Tim Baker - Witnessing 101

witnessing
101

Other Books by the Author

Extreme Faith

Why So Many Gods?

witnessing 101

{Tim Baker}

Witnessing 101
Copyright 2003 by Tim Baker

Published by W Publishing Group, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc.,
P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, Tennessee 37214.

Cover Design: Riordan Design Group, Toronto, Canada
Page Design: Book and Graphic Design, Nashville, Tennessee

Senior Editor: Kate Etue
Editorial Staff: Bridgett OLannerghty and Patty Crowley

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Scriptures quoted from The Holy Bible, New Century Version, copyright 1987, 1988, 1991 by Word Publishing, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Baker, Tim, 1965-Witnessing 101 / by Tim Baker.

v. cm.

Contents: Reality check The truth about truth The life of Jesus What the Gospel is The life of a disciple Not the Gospel How to be a friend Bad ideas Crafting your story One person strategy meeting What to say What if someone says yes Failing and freaking out Long haul evangelism Living loud Get it on.

ISBN 0-8499-4416-3

1. Witness bearing (Christianity)Juvenile literature. 2. Teenagers Religious life. [1. Witness bearing (Christianity) 2. Christian life.] I. Title:
Witnessing one hundred one. II. Title: Witnessing one hundred and one. III.
Title: Witnessing one o one. IV. Title.

BV4520 .B26 2003
248'.5dc21

2002155418

Printed and bound in the United States of America

03 04 05 06 07 PHX 5 4 3 2 1

For Nicole, Jessica, and Jacob,
You are Gods constant reminder that living the
gospel is more important than preaching it.
You are amazing kids. I love being your dad.

Psalm 126:13

Acknowledgements:

Man. Try writing a book on witnessing. It aint easy! Many people have worked hard at bringing this book together. Heres who they are, and what they did.

Christina Greenawalt and Jonathan Anderson allowed me to use their stories in chapters thirteen and fifteen. Thanks for letting the world read about you, and thanks for giving this book some heart.

Julie Zielke and Elizabeth Moss, two girls from our youth group, read parts of this book and offered their ideas on how to make it useful. Theyre responsible for helping reshape this book. Thanks girls!

Kate Etue (and her Transit team) take ordinary words and turn them into extraordinary books. Kate, you are wonderful! Thanks for letting me write for you.

Jacqui Baker (my wife!) read this book with me, edited parts, and allowed me huge blocks of time to write. Thanks for sacrificing your time for this project. You are the most amazing woman Ive ever met!

{Contents

Heres the scene.

You and your best friend just got in line to buy concert tickets. Your mom dropped you off, and youve got to get them and get back to the mall entrance in less than an hour. Looking at the line, this will not be easy. You and your friend begin to pass the time by talking about Stacey, the new girl you saw in the hall yesterday. You think she rocks. Your friend does, too. You begin talking about how you both want to ask her out.

And then it happens.

Deeeewwwdddd! Steve walks up. Steve is annoying. You know Steve from church. At church, you tolerate him. Away from church, Steve has the plague.

Are you guys buying tickets to this concert, too? Man, that is awesome. Its gonna be krunked out! Hey, lets get seats together.

Did I mention that Steve is annoying? Steve gets started, and he just wont stop.

Ive been down with Creed since back in the day. Did I tell you that Scott Stapp and I have the same vision for reaching people for Jesus? Yeah, were a lot alike. You know what I like to do? I like to take one of their songs, play it over and over for someone Ive just met in the park and then ask them if they died tonight, do they know if theyd go to heaven.

You and your friend give each other the Steve-is-a-freak look. Just as the two of you begin to burst out laughing, Steve pulls a portable CD player out of his pocket, gives you a check-this-out look, and heads a few people back.

You watch as he puts headphones on a total stranger and starts the CD. After a few minutes, Steve yanks the headphones off the stranger, opens his Bible, and begins his spiel. The scene is unbelievable. Before long, Steves project, after trying every other polite tactic, just flat ignores him. Without missing a beat, Steve moves on to the next person.

Not cool, your friend says.

What a freak, you respond.

Okay. So maybe youve never actually been in that situation. Youve never been present when a believing friend laid out his or her faith in the hopes of rescuing someone. Do you know a Steve? Ever been a Steve?

Have you ever tried to tell someone what you believe about Jesus and been laughed at? Ever tried and got the whole thing totally messed up? Ever felt like you ought to tell someone about Christ but were too scared, didnt know what to say, or were totally not sure about how to go about it?

Look. You are not alone. The truth is that loads of believers want to tell others about Christ but are too scared. Many try but dont know what to say. So, if youre scared or unsure, you are not in a crowd by yourself.

When you look at what Jesus said to do with Him, His reality, and His truth, you cant ignore that youve got to say something about Him to unbelieving friends. So, what do you say? How do you live? And how do you even know that what youