When you begin to really process that number, it can be a little bit overwhelming. That is a lot of people, and in the midst of that we can begin to feel like we are just one in a million. Numbers tend to dictate much of what we do. We have become about how many friends we have, how much money we have, how much stuff we own and the like. It seems in all of this we lose sight of the only number that matters. That number is 1.

Compared to the population of the world 1 seems very insignificant, but it actually holds more weight in reality. You can do many things with the number 1. It takes 1 person to begin to dream of new things and purse them, 1 person to lead a group of people to accomplish a goal, 1 person to create this amazing world we live in and 1 Savior to die for 1 person.

We tend to get stuck sometimes on the amount of people that are important to God. Sometimes we feel like God is happy when we share His message with just a few of them. It’s hard for us to grasp, but God cares about all of the people on this world on an individual level. Jesus Christ came to die for all 6,792,467,727 people.  We should never try to hold back what we believe and be willing to reach people.

If Jesus Christ came to die for each of us, then why should we keep that gift silent from the rest of the world? Jesus did not die for a everyone to allow us to not share the gift of eternal life with the people around us. We as Christians, true followers of Jesus, hold the responsibility of sharing the message of Christ with the world! We have been given a gift that is meant to be shared not to be held inside of us.

There are many ways to share this message with the world, some more effective than others. One thing is clear throughout the bible and that is Jesus’ message of love. When we are sharing this means that we should not be preaching something that goes against this. This includes messages that breed fear into new believers and make others want to come to Christ for fire insurance. Christ never took that approach and we really don’t know what it will be like. Instead of teaching about something we don’t understand, let us begin to teach of the love of God.

Christ has given us the gift of mercy and grace from our past sins. He has given us life, true life! So many people are living, but have yet to really live. One of the most effective ideas about sharing this gift comes from the magician Penn Jillette. After a show a man came up to him and started a conversation with him about his show. The man really showed interest in Penn’s acts and after a while handed him a Bible. He told the Penn that he was concerned about his eternal salvation. In the video that Penn posted about this conversation, he said:

““How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?”

You can view the whole video by going to this youtube link. We would encourage you to take a few moments to watch this to grasp the whole idea that he is talking about.

Over the next few weeks we want to invite you to discover a new way to share your faith with others and some common pitfalls we all end up in. We can do much on our own with God, but we can reach so many more people when we unite for a common purpose.

This week we challenge you to search your heart and spend some time praying for those who you know do not know the Lord. Be sincere in your prayers and earnestly desire for their salvation. If you don’t know someone, then we suggest looking for people who you may know or have mutual friends with and begin to pray about them. Lets go change a nation!

Dive Deep,

KC

As we learn how to dive more into worship though prayer, acts of service, and spending time with our God, it would be good of us to talk about why we need to worship. God created us for a purpose, and this week Philip Roland, one of our staff members, was gracious enough to write out some thoughts and ideas on this subject.

You came and bled and died
Gave all you had in life
All for love, all for love
Your life destroyed the grave
Brought grace to those in need
All for love, all for love

Christ died for love. All that Jesus did, he did for love, because everything he did was done according to the will of God (”For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” -John 6:38). God is love personified–-the very definition of love (“God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” -1 John 4:16). Everything he does is loving and everything about him is loving, from his grace to his mercy to, yes, even his anger (for his anger at us when we sin is derived from his desire for holiness and the knowledge that we suffer when we separate ourselves from him with our sin), and this is because it is his nature to love. As a result, when we say that Jesus died for love, it is not simply a statement of Christ’s love for us, but an affirmation of God’s character and his status as the source of all true love.

Because of this, the fact that Christ died for us while also dying to serve the Father’s will is not contradictory as some people believe (and my affinity for John Piper is about to be made pretty evident here with what I’m about to say). He died first and foremost for the glory of God, and we do benefit from this–obviously we are to gain directly from Christ’s death and resurrection giving us the opportunity to have our sins forgiven and our lives begin anew. In addition to this, however, at a deeper level we are also fulfilled because the Father was glorified through Christ’s sacrifice, and when God is glorified, our ultimate purpose (to glorify God) is fulfilled–-our lives are enriched as a result. The world is only at the right place when God is in his correct position as supreme over all creation. We ourselves are only truly fulfilled when God is glorified, for we were created for God’s glory. When we use our lives to bring glory to God, it naturally draws us closer to him and further fills our lives with his presence, and certainly, what does having an abundant life (John 10:10b) mean if not to have a life filled with God’s presence and Spirit?

