This is Episode 154 of Christian Research Journal Reads. This is an audio version of the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL article, “Confessions of an Evangelist: Stereotypes Don’t Always Have To Be True” by Laura Cliff. This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 39, number 05 (2016).https://www.equip.org/articles/confessions-of-an-evangelist-stereotypes-dont-always-have-to-be-true/
This podcast presents audio versions of Christian Research Journal articles. As the flagship publication of the Christian Research Institute, the Journal seeks to equip followers of Christ to think and to live Christianly—to exercise truth and experience life. Truth, especially essential Christian doctrine, forms the basis for how we live our lives in Christ. As the apostle Paul instructed Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:16, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”The Christian Research Journal enjoyed a print incarnation of almost 45 years. Now exclusively an online publication, the Journal consists of thousands of free articles. We hope that through these audio articles you are not only equipped to proclaim and defend your faith but that as a disciple you also draw closer to Christ in your walk with Him. You can find the written version of each article that is an episode of Christian Research Journal Reads at the website of the Christian Research Institute, equip.org. All Christian Research Journal articles at equip.org are completely free and do not require a subscription and are not under a paywall.All episodes will be available at the following podcast platforms with more being added daily! You can help spread the word about this new podcast by giving us a rating and review from the other channels we are listed on and telling others!You can view off our Website at the at this link and off our Journal main page.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/christian-research-journal-reads--6022978/support.
This podcast presents audio versions of Christian Research Journal articles. As the flagship publication of the Christian Research Institute, the Journal seeks to equip followers of Christ to think and to live Christianly—to exercise truth and experience life. Truth, especially essential Christian doctrine, forms the basis for how we live our lives in Christ. As the apostle Paul instructed Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:16, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”The Christian Research Journal enjoyed a print incarnation of almost 45 years. Now exclusively an online publication, the Journal consists of thousands of free articles. We hope that through these audio articles you are not only equipped to proclaim and defend your faith but that as a disciple you also draw closer to Christ in your walk with Him. You can find the written version of each article that is an episode of Christian Research Journal Reads at the website of the Christian Research Institute, equip.org. All Christian Research Journal articles at equip.org are completely free and do not require a subscription and are not under a paywall.All episodes will be available at the following podcast platforms with more being added daily! You can help spread the word about this new podcast by giving us a rating and review from the other channels we are listed on and telling others!You can view off our Website at the at this link and off our Journal main page.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/christian-research-journal-reads--6022978/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is episode one hundred and fifty four of the
Christian Research Journal Reads Podcast. Confessions of an Evangelist Stereotypes
Don't Always have to be True? By Laura Cliff. This
article first appeared in the Effective Evangelism column of the
print edition of the Christian Research Journal, Volume thirty nine,
(00:28):
Number five, and twenty sixteen. The Christian Research Journal Reads
Podcast presents audio versions of Christian Research Journal articles. To
read the full text of this article, please go to
equip dot org dot's e quip dot org.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Confessions of an Evangelist Stereotypes Don't Always have to be true?
By Laura Cliff, read by Christina Winterstellar. You're downtown, walking
the streets with your friends, laughing and having a good time,
and then you hear it, your ears strained to take
in the faint sound of what seems to be someone screaming.
(01:13):
As you get closer, you see a bullhorn pressed to
the preacher's lips in one hand and a beat up
bible in the other. His voice is at full volume.
Now people around look uncomfortable, and you think, quote here
we go again with another legalistic street preacher. What am
I going to hell for this time? Unquote when I
(01:35):
first became a Christian, I was the one rolling my
eyes and expressing how those quote crazy street preachers give
Christians a bad rap unquote. Yet ten years later, and
after a good gut wrenching turn through the Humility Press,
I am now one of those annoying quote legalists unquote.
