Last summer, my wife had gone to the Trader Days in McKinney with a couple of her friends. She told me that there was a booth there with some Muslims sharing about Islam with people. We decided it was a good idea to go back so that I could talk with these men. I spoke with them for 20 minutes or so, but it was nearing the end of the day when I got to talk to them. I gave one of them my card so that we could talk more later. However, I’ve never heard from them since.
At another booth, I meet Wally. He had a booth sharing the Gospel using the Eye Test and the Way of the Master. Wally is also involved with Extreme Missionary Adventure. We exchanged contact information and agreed to keep in touch so we could do ministry together. Over the past couple of months, Wally and I have talked several times. He is now teaching Way of the Master Basic Training at his church. Once the class is instructed, he wants to be able to take the members out door to door so they can use what they have learned.
Wally and I agreed to meet on Saturday morning. Little did we know it would be one of the coldest days in Dallas this winter. Wally came to my house and we had some good fellowship and a cup of coffee before we headed out. As we walked down the alley from my house to the street, we had to be careful as the water in the alley had formed a thin sheet of ice. I shared with Wally my experiences going door to door. I told him how you could get any response from people not being home, to those that would allow you to share the Gospel. We experienced all of that in a short time.
In the first ten houses, nearly no one was home. This really surprised us since we figured the cold weather would have kept people home. We eventually were able to have three one on one conversations with people. At one house we had a good conversation with the woman that lives there. She readily admitted to breaking the commandments by dishonoring her mom and dad, stealing and lying. However, she said that when she is judged, “it would be based on the whole body of work of her life.” We explained to her that in a court room a judge does not do that. She agreed. However, she did not connect the dots to God. At that, she said it was too cold to continue the conversation so I gave her a “Why Christianity?” tract.
The last conversation was with a Catholic man. I asked him “as a Catholic, what do you think happens when you die?” He then explained to me how he hoped his good works would be enough get him to heaven. I explained to him difference between what he believes and the Biblical Gospel that says you must repent of your sins and trust solely in Jesus for salvation. He also took a tract.
We visited 26 houses, had 3 one on one conversations, got 3 prayer requests and gathered 19 food items. This brings the total number of houses visited to 663 with 176 one on one conversations. I have now collected 110 prayer requests and 588 food items.
Thanks for your continued prayer and support.
Are you ready to start going door to door in your neighborhood? Could you commit to sharing the Gospel with everyone on your street? Everyone on your block? Everyone in your zip code? Everyone in your city? Pray about it. If God leads you to get started then please contact me so we can discuss it and add you to the door to door map.
How do you "collect" prayer requests, and what do you do with them after they have been collected ?
The way we collect prayer requests is by asking, "is there any specific way that we can pray for you and your family?" This is step two of our three step approach. Step one is to ask for a food donation. And step three is to share the Gospel with them.
I carry a clip board with me when I go door to door. Among other things, on the clip board is a stack of prayer request forms. When I get a prayer request I complete information like data, name, address, request and general comments. I also have a place to mark if the person is a Christian or what other religion they belong too.
Once we have the prayer requests, we have a prayer meeting on the 1st and 3rd mondays of each month. At those meetings we pray for the prayer requests that were gathered. Normally we do this by dividing up the prayer request forms amongst all of those present at the meeting. Then someone opens in prayer. Wew each then pray over the cards we have. The cards can then either be put into the center of the table for someone else to take or passed left or right (as agreed in advance) so that everyone can pray for multiple requests.
Some requests it is appropriate to follow-up with the people. We have a separate team of people that are involved with the follow-up.
Thank you very much . Why do you do those three things in that order ? Didn't Jesus share the gospel FIRST ? (Did he ask for food and prayer requests, to ? I guess I don't remember those parts . Where do I find that in the gospels ?)
Anonymous – I do these three things in this order to start a conversation in the natural and then swing it to the spiritual. You might like to check out the Way of the Master episode titled "Crafting the Message" for all the background.
I know some people who are doing door to door without the food drive or the prayer requests. For me, I've found that starting in the natural and swinging to the things of God allows just a few moments to see if the person is even open to the things of God.
John 4 shows Jesus using a similar model. He starts out talking to the woman at the well about water. Then he swings the conversation to the spiritual meaning.
I hope that helps.