Creatively Repping Jesus

The destiny of every human is a face-to-face meeting with Jesus. Some will greet Him as friend, others as enemy. For whatever reason though, we believers suffer from a sort of “spiritual constipation” as my pastor friend Craig has dubbed it.

After speaking out at Pastor Craig’s church in a Wisconsin, a woman from the church asked me about the park ministry at CityView. Her question went something like this: “So how do you do it, have a Jesus conversation with someone you’ve never met before?” It took a long and round about answer for me realize that I didn’t have a procedure for it. Yeah, I go to parks with intention, but the witnessing isn't choreographed. To speak of Jesus should be a natural outpouring of my real relationship with Jesus. Furthermore, what I am saying should address and answer the longings of the human heart!

That answer kind of sounded like a spiritual sidestep to a good, practical question. The truth is that after a while, you just drop the junk, and turn the conversation. (And this is an introvert talking.) Often I cite my own story and experience following Jesus. When natural conversations form and natural desires are articulated, I redirect the talk to Jesus in whom we desire, depend, and delight. In this way, a conversation about how drugs don’t satisfy becomes a conversation about how Jesus does satisfy. A conversation about a bad father can point us to God as the perfect Father. A conversation about violence, pain, and injustice highlights man’s sin, God’s holiness, and our need for the gospel.

If you read through the gospels, Jesus related to people in an authentic way. Why should we rep the King in a way that is altogether different than how Jesus repped Himself? I need to get a lot better at evangelism, and the truth is that it grows in synchrony with my relationship with God.