I took advantage of all my learning, training and field experience, 42 years worth, and combined them into two Textbooks: this one titled Evangelism: The Time is Now! (Basic Program) and Relationship With Jesus The Key To Effective Ministry (Advanced Program).⁴¹ One of the unique qualities of these two textbooks is that they draw upon all Biblical streams of Christianity and interrelate the Conservative, Evangelical, Charismatic concepts of Evangelism without compromise.

I mean EVANGELICAL in the sense that Jesus’ will for the Church is to seek and to save the lost, and to seek and to save the lost by drawing men to Himself. I mean CHARISMATIC in the sense that in order for our Evangelism to be effective and ministered in love that it must be Jesus centered and be motivated out of love relationship with Jesus. I mean CONSERVATIVE in that our Evangelism, Evangelistically Charismatically oriented, must be motivated within the guidelines of Scripture and be brought into submission to the Bible in its total context to be certain that our Evangelism and ministering is truly Jesus centered and truly motivated out of love relationship with Jesus.

These two Textbooks combines these three streams of Biblical Christianity and their teaching on Evangelism into one program. It is a more wholistic approach to Evangelism, but you do not have to be a college graduate to go through it and understand it’s content. When I wrote it I strove to keep it simple enough for anyone to understand but complete enough that any Bible scholar could appreciate it and their comments after critiquing the material confirms it. When I finished the 1983 version of this textbook three different College Professors with doctorate degrees, all Evangelists, all published authors in Evangelism of three different Christian faiths critiqued the material. One said to me, I have never read anything equal to this anywhere. Your depth and completeness are astounding. The program was recommended to both graduate and undergraduate ministry majors. A very nice letter was sent to me by Dr. John D. Morris of Institute for Creation Research, the son of Dr. Henry Morris making the following comments on this Evangelism material:

"Let me congratulate you on a job well done. The materials are excellent tools for teaching others about the truth of God’s Word. I am especially pleased that you included creation evangelism in your work." — Dr. John D. Morris, President of ICR August 11, 1998

I have since then updated the Basic (87’, 94’, 97’, 99’) and Advanced (87’, 97’, 99’) Textbooks and made them an even better program than they were before. What I want to talk about in this Chapter is what the necessary ingredients of a Training Program in Evangelism are and how these Basic and Advanced Training Programs of Evangelism completely fulfills all of these requirements.

What are the INGREDIENTS of an Evangelism Training Program that will adequately equip Laymen to do the work of Evangelism? They are:

1. The teaching of Biblical Doctrine in the areas of Evangelism, Salvation, Discipleship and Apologetics.

2. In Class Training.

3. On the Field Training.

4. And Advanced Training in the areas of Discernment, Counseling and Apologetics.

Robert L. Hart writes concerning the design of a Lay Evangelism Program,

"Evangelism with the whole Gospel—not by one facet alone. This principle implies an understanding of conversion, discipleship and nurture. In other words, each Christian Evangelist must have a mature and Biblical understanding of what the Gospel is."^42/20

The first requirement to be an effective Christian witness is the study of Biblical doctrine in the areas of Evangelism, Salvation, Discipleship, and Apologetics. Paul the Apostle commands us in 2 Timothy 2:15 that we are to study to ". . . present ourselves approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth."

Concerning EVANGELISM Jesus said,

"Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to You, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest." (John 4:35)

In this passage Jesus tells us that the time for Evangelism is always now. Paul wrote,

"And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain—for He says, ‘At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you’; behold, NOW is ‘the acceptable time,’ behold, NOW is ‘The day of salvation.’" (2 Corinthians 6:1-2)

Paul explains to us that the acceptable time for people to come to Salvation in Christ is NOW!; therefore, the time for Evangelism is always NOW? The only way men and women can come to saving faith in Jesus Christ is when we take time in our weeks to go out and share the love of Jesus Christ with them. Solomon wrote, "He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap" (Ecclesiastes 11:4). In order to bring men and women to Jesus we must sow, water, fertilize and weed and the only way this is done is when we plan and make time to go out and share the love of Jesus Christ with men; otherwise, Solomon says if we do not sow, we will not reap. Jesus said the time for Evangelism is NOW!

"And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. GO THEREFORE and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’" (Matthew 28:18-20)

Concerning SALVATION Paul told Timothy,

"Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things; for as you do this you will insure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you." (1 Tim 4:16).

Dr. Bill Bright in his book, How You Can Be Sure You Are A Christian tells us that the salvation experience involves the intellect, will, and then emotions.⁵⁵ In order to respond to the Gospel a person must first understand what the Gospel is clearly, intellectually. Therefore in order to lead a person into salvation we must first have a clear understanding of what the basic message of the Gospel is.

