The Other Elliot Son

Posted on by metroupe

Most of us have heard the story of Jim Elliot and the five missionaries who died in Ecuador at the hands of the Auca Indians. That story is Chronicled in the book “Through Gates of Splendor.” A great story that has inspired thousands. Until I saw this talk by Randy Alcorn, which comes from the Desiring God Conference “Stand” I never knew the story of his brother. Bert Elliott has been in Peru since before Jim Elliot went to the mission field. He and his wife stayed there until past their eighties. What kind of work did he do? watch this video to find out and be inspired!

this second video is contains the interview with some of the people involved in the killing of the missionary, including a man who has become a christian.

Growing In Evangelism

Posted on by metroupe


I feel like I have recently come over a major mountain pass in my efforts to grow and understand Biblical evangelism. I have often struggled with this personally. I look around and see the cheap salesmanship methods of “winning” people to Christ and I am left more than a little flat, it seems that so few of the “converts” ever bear fruit. We know from the parable of the sower that only what bears fruit counts. On the other hand, I have not seen a great harvest of souls from my own efforts. I have spoken to many people, made many invitations to church, given out Bibles and tracts, and have still felt like something was missing. In the last few weeks I started listening to some messages by Michael Ramsden- I have another post about him from last week- a guy from Ravi Zacharias ministries. I also began reading a book by Randy Newman (which I found in the footnotes of Mark Dever’s book- “The gospel and Personal Evangelism”, which I would also recommend). This book is called “Questioning Evangelism,” and it is not challenging the act of evangelism, but proposing that in the process of doing this we spend a lot more time asking questions than just giving answers. I cannot agree with everything that he says, but it appears to me that this man has a heart for God and for the lost. I have not finished the book yet, but in the first 60 pages I feel like a light has come on that has been missing for many years.

He offers several reasons to use questions, rather than just giving answers. He doesn’t give his reasons just this way, but this is kind of what I have come away with: What is so good about using questions?

  1. This is the most common method of Jesus. He asks questions of people in responses to their questions or statements far more often than he gives an answer. For example, the to the rich young ruler he says, “why do you call me good” (Mark 10:17-18); when asked about taxes he asks for a coin and whose image is on it (Matt 22:17-20); When asked about healling on the sabbath he asks a question about a situation where a sheep falls in a pit (Matt 12:9-12).
  2. He also says that asking questions can help us get out of a defensive position, and put the person challenging us on the defense by asking them to explain what they believe. People often enjoy making us squirm by asking us to do this, and little do they know how difficult it is to articulate you own faith commitments.
  3. It can help to disarm a person by showing that we are not just interested in an argument.
  4. It can be a great way to show love to people, because when we ask questions- and then really listen we are showing genuine interest in their lives and what they believe.
  5. Questions can help a person to wrestle with and see their own assumptions and inconsistencies, often in a way that is more effective than if we told them.
  6. Asking questions and having dialogue creates the potential for a relationship, and that is a much better way to share the gospel than giving a sales pitch.

I hope you buy this book, read it, and put it into action. I have already started to ask more questions when I speak to people and I elated!

Conrad Mbewe’s Website

Posted on by metroupe

I recently had the privilege of attending the Heritage Baptist Church Missions Conference. One of the speakers was Conrad Mbewe of Zambia. We were well fed by the word of God when he spoke. You can listen to the sessions at their website.

I learned today that Conrad now has a blog, and their church has a very cool website with lots of good information.

http://www.kabwatabaptistchurch.org/

Inconvenience, Complaining, and Opportunity to Open My Mouth for Christ

Posted on by metroupe

I am amazed at how often I forget simple truths that I have learned. As a young Christian I learned that God often works through trials in our life. Victories and triumphs come through difficulties large and small. When we moved into our new house I was frustrated with the process of getting the Internet hooked up. I arranged for DSL to be installed, and after a delay that was unacceptable to me, the equipment arrived and I found out that it was too slow. So I arranged to have Cable Internet installed instead. The Cable Company sent out 2 workers who could not do the installation because the connection was on a pole that was too high, and the box had become the home of a wasp’s nest. The next available appointment was a week away. As a domestic missionary, my goal is to knock on every door I can, and speak to every person that I meet -hoping to find room to talk to them about Jesus. I did have a chance to speak to both of these men briefly and invite them to church, and I gave them both a gospel booklet. However, I still fretted instead of thanking God. I had dismantled much of my office to make the connection possible, and now I would have to set it up, just to take it down later. Deep sigh.

The next cable guy came out unprepared to deal with the problem, which produced more delays. They hadn’t dealt with the problem and it was becoming a major inconvenience to me. The young man at my home was in his mid twenties, a rough looking man who was covered with tattoos. I spoke to him, and found out that he was a skeptic about spiritual things. Both of his parents had died and that left him sour. I also invited him to church and spoke to him, giving him some reasons to believe. I also gave him a tract “Jesus for Skeptics.” But, in my mind the internet problem was still an albatross hanging off my shoulders and I wanted it to be dealt with. After explaining to the customer service representative on the phone that I was not happy, and could not spend the rest of my life waiting around for the right crews to show up, I managed to get a crew out to the house that could install the internet.

Two more men arrived later in the evening. One man was the supervisor who helped to fix the problem and then leave. I was able to quickly invite him to church as well and hand out another booklet. The other man had to stay to finish the installation. He was a young black man named Chris. I had a huge opportunity to speak to this man. He ended up staying at our home for 2 and ½ hours- slowly working to fix the problem. After some discussion I learned that this was his last call for the day. I stood next to him almost the whole time as he worked, asking him about his life and spiritual things. He was eager to listen and even asked some questions. On a stretch, I invited him to stay for dinner. To my amazement he accepted, and I rushed to ask my wife to prepare a dinner that would include our guest. I felt like Abraham asking Sarah to go kill the fatted calf. He ate with us and we talked. I spoke to him very boldly about Christ and what He had done on the cross, and our need for him. I told him my own story of salvation. I asked him if I could call him and meet him sometime in the next week for coffee or dinner and speak to him more about spiritual things. To this he agreed and he left his number. I asked him if I could pray for him, and he agreed.

As he left I was in disbelief. This was one of the best opportunities I have ever had to share the gospel with a stranger. My goal is to speak with at least 20 people every week in an evangelistic way. I spoke to about 23 people last week, but not with so much clarity as with this man. This was a clear answer to prayer, an answer that came through a malfunctioning cable connection. If the cable had worked the first time, I would not have had a chance to meet Chris, or speak to the other four cable employees. But God works through mysterious ways, and I am humbled at the privilege to open my mouth for my savior, and ashamed at how forgetful I am of the simple lessons that I learned as a new believer.