Hey there,

I am going to be posting a blog (some thoughts to think about) every two weeks at this location for the spring semester of 2009.

I will have a short version on my campus ministry's website www.standinginthegap.us and a longer version on my personal website, here at www.muchofgod.com.

If you want to respond, you can e-mail me at brian@muchofgod.com.

For my first one, I want to encourage each of you to try to reach at least one person this spring for Christ.

By that I mean try to bring at least one person to Christ this spring.

That generally begins by building some sort of relationship with someone or inviting that person to something. It could also mean just looking for ways to open the conversation up to the things of God.

At “Standing in the Gap” I am encouraging our people to try to bring someone to our Wednesday night meetings or our weekend events that are open to anyone. Wednesday nights we welcome questions and discussion and are happy to share with them the good news about Jesus.

Our weekend activities like Movie/Game Night, Road Rally, Super Bowl Party and more (see Events tab at www.standinginthegap.us). These are designed to be a way to invite your friends and have a good time together.

I know there are multiple different theories on how to win lost people to Jesus. If it's out there I have probably read it or read something similar. I am very familiar with “Way of the Master” with Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort, “Campus Crusade For Christ's Four Spiritual Laws” with Bill Bright, “Romans Road,” “Becoming A Contagious Christian,” with Bill Hybles and Mark Mittleberg, “Walking As Jesus Walked” with Dr. Dann Spader, and “You Can Double Your Class in Two Years or Less” with Josh Hunt and many others including Donald McGavran and C. Peter Wagner.

Here's what I think everything boils down to:  if you love Jesus and know His life changing power, salvation and have hope for eternal life and want others to experience it as well as to keep them out of hell, you need to find a way to share that.

Let's all pick one that we think honors God, speaks truth, is effective and that we like and let's do it.

I know some are more gifted to reach people for Jesus than others and we may never actually help someone make the final decision, to cross the line, so to speak. But we should all be praying for the people we know and the opportunities to share and inviting people to events that we think can change their lives. In other words, we all should be in the business of trying to help people know Jesus. Each one, should reach one.

Before you invite anyone or speak to anyone though, I invite you to pray. Ask the Lord to reveal to you who you could invite or speak with and pray for your friends and acquaintances that you would like to invite and speak with.

Everyone who reads this is an "each one." Therefore I am encouraging you by God's power through prayer this year to "reach one."

God Bless,

Brian