One of the most important things I knew I could offer the class was real "hands-on" experience on the streets. Heaven forbid that we would just meet every week for eight weeks and discuss how to witness and never put it into practice. So I emphasised the point at the beginning that we would not only be learning in class, but that we would also be getting real training on the streets as well.
The first of these real-life street evangelism sessions was tonight at Wal-Mart. In case you didn't know, it is the national corporate policy of Wal-Mart that any non-profit organization may apply and be approved for solicitations at the front doors, up to 14 days per year. So, I went to a local Wal-Mart and got on schedule to set up a prayer/Bible/tract table at the front entrances. Tonight, I took the class to the store for what would be for many of them their first evangelism experience. We had about half the class make it for the trip, which made about 11 or 12 of us.
We split up into three teams. I had a table with Bibles and tracts at each of the two entrances, where we usually had 3-4 people handing out tracts to the customers. The rest would be out in the parking lot near the three exits/entrances, where they were holding big signs that read "Free Money!!". We had a dollar bill paper-clipped to a gospel tract that we gave to anyone who would take them. The plan was to rotate people through both the free money giveaway and the tracting at the doors, so that everyone would be able to experience both.
To be honest, I didn't expect things to go near as well as they did. I surmised that we might be able to give away 400-500 tracts on a Sunday night in two hours. Boy, what an underestimation! We gave out at least 1,700 tracts, possibly 2,000. Every person on the team was able to get into a witnessing encounter with someone who asked what we were doing this for. Several of those discussions lasted up to 20 minutes or more. Praise the Lord! People were stopping at the doors with questions and prayer requests, and out in the parking lot, there were many people who were completely disarmed by our generosity and came back ready with an open heart to hear the gospel. I don't know how things could have gone any better than they did tonight, especially for those who were putting evangelism into practice for the very first time.
Almost every Christian will agree that evangelism is an important and often neglected part of being a believer, and most would say they have the desire to go out and be the witness that God intends for them to be. The hardest part is just getting out there the first time. Once people see how easy and fun it is to evangelize, they will be asking when it is time to go again! It was a huge blessing to see everyone having a great time serving the Lord and others tonight. I am sure they were encouraged to find it was not nearly as difficult as our imaginations might tell us.
What about you? Are you afraid to make evangelism a regular part of your life because you are uneasy or nervous? Step out into the waters, murky though they may seem, and you will find that the Holy Spirit will fill your mouth and give you a boldness you have never known. You may walk timidly into it with fear, but you will leave dancing and clicking your heels with joy, knowing that you have just been used by the Lord in ways that may only be measured in eternity.