We were made for his glory and we find ourselves empty and hollowed out within when we use our lives to pursue other things. This is why when you go into a time of worship with the right motivations–-to lift up and glorify God above all else–-that you often come out of that time with a sense of fulfillment. Your soul knows that you are living out your purpose, and you are made complete because of it. It is for this same reason that if you enter a time of worship seeking this feeling rather than looking to put God first that you will leave dissatisfied. As soon as you begin to pursue this fulfillment as your main concern it becomes unavailable. It only exists as a by-product of placing God at the center of everything. To chase after an emotional high in a time of worship puts the focus on something other than God and renders that sense of wholeness unobtainable.

We must realize that even though God has given us all specific gifts and abilities that we are to use to pursue the specific purpose he has for our lives, that above all else we were made for his glory! Christ died for love and we are to live for love. It is by doing so–-by living our lives in such a way that we die to ourselves and raise God high–-that we will change our world for the better! By chasing the light of God’s glory in all that we do, we will spread the love of God throughout the world. Where we go he will go, and as he is glorified we will be made fully alive.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

Dive Deep,

Philip

In the beginning of the world, God would walk through the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. How cool could that be to walk along side of your Creator in a peaceful setting? But we might think that now it’s not possible to get that connection with God. We sometimes get too wrapped up and forget that we have the ability to “walk” and spend quality time with God. We do this through intentionally praying to God about what is going on with us. Our God is a god that longs for us to talk with him because He wants to be engaged. He is always waiting for us to come and spend some time just soaking in His presence so that He can refill our cups.

 This means that we have to be intentional about spending time with Him. Daniel is probably one of the best examples of prayer in the Bible, and he models for us a method that works in Daniel 6:10 that says:

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

The writing that this passage talks about had banned prayer to anyone but the King, but Daniel knew that his God was the only King, and that was the only person that he would bow to. Daniel had made a habit of praying three times a day, and just because something was put into effect that would make this illegal, he chose to remain faithful to God and spend time with Him in prayer.

Daniel was intentional about prayer in the easy times, so when the hard times hit he was able to stand in confidence because he honored God, and through this honoring God saved him from the lion’s den. Daniel was privately honoring God in his daily life, and God honored him in his public life. We should strive to be intentional about when we pray to develop a sense of discipline. God also wants us to talk with Him about the things that are going on in our lives because He, like a parent, wants to be involved in our lives.

It is one thing for us to say a few words here and there to God about what is going on with us; it’s another thing to truly connect with Him in prayer. God doesn’t want us to be casual about our relationship with Him, just like we don’t want to be casual with our best friends or significant others. God wants to talk to you, but unless you make an effort to establish that relationship, He can’t move in you. Prayer is not for us, but it’s for God to move in us.

If you find yourself in a place where you are just going though the motions of prayer, now is just as good of a time to make a change to become intentional. God is waiting for us to go to Him and cast our cares at His feet. He is a God of love and mercy. Everything will work to the good of those who know Him if we just allow Him to. This week, we want to encourage you to move from a place where you may not be as intentional about prayer as you should be. We are going on a journey to start pursuing Daniel type prayers and we want you to join us so that you may be able to change and lead others to what we have.

Daniel day prayers require us to show the same type of reverence and obedience that Daniel showed throughout his life. We are asking for the next week for you to intentionally pray three times a day, morning, noon and night. Some of you might be thinking that the noon one will be hard because you work in an open area, or it may seem weird if your co-workers see you praying, but let us remember that our God died for us on the Cross, and we should never be ashamed to live for Him!

So during the next week, begin to become intentional about praying three times a day. If you aren’t sure what to pray about, start by what is on your heart. Pray for the people around you who are unsaved, hurting, in times of trial, in times of triumph, and become intentional about lifting up others. Be prepared to honor what God asks of you in these times, because we believe that there are things He wishes of you. Begin to honor Him privately, and He will honor you publicly. Even though we are only asking you to sign on for a week, we want to encourage you to make this a lifestyle. If you want to sign on to this, we are setting up some tools to encourage you to live in this new lifestyle. Check the Dive Deep Facebook Page for more info. To God be the glory and we pray that He uses us in a mighty way.

 Dive Deep,

 KC

Dive Deep Ministries was founded at the beginning of 2009 by a few students who were tired of seeing a generation continue to forget their spiritual roots. We have been given numerous things at our disposal for advancing the kingdom, and we want to use those to the best of our ability.  This includes things like Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and the like to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ to more people than we can do at a local level. We don’t want to be super spiritual, but we want to go after issues that everyone has and talk about things that are relevant to our culture.

