William Booth said, "Some men's passion is for gold. Some men's passion is for art. Some men's passion is for fame. My passion is for souls."

Are You Operating in Crisis Mode?

On September 14, 1814, the rising sun unveiled a tattered banner, spangled in stars, still waving proudly after a fierce night of battle. The sight of this miracle so flooded Francis Scott Key with joy and pride that he picked up his pen and wrote a poem that would later become the national anthem of the United States. In this feat of literature, Key dubbed our country the “land of the free and the home of the brave.” There is no doubt that the Americans’ grit while defending Fort McHenry from the British justified Key’s words. But alongside the American spirit of freedom and rights has conceived another attitude as deadly as bravery is virtuous. Individualism. It is the no longer subtle whisper of, “Do it for you.” “You’re not accountable to anyone.” “Follow your dream regardless of what others say.” “You don’t have to answer to anybody.”

But you will not find this in the Acts 2 church. Community was big, programs little. Meals were long and relational instead of fast and efficient. Success was not measured by projects achieved but by people invested in. Time to relate was brought to a maximum level, and as a result, unbelievers witnessed the mutual love of believers Jesus talked about (John 17:23).

Having time for this today is like trying to enjoy a tea party in a tornado—soccer practice for the kids, vet checks for the dog, sixty hour work weeks, more church meetings than Inspector Gadget had gizmos. We race to our death with no time to breathe.

This kind of life makes time for getting to know unbelievers and talking to them about deeper things than who won the World Series, slim to nothing. It stifles compassion, making efforts to share the gospel nothing short of awkward. If the statistics that almost 90% of unbelievers come to Christ through a friendship with a believer are true, then Satan has used American individualism as a ghastly strategy against evangelism. In their book, Becoming a Contagious Christian, Bill Hybels and Mark Mittelberg make an excellent point:

Lou Harris conducted a poll comparing what happened in the American work place in 1988 with fifteen years earlier. The average work week jumped from 41 to 47 hours. For those in management, it soared to the range of 52-59 hours per week. During that same period, actual leisure time shrunk 37 percent. Add to this the pressure of two-career families or the incredible weight of running a single-parent household, and the result is that many people are living in what I refer to as ‘crisis mode.’¹

Crisis mode creates its own deadly crisis: no time to love people. It’s no wonder USA Today calculated that if we did all that the experts say we need to do in order to enjoy a balanced, well-rounded life, it would require forty-two hours a day to get it all done!²

What You Can Do About It

Simplify your life.

Retreat to a private haven of rest with a jug of water and go to you knees before the Lord, fasting and studying Scripture. Earnestly plead with God to reveal the priorities He wants you to live for. What would He have your life to be spent on? Boldly ask Him to reveal areas of sin-saturation that crowd out time for people, for nothing will sideline one’s priorities like sin. It might help to jot down everything you do in a typical 24 hour period, and then ask God which things He’d like you to replace with time spent loving the lost.

Slow down.

It’s good to work hard (Prov 6:1-11,) but slog overkill crowds out evangelism opportunities. Next time you have an opportunity to talk with an unbeliever take time to do it. Set your life up in a way that encourages community. You could make Saturday evenings your “come over for dinner” nights for neighbors. When you go to local events, sit around strangers and strike up conversations that can lead into the gospel. Take a day a month to serve at your local rescue mission. And don’t just serve meals. Grab a plate, find the scariest looking stranger, and sit down and eat with him.

View people as souls with eternal needs, not machines.

A twelve day trip to Kazakhstan transformed how one believer from our church interacted with people at his work. “Instead of being short and choppy with my subordinates,” he shared, “I’m now taking more time to ask them how they are doing, and I’m actually listening to what they have to say. I’m trying to enjoy their presence and not be so efficient that I lose the relationship.” You can make evangelism ten times easier just by making yourself 2% more available to unbelievers.

Forego a little comfort.

It’s more comfortable to go to a ball game and yell for your team, than to talk to people about Christ. But try it. Stand near the ticket entrance and pass out tracts. If someone pauses to look it over, ask if he has a church background. From there the conversation can easily slide into the gospel. Better yet, take an unbeliever friend to the game and after it’s over, grab a cup of coffee and tell him there’s something you’ve wanted to tell him for a long time.

Use entertainment strategically.

Entertainment is not bad. It was God’s idea in the first place for “everything created by God is good” (1 Tim 4:4), and He is the one who “supplies us all things to enjoy” (1 Tim 6:17). But there are ways to use it strategically and end up with twice the blessing. Next time you go to a movie or opera with your spouse, invite another couple to come with you. Conversation over coffee afterwards can easily transition into the gospel. If you’re going to go out for ice cream, why not invite your neighbor? Instead of playing tennis with believers only, invite some coworkers. Some families spend one of their vacation weeks on a missions trip, and they come back equipped to share their faith as a way of life.

