The following excerpt is a continuation of the chapter entitled ‘Eyes on the Harvest’ from Wayne Cordeiro’s book “Jesus: Pure & Simple”.
Eyes on the Harvest – Introduction, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
The Face in Front of You
You may be a businessperson, a college student, or a housewife, and you can’t go into your work, school, or neighbourhood and hold an evangelistic crusade. It just won’t fly in your particular subculture. So where do you start?
Start where Mother Teresa suggested. Begin with the face that’s in front of you. It could be a neighbour, family member, a teacher at your child’s school, the co-worker in the cubicle next to you, or the checkout clerk at the supermarket. [Or as a good friend of mine would say the person sitting next to you in the bus, train or plane]. When paths cross, never define it as coincidence. There is no randomness with God.
When we’re near the door, three main strategies will guide us in helping bring people a step closer to Jesus. [For the next few weeks I’ll post one of these main strategies each week].
Understand the “Nudge”
Think of a “nudge” as a small prod you give another person toward Christ. It might just be a word of encouragement or a whispered reassurance. A nudge has no great goal or agenda in mind. It’s not an altar call or thrashing an unsuspecting pagan with a family Bible.
It’s a small encouragement. The reminder of a promise. The hint of your support. You don’t wait for a response. No reply necessary. You simply plant a seed and wander off.
There was a tiny Filipino woman in our condo who cleaned the carpets. She came as quietly as she left. I passed by her in the hallway of our building week after week but never asked her name or paid much attention. One day I thought, “Today I’m going to make an effort to ask her name when I see her.”
I noticed her cleaning the hallway, so I made a detour to talk with her. That was all. Consider it a nudge. No great agenda. No ulterior motive. Simply nothing other than to let her know she was appreciated and her efforts at keeping the common areas clean did not go unnoticed.
Think of it this way:
Around the neck of every person is a big sign that reads: “Please help me to feel valuable today.”
So I did. The following week she remembered me, and I remembered her name. I could now greet her by name, and this I did for several weeks. Not long after that, i noticed her showing up in church. And a few months later at our Easter services, she received Christ.
It all started by stopping and noticing her because maybe she was secretly stretching toward the hem of His garment. That why I need to stand by the door.
People are passing by the door of the kingdom, but they don’t realise they can enter in. They need someone to help them step through the passageway.
It didn’t take a city crusade for the woman to find Jesus. It just took a nudge.
The life and times of Perry... 