We are founded on the principles of a few key verses. 1 Timothy 4:12 gives us a look at one of the reasons that we do what we do, even though we are younger than alot of people. The verse says:

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”

Mathew 28:19-20 also gives us direction and purpose. It says:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We may not belong to the same denomination or share the same political beliefs, but what we do share is a love of Our Savior and a desire to learn more about Him.

Dive Deep is not a church or affiliated with a specific denomination. We do, however, believe a few core principles about our faith. We believe that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh and lived among us, was crucified on the cross so that everyone could be redeemed though Him and live forever in eternal salvation, and that he rose again on the third day. We believe that salvation is open to anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord and commits to follow Him all the days of their life. The only absolute truth is the Word of God, and it holds no conflict with it’s text.

It is our desire to expand the ministry reach of Dive Deep. Over the summer we will be launching some new and exciting things. There will be some changes along the way, but our mission will stay the same.

Next week, we will be starting a series called Living Sacrifices. We will take some time to unpack the idea of worship. We hope that this series will help you find your pathway of worshiping the Father in your daily life.

Have a great week!

Dive Deep,

KC

To have good relationships we have to first look back at the beginning of Creation. God created the first relationship between people in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. When He created Adam he saw that it was not good for man to be alone so He created Eve to be his companion. God created us with a sense of community and need for relationships. If we truly want to have good relationships, we have to start with a firm foundation built on the solid principles of God.

When we discover a deeper relationship in Christ it flows over into our relationships with others. To grow those deeper relationships we have to be in constant communication with not only our Father in Heaven but also those who are our friends, boy/girlfriends, fiance’s, and spouses. We should be able to have conversations with those closest to us about our relationships. If we learn how to apply this and push through the awkward moments, we have a chance to affect a statistic that says most marriages end in failure. We have to inspire positive change within us.

Sometimes we get scared that our relationships will fall if we keep open communication with God and our significant other. On God’s side we get scared that if He takes control over our relationships that we might not get to keep the person that we are in a relationship with now. We also sometimes think that if we talk about issues that are awkward we could end up losing someone as well. We have to learn how to trust God first and be obedient to what He says, even if it means ending a relationship. Trust is vital to relational success. If we don’t learn to trust in God we will never be able to trust in others.

One of the most common mistakes that people make in relationships is not setting boundaries early in the relationship.  If we build our relationships correctly we can have the awkward conversation and set boundaries that will direct us in the way of purity, not promiscuity. If we really want to be different we need to rebel against the norm of breaking boundaries and set them in a way that is pleasing to God.

When relationships are built on the solid foundation of Christ, everything else will fall into place. Relationships won’t be so hard to figure out if we trust God and have open communication with Him about our relationships. He will direct us in a way that shows us what boundaries to follow so that we can remain pure in Him. We have to become different than the rest of the world and fight against the inward desire to do things on our own. One day we will be able to see more marriages working and relationships building. Change can only come when we decide to do relationships God’s way and not our way.

We hope that you have enjoyed the past weeks in our Awkward Relationship series. As this comes to a close, we hope that you are encouraged to pursue a relationship with God and allow for Him to control your earthly ones. Next week, we will be talking about some of the questions we have received about Dive Deep Ministries and announcing our new series to start on April 20. If you have any specific questions about our ministry that you would like to have incorporated into next week’s post, please send us an e-mail at kyle@divedeepministries.org.

Have a great week in the Lord!

Dive Deep,

KC

If we look back at the story of Samson we see a great example where God gave him boundaries, but Samson decided to go against them. Judges tells us that before Samson was born he was chosen to be a Nazarene, set apart by God to deliver Israel from the Philistines. God also gave Samson boundaries and commanded that he never cut his hair. As Samson grew up things were good. He was blessed by God and given great physical strength.  One day he was walking down the road and he saw a prostitute so he went to spend the night with her. This is where Samson’s downfall began with something that he probably didn’t think much of, but it significantly impacted the rest of the story.

Samson got into a habit of giving into women when they would nag him about things. After he saw the prostitute he saw another Philistine woman named Delilah and he fell in love with her. Out of Delilah’s greed and being bribed by the Philistines she began to ask him about what made him strong. At first he lied to her several times,  but she finally nagged him enough and he gave into her. He reveled the true reason he had strength was because he never cut his hair. That night Delilah shaved his head. The next morning she cried out to Samson that the Philistines were upon him. Samson discovered the Lord had left him and he no longer had the strength he had been blessed with by God. He decided to cross a boundary God had set for him. In the end of the story, Samson is killed by the Philistines.

