MCC has been blessed to have Mike Brazie serve us for 30 years. He has led as an elder, an adult Sunday School teacher, Bible study leader, VBS volunteer and just about everything else in-between. He has served with the Gideon's ministry for 25 years, throughout New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas, and has worked with Gideons in Colombia, Cuba, and Madagascar. He was on the convention committee for the International Gideon Convention in 2010 and also this summer, working with Gideons from all over the world. This is what Mike has to say about sharing the gospel:
I’ve been asked how I typically share the gospel with people I meet. The actual presentation I use depends on the person and situation, but I try to turn the conversation to spiritual things, and then have the person read gospel verses. I just let God speak to the person through His Word.
For example, someone may say it is a lovely day, and I might respond by saying it is the day God made. I then start asking questions to lead to an opportunity to get them in the Word. Some questions I might use are: Do you have any kind of spiritual beliefs? To you, who is Jesus Christ? Do you believe in heaven and hell? If you were to die today do you know where you would go? If what you believe is wrong, would you want to know?
If their answer is negative or they resist, I stop and pray that God will use the seed planted to work on their heart. But if they continue to answer, I ask if they would read a few Bible verses out loud for me and tell me what they mean to them. I use the verses in the back of our Gideon Personal Workers Testament, which are: John 3:16 and Romans 5:8 on God’s love; Romans 3:23 and Romans 3:10 on our sins; Romans 6:23, John 1:12, and I Corinthians 15:3-4 on God’s remedy for sin; and Revelation 3:20 and Romans 10:13 on salvation is available to everyone.
I don’t argue or question their answers to my questions, it doesn’t matter – the objective is to get them to agree to read the Bible verses. Pastor Frank has described it as leading other people to share the gospel with themselves. It takes away anything really offensive because you aren’t telling them anything, you are just asking questions and letting them hear God themselves. The Holy Spirit does all the heavy lifting.
If I get them through all the verses I then ask if they want to have Jesus as their Lord and Savior, have all their sins forgiven, and know they will spend eternity in heaven with God. If they say no, I leave it at that. But if they say yes, I will lead them in the sinner’s prayer and encourage them to find a Bible-oriented church to attend. If they live close to us, I will invite them to come to Mountain Christian Church.
And if I can’t even get started with a person, I will just give them a Personal Worker’s Testament and ask them to at least read inside the back cover (which has the gospel verses), and then pray God will use it to lead them to His Son.
If you want to do this but don’t want to become a Gideon, you can be a Friend of Gideons and buy the same Testaments but without our Gideon logo.