Just Walk Across The Room
I've been reading this book called
Just Walk Across the Room... By, Bill Hybels.
My assigned summer reading book was by the same author and I pretty much hated it so I was reluctant to start this one. HOWEVER... this book is friggin awesome. I think it's totally revolutionizing the way I think about evangelism. I'm HOPING that these thoughts/reflections= action.
Anyways...so far the book has just been a culmination of "witnessing" stories from Bill Hybels life. He talked about how throughout his life there has been dozens of "evangelism fads." The Tract Fad. The Televangelist Era. The Bus Ministry Era etc. And then there have been eras focused on saving professionals, saving the rich, saving movie stars, saving the homeless, saving woman etc. I'm sure there will be many more fads..and I'm sure many of them will be fruitful.
However these are the thoughts Bill Hybels has on evangelism: "These days, I'm more convinced than ever that the absolute highest value in personal evangelism is staying attuned to and cooperative with the Holy Spirit." -Bill Hybels.
I'm sure Bill recognizes that any of the above "fads" would be a decent vechicle for evangelism if a person were in tune and being "co-operative" with the Holy Spirit.
So far this is pretty simple and if you've been to church longer then six minutes this probably makes sense and would probably be your primary understanding/approach for evangelism (responding to the leading of the Holy Spirit).
However what I'm really taking from this book and what really amazes me is the simplicity of it all. So far Bill Hybels has recounted about three or four stories where people have come to faith because he walked across a room (hence the name of the book). Bill Hybels' son Todd played soccer with many of the kids from their church. Usually after the game the parents would "fellowship" (is that what they're calling it these days?) chat etc. After a couple weeks, Bill noticed that the coach would lug heavy bags of gear to the car and pick up all the pylons. So one week he walked over and helped the coach load everything into his car. He made a routine of it from that week on. They started to make small chat...and then an odd series of events landed the coach in one of Bill's baptism preparation classes. The guy came to faith and is active part of the church.
Another story..not a personal one of Bill Hybels.. but one he told in the book.. talks about a American, Muslim business man. He often found himself in awkward social settings. At functions he would often be by himself, alone in the corner, plotting his escape. One particular evening a group of associates were talking at the other end of the room when one of them noticed this man akwardly by himself. He came over and introduced himself. Faith came up- one man being muslim and one being a Christian. The Christian man asked the muslim if he would mind getting together for coffee. The Christian man sincerly wanted to learn about the Muslim man's faith. They met regardly over a period of month's. After six months the tables turned and the muslim man asked the Christian man to teach him about his faith. He came to know Jesus.
"Ten thousand steps.
Rougly, that's the distance you travel sunrise to sunset, each and every day of your life. It adds up to about 115,000 miles in a lifetime- or more then four times around this big blue planet of ours.
With that said, just one question: are you using your steps wisely? Assume the average distance across most rooms is twenty feet-- about ten steps. The question I hope to answer is this: What if ten steps- just one one thousandth of your daily average- could actually impact eternity?
If so, it might well change the way you walk." -Bill Hybels.