There is much to be learned from Samson’s story and he exhibits many similarities to us. The Bible tells us that we are made in God’s image. Although we are born into sin, Jesus has redeemed us from sin. As Christ followers we are set apart from the rest of the world just as Samson was. We may not have super strength, but God is our strength. He has also set boundaries for us. When we cross over those boundaries we disappoint God. He doesn’t leave us, but He is saddened by our actions. We then must deal with the consequences of those actions.

God has given us some boundaries for relationships so we don’t end up like Samson. He is very clear in the Bible about intimacy before marriage and putting Him before everyone else. These boundaries are not set up to stop us from having fun, but to protect us from getting hurt. So many people constantly break boundaries in relationships and other areas of their lives. Since we live in a fallen world, as Christians we should be upholding the boundaries God has set forth. We are called to be different, not like the rest of the world. (Romans 12:2)

If we begin to follow the standards of purity that God has set for us, God will bless our actions. We need to strive to run from things that would make us compromise God’s standards. This is the only way we can be free to have relationships that are pleasing to God and truly enjoy the relationship. God wants your relationships to be set on Him, and follow His ideas makes for a much better ending than Samson had. We have to take a stand in this fallen world that we will follow the boundaries even when its not socially acceptable, because we know that our lives will be filled with greater treasure from God.

Sometimes we all stumble and cross some boundaries, even if they aren’t in relationships. We begin to feel like God hates us, and are afraid to come back to Him. The reason why Jesus died on the cross was to give us life! He wants us to come back to Him when we stray and cross boundaries. He seeks to restore us and help us though the pain of our mistakes.

If you have been living outside of the boundaries God has set for you, I encourage you to begin to come back to Him. It may feel awkward at first not only between you and God, but also in your relationships where you have been crossing boundaries. This may require some changes of you that are going to feel weird, but in the end God is worth it. He is longing for you to reach out to Him and lean on Him to get back on track. The greatest thing about God is that you can always come back. His love and forgiveness are always available. Boundaries protect us from spiritual, emotional, and sometimes even physical harm. God is our protector, and for Him to move in our lives we must live within His boundaries.

Dive Deep,

KC

Everyone can probably think of a time when you have been too trusting of someone or haven’t trusted enough. In a world where it seems that corruption and lies live we must find a way to trust others so that our relationships flourish. It is very clear through the Bible that God wants us to trust Him fully with all that we are. One of the best stories that shows trust is about an old guy named Noah whom God told to build an Ark. Now we don’t have Arks floating around in the water today, but the Ark was huge. By the time that it was completed, it was large enough to hold 8 freight trains with 65 cars each! Noah built the Ark because he trusted that God would do what He said, but it was quite an interesting project.

Noah came under huge pressure from his neighbors and his community while he was constructing the Ark, but he continued to put his trust in God and follow what He had commanded him to do. The end result was Noah, his family and two of every kind of animal were on the Ark and spared from God flooding the world, but everyone else was not. Noah’s family was spared because he had spent 600 years trusting in God before he built the Ark.

Noah figured out he had to trust God first, and then trust others. If he had trusted in the people around him who told him that he was crazy, he would have lost out on the reason that God told him to build the Ark in the first place. We so often get this backwards and begin to put our trust in those around us first, and in God second or further. When we do this, we take our eyes off of the one who has created relationships, and then we wonder why our relationships aren’t working out well. We tend to put our trust in things we can see and not in the One who is unseen. If we flip these, we will find out our relationships will begin to flourish.

Trusting in God is hard for the majority of us because when we trust in Him, we lose control over our kingdom. We begin to try to trust in God with some of our self and hold back other areas for us to control. Relationships are an area that we tend to hold on to, but they should be the first we give away. If we want to be blessed in our relationships, we have to trust in God to direct us in the way that we should go with them.

We can’t trust on ourselves and the things of this world, that’s why we should trust God first, then others second. When we get in a relationship with someone at any level, there has to be trust between us. It becomes hard to be in a relationship when you keep secrets from each other, because out of secrets come lies. You will find yourself lying to the other person to cover your tracks, and then you get to the point where the lies overwhelm you and your relationship falls.

There is also a difference between boundaries and trust. Within your relationships before marriage, it’s not the best thing to tell the other person every little thing about you. When you’re married, your trust level changes, and you should be totally open with your spouse. We are going to go more into boundaries next week, so stay tuned for that.

