You share Christ with someone (Congratulations you are in the 5% of the church that does!) and they come to know Christ and get baptized.  Then what do we do?  We plug them in of course like they are an appliance or something.  Sunday School Class, Youth Choir, Handbells, Churchwide visitation, Small Group, Lock-in, and service project.  We assume that they “get in” along the way yet we never give them a test after Sunday School and we don’t even really make them sing on key.

This was not the model found in scripture.  A new believer needs a life coach, someone that can walk with them over the next 6 months to a year of their life.  Someone that will touch base with them formally and informally weekly to teach them how to pray, how to study scripture, how to look for ways to serve others, and how to share their faith.  They do not get that on day one of Sunday School. 

The most natural person to be that life coach is the one that leads them to Christ.  But for those of you who are soul winners, you may need help.  Recruit individuals in your churches that will walk them through these critical months.  Focus on three things at first.

1.  How to pray. 

Jesus taught his disciples to pray.  You teach them.  I like that acronymn PRAY.  Praise, Repent of specific sin, Ask God to move in specific areas, and Yield to God in his directions.

2.  How to read scripture.

Start them in a book.  I like for new believers to start in John and James.  I get them to underline scripture that speaks to their heart and put a question mark next to scripture they do not understand.  When we get together we talk about it.

3.  How to look for ways to serve.

Pray one prayer all day long.  “God show me someone I can bless today.”  Then as God answers the prayer, they are to partner with him.  They may even have the opportunity to share their new faith in Christ with them.

They don’t need to be plugged in.  They are already plugged in to a power source that is much greater than our programs.  They need to learn how to turn on the switch and have a relationship with the Lord Jesus.  Then your church begins to move as Reggie McNeal says from being “program driven to people development.”

OK.  I have been in the ministry for about 14 years now.  I have had the honor of leading a lot of people to the Lord.  Nearly everyone of them when we started talking said that they were a Christian…

Therefore, stop asking this question, “Are you a Christian?”  95% of America would say that they are a Christian.   Almsot like it is synonomous with being an American.  Many can’t even tell you what one is and they claim to be one!

Start asking a question like this, “Tell me about your faith journey or tell me about your spiritual life.”  The answer to that question will reveal if they are a born again follower of Jesus.

Try it and don’t forget to ask those people in the church either!  They might not know what a Christian is either.

I cannot put into words the awe of standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon. If you have not been there, you will not understand. If you have, words are not necessary. No picture or video does it justice. You cannot feel the depth of the canyon and its expanse from a picture. The perspective of a bird flying at 2000 feet below you half way to the bottom of the canyon, just cannot be captured in art. You cannot stand at the rim and not feel small, insignificant, consumed with the presence of a artistic creator.

We saw a herd of deer, a couple of elk eating on the side of the road, and toured most of the lookout points along the south rim toward the west. We plan to hit up the desert view tomorrow on the way back from rafting.

I sat listening to a park ranger explain to me how the canyon was created millions of years ago through erosion and plate shifts, and I thought, “Why try to complicate this piece of art with science? I see a masterpiece from a creative sculptor that created the minds of the great artists of the renaissance. What if this was simply a work of art on display for us to experience the glory of God?

I asked him, “How do you know how old the canyon is?” He looked at me puzzled and said, “Geologist have looked at the sedimentary rock formations, calculated the erosion and how much time the river took to carve through. There have also been sea animals found here that must have been here when the sea was at this level during the blah blah period.” I said, “What if there was a flood and the sea animals drifted here? What if God caused something awesome to happen that created this great canyon? Carbon dating and other forms of dating assume a constant over time. What if the world was drastically different before and after the flood? A flood after the waters receeded would reak havoc on the desert.” The park ranger said, “I don’t think God would try to fool us into believing that this canyon was this old?” I thought to myself, “Who’s fooling who? God could have created this in a couple of minutes. Left it here with the intentions of us finding it later on in history just to show off his Glory. He’s not trying to fool anyone. He would be just showing you he’s God. We sometimes think too much and in our wisdom become fools.”

Sometimes we are too smart for our own britches, and we diminish awe inspiring things to theories that if told long enough become truth.

You don’t even know me.  How can you love me?”

That is what was said to one of my former students who went on a mission trip to New York City.  She was under the impression that they would be feeding the homeless and talking to them about Jesus.  Instead she found herself standing on a street corner with a bright red apron with praying hands on it doing surveys and asking people if she could pray with them while they were scurrying to work in Times Square.  They were trained to do the surveys in such a way that would lead them into a presentation of the gospel.  The first four questions served as a switch and bait to get to the real reason they were stopped.  Many “seeds” were planted they were told as the gospel was peddled, but ironically no one came to know the Lord. 

Back to the man.  He had been watching them for a while and asked her what they were doing.  She said, “We are from South Carolina and we came here to love on the people.”  That is when he said his line that has been ringing in her ears ever since.  He then began to ask her questions she didn’t know how to answer so she called in the reinforcements….the trained professional who began to debate him over the existence of God.  Afterwards they probably got together and patted themselves on the back for the arguments they refuted.  At any rate she was discouraged with the entire week.

We are training people to evangelize in a world that does not exist anymore.  A forgotten world where people are sitting on their stoops waiting for company with a warm pie they baked just in case someone stopped by to talk with them.  A forgotten world that is not so busy.  A forgotten world that is not skeptical of strangers.  A forgotten world where it took more faith to be an agnostic than a believer. 

Allow me to offer a different strategy.  Love first, serve first, tell second.  Several of our ninth grade girls did an extreme makeover on children’s rooms in an apartment complex.  They then during christmas used their own money to buy clothes for the girls and a dress for the mom.  The girls burst into the bathroom to try on their new clothes.  They came out and had a beauty show for them.  The girls then sat them down and told them the Christmas story for the first time in their lives.  Guess what?  They listened and they trusted them. 

That’s the new world.  Maybe it has always been there.  Of course it is easier to knock on doors and not get dirty with the lives of those who are hurting. 

Allow the love that God so lavished upon you in Christ to be poured out on those in the world.  Then when they ask you why…pull the trigger and tell them about Jesus. 

I had a student who went off to school to USC that stopped my office for a visit yesterday.  She’s my admin. assistant K’s daughter.  If I have never told you about K, she is top of the line unbelievable when it comes to being a servant and organizing ministry.  In fact she has become a common noun in the student ministry world.  I always tell people, you have got to get you a K.  Anyway I’ll blog about her later.

Her daughter works at IHOP.  I was talking to her about tips and she told me about a story of impacting a man and him strengthening her faith and in the process got a pretty large tip.  She said she has enjoyed working in that environment because she is able to show people Christ and what it means to be a REAL Jesus follower.  She then said something that other waiters of mine have echoed for years that really disturbs me.  She said, “Lee, I fight against one thing as a Christian in my witness.  The lowest tipping time in all of the week is on Sundays at 12:00 pm!  My colleagues dread working on Sundays when all the church going “Christians” come in to the restaurant.  They are the sorriest tippers in the week.”

 WHAT IS UP WITH THAT!!!

Cheap, non giving, Moochers drive me insane.  Christians are supposed to the be the most giving people on the planet.  They are supposed to be servants themselves and recognize others who serve.  YOU ARE GIVING JESUS A BAD REPUTATION!!  You carry the title of Christian and then stiff the very people that are serving you.  That’s Rediculous or as Maher would say Religulous.

CHANGE YOUR TITLE OR CHANGE YOUR TIP!!