I can tell you I've been to Hell and back
(01:57):
metaphorically in my experiences of sharing the Gospel with strangers
on the streets, but it's a great slice of Heaven
I get to experience in this life training grounds. My
husband Steve, and I met in Texas at a ministry
that trained us in evangelism. The training involved listening to
a few lectures before we were dropped off at the
(02:18):
local outdoor swap mart, loaded with gospel tracks, and told
to engage people in conversation. This was one of my
first tastes of sharing the Gospel with strangers. I got
mostly weird looks, but at the end of the day,
one guy high fived me and thanked me for talking
to him. Six months later, Steve and I were married
(02:40):
and living in his homeland of New Zealand. One Friday night,
soon after we moved there, we went out to explore
the streets of Auckland, the country's biggest city. We stopped
at a koree in prayer station where a man came
up and asked if he could pray for us. Afterward,
with a big smile on his face, he told us
he believed Steve was going to be a preacher. We
(03:01):
weren't sure about that, but it got the wheels spinning
in our brains that we need to be out sharing
the gospel. So Friday evenings became Evangelism night in downtown Auckland.
Fear of man being submerged in an atheistic, pluralistic culture
with people from all over the world was definitely a
fun training playground as we took the fearful yet thrilling
(03:24):
plunge into street evangelism on our first night out with
gospel tracks in hand. Little did we know what awaited
us the rest of our years in Auckland. From encounters
with the homeless, drug addicts, drunks, philosophers, professors, and any
religion cult you could think of, there was never a
dull moment. We had our share of being threatened, slapped,
(03:46):
targeted with liquid or flammable substances, and called every imaginable name.
The most unique was quote deconstructionists unquote by Harry Krishna's
but Steve orchestrated the scariest situation. Muslims from all over
came to New Zealand to learn English, and oftentimes we
(04:07):
were the first Christians with whom they had a chance
to speak. They typically don't go to clubs or bars,
so the coffee shop we stood in front of every
week was a popular hangout for them. One night, Steve
came up to me and said, quote, if I start
getting beat up, call the cops unquote. Next thing I knew,
he walked into the middle of a huge group of
(04:27):
Muslims and said, quote, does anyone here to know Mohammed unquote.
We ended up inside the coffee shop with an Imam,
Muslim religious leader and two of his friends. After buying
us a drink of our choice, the five hour conversation began.
They told us about Islam, and in exchange, we shared
(04:49):
about Christianity and the One True God of the Bible.
When the shop closed, they invited us to their apartment nearby,
where we talked for three more hours. In the end,
their conclusion was that we should kill ourselves since there
was nothing we could do to merit God's grace in
saving us. What was the point of life if we
couldn't earn his favor, especially as a Christian. Another time,
(05:13):
after seeing a play downtown, Steve got in a conversation
with a guy who invited him to speak to his
church's youth group. A few weeks later, we met him
at someone's house. After thirty minutes of pleasantries, we noticed
no youth had shown up. Instead, our hosts popped in
a video and encouraged us to convert to Seventh day Adventism.
(05:36):
After the shock of being deceived were off, we went
back two more times to engage them in Bible study
concerning where the scriptural errors of this group lie unexpected fruit.
Through these experiences, we grew in Christ like we never
thought possible. For the most part, people rejected the Gospel
to our face, no matter how much we pleaded with
(05:58):
them to repent and trust Christ. Results became understood to
mean not that the whole city would fall on its knees,
but rather, through the preaching of his word, God would
soften hardened hearts for his glory. So our job was
to be messengers and He would take care of how
that panned out in each individual. Then came the preaching.
(06:21):
Neither one of us was keen on it. In fact,
we were perfectly content handing out tracks and getting in
conversations with people. However, Steve suddenly found himself in the
middle of it. Someone walked by and said something snarky
and then left. Instead of staying and defending his views.
In response, Steve hopped on a bench and loudly shared
(06:42):
the Gospel with the man as he walked away. Since
Steve had bolded through the door into open air preaching
and was now comfortable with the idea, we guessed this
meant we had better get an amp with a mic
and set up a second mic to give people a
chance to engage with us. Engage they did. If you've
never seen atheists eagerly fight over a mic to try
(07:04):
and stump the preacher, you haven't been fully entertained. We
loved that they loved to engage. At least they cared
enough about God to stop and talk about him. One night,
a guy who shared that he was homosexual went up
to the mic and tried as hard as he could
to brand Steve with the quote God hates fag's unquote characterization.