If you find yourself trusting someone else first, then trusting God, it’s time for a change. God is longing for you to trust in Him so He can move in your relationships and in your life. The one thing He is waiting for is for you to surrender your life to Him with no strings attached. This week, take a self-evaluation and look at your relationships to see if you really are trusting God or the other person. If you have any doubt, surrender these areas to God and watch what He will do. You will be free to live better, and He will be able to move in your life in mighty ways. Your relationships will become better over time if you are willing to give up control and be surrendered to God.

There are some pretty cool things that will be happening with Dive Deep in the near future. We will be revealing them over the next few weeks in our blog post and on our Facebook group, so be sure to jump in on the cool stuff going on.

Dive Deep,

KC

Communication is not an easy thing to do depending on your subject. Some people get uncomfortable around others or in front of big groups when it is necessary to talk. We can’t go though life without communicating, so we begin to rely on our knowledge to speak to others. We need to realize that God created us for communication with others. Let’s consider Moses. After he fled Egypt, he went to live in the desert for 40 years and then one day he was walking along and a bush started talking to him. Now many have probably heard this story before, but think of how you would react if a bush started talking to you. That would make for a pretty awkward moment, but the awkwardness came later in his conversation.

God told Moses to go to back to Egypt because he was to tell the king to let the Israelites go. Now Moses was raised by the daughter of the king of Egypt. Imagine how that must have made Moses feel. At first he said that God needed to send someone else. God told Moses that he still wanted him to go and speak on their behalf. Moses did, and he probably felt pretty awkward when he started to talk to the king.

While most of us may never have to go and tell a leader to do something, we all have burning bush moments in our relationships. This could be a time where we hear a voice tell us that we need to talk about something with our spouse, boy/girlfriend, or fiance’, but how many times do we take the easy way out and stay silent. We have to be willing to have the awkward conversation in our relationships. So often people shut off communication instead of taking a chance to talk about the hard subjects and it breaks down the relationship.

If we shut off communication to those around us, we tend to become silent to God. We know that He wants us to be in open communication with our earthly relationships. We, just like Moses, begin to make excuses of why we want to keep something silent. Maybe you think that you will be looked down on or that you could mess up your relationship by talking about something, but in reality you are only breaking down the trust in your relationship by not being open with each other. Relationships are for you to share life with someone.

Silence has become our way of hiding things, and somehow we feel like that is helpful. It only destroys our relationships, and causes irritation on both sides. We have to be willing to be vulnerable and talk about the things that are needed, even if it means creating a very awkward moment. God was not pleased when Moses made excuses about why he couldn’t go to the king of Egypt. Why do we think that He reacts any different for us?

Lets start to do something that will amaze the rest of the world around us, and be willing to have the hard conversations about issues that need to be talked about. This could be as small as needing to spend more time together or having to make a few changes because boundaries are being crossed. Don’t allow yourself to lose out on an amazing relationship because you are to afraid to have the awkward moments. In the long run you will feel better that you did and trust will continue to build in your relationships.

This week, challenge yourself to talk to your spouse, boy/girlfriend, fiance, or just a friend about something that you may have been thinking you need to talk about, no matter how awkward it may be. We can’t be silent forever, and God will allow it to come out. He will be pleased if we take the initiative to break the silence first.

Be sure to check out the Dive Deep Ministries group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=68351964049&ref=ts and get involved in the conversations with others there! We hope that your week is blessed!

Dive Deep,

KC

The coolest thing about relationships is that they were not just some random idea that someone thought of, but God came up with the big idea in the first place. In the Garden of Eden, God saw that it was not good for man to be alone so He created woman. Maybe it was God trying to create a better version of man but we believe that when He created man, relationships were also created.  Adam and Eve were quite happy until they fell into sin and had an awkward moment when they tried to hide from God. They were ashamed, so they hid and were eventually thrown out of the Garden. The idea is that we can’t hide when we mess up our relationship with God, and we should strive to be more in tune with Him.

Some of the most common issues that create problems for relationships are bad communication, lack of trust, money or job issues, and selfishness. Relationships that have these problems in existence encounter many awkward moments. Communication is key to a successful relationship. We also must take time to listen to the other party and make an effort to understand what they are trying to tell us. Maybe communication problems will never go away, but we can improve our communication skills to overcome awkward moments in our relationships.

