And of course, I was interested in this clip because the headline talks about Matthews going after Obama. I don’t particularly like Obama’s politics either.

But take a look at the video, because I want to make a point about the ministry from something Matthews says about politics.

The big point Matthews is making is that politics is a people business. You have to talk to people, build relationships with people, spend time with people. His big complaint about Obama is that Obama is keeping his distance from the Congressmen of his own party.

I don’t know how valid Matthews’ complaint is against Obama, although it sounds true. But as I was thinking about it, I thought about our own ministry and how it is built and sometimes how it is hindered or torn down.

The Christian ministry is a people business also, or maybe, ‘moreso’. Jesus said to Peter, “Feed my sheep.” He commissioned us to “make disciples”.

I have found that its really hard to make disciples by e-mail. You need to sit in coffee shops with them. You need to visit in their homes. You need to get involved in their lives.

You need to find ways to do the same kinds of things to initiate evangelistic outreach. People to people contacts. Spending time.

I love spending a lot of time with my interests, or even simply studying out passages for sermons or articles. Study time is important. But I’ve found that people time is more important.

And the e-mail counseling route often leads to disaster! You’ve seen flame wars online, no doubt. Whew! Wait till someone in the church starts going to it with you by e-mail. I’ve learned that it is crucial to stop e-mail ‘counseling’ sessions before they can get too personal. You can use e-mail to set up appointments. You can use it to distribute encouragement or generic devotionals. But if you have an issue you need to discuss… don’t do it online. Person to person – that’s the ticket.

It’s a people business.

Jeff and his wife Anna trained our people in The Exchange soul-winning presentation this week. The training involves two parts – a four session Bible study and a short gospel presentation distilled from the longer study.

The highlights of the week for me included a reminder that in conversing with lost people we need to direct the conversation to heart issues rather than engage head issues (deal with need rather than prove one’s point) and hearing two testimonies from two of our people who were able to share the gospel during the week.

One obstacle Christians face in soul-winning is lack of confidence about what they will say when they witness for Christ. The Exchange provides an excellent tool for presenting the truths of the gospel to a lost person. I heartily recommend it.

Bob Jones University Press is now publishing the soul-winning Bible study and leader’s guide, as well as a twelve week discipleship program to follow up on the evangelistic Bible study.

For an idea of what The Exchange is like, here is our friend Jeff Musgrave, presenting the content of The Exchange.

The fundamentalists lost any chance at influence of the world by their over-emphasis on separatism.

Well…

Just how well is that influence thing working?

Is North American culture today MORE or LESS influenced by Christianity today than 60 years ago?

Is it the mission of disciples to be salt and light in such a way that they have influence in the culture of the world?

If yes, how would we go about that?

It appears that whatever the new-evangelical strategy was, it didn’t work. I’ll concede that if fundamentalists thought they would influence the world somehow, they failed also. So, let’s just posit for a moment the notion that those who follow Christ are called to be salt and light in the world, and therefore to somehow have a position of influence in the world. One would presume that influence should be towards an increase in Christianity, for starters, but failing that, one would at least hope for some influence on the culture.

So, again, exactly how should we do that?

If we personalize the gospel with our testimony, or make it a story in some other way (not compromising the message), is that more effective than a more direct proclamational approach? It seems to me that we have evidence of both styles in the book of Acts.

I don’t think this is an either/or question, rather, perhaps, a “best first approach” question. It seems that in order to win folks to Christ it will often take many contacts (sometimes from many different people), but my question is, can we make a hard and fast rule that ‘testimony-first’ is the best approach?