Jim Henderson - Evangelism Without Additives: What If Sharing Your Faith Meant Just Being Yourself?

Praise for
Evangelism Without Additives

Jim Henderson is a voice for normalized evangelismheretofore an oxymoron. Henderson has given value back to each Christians ordinary attempts to simply shine the light of Christ in our everyday encounters, encouraging us to act in faithfulness and put the results in Gods hands.

L YNNE M ARIAN , executive editor of Outreach magazine

I can think of no other book that rings as true with what is really happening in the post-Christian generations. Jim Henderson writes from the vantage point of being among the lost, the very people most Christians have distanced themselves from and dont understand. Get several copies of Evangelism Without Additives and share them with people in your church.

D AN K IMBALL , pastor and author of They Like Jesus, but Not the Church and the Emerging Church

If you have a heart for extending the kingdom of God, this book will both challenge and encourage you to make a difference on planet Earth for eternity. And it will take your thinking and turn it on its ear.

S TEVE S JOGREN , conference speaker and author of Conspiracy of Kindness

Jim Henderson has said it well: Ordinary attempts are never ordinary when they are done in the name of Jesus Christ. This truly is a movement that will result in extraordinary results as God uses us in our everyday lives to bring home the people he misses most.

D R . D AVID F OSTER , senior pastor of Bellevue Community Church, Nashville, Tennessee, and author of Accept No Mediocre Life

By reading Evangelism Without Additives, perhaps youll become the answer to somebodys first fledgling prayers: God, please help me find someone to talk to about my questions and doubt.

B RIAN M CLAREN , pastor and author of A New Kind of Christian and The Church on the Other Side

Jim Henderson hopes to help Christians become the kindest people on earth. Those who read this delightful, honest, and funny book will be taking a good first step. Those who take its wisdom to heart might just get there.

C HRISTINE W ICKER , award-winning journalist and author of God Knows My Heart: Finding a Faith That Fits

In his journey into real conversations with real people, Jim Henderson has come to some fascinating and useful conclusions. Check out Evangelism Without Additives to join the journey and get some great, down-to-earth, practical advice.

T ODD H UNTER , national director of Alpha USA and former national director of Vineyard USA

E VANGELISM W ITHOUT A DDITIVES
P UBLISHED BY W ATER B ROOK P RESS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
A division of Random House, Inc.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Italics in Scripture quotations reflect the authors added emphasis.

Copyright 2005, 2007 by James K. Henderson

Previously published under the title a.k.a. Lost, copyright 2005 by James K. Henderson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

W ATER B ROOK and its deer design logo are registered trademarks of WaterBrook Press, a division of Random House, Inc.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the original edition as follows:
Henderson, Jim, 1947
A.k.a. lost : discovering ways to connect with the people Jesus misses most / Jim Henderson.1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-45725-7
1. Witness bearing (Christianity). I. Title: Also known as lost. II. Title.
BV4520.H45 2005
248.5dc22

2004030272

v3.1_r1

This book is dedicated to Barbaramy wife, my mentor,
and the love of my life.

J im Henderson has long maintained that evangelistically minded Christians need to listen to, and learn from, nonbelievers. He put his money where his mouth is when he bid more than five hundred dollars to win an eBay auction to send an atheist to church. He arranged it so that Hemant Mehta, the atheist in question, would visit a variety of churches and post his observations on Hendersons Web site (www.off-the-map.org), thus giving Christians a chance to see themselves and Christian faith through the eyes of a nonbeliever.

Mehta credits Henderson with providing a crash course in Christianity that enriched his churchgoing experiment. Mehta has even written a book, I Sold My Soul on eBay, which tells about Henderson winning the auction and all that followed. Mehtas relationship with Henderson confirms that the approach described in Evangelism Without Additives really does connect Christians with nonbelievers.

An important side note is that with this re-release of Evangelism Without Additives (previously released as a.k.a. Lost) we have added a discussion guide to make the book even more useful to groups. Now, individuals and groups can both go deeper in exploring no-additive evangelism.

M ichelangelo didnt paint the Sistine Chapel by himself. He had lots of help. Thirteen highly qualified artists worked with him to get the job done. The truth is, no one accomplishes anything significant alone. Hillary Clinton was rightit does take a village. It certainly has in my case.

This book is the result of almost ten years of research by a cohort of people who passionately love Jesus and want to contribute something toward seeing his kingdom come on earth. I am one of the wealthiest people I know. I have too many good friends. Many of them helped craft this thing weve come to know as Ordinary Attempts.

People like Ken and Cherese Sutton, Rich and Rose Swetman, and Mike and Val ONeil traipsed all over the country with me, meeting leaders and visiting churches we thought we could glean from. Others like Leigh Buchan, her daughter Ingrid, and Suzanne Timmerman contributed great stories and new ways of thinking to our little research group.