(07:27):
Try as he might, he couldn't. The final straw was
when a guy we were friends with came up to
Steve in the middle of that conversation and gave him
a big hug to say hi. Steve had shared the
Gospel with him many times before, so he mentioned to
the angry guy on the mic that he was a homosexual,
and Steve indeed did not hate him. The other guy
(07:47):
knew it was over and stormed off. I can go
on about how we met a group of Americans who
came to New Zealand to evangelize during the Rugby World Cup.
The Lord used them to get us to a seminary
in South Carolina and eventually out at the local abortion
clinic here in Greenville. But that's another story. Hey, maybe
(08:08):
that Korean guy at the prayer station was right about
Steve becoming a preacher. Go and tell yes, the stories
we have are crazy, and our experiences have brought me
from tears of frustration and sadness to shouts of joy.
But as for you, reader, and for every other Christian,
the message is from Christ. Quote, go into all the
(08:32):
world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation unquote
Mark sixteen fifteen ESV. Go into the highways and byways
and seek out the unbelievers. Don't wait for them to
come to you. See how moral you are, and ask why,
After all, can't the atheist seem just as moral on
the outside by all means, live righteously. But the difference
(08:56):
comes in sharing the Gospel with them using words. Whether
it's at your workplace, among family and friends, or on
the streets, go and tell it will be one of
the hardest endeavors to take up in obedience, as the world,
the devil, and the flesh fight hard to keep you
from doing it. Why it's the sharing and preaching of
(09:17):
God's word that he uses to save sinners through the
work of the Holy Spirit. But won't God call every
one of his sheep to himself, whether I obey.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Him or not.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I'll meet that with a resounding quote yeah nah unquote,
which is famous in New Zealand. Quote yeah unquote in
that God doesn't need my help in this work. But
quote nah unquote in the sense that he commands me
and every other Christian to quote honor Christ, the Lord
is Holy. Always being prepared to make a defense to
(09:52):
anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope
that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect,
having a good cond unce, so that when you are slandered,
those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be
put to shame unquote one Peter three fifteen through sixteen.
And finally, to remember quote, if the world hates you,
(10:15):
know that it has hated me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love
you as its own. But because you are not of
the world, but I chose you out of the world.
Therefore the world hates you unquote John fifteen eighteen through nineteen, ESV.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Thank you for listening to another episode from the Christian
Research Journal Reads podcast, which provides audio articles of Christian
Research Journal articles. If you go to equip dot org
you will find a brand new article for the Christian
Research Journal published weekly. In addition, please subscribe to our
other podcasts. Wherever you find your favorite podcast, you will
(11:00):
find the Christian Research Journal Reads podcast, the Postmodern Realities podcast,
which features interviews with Christian Research Journal authors, our flagship podcast,
The Bible answer Man Broadcast, and the Hank Unplugged podcast,
where CRI President Hank canagraph takes you out of the
(11:22):
studio and into his study to engage in in depth,
free flowing, essential Christian conversations on critical issues with some
of the most interesting and informative people on the planet.
At equipp dot org, you will also find a lot
of resources to equip you, including many thousands of Christian
(11:43):
Research journal articles. That's e quip dot RG.
This is episode one hundred and fifty four of the
Christian Research Journal Reads Podcast. Confessions of an Evangelist Stereotypes
Don't Always have to be True? By Laura Cliff. This
article first appeared in the Effective Evangelism column of the
print edition of the Christian Research Journal, Volume thirty nine,
(00:28):
Number five, and twenty sixteen. The Christian Research Journal Reads
Podcast presents audio versions of Christian Research Journal articles. To
read the full text of this article, please go to
equip dot org dot's e quip dot org.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Confessions of an Evangelist Stereotypes Don't Always have to be true?
By Laura Cliff, read by Christina Winterstellar. You're downtown, walking
the streets with your friends, laughing and having a good time,
and then you hear it, your ears strained to take
in the faint sound of what seems to be someone screaming.
