Featured Church never got back with me regarding evangelism

blessed...
is it possible that people have had their ears tickled? There was a time when I subscribed to the premise of Comfort and Cameron.

And when I heard the gospel, I flatly rejected it.

This Way of the Master stuff is actually the way of the deceiver. A form of godliness by preaching morality, Law, expectations...denying the power of godliness by reducing righteousness to a prescription of works

 

Right after you prove that this pastor was "blessed" by God rather than his own flesh

 

Actually, I think you misunderstand some of the book.

I won't be able to pick it up again until next weekend because of work, family, chores, obligations, church, Bible study, Bible teaching preparation, etc.

 

Didn't mean to come across as condescending. I think your theology is probably better than Comfort's and you're overlooking some things, assuming he doesn't really mean what he has written.

I had a better view of the book when you were explaining it than I have by reading it. I still disagree with both you and the book, but I find you more credible.

 

Actually, I find it tedious. I'm having a hard time getting through it because he is a sloppy thinker and spends a lot of time trying to convince me against things I've never believed instead of making a positive case for his position.

It seems to me that he has almost abandoned his premise that we should present law to "the proud" with his discussion of presenting God as the judge of all. If that had been his starting point - instead of the demonstrably false assertion that Jesus and the early church preached Law - the book would make more sense.

The book makes some major faulty assumptions that it hasn't yet resolved:
1.) That the gospel is about managing sin so that we can be forgiven. Obviously, sin and our desperate need to be right with God is a big issue, it is not at the heart of the message of Jesus or the early church. Paul spent quite a bit of time in his letters (to churches, not the lost) explaining what Jesus had done on the cross, but it was not the focus of the message of message of Jesus. Jesus preached on the kingdom of God, and sent His followers out with that message. Jesus is not just the path to God or a sacrifice for sins, but He is Lord and His kingdom is available now. Any evangelism message that does not emphasize that aspect of things is preaching an incomplete gospel
2.) That a certain evangelism method or technique is more effective than others. I have had thousands of conversations with people over the years that took a turn toward the gospel. As a younger Christian, I had been taught that I had to use certain methods to be effective, but I noticed that when I used them, they were geared toward making an immediate decision and not trusting that the Spirit was at work. I have actually had almost no success with methods, but enormous success with letting the Spirit work and being available to speak truth into someone's life through that process. Often it takes a couple of conversations and then we see results. I have had several occasions where someone has reported back to be that a conversation that we had was the beginning of their knowledge of God and that it was the catalyst that took them to conversation, often years later. I am not a full-blown Calvinist, but I do affirm that conversion is primarily of God. I don't feel the need to get a notch in my belt when I evangelize, so I don't need a method to press for conversion. I do not want to short-circuit what the Spirit is doing by trying to make something happen.

I don't really need a book on evangelism other than the scriptures. I have never found a book that didn't obsess over methods instead of understanding and living the gospel, while being sensitive to the Spirit's leading.