Spend time with the lost.

My favorite restaurant in Kalamazoo makes my coat smell like I just went through a pack of Marlboro. It’s called the “Crow’s Nest,” and I love this place because it’s a perfect spot for striking up conversations with lost people. When one pastor was asked, “Why has your ministry been so blessed?” he replied, “Because I preach to Christians on Sunday and to unbelievers the rest of the week.” I want that kind of edge. Evangelist William Fay wrote:

If you are living in isolation from the world and the only friends you have are in your comfortable Bible study Wednesday night church get-togethers, Sunday school, Christian picnics, retreats, homeschool events, and concerts, you will never experience the joy of sharing your faith. Your life will become dry because you are ignoring the call to work in his fields. You will lose a sense of vitality that comes from obedience to the Great Commission.³

Just Two Doors Down

Demetrius lived just two doors down. A work injury put him on disability, so he had plenty of time to talk. Day after day, I’d return home from work or seminary and talk with Demetrius about all sorts of things. In most conversations we ended up talking about Jesus. Even though Demetrius attended church occasionally and was baptized as a child, he always had another excuse for not surrendering his life to Christ.

Then my wife Kimberly and I met Demetrius’ wife. Allison was as unsaved as she was religious. She had researched Buddhism and was now hosting Jehovah Witnesses in her home every week, asking searching questions.

One day I told her, “I’ll make a deal with you. If you stop inviting those Jehovah Witnesses to your home, Kimberly and I will meet with you once a week to teach you the Bible.” You should have seen her face.

“Will you really do that?” she said unbelievably. Apparently no one had ever offered to disicple her before.

“Of course!” I said. She was tickled pink. Through those Bible studies, Allison came to know Jesus Christ no longer as another religious figure, but as her personal Lord and Savior. Six years later, Kimberly and I still receive letters from Allison, updating us on her walk with Jesus, even though we now live 2,000 miles away.

If you learn to love the lost, caring for them as real people with genuine struggles and pains, it will make your transitions into the gospel ten times more frequent and natural. When I approach people I don’t think, “How can I get into the gospel?” That’s a recipe for awkwardness. Instead I pray that God will help me to love them and ask Him to provide an opportunity. William Fay said, “My purpose in a friendship is not to ask the five ‘Share Questions’ whenever we get together. My purpose is to be interested in a person's life and to let her know I love her."⁴

Are you OK?

Before Jesus revolutionized his life, William Fay ran a prostitution house. Then somebody squeaked and the authorities nailed him. Fay’s name showed up on every local paper and—no surprise—his company fired him. Hundreds of men called Fay, worried about their names in the records or asking where the girls were. But no one called Fay to see how he was doing. No one but a Messianic Jew named Dr. Grant who played racquetball with Fay. “Are you OK?” Dr. Grant asked. That was the first time in forty years anyone had ever asked William that question. “I was so struck by his concern,” Fay writes, “that when he invited me to go to church with him and his wife, Kathie, I accepted."⁵

Dr. Grant’s kindness ultimately led to Fay’s salvation. How? Dr. Grant loved him. He didn’t just spout truth at Fay. He loved him and cared about how he was doing which led naturally into the gospel. The gospel was more than an old story about a God-man who lived two millenniums ago. It was living and active in the words and life of Dr. Grant, and Fay couldn’t help but get struck with conviction.

Could you find yourself calling a pimp who’s in trouble with the law just to see how he’s doing? Ladies, do you care about the soul of that lady at the gym who's thinner than you and acts like she's “all that”? Men, do you love that boss even though he belittles you and undervalues your work? What about the driver in front of you who's going so slow you could count the treads in his back tires? What about that neighbor who plays his "boneyard music” way to loud or that teacher’s pet who gets favors she never deserves? Every one of these people matters to God infinitely more than we can imagine, and God brought them into your life for a reason. You can ignore them or you can find ways to show them the love of Christ, leading to opportunities to explain the gospel.
Let your heart be thawed and you’ll be amazed at God’s capacity to help you love even the unlovable.

End notes

1. Bill Hybels and Mark Mittelberg, Becoming a Contagious Christian (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 73.

2. Hybels and Mittelberg, 84.

3. William Fay, Share Jesus Without Fear (Broadman and Holman, 1999), 114.

4. Ibid., 125.

5. Ibid.