Relationships that do not have a strong basis of trust can create instability. If you think of a rock climber that is repelling down a mountain, that person has to fully trust their belay partner on the ground. If the belayer says they will take care of the climber and follows though with this, it builds greater trust. When the climber is coming down, he or she knows that they are being taken care of and don’t have to carry the burden of stress and uncertainty. The trust in their belay partner causes a bond to be formed. On the flip side, if the rope is always slack even though the belayer said they would take care of them, the climber has to be extra careful to watch where they step so they don’t get hurt. Relationships are a lot like a climber and belayer, you must build trust for each other otherwise it can put great strain and stress on your relationship.

One way that you can communicate a respect for the other person in a relationship is to set boundaries. Most people think that boundaries are in place so that you don’t cross lines, which is correct, but they exist more for the respect of the other person. When you are dating, you should set boundaries early in a relationship and make sure that you clearly communicate these to each other. You should also have freedom to talk openly about your boundaries, and if you notice that you may be getting yourself into situations that lead to compromise, it might be time for you to re-evaluate your relationship and your boundaries. Giving into something you have committed not to do can get you into trouble, and will break down the respect and trust you have tried so hard to build. If you play with fire you will get burned exactly like when you play or cross boundaries, you will get hurt.

So often relationships end up becoming more about what we can get out of them rather than what we can give into them. When we are selfish, we begin only to care about what is best for us. Relationships are not an I but a we adventure. We have to walk though relationships centered on others rather than ourselves. This doesn’t mean that we will never get anything that benefits us, but your relationship will be much stronger if you focus more on your significant other than own yourself. This becomes critical as your relationship moves to higher levels because in the hard times you have to work for each other, not against each other.

Over the next few weeks we will be looking at ways to strengthen your relationship not only with the person you are friends with, dating, engaged, or married to, but also how to grow your relationship to God. We are excited about these series of blogs and hope that you are encouraged to press into deeper relationships.

We have set up a Facebook group for the series that you can be a part of and discuss each week’s post. Check it out at: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=68351964049

Dive Deep,

KC

“Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”

Sometimes we end up taking this to the extreme, and sometimes we don’t do enough. The question that everyone ends up asking themselves at some point is where is the balance, and how do we achieve that. We don’t want people to think we are fanatics who need to be locked up, but we still need to convey our love for God. There are three types of evangelism styles; Signpost, Street Corner, and Chameleon evangelism. There is no right or wrong way to evangelize, but some are more effective. Let’s dive into this.

As you have driven anywhere on the interstate, you have seen billboard advertising products, services, and maybe even Christianity. You look at most of them just because your driving and have nothing better to do, but you don’t really remember them, with a few exceptions. There are some people who’s approach to witnessing is much like a billboard. They stand at a distance, showing they are a Christian but don’t really make any effort to reach out and engage others around them. Just like billboards, most people just pass them by and continue driving on the road of life.

When you walk around in downtown Atlanta, GA, you are bound to see someone on the street corner with a sign or a megaphone or just their voice talking about God. Mostly, with a few exceptions, these people talk about God’s wrath or the destruction to come. While their intentions are right, you can get more bees with honey than with peanut butter. The people that talk with them end up feeling scared and afraid, so the accept Christ as insurance instead of out of reverence.

An alternative is to live your faith among those people that you are around. St. Francis of Assisi summed the topic of evangelism up well when he said:

“Preach the gospel always, If necessary use words.”

An interesting observation about people is that we become like those we are around. We are infulanced by our environment, so if we live our faith, we will rub off on those around us. Chamelions blend into their surroundings, but you know that they are there. Our faith should be able to be seen by those around us, while not sticking out like a green dot in a sea of red dots. People will begin to notice that you are different, and when they ask you why it allows a perfect opertunity to share your faith.

You should never be ashamed or afraid of what you believe. Christ tells us that while we preach the good news that we will come under persecution. In those times, we should rejoice because we are being pursecuted for Gods name. It begins to mess with their heads, because its different than everyone else. When the group Switchfoot was talking about how to inspire change, they said:

They say there is strength in numbers. That doesn’t mean that numbers are right. Dare to be different.

Being different for the sake of Christ is a hard road to walk. We must surround ourselves with others to help us though the hard times so that we can rejoice when we are persecuted. Do not faulter in your faith, be strong and courageous.

However you share your faith with others, make sure that your life reflects what you are saying. Fight against the grain of conveniant Christianity. You are a Christ follower at all times, so live for God in your words and actions, and just watch how God will use you.

Dive Deep,

KC