All believers are commanded to evangelize, or to lead other people to Christ, but there are some people with the gift of evangelism who seem to win souls wherever they are. They have a deep burden to fulfill the great commission to “make disciples.” Billy Graham, Chinese Brother Yun, Corrie Ten Boom, my own father, and a man from my church who recently went to be with the Lord are a few examples that come to mind.
My dad worked for Billy Graham before he became a missionary in Guatemala. Imagine the joy of easily leading people to Christ when they had already been convicted of their sin by Billy Graham. Droves of people would come down the aisle, ready to be saved, and my dad was one of the workers who prayed one-on-one with those people. He felt so much joy that he wanted to continue to do that for the rest of his life, he told me.
I recently read the sequel to The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom, a survivor of the holocaust. God would call her to different cities where she didn’t even know a single person. She would walk out of the airport and look around, asking God who she was supposed to talk to. She ended up doing speaking engagements all over the world, leading people to Christ in the process. She confessed that it was wearisome to live life out of a suitcase, but she was scared of living outside the will of God because she needed to be connected to the Spirit of Christ. Being effective and useful for God’s kingdom gives so much joy that once you have experienced it, you never want to live without it.
Chinese Brother Yun (The Heavenly Man) was the same way. He was led all over China, spreading the gospel to anyone who would hear. He suffered great persecution as part of the underground church, and he was thrown into prison and beaten multiple times. But he had this huge desire to share the gospel with the lost, and he was a powerful modern-day evangelist. God has worked miracles around him, like setting him free from prison, blocking the guards from seeing him walk straight out of the prison. There is documentation to show that this happened. God is extraordinarily good to those who are wholeheartedly His.
Danny Acosta was a member of my church who recently went to be with the Lord. He was abruptly given three days to live. But he led ten prisoners to Christ during his life, as well as many other people. There is one woman from the street in particular that God has given me a deep love for, who was led to Christ by this man. She describes how he would boldly greet a hardened gang member as he walked down the street. She laughed at how much courage he had, because normal people thought his boldness was crazy. But the Spirit of the Lord rested upon this man, and the gang member awkwardly said thank you to this man’s greeting! My jaw dropped the first time I heard this man pray. He claimed promises from Scripture as he prayed, and his strong faith was not misplaced. Even though I never really knew him, I grieved when he passed away.
Tags: Christian Living, church, evangelism, spiritual gifts
Quite a post! Seriously. Very motivational. And, yes, Billy Graham with his preaching + organizations along with his son and Samaritan’s Purse — quite a legacy. Of course, the others you mentioned as well are great. Really enjoyed this post…a neat one to read on a Sunday!
All the best to you and those you love,
Lee
I would love to reach people for Christ the way that these examples have done. I’m so glad that God empowers us to do what we would consider impossible.
Evangelism – the word that makes Christians shiver a bit and pretend that they are Christians but don’t want to make a fuss about it. Our sermon today was about faith. The New Testament Reading was that rather difficult one from Luke 12. The one where we all are set against each other and are generally as miserable as sin. Our sermon was about how much we were prepared to accept in the name of faith and how much we were prepared do to be open about our faith. I will never be Corrie ten Boom, nor Billy Graham, but I can live openly Christian, I can lead by example. It’s a small step but better than none at all. A lovely post. Thank you.
I live openly Christian, too. I have never been ashamed of the gospel.