When I say, “evangelist,” for purposes of this discussion, I mean men preaching the gospel, perhaps in missionary status but also men preaching in their own churches.  Over my thirty plus years in full time preaching, I have won many to Christ, saw them baptized into the church, and then discipled.  I did this without a smidgin of pragmatism or gimmicks.  It was pure preaching, dependence on the gospel.

On the other hand, I saw men who rarely saw results.  They still do not see very many results.  They go years, even decades without discipling one person.  Some see many.  Some see very few to none.  Could there be practical reasons why this occurs?  I believe so.  I want to enumerate reasons not necessarily in order.

         1.   A Difference in Love

Some men are faithful to do evangelism.  They do it all the time.  These men have knocked on many doors.  They do what God wants in that way.  In one sense, you could say that they are loving God in that they are keeping His commandments on evangelism.

At the end of Jude, Jude talks about having compassion, making a difference.  Jesus very often in the gospels is said to looking at the people with compassion, connecting His success to that attribute.  Paul mentioned how much he cared again and again.

I’ve noticed that men treat people like they are objects of their preaching.  They very often go about the task like they are putting in the time, and the sheer time-spent counts as loving faithfulness.

It’s important to be faithful.  It is very good to persevere.  I’m thankful for those who will do this.  However, you’ve got to love the people for whom you are reaching.  This includes wanting them to be saved, not just limiting yourself to accomplishing the task.  People know when you care about them.  They can tell when you are going through the motions with them.

Some love people enough that they take record of those with whom they’ve talked.  They remember their names.  These unique individuals will pray for those they evangelize.  They go back and visit them.

Have you ever had someone talk to you, and it seemed like it was an exercise in hearing their own voice?  I know a few pastors this way.  You exist for them to preach to.  You’re there for them to supply their pearls of wisdom.  When you talk to them, you’re not sure if they are listening.  When they talk, it is not personable.  It sounds like a speech written off of a script.  They don’t make a connection in a relationship because they don’t show that they care.

Compassion makes a difference in the results of evangelism.  I know some reading here think they love people.  They’ve convinced themselves.  They rarely see anyone come to Christ, baptized, join the church, and made disciples.  Perhaps you should consider that you don’t care enough.  That’s the reason why.

Both of the churches I started, what I’m writing made a huge difference.  Those people knew that I loved them.  They still do.  Some missionaries act in many ways as pure place setters because they lack the love they need to see more occur than they already do.

      2.   A Difference in Spirit-Filled Boldness

Many men are easily turned away.  A person shows resistance and they move on.  This is related to number one.  They can’t get through those situations because maybe they don’t care enough.  They don’t love enough.  They give up on the person very quickly.

Sometimes men will dance around what needs to be said.  They don’t get to the crucial point toward salvation, the particular stronghold, because they don’t want to say it.  They are either too fearful or they don’t want to look bad.  Both of those are similar but slightly different.

The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6 and Colossians 4 asks the churches to pray for his boldness.  That is an important evangelism prayer.  When the Holy Spirit fills someone, Acts 4 says that they preach the Word of God with boldness.  This is a significant manifestation of Holy Spirit filling.

Having or not having boldness might mean speaking or not speaking.  Some don’t get to the evangelism because they don’t have boldness.  They don’t have boldness because they are not filled with the Spirit, that is, controlled with the Spirit.  They also might not be praying for boldness.  Boldness relates to results someone will see.

Many, many times I have gone out with someone else evangelizing.  He talks and he’s done with a person.  He doesn’t get to the gospel.  I pick up the conversation where he left off and I get through the whole gospel and with great conviction on the person.  Boldness is the difference in these situations.

When I write this, I’m as far away as 1-2-3 pray-with-me as a person can get.  This is not manipulation.  I’m writing about practical, biblical differences that result in someone seeing more or less results.  I’m not guaranteeing results, but there are scriptural reasons some will see more than others, even why someone will never see any results and he should check his heart because of it.

Obviously the two, love and boldness, relate with one another.  Love is fruit of the Spirit.  When the Holy Spirit fills someone, he speaks with boldness.  When I preach boldly, the Spirit bears witness with my spirit that I am a child of God.

To Be Continued