“Easy Evangelism” - Offer some articles

I just came across a great idea for using everystudent.com as a way of gathering new contacts with nonbelievers.  It’s from Marilyn Adamson who came up with the idea of the site in English which everystudent.com is based on.  It’s a quick and simple way to connect with lots of students in a short amount of time with very little time and effort. 

Offer an article

  

If you'd like to try a special outreach, here's one that's pretty fun.

You grab a bunch of these 3x5 pieces of paper (see below). On it are the titles of various articles from EveryStudent.com.

You walk up to someone and say...

"Hi. We are offering people a free article. I am wondering if any of these articles would interest you?"

As you say this, you hand them this small sheet of paper. (Have a pen on hand.)

Many people will gladly fill it out. When tried before, we were surprised at how people began volunteering their thoughts. Such as:

"I've been thinking about God lately. I'd like to check into this more."

"I've always wondered what proof people have for God's existence."

"Is it ok if I check a few of these?"

"I want all of these articles, because I'm really into this. I want people to know Jesus."

If someone asked why we were doing this, we'd just say, "We want people to become aware of this Website, and we'd like to hear what they think of the articles." Made sense to everyone. "Oh, ok."

Then do this...

That same day or night, take the papers that people had filled out, and email the person with a hyperlink to the article that they requested.

If the person checked the first box, you would write: "Here's the article that you requested today. This will be the only email you will receive from me. If you do have any questions or comments, I would be happy to reply. Just email me back."

If the person checked the second box: "Here's the article that you requested today. I will email you in a few days, to see what you thought of it. I hope you find it helpful."

What you do in preparation...

1. Print four of these to a page on 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper, then cut. Go cheap. Downloadable PDF of four on a page: click here.

2. If you have friends joining you in this outreach, email the following hyperlinks to everyone involved, so they would have them when they email the articles, that night, to those who asked for them:

Why Would God Allow Evil and Suffering?
http://www.everystudent.com/journeys/why.html

Sex & the Search for Intimacy
http://www.everystudent.com/features/search.html

Six Reasons Why God Exists
http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html

How to Find Meaning & Direction in Life
http://www.everystudent.com/features/reallife.html

God Doesn't Ask for Blind Faith
http://www.everystudent.com/features/faith.html

Is There Hope for a Lasting Marriage?
http://www.everystudent.com/features/marriage.html

You can pick different articles and hyperlinks, if you want. Pretty simple.

Feel free to pick different articles and hyperlinks that you think the students on your campus will be interested in. It’s really pretty simple.

Please let me know how effective this strategy is on your campus!
 

The Compass: Prayer

Do you remember the first time you tried to pray?  I do – I was so worried that I wouldn’t do it correctly.  I had been around some older believers and had heard them pray and knew that there was no way that I could use the proper religious terminology and flowery speech that seemed to connect them to a deeper level with God.  And then the fear that I wouldn’t be able to find enough things to pray for so that I could fill 10-15 minute prayers that I heard other believers pray! 

Today’s resource, Prayer, is from a series called The Compass and it is about helping new or young believers learn what prayer is and how simple it is to spend time with their Lord in prayer.  It seems like a simple concept to help others with, and it is, but I think you will find this resource useful in knowing how to focus on the essentials of what is prayer.

The Compass – Who is the Holy Spirit

I would like to introduce you to some materials for disciplers to guide you as you help believers who God has raised up for you grow stronger and deeper in their relationship with the Lord and to prepare them to serve Him with their heart and life. 

Periodically I will introduce you to other resources in this series.  Today’s article is for disciplers to give you some ideas in knowing how to direct a conversation about the importance of depending on the power of the Holy Spirit.  

Preparing Future Leaders Now

 My friend Ben Rivera recently had a conversation with a student leader and he advised her to begin to prepare now for next year and for next year’s leaders.  You might be saying, “But we’re just getting into this school year, we’re not thinking about next year yet.”  However, there is something very powerful and important yet very simple that you can begin to do now to prepare future leaders…

 Journal Your Ministry Activities

 Buy yourself a small notebook and call it your “Ministry Journal” or create a document on your computer or start a blog.  In this journal you want to log and describe the activities that you’re doing each week with the campus ministry.  Describe all the things you are doing in ministry as well as how you felt things went and what changes you would make if you could do it again or if things went well, why they went well. 

 Activities you could include in your journal are: 

•  Your leadership planning times 
•  Weekly meetings or Bible studies if you have them
• Beginning of year surveys
• Social events or evangelistic outreaches
• Prayer meetings
• Reserving rooms or finding places to have meetings or events
• Printing and putting up posters or how you advertised your activities
• Things that went really well
• Things you would do differently
• Everything else you do for the ministry 

By journaling your activities and writing down what you’re learning, you are actually making an investment into the next generation of leaders on your campus.  

 Your journaled notes will give the next leaders a huge head start because they’ll have a better idea of what works and what does not work on your campus and how to go about doing things.  Plus they will glean from your experience so they don’t make the same mistakes you’ve made.  

 As you hand over leadership when you graduate, you will also pass them your ‘journal’, to those who will carry on.  When it comes to leaders for the future, now is the time to prepare.  Journaling 5-10 minutes each week could be one of the best things you do to continue the legacy of ministry on your campus.