Evangelism is explaining to a person what it means to be a Christian and how to become one. Often times the reason Christian Laymen are not able to lead others to Christ is because they cannot articulate what it means to be a Christian and how to become one. This is the first job of Training in Evangelism. This is what led James Kennedy to develop Evangelism Explosion.⁴³ He told his congregation they needed to get out and share their faith. The problem was they did not know how. In answer to the problem James Kennedy fulfilled his calling in Ephesians 4:11-13 by developing a program of Evangelism called Evangelism Explosion to teach them how to. The end result is that not only his Church but hundreds of Churches using his program all over the country and the world have led thousands of men and women to Christ because the Laymen have been trained how too.

Paul commands us in 1 Timothy 4:16 to know clearly what constitutes salvation not only to assure our own but in order to assure the salvation of the person we are witnessing too. Therefore any effective Program of Evangelism must first start with training the individual in what the Gospel is and then how to communicate it to others.

Concerning DISCIPLESHIP Jesus commanded,

"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and MAKE DISCIPLES of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matt 28:18-20).

Evangelism is not just explaining to a person what it means to be a Christian and how to become one, but once they accept Jesus, it is then teaching them what it means to be Jesus’ Disciple.

This leads us to two questions: What does it mean to be Jesus’ disciple, and, how do we go about teaching a new Christian to be Jesus’ disciple? The word here in the Greek for Disciple is maqhteuvw (mathetuo) meaning to make a disciple, to train in discipleship.⁴⁴ Jesus gives the answer to what it means to be His disciple in the Gospel of John 10:27: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." Jesus tells us in this passage that being His disciple means learning to discern what is truly His voice and then obeying what He commands us to do. Discipleship Training therefore is teaching a Christian how to discern what is truly Jesus’ voice to him in the different areas of his life and then encouraging him or her to obey what Jesus commands them to do. According to Matthew 28:18-20 this involves teaching the new Christian all that Jesus commanded as given in the New Testament. For this reason to have an effective Evangelism Training Program, one must not only teach clearly what the Gospel is, but also what it means to be Jesus’ disciple and how to teach it to others.

Concerning APOLOGETICS the Apostle Peter commanded,

"But Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence." (1 Pet 3:15).

The word defense in Greek is ajpologiva (apologia)⁴⁵ from the Greek word ajpologevomai (apologeami) meaning A positive offense for the Christian not a negative defense.^34/1 Apologetics is giving honest answers to honest questions about the validity of the Christian faith. It is also explaining to a person why we believe the Bible is true and is truly God's Word, God's Holy Word alone. Many Christians shun this area of discipline in there witness saying it is a lack of faith to ask questions. Francis A. Schaeffer in his book, 2 Contents, 2 Realities responded to this attitude in the following manner,

"Evangelicals can fall into something which really is not very far from existential theology without knowing it. One form of such evangelical existentialism is the attitude, if not the words, Don’t ask questions, just believe. This sort of attitude was always wrong, but it is doubly wrong today when we are surrounded with a monolithic consensus which divides reason from non-reason and always puts religious things in the area of non-reason. We must call each other away from this idea. It is not more spiritual to believe without asking questions. It is not more Biblical. It is less Biblical and eventually it will be less spiritual, because the whole man will not be involved. Consequently, in our Evangelism, in our personal work, in our young people’s work, in our ministry wherever we are, those of us who are preachers and are preaching, those of us who are teachers and are teaching, and those of us who are evangelists must be absolutely determined not to fall into the trap of saying or implying, don’t ask questions, just believe. It must be the whole man who comes to understand that the Gospel is truth and believes because he is convinced on the basis of good and sufficient reason that it is truth."^37/8

The problem is not a lack of faith on the part of the prospective convert, but a lack of love on the part of the person witnessing. What I mean by a lack of love is the unwillingness to love man deeply enough to do the work of research necessary to give the individual the answers he needs so that his faith can be released to surrender to Jesus as Savior and Lord. The alternative is eternal hell. Christianity does have the answers to all the questions and can be found for the person willing to pay the price to find them. If we really care about the salvation of men the discipline of apologetics is not an option in our witnessing to men. It is an absolute necessity according to the Apostle Peter, and a very necessary part of any truly serious Evangelism Training Program.

Because teaching and training Christians the importance of EVANGELISM, what SALVATION is, what it means to be Jesus’ DISCIPLE, and basic principles of APOLOGETICS are clear commands of Scripture, we can be assured that we are being led of the Holy Spirit when we include them in the development of an Evangelism Training Program.

