Do you really think it was a coincidence, or is God trying to get your attention?"

Tyler decided it was God speaking to him. In the circular driveway in front of NAMB, Tyler surrendered his life to Christ.

For every Tyler in my life, I wonder how many people will never have the opportunity to hear about eternal life because of my silence. 

The silence of witnesses does not just stymie the efforts of police. The silence of the church stymies the Gospel.
--30--
Keith Manuel is an evangelism associate on the Louisiana Baptist Convention's evangelism & church growth team.



