I find myself making this observation quite regularly,
but after doing these weekly devotions now for over 18 years (around 950 to
this point), I realize that many illustrations I give, I’ve given before. (And
my kids or former players or students will probably say I repeat way too often…)
But as I lay in bed this morning my mind was racing with analogies that were
based off of some work I was doing on a mission statement for one of our
outreaches… (this was all happening pre-dawn, I am typically one that sleeps in
a bit…)
In the mission statement I have been working on, it
starts with the idea of evangelism. This will sound a bit weird, but my mind
tends to put things into sports-based pictures; and I right now I plan to share
a couple other pieces of the mission statement over the next weeks…
Evangelism I have often likened unto recruiting, in a positive
and negative way. In the positive sense, it involves telling a “recruit” about
the incredible benefits of being a part of the “team.” But in a negative sense,
we tend to treat evangelism like recruiting in that we look for “recruits” that
seem to “fit.” Let me explain by going to some of the old illustrations…
When I was still active in the basketball coaching world,
I would at times get calls from college coaches (recruiters) asking me to keep
a look out for players; I would in turn ask what they were looking for… to
which I typically hear things like “long and athletic.” I never had one tell me
to find them a short guy, or a slow guy, or… you get the picture. And my mind
saw things that way, even though I knew it wasn’t always accurate…
For example, I remember being at a complex in the
Dominican Republic and getting my picture taken next to a young man that had a
great athletic build and stood, I’m guessing, 6’10” or so… he was a basketball
recruiters dream; BUT, even though there is a lot of hoops played in the DR,
the number 1 sport is far and away baseball… and that particular young man was
at that place for a baseball clinic. And yet, I often have written about a
young man that played for me when he was in middle school, on the varsity high
school team, that was really small and unassuming to look at, yet was a
cold-blooded assassin on the court… regularly out-playing (and even embarrassing) bigger, more athletic,
older players.
If I were to use the eye-test to recruit players, I would
have gone after a baseball player and ignored a kid that eventually became an all-American
high school player and division 1 stud!
So, what does this have to do with evangelism? I think we
often approach evangelism by the eye-test… if someone looks like he or she fits
what we think a Christian should look like. We “profile” who we think would be
interested, or let’s be honest, who we think would be a good Christian…
I’m thinking Jesus would have had a more impressive crew
of apostles if He would have gone that route. He could have had the movers and
shakers, instead of fishermen… or what about Matthew, an extortioner (tax
collector)? (Tax collectors were so untrusted and looked down on that they weren’t
even allowed to be a witness in a court case.)
I say all of this to remind each of us that there are not
prerequisites, or tryouts, to make God’s team. I believe the Scriptures when
they say, “whoever believes in Him”(John 3:16)… “whosoever calls on the Lord will
be saved.” (Acts 2:21, Romans 10:13) [The word “calls” literally means to
invoke the name of the Lord… to rely on Him!]
Bottom line: Making God’s team is not based upon fitting
a mold… or having something to offer God and the team… it is based upon
receiving the offer He made through the one who is worthy! In evangelism, we
must realize that no one if good enough, we are sharing the Substitute, the One
who is!
Be a Whosoever-Recruiter!