(01:13):
As you get closer, you see a bullhorn pressed to
the preacher's lips in one hand and a beat up
bible in the other. His voice is at full volume.
Now people around look uncomfortable, and you think, quote here
we go again with another legalistic street preacher. What am
I going to hell for this time? Unquote when I
(01:35):
first became a Christian, I was the one rolling my
eyes and expressing how those quote crazy street preachers give
Christians a bad rap unquote. Yet ten years later, and
after a good gut wrenching turn through the Humility Press,
I am now one of those annoying quote legalists unquote.
I can tell you I've been to Hell and back
(01:57):
metaphorically in my experiences of sharing the Gospel with strangers
on the streets, but it's a great slice of Heaven
I get to experience in this life training grounds. My
husband Steve, and I met in Texas at a ministry
that trained us in evangelism. The training involved listening to
a few lectures before we were dropped off at the
(02:18):
local outdoor swap mart, loaded with gospel tracks, and told
to engage people in conversation. This was one of my
first tastes of sharing the Gospel with strangers. I got
mostly weird looks, but at the end of the day,
one guy high fived me and thanked me for talking
to him. Six months later, Steve and I were married
(02:40):
and living in his homeland of New Zealand. One Friday night,
soon after we moved there, we went out to explore
the streets of Auckland, the country's biggest city. We stopped
at a koree in prayer station where a man came
up and asked if he could pray for us. Afterward,
with a big smile on his face, he told us
he believed Steve was going to be a preacher. We
(03:01):
weren't sure about that, but it got the wheels spinning
in our brains that we need to be out sharing
the gospel. So Friday evenings became Evangelism night in downtown Auckland.
Fear of man being submerged in an atheistic, pluralistic culture
with people from all over the world was definitely a
fun training playground as we took the fearful yet thrilling
(03:24):
plunge into street evangelism on our first night out with
gospel tracks in hand. Little did we know what awaited
us the rest of our years in Auckland. From encounters
with the homeless, drug addicts, drunks, philosophers, professors, and any
religion cult you could think of, there was never a
dull moment. We had our share of being threatened, slapped,
(03:46):
targeted with liquid or flammable substances, and called every imaginable name.
The most unique was quote deconstructionists unquote by Harry Krishna's
but Steve orchestrated the scariest situation. Muslims from all over
came to New Zealand to learn English, and oftentimes we
(04:07):
were the first Christians with whom they had a chance
to speak. They typically don't go to clubs or bars,
so the coffee shop we stood in front of every
week was a popular hangout for them. One night, Steve
came up to me and said, quote, if I start
getting beat up, call the cops unquote. Next thing I knew,
he walked into the middle of a huge group of
(04:27):
Muslims and said, quote, does anyone here to know Mohammed unquote.
We ended up inside the coffee shop with an Imam,
Muslim religious leader and two of his friends. After buying
us a drink of our choice, the five hour conversation began.
They told us about Islam, and in exchange, we shared
(04:49):
about Christianity and the One True God of the Bible.
When the shop closed, they invited us to their apartment nearby,
where we talked for three more hours. In the end,
their conclusion was that we should kill ourselves since there
was nothing we could do to merit God's grace in
saving us. What was the point of life if we
couldn't earn his favor, especially as a Christian. Another time,
(05:13):
after seeing a play downtown, Steve got in a conversation
with a guy who invited him to speak to his
church's youth group. A few weeks later, we met him
at someone's house. After thirty minutes of pleasantries, we noticed
no youth had shown up. Instead, our hosts popped in
a video and encouraged us to convert to Seventh day Adventism.
(05:36):
After the shock of being deceived were off, we went
back two more times to engage them in Bible study
concerning where the scriptural errors of this group lie unexpected fruit.
Through these experiences, we grew in Christ like we never
thought possible. For the most part, people rejected the Gospel
to our face, no matter how much we pleaded with
(05:58):
them to repent and trust Christ. Results became understood to
mean not that the whole city would fall on its knees,
but rather, through the preaching of his word, God would
soften hardened hearts for his glory. So our job was
to be messengers and He would take care of how
that panned out in each individual. Then came the preaching.
