Share Jesus Without Freaking Out series post 1/8
What freaks you out? Who or What comes to your rescue?
Being spring, snakes are just beginning to come out. Did you know an average of 7 spiders crawl across you every night as you sleep? I for one cannot stand heights and would love it if someone faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound came swooping down to carry me away off of a high perch.
I will never forget the time I was a young youth pastor (before next generation ministry existed) when one of my students convinced me to ride Superman at Six Flags over Georgia. Sure, compared to other roller coasters, Superman might have been labeled a baby ride, but for me, the world was about to end. As they lowered the safety bar on me, I knew there was no going back. While others shouted, screamed, smiled, and raised their hands during the twists and turns, I just held onto the bar hoping I wasn’t going to fall out at the top of the loop.
The good news: I didn’t throw up when I got off the ride. I was a little dizzy but it wasn’t anything I wouldn’t get over. I still hate roller coasters and heights but the experience wasn’t as bad as I had made it out to be in my mind. I still don’t have a desire to ride the rides at a theme park, but I did survive. I lived to see another day.
I will soon begin teaching an 8-week course at my church called Share Jesus without Freaking Out. This is a ride I’ve been highly anticipating going on for a long time! I understand sharing Jesus with others freaks many Christians out. However, like the student who convinced me to man up, I want to persuade others that sharing Jesus isn’t as scary as we often make it out to be.
I want to take you, my reader, on this joy ride as well. As I teach this 8-week course, I will begin posting weekly insights and principles from Dr. Alvin Reid’s book. At my church, The Heights Church, we prefaced the study with a 6-week study of Christianity in America and a 3-week study related to worldviews and apologetics. You are free to employ a number of options in how you can introduce the study at your church and may choose to have no introduction at all. However, I have found that laying a solid foundation provides a tremendous advantage in gaining traction and sustaining momentum. And if you teach anything for 8-weeks, you will need momentum to carry you through to the finish line.
As the book teaches, building anything takes times and this includes trees, skyscrapers, and people. In this study, you will not only grow up in your faith but you will grow in sharing your faith. These two ideas actually work hand in hand. Here’s the first principle: God created you for his glory to advance his gospel with the gifts, talents, and opportunities he gave you.
For example, I enjoy fishing. I don’t fish a lot, but I enjoy it when I do, especially when the fish are biting. I plan to put on a next generation family fishing event this summer at a nearby lake. I am using a simple event and a simple sport that I and many others enjoy to bring not only families, but lost people to (affinity evangelism group) in order to advance the gospel. Funny thing is Jesus, himself said to follow him and he would make us into fishers of men. While I am catching fish, I am at the same time trying to catch men, women, boys, and girls for Christ. If you enjoy fishing as much as you enjoy catching fish, you are bound to catch a fish at some point. Likewise, if you enjoy fishing for lost people as much as you enjoy catching lost people for Christ, you are bound at some point to see someone land in Christ’s boat!
Where will this 8-week faith journey take you? Hear the words of the author, “I want to help you have real conversations with real people about a real Savior they genuinely need. It’s also going to help you have normal conversations with normal people about our remarkable Lord to give them a new-normal way to live. I want you to see Jesus and your relationship to Him in a new, fresh light, moving to you a place where one day, instead of thinking of sharing Jesus as something between awkward and terrifying, it would be weird not to talk openly and consistently about Jesus.”