The Secret to Evangelism
I just finished watching, with great interest, an interview of Billy Graham by Greta VanSustern. (There are two parts.)
Greta VanSustern to Billy Graham: “If you have any advice to young preachers today, what’s the advice?” Billy Graham’s response: “Spend more time in study and prayer. That’s the secret of successful evangelism. If you neglect that, you’ve neglected the very heart of God’s call to you.”
Without doubt, the 92 year-old Billy Graham has been the greatest evangelist and most influential evangelical leader of our time.
His large event evangelistic rallies have given millions the opportunity to respond to the good news of Jesus delivered in a clear and concise manner. In Seoul, South Korea he once spoke to 1,000,000 people at one time! Imagine the eternal impact his ministry has had and continues to have through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He has had audience and been a friend to virtually all of America’s modern presidents and other world leaders as well.
In all of this influence and proven record of effectiveness, when asked about what advice he would give young preachers Graham does not point to method but points to Jesus. ”Spend more time in study and prayer. That’s the secret of successful evangelism. If you neglect that, you’ve neglected the very heart of God’s call to you.”
This is a powerful statement! In our minds, study and prayer are kind of like afterthoughts. A good strategy plus a quick prayer and a biblical message equals success right? Hardly!
I believe this is why we (and I include myself in this) as the church have failed in evangelism. Sure, some have come to Christ but we are not seeing conversions in accordance with the God’s heart for the lost. The pulpit loses its power when the preacher doesn’t spend adequate time in study and prayer.
In the same interview Graham said if he were to do things differently in life he would have studied more, prayed more, traveled less, taken less speaking engagements (at conferences in the. UK , US, and the world) because he needed more time to study to think and to pray. He went on to say that he would spend more time in meditation and prayer and just “telling the Lord how much I love him and adore him and am looking forward to the time we are going to spend together for eternity.” How would I change my routine to free up more time for Bible Study, prayer, and meditation?
We don’t often think of these things (prayer, meditation, and study) as keys to successful evangelism but in reality they are. I am all about strategy but give far too little time to these things. It is not as though they are totally neglected. Yet, if I want to have a more powerful and evangelistic ministry, and a very much do, then I must give greater attention to this.
