Speaking at the rehabilitation group home
Several weeks ago I wrote about a campaign in Bogotá, Colombia, that I participated in as part of my work with Hope For Life, a Herald of Truth ministry. I briefly mentioned a visit that Bruno Valle and I made to a rehabilitation center, spending some time leading the young men there in Bible study.
Yesterday I found out that 13 of those young men were baptized. That’s exciting news!
The temptation, of course, is to try and directly relate those baptisms to my ministry. There is a radio ministry that broadcasts into Cuba; they take credit for any church that is planted in Cuba. That’s wrong.
The other extreme is to say, “They weren’t baptized while we were there, so it has nothing to do with us.” I don’t believe that, either.
In Church Inside Out, I talk about conversion occurring in several steps and evangelism being a work that many people play a part in:
Conversion is a process, not an event. We can be a part of the conversion process, even if we aren’t there when the person is baptized. If we help someone move from being an uncultivated field to being a cleared field, we’ve helped evangelize that person.
One problem with many of our evangelistic methods is that they are only focused on taking someone the last step to new birth. To continue the metaphor, we’re trying to sow the seed in a field that hasn’t been cleared or plowed. There was a time in the U.S. when most people were already several steps into this process. They believed in God. They accepted the Bible. They wanted to follow Jesus. They just needed to be “shown the way of the Lord more perfectly.”
That isn’t true today. We have to be willing to look at non-Christians and determine where they are in their journey toward God. And we need to deal with those people accordingly. Sometimes we’ll be the ones who get to rejoice as the harvest is brought in. Other times we’ll merely clear some stones so that others will one day be able to sow.
One man sows. Another waters. But God gives the growth.
Of course, the apostle Paul said it much more succinctly:
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow (1 Corinthians 3:6–7).
So I rejoice at the news that these young men were baptized. And I’m thankful that God let me play a part, even if it was only removing a stone or two from the uncultivated hearts of these young men.
I spent this past weekend in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. On Saturday, I gathered with a group of leaders from different congregations to discuss some of the evangelistic work that Hope For Life / Herald of Truth has been doing there. I listened to their stories and marveled at the dedication of these men. They spoke not of church squabbles or parking lot paving needs; they spoke of the dangers presented by living in gang-controlled areas. They compared the risks and benefits of giving out a telephone number, whether that would lead to more extortion by criminals or more contacts by non-Christians.
I wanted to mention that Hope For Life, a Herald of Truth ministry, is looking for a new president and CEO. Our current head, Bill Brant, will be stepping down at the end of 2017. A national (international?) search is now underway to find his successor.
The Equip Conference takes place in Orlando this coming weekend. Formerly the Spiritual Growth Workshop, the Equip Conference is a gathering of members of the churches of Christ with a focus on practical application of Scripture. This year’s focus is on “Harvest.” looking particularly at evangelism. That makes it fitting for someone to be there from Hope For Life, a Herald of Truth ministry. I’m privileged to be that someone.