August 26, 2002
TOGETHER:
Make a list & pray for this harvest
___In "The Salty Tang," Presbyterian preacher Frederick Speakman describes an elderly woman traveling in London who came to tour Westminster Abbey. Strangers might have pegged her as a grandmother from the American Midwest whose children had sent her on the overseas journey she always dreamed of taking. But she didn't quite fit the tourist mold.
___"The guide was accustomed to all the tourist types that do the abbey, from the gushing romantics to the California belittlers, but he couldn't get the wavelength of this little soul," Speakman writes.
___"This Whistler's Mother with springs in her heels who, from one spot of interest to the next, kept leading him rather than being led, listened to every word of his droning description, but with never a comment. She glanced at every stone and symbol and inscription with the steady eyes of hungry interest, yet silently conveyed the idea that she wasn't about to be impressed.
CHARLES WADE
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
___"And when at last she spoke, it was to break into his pattern with a question that left the guide slack-jawed and puzzled. With one quick gesture, she swept Westminster Abbey, that citadel of church tradition, that rich storehouse of historic Christian greatness, and said, 'Young man, young man, stop your chatter and tell me, has anyone been saved here lately?'"
___That jarring question can be asked in Baptist churches as well. For all our reputation as effective evangelists, sometimes we Baptists get so preoccupied with doing church that we neglect to be the church. Sometimes we get settled into our communities where nothing much changes and assume that there are no lost people around us who need to be saved.
___We become guilty of selective vision. We don't really "see" the people around us who need Christ. We have so many friends in our church, we don't know how we could add anyone else to our lives.
___What can be done to help us be more effective in helping our friends and acquaintances come to know the Lord?
___The first step is to pray. Pray that God will put on your heart a person who needs to know Jesus and his saving grace. When I was a pastor, I always developed a prayer list of men, women, older children and youth in my community who needed to be saved. I prayed for them every day and asked God to put me into situations with them where I could inquire about their relationship to God. I made a point to visit with them in their homes, or at their businesses, or at a meal, or on a trip, or in my study so that we could have in-depth discussions about following Jesus and being saved.
___I would find that there were a variety of reasons people had for not committing their lives to Christ. Some found it difficult to believe. Some had been hurt by previous experiences with Christians. Some had grown disillusioned with church, where people seemed to be friendly at first but left them feeling pushed back and isolated as they got a little closer. Some found that the most terrible place to feel lonely is at church. Some did not want God to change their lives, especially their priorities and their pleasures.
___Please join me this moment in making a list. Name one, two or 20 people who, as far as you know, are not saved and need God. And then pray for this harvest.
The Baptist Standard
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