How To Be A Master Evangelist

1 Corinthians 1:17 “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”

The idea that we could do anything to empty the cross of its power should be like the sound of a screeching car accident; hard stop - terrifying. The good news is that this verse says the cross is magnified by simplicity, and that’s something I can be a part of. I think we’re afraid that we’ll say the wrong thing, or miss some turn of phrase that might have made the gospel more appealing, so when we’re with unbelievers we just say nothing. We’re afraid that our lack of “eloquent wisdom” will cause damage, but Paul is saying the opposite is true. The real power may be in a simple, clunky, faithful expression of love - saying something like, “I think Jesus can help with that” or “Can I pray and ask Jesus to help?” It might be as simple as saying, “Do you mind if I ask God to bless our food?”

About a hundred years ago I was leading a canoeing trip with a friend named Mark. We were getting out of our boats for lunch when a 14 year old boy called out saying his foot was stuck. The water was just below his waist and moving with enough force that if it

pushed him over he would not be able to get back up. While I was standing thinking of all the mistakes I could make while rescuing him, and all the complicated rope systems we could use to keep his head above water, Mark walked out, helped him extract his foot and walked back to shore. Mark's only words were, "What the heck Adam?"

I’m not saying we need to be the guy holding up a John 3:16 poster at the Super Bowl, but I think Paul would say that what he was doing was more effective than my clever gospel presentation. “Jesus loves me, this I know” is blunt, and it may be the perfect thing to say, because the power is in the gospel, in the fact that He does indeed love me.