I just returned from handing out planners this afternoon
with some friends at a university in Moscow.
In the place of planners in my bag are now completed surveys from
students. As my friends and I talked
about what to do next with the surveys, I thought you might be asking the same
question if you have surveys from planners or if you chose to use a different
kind of survey.
It‘s good to ask yourself some questions:
What is the ultimate
goal of using planners and surveys to gather contacts? (For
us in Moscow it is to find those who are interested in talking further about
spiritual things and to find believers who might be interested in joining with
us in helping to reach the university for Christ.)
Who should be the
priority to contact first? (For us it is to contact those who seem to
be the most interested in getting back together and those who sound like
might be believers.)
So we sorted through our completed surveys and took out all
the surveys without contact information or who indicated that they had no
interest at all in anything we are considering offering. We noted what things interested the students
in general from those surveys and then threw the surveys away. We next sorted through to find those who seemed
the most interested in talking with us and those who could be
believers. Those became our first
priority to contact. The rest of the
surveys we kept, saving them for another time when we either want to invite a
larger number of people to an event or will call them after we have met with all
of our “hot” contacts.
[If you are offering events for non-believers such as
English clubs or evangelistic discussion groups or sports activities, then send
them a quick e-mail with the time and place of the next event that they would
be interested in. Try to focus your time,
though, on those who indicated the most interest in hearing about Christ. When you have time later you can meet with
these other potentially-interested people.
I’m not saying to ignore those who don’t seem to be “hot contacts”, but
I realize that many of you may be the only person you know of who is trusting
God right now to reach your campus, so you will definitely need to prioritize. If you have a larger group of people, then
feel free to try to contact as many of your survey contacts as possible right
now.]
What do you say when you
contact them? [Of course you will
want to use your own words – this is simply what I generally say to give you an
idea.]
First of all I pray asking God to give me His words and
ask the Holy Spirit to guide the conversation and their response. When I call students, I say something like
this:
“Hi, a few days ago a group of us were
giving out free planners and you filled out a survey that was attached to the planner. Do you remember that? I hope you are finding the planner
helpful. I am calling because you
checked on the survey that you were interested in being a part of a group
discussion about the Bible and Christianity (or whatever they checked that you
want to follow up on). I was wondering
if you would like to get together tomorrow after class or during a break and I
could tell you a little more about what that discussion group would look like
(or talk about whatever they checked on the survey). We don’t have to meet for long, maybe about
20 minutes or so. If you have any
friends who might be interested in this kind of a discussion group, please
invite them to come.” Set up the time
and the place.
If you want to meet
with them to talk about the gospel:
““Hi, a few days ago you filled out a survey on campus and
you said on the survey that you would be interested in talking to someone about
(use the phrase directly from the survey you used). I really enjoy conversations like this and
if you’re interested, I would also love to show you something that explains the
very essence of the Bible. Would you
have some time tomorrow (morning, during the big break, after classes or in the
evening)? (If they say they can’t meet
the next day, then suggest the day after or have them say when would be best
for them.) Why don’t we meet at (name a
place easily accessible)?” I have found
it helpful to meet them where I gave them the planner or took the survey with
them.
If they say that they
aren’t interested: Simply thank
them, wish them well, hang up and then pray for them, that God will open their
hearts to hear about Him another time.
Make sure you write down when and where you will meet them
and make a note on their survey that you contacted them so that you don’t get
mixed up and accidently call them again.
This is embarrassing, believe me!
In the next рассылкa
I will give you some ideas of what you can talk about when you meet with
students as well as ideas for discussion group topics and Bible study topics
for those interested in spiritual things.
Please write me at catalalist@promail.ru
if you have any ideas or needs or prayer requests.
I am praying “…that
God may open up to [you] a door for the word, so that [you] may speak forth the
mystery of Christ” (Colossians 4:3) for you this week! I know that the Holy Spirit will direct your
steps and guide your thoughts and give you His words as you walk in His power
to represent Jesus Christ to the lost on your campus.
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