What Do You Do?

In mid-November, Cindy and I drove to Ardmore for the funeral of her Aunt Mert. Mert’s grandson, Dennis, and I officiated at her funeral, attended by family that spanned five generations. Mert was 92.

After the funeral, I struck up a conversation with Dennis, whom I had never met. “What do you do?” I inquired. Turns out Dennis is the Executive Director of Redeemed Ministries in Houston. Redeemed Ministries offers outreach, advocacy and aftercare to victims of commercial sexual exploitation. Its mission is to “bring Christ’s loving redemption and amazing liberation to those trapped and exploited within the commercial sex industry and/or by human trafficking for sexual exploitation or forced labor.”

Telling him that I had preached about human trafficking this summer, I offered him my business card, and then paused to write a name on the card. “Dennis, you need to google this woman. I know her from Berkeley. She was recognized by the White House as a Champion of Change.” When I handed Dennis my card with the name, Minh Dang, on the back, he astonishingly replied, “I know her! We’ve done trainings together.” Astonishing indeed!

I mention this astonishing encounter as a way of raising a point about evangelization. Asking simple questions and gaining someone’s friendship is the first step towards evangelization. Read the New Testament letters. Nearly every one begins with words that attune the ears, warm the hearts and strengthen the spirits of the audience.

“To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ … “(Col 1:2)

“To God’s elect …who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.” (1 Peter 1:1-2)

We often succeed or fail as evangelists not because we lack of knowledge about the Word of God, but because fail to greet the strangers in our midst by introducing ourselves and asking questions like, “What’s your name? What do you do?” These can lead to “Do you know?” and finally, “Where do you worship?”

As Christmas approaches and people look for a place to worship, introduce yourself to someone you do not know (even if you have seen them here before) and ask a few simple questions. Their answers may astonish you and lead you both into a deeper friendship in Christ.

(To read more about Redeemed Ministries, go to http://www.redeemedministries.com/. For more information on Minh Dang, google her. To read Pastor Cwynar’s sermon on human trafficking, go to http://cwynar.blogspot.com/.)