FROM THE QUIZ MEET: The Romans Road

This weekend, Coach Jim walked us all down the "Romans Road" - an excellent tool for teaching someone about salvation from the book of Romans.  If you want to keep a copy of it with you, or a link for easy access, here are several options for having the Romans Road alway with you!

Website:  http://m.evantell.org/GospelPresentation/MayIAskYouAQuestion.aspx

Printable Pamphlet:  http://www.teenmissions.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Roman-Road-Bookmark-.pdf

iPhone App:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/roman-road/id330284117?mt=8

Android App:  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.droidandson.romansroad&hl=en

HUMOR: Evangelistic Barber

Not mine.  Found online.

There was a barber that thought that he should share his faith with his customers more than he had been doing lately. So the next morning when the sun came up and the barber got up out of bed he said, "Today I am going to witness to the first man that walks through my door."
     
      Soon after he opened his shop the first man came in and said, "I want a shave!" The barber said, "Sure, just sit in the seat and I'll be with you in a moment." The barber went in the back and prayed a quick desperate prayer saying, "God, the first customer came in and I'm going to witness to him. So give me the wisdom to know just the right thing to say to him. Amen."
     
      Then quickly the barber came out with his razor knife in one hand and a Bible in the other while saying "Good morning sir. I have a question for you... Are you ready to die?"

Bible Study in a Bar?

In general, bars and Bibles are not something we put together. Many prominent Christian reformers spent most of their time railing against the evils of alcohol, and a number of Protestant denominations teach their parishioners to abstain from alcohol completely. But some evangelists believe there is no better place to reach out to the lost.

Rose admits that a Bible study in a bar may sound odd to some churchgoers, but he contends Jesus was called a drunkard because he went to too many parties.

"If you're going to be accused of being a sinner," Rose said, "you should at least hang around where they are once in a while."

The Axis Church, which started last year, is one of three local churches with ties to a church-planting group called Acts 29 — a name chosen because the biblical book ends with 28 chapters. Founded by Seattle megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll, the group has already launched 200 new churches.

I'm not entirely sure what I think of this, but it is certainly a challenge to go beyond my own comfort zone in bringing Jesus to others.

Outreach looks to give a Bible CD to all of Texas

A group of Baptist churches has an ambitious plan to evangelize the state of Texas. They want to give a multimedia CD-ROM to every household in Texas which offers passages of the Bible in the myriad of languages spoken in the Lone Star state.

It is part of a three-pronged campaign dubbed Texas Hope 2010 to convey what "we really believe; that there's hope in Christ," said Randel Everett, the Baptist group's executive director.

Pop one in a car CD player or load it onto an MP3 device and hear the third chapter of John explain how "God so loved the world" in English or Spanish.

Slip it into a computer and download the entire New Testament in one of more than 400 languages, complete with dramatic pauses, sound effects and background music. Organizers say they are not snubbing the Old Testament; the audio is not yet available in all those languages.

Say what you will. This is an amazing plan to bring the Bible to as many people as possible. Be praying that God uses this effort to bring more people to Himself.

When is it NOT okay to evangelize?

As Christians, we are always looking for chances to bring the gospel to those around us. We want everyone to know who Jesus is and what he did (and continues to do). But we also know that there are times when preaching may be inappropriate or counter-productive. One marine in Iraq is learning this truth the hard way.

The US military said on Friday it was probing complaints that marines handed out coins inscribed with a verse from the Bible to a group of Sunni Muslims in Iraq, sparking outrage among local residents.
It said a marine involved in the incident in the former flashpoint city of Fallujah west of Baghdad was removed from his duties on Thursday...
"A coalition force service member was removed from his duties Thursday amid concerns from Fallujah's citizens regarding reports of inappropriate conduct.
"We can confirm that it is a marine who has been removed from his duties," the US military statement said.
It stressed that handing out Christian coins was the action of a single soldier and that there was no collective drive to influence the local Muslim population.
The military quoted its own own bible for troops deployed in Iraq, saying that in the general order, sub-paragraph two of prohibitions "proselytizing of any religion, faith or practice" was included.

It can sometimes be hard to differentiate between speaking out bravely (i.e. defending your faith to a classmate) and being brazen (i.e. showing disrespect to a teacher, while speaking about your beliefs). But it is important to keep in mind that if we are not careful how we present the gospel, we may wind up making it offensive to those who need it.