This Basic Textbook more than satisfies these four teaching requirements of a Basic Training Program. This material has been developed out of 42 years of weekly Evangelism, Discipleship and Apologetic work on the field and in the classroom.

In the area of EVANGELISM this Basic Textbook teaches the student:

1. The Creation, Constitution and Fall of man and Jesus’ Complete Salvation for man.

2. Who Jesus Christ is and His Claims about Himself.

3. How to communicate the Gospel to others and bring them to commitment in Jesus using the tract What Is Eternal Life?

4. What the necessary Ingredients for Christian Conversion Are.

5. The Importance of Prayer before Evangelism, what one needs to pray for in preparation for Evangelism and how to pray for these things before going out on the field developed from 42 years of battle on the field.

6. How to develop and communicate one’s testimony of salvation clearly.

7. How to be an effective witness on the job.

8. The different kinds of Evangelism there are and when they are to be used.

9. What Holy Spirit led Evangelism is and is not.

10. Ethics in Evangelism.

11. Several case examples of Evangelism on the field.

12. Finally, the cost required to be an effective consistent witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In SALVATION the Basic Textbook teaches the student:

1. What the Bible teaches about man’s fall and why man cannot save Himself.

2. Why God the Son had to be fully God and fully man to save us from our sins.

3. Why we must be born again to be saved.

4. Why Jesus is the ONLY Way to God.

5. Why Jesus is our final and only High Priest and why in light of this the Levitical Priesthood was done away with permanetely.

6. Why Jesus’ Salvation is received through faith alone, not by any works of ours.

7. How Jesus’ salvation for our sins makes us perfect in God’s eyes.

8. How What Is Eternal Life? adequately communicates these truths on the field.

My reason for choosing to use a tract like What Is Eternal Life?⁴⁷ in this basic school of Evangelism is not because I think it is the Only way to approach Evangelism. In aggressive planned Evangelism, I find it is the best way to approach Evangelism. The goal of Evangelism is to explain to a person what it means to be a Christian and how to become one. When witnessing to a co-worker on the job or a long time associate, I will share with them my life and how events in my life led me to Jesus and His Salvation. But when I go out to witness to a total stranger I will in most cases never see again, my primary goal is to communicate to that person what it means to be a Christian and how to become one clearly in a way so that when I leave, even if he is not ready at that moment to give his life to Jesus, when he is ready he will know what to do and how to receive Jesus Christ into his heart.

Using an Evangelism Tract makes this possible. First, it keeps the focus on Jesus. It keeps you on the message of the Gospel and prevents the listener from getting you side tracked to issues not related to the Gospel. Second, it keeps the presentation of the Gospel simple, concise and to the point. Third, not only is the person hearing the Gospel but sees it communicated on paper and thus brings into involvement more of his senses than just his hearing. The more senses that are involved in your presenting the Gospel, the better the person will remember what you communicated later. Fourth, using a tract gives you something you can leave with the person so that when he or she is ready to receive Jesus, they have something in their hands that will tell them how to do it. Fifth, not only will the tract tell them how to receive Jesus, but will give them assurance of Salvation, explain to them the importance of discipleship training and their need to contact someone like yourself to get the necessary discipleship training in Jesus they will need and will explain to them the importance of fellowship and getting involved faithfully in a body of believers. Finally, you can leave your name, address and phone number on the Evangelism Tract so that when they do make that decision, they will know how to get in touch with you for follow-up and discipleship training when they make the decision to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord of their lives.

When I talk about the benefits of a planned presentation, I am not just talking from intellectual pursuit, I am talking from 42 years of field experience using Evangelism Tracts in aggressive Evangelism on the college campus, in juvenile detention centers, on the islands of Hawaii, in city malls, door to door and at any other place it has proven appropriate for the situation. The tract I wrote, What Is Eternal life?, was written as a result of the needs I was seeing being expressed in sharing the Gospel on the field. It was a three year project, started in 1989, to begin with and has been revised several times since then (present copyright 2003) developed and perfected in the process of presenting the Gospel to people on the field. Chapters 1, 3 and 4 explains in detail its complete value as a tool for Evangelism on or off the field.

During these 42 years, several people have walked up to me and said, Do you remember me? I usually reply, No. They then tell me,

"Five years ago you shared the Gospel with me through a tract you left with me. I thought about what you shared with me for several months. Then one day I pulled out the tract you gave me, reread it, prayed the sinners prayer in the back and gave my life to Jesus. I have been walking with Him ever since."