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Premature Harvest
Personal evangelism means planting, watching carefully, and waiting.
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While attending Bible College, a friend and I decided to make an evangelistic foray onto the local university campus. We wandered around until we saw a student who seemed like a good prospect. We gave little prayer to this effort, and there was no plan for follow up, let alone building relationships beforehand. We were going to turn that campus upside down for Christ! The evening ended a dismal failure. Our student preferred to discuss fascism rather than Christianity. If we presented the gospel at all, we did so poorly with no positive response. We had zeal, but no experience, no wisdom, no preparation, and worst of all, no harvest. A second reason that we sometimes harvest too soon is lack of faith. As a child I had to trust my grandfather to know the proper time to dig the potatoes. As a believer zealous to see souls won for Christ, it is sometimes difficult to trust that God will bring it about in his time, not mine. A young woman began to attend our church with her children. Occasionally she and her husband would invite me for supper, and we began to develop a friendship. As I shared the gospel with her she told me, "We prayed something like that once. We were trying to rent a house and they told us to pray this prayer. We just thought it was something we had to do to be able to rent." As a result of their previous confusion and her husband's disinterest in spiritual things, I didn't push the gospel with them, but I discussed spiritual things as the opportunities arose. Eventually the husband was saved, and the entire family became active in the church—but only after I had moved on. The next pastor was able to reap where I had sown. Another reason for a premature harvest is attempting to be someone we're not. A friend used to tell the story of his first preaching experience: When my friend was a teenager, his father told the boys in their small church that he would like some of them to try their hand at preaching. My friend claims that he memorized one of Billy Graham's sermons word for word and preached it like his own. Everything went great until he came to the part where he said, "Thousands are coming down to the front … " True or not, my friend's story always draws laughs and it makes a point: Trying to fit someone else's mold will never work. It is better to discover your own style of ministry. Knowing when to digMy wife and I planted a garden just after we married. I was so eager to harvest that I dug up the first thing that sent out green shoots. I asked my wife to cook it. I learned from my mistake. You only eat a rotten seed potato once. I learned to watch closely as the mound grew. I learned to probe gently. I came to understand the subtle changes that occurred as the plant developed and the potatoes grew. In one community I developed a friendship with a young man who did not attend church. I helped him remodel a storefront for his business, and I worked with him on the fire department. I occasionally went 'coon hunting with him late at night. |             |
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