(06:21):
Neither one of us was keen on it. In fact,
we were perfectly content handing out tracks and getting in
conversations with people. However, Steve suddenly found himself in the
middle of it. Someone walked by and said something snarky
and then left. Instead of staying and defending his views.
In response, Steve hopped on a bench and loudly shared
(06:42):
the Gospel with the man as he walked away. Since
Steve had bolded through the door into open air preaching
and was now comfortable with the idea, we guessed this
meant we had better get an amp with a mic
and set up a second mic to give people a
chance to engage with us. Engage they did. If you've
never seen atheists eagerly fight over a mic to try
(07:04):
and stump the preacher, you haven't been fully entertained. We
loved that they loved to engage. At least they cared
enough about God to stop and talk about him. One night,
a guy who shared that he was homosexual went up
to the mic and tried as hard as he could
to brand Steve with the quote God hates fag's unquote characterization.
(07:27):
Try as he might, he couldn't. The final straw was
when a guy we were friends with came up to
Steve in the middle of that conversation and gave him
a big hug to say hi. Steve had shared the
Gospel with him many times before, so he mentioned to
the angry guy on the mic that he was a homosexual,
and Steve indeed did not hate him. The other guy
(07:47):
knew it was over and stormed off. I can go
on about how we met a group of Americans who
came to New Zealand to evangelize during the Rugby World Cup.
The Lord used them to get us to a seminary
in South Carolina and eventually out at the local abortion
clinic here in Greenville. But that's another story. Hey, maybe
(08:08):
that Korean guy at the prayer station was right about
Steve becoming a preacher. Go and tell yes, the stories
we have are crazy, and our experiences have brought me
from tears of frustration and sadness to shouts of joy.
But as for you, reader, and for every other Christian,
the message is from Christ. Quote, go into all the
(08:32):
world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation unquote
Mark sixteen fifteen ESV. Go into the highways and byways
and seek out the unbelievers. Don't wait for them to
come to you. See how moral you are, and ask why,
After all, can't the atheist seem just as moral on
the outside by all means, live righteously. But the difference
(08:56):
comes in sharing the Gospel with them using words. Whether
it's at your workplace, among family and friends, or on
the streets, go and tell it will be one of
the hardest endeavors to take up in obedience, as the world,
the devil, and the flesh fight hard to keep you
from doing it. Why it's the sharing and preaching of
(09:17):
God's word that he uses to save sinners through the
work of the Holy Spirit. But won't God call every
one of his sheep to himself, whether I obey.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Him or not.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I'll meet that with a resounding quote yeah nah unquote,
which is famous in New Zealand. Quote yeah unquote in
that God doesn't need my help in this work. But
quote nah unquote in the sense that he commands me
and every other Christian to quote honor Christ, the Lord
is Holy. Always being prepared to make a defense to
(09:52):
anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope
that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect,
having a good cond unce, so that when you are slandered,
those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be
put to shame unquote one Peter three fifteen through sixteen.
And finally, to remember quote, if the world hates you,
(10:15):
know that it has hated me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love
you as its own. But because you are not of
the world, but I chose you out of the world.
Therefore the world hates you unquote John fifteen eighteen through nineteen, ESV.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Thank you for listening to another episode from the Christian
Research Journal Reads podcast, which provides audio articles of Christian
Research Journal articles. If you go to equip dot org
you will find a brand new article for the Christian
Research Journal published weekly. In addition, please subscribe to our
other podcasts. Wherever you find your favorite podcast, you will
(11:00):
find the Christian Research Journal Reads podcast, the Postmodern Realities podcast,
which features interviews with Christian Research Journal authors, our flagship podcast,
The Bible answer Man Broadcast, and the Hank Unplugged podcast,
where CRI President Hank canagraph takes you out of the
(11:22):
studio and into his study to engage in in depth,
free flowing, essential Christian conversations on critical issues with some
of the most interesting and informative people on the planet.
At equipp dot org, you will also find a lot
of resources to equip you, including many thousands of Christian
(11:43):
Research journal articles. That's e quip dot RG.
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