Just a couple of weeks ago, I had the personal privilege of partnering with Answers in Genesis (AiG) to serve and speak at The King and His Kingdom conference in Calgary, Alberta.  

Cory serving alongside Ken Ham, Founder & CEO of Answers in Genesis

It was a joy to again serve alongside Ken Ham (AiG Founder and CEO), Calvin Smith (Executive Director of AiG Canada), and the other AiG leaders to help host their ministry supporters and also promote The Cross Current to the many pastors, elders, and evangelists onsite. God was evidently at work!

EVANGELISM TRAINING TESTIMONIES

In addition to enjoying rich times of corporate worship and the Word together, I was also able to equip a couple Christians by example for evangelism. On a related note, I’m always amazed at how God so graciously and powerfully responds when I pray for opportunities to share the gospel and train other saints to do the same!

The first door God opened for evangelism and discipleship came at the small café onsite at the conference centre. I had just met a new brother in Christ when the café worker overheard our conversation and asked whether we were Christians. I immediately responded with “Yes, we are! Are you?” She said she wasn’t…yet.

“My name is Cory, what’s yours?” She said “Maria” (name changed).

“Are you a spiritual person, Maria?” She said she was and began to share how her family was formerly Mormon and recently her Roman Catholic grandmother encouraged her to pray for God to help her see the truth of how much He loves her.

I sincerely suggested to Maria that God sent me to have a conversation with her to prove that’s true.

Cory’s new friend Maria gives 2 thumbs up after their gospel conversation

Suffice to say that her heart was ready to hear The 3 Big Questions of life and death matters. So, after I confirmed that her manager would allow her to take a 5-minute break to talk to me, we pulled the conversation to the side of the counter away from the lineup of customers, and I also invited my new Christian friend to join us.

Maria and I enjoyed a very candid conversation about Christ and His gospel! I also assured her that I knew of a faithful, Bible-believing church nearby, and I’d even have the pastor and a female congregant drop by to introduce themselves and invite her to worship with them on Sunday. Further, not only did my new Christian friend thank me for how he was so demonstratively discipled in evangelism, but another café customer and conference participant made mention about how he too was drawn to listen and learn from the gospel conversation.

The second door God opened for evangelism and discipleship happened at our hotel. Immediately after I emceed the AiG donor breakfast onsite, I asked one of the hotel workers whether she’d ever heard of Answers in Genesis? She said she hadn’t. “Then you’d be a great person to ask The 3 Big Questions!” “What are those?” “Glad you asked!” I said. 😊

I again invited another believer to witness the conversation so he could be equipped by example for evangelism. Jill (name changed) explained how she’d been recently worshipping with Roman Catholic young adults, but had a sense that something wasn’t quite right. She then appropriately asked the difference between Roman Catholic and Protestant, after which I shared the gospel and opened the Bible to Ephesians 2:8-9 to draw biblical distinctions. Jill was so responsive to our conversation!

Cory connects with pastors Tim Stephens (Left) & James Coates

If you’re a pastor or church leader, CLICK HERE for more info on how TCC is helping leaders equip their entire churches for evangelism.

After we talked, I assured her that another Christian from the conference would drop back a Bible to her and I also again advertised a solid church nearby. On a sidenote, I’m sure you can imagine how the pastor of this church I promoted responded when I testified to him about these two examples of evangelism and the invitations to his church that followed! Further, not only was the believer I was training excited about the conversation to the point that he introduced me to his pastor, but it turned out that the other hotel worker helping clean the conference room was also “coincidentally” a Christian who testified to how inspired and instructed she was through hearing the gospel conversation as well.  

EXAMPLING EVANGELISM

Have you watched my YouTube commercial called “The Evangelism Tiger” that illustrates the ferocious effect of example in evangelism? CLICK HERE to take a minute to check it out!

It was Paul the Apostle who invited his fellow Christians to “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (1 Cor. 11:1, NIV) It’s been my repeated experience that example entices evangelism eavesdroppers! Why? Well, among other reasons, faithful Christian ambassadorship attracts fellow Christ-followers because obedience magnetizes us to the gospel mission of Christ Himself.

So, let’s go and do likewise while the One who gives us the breath we need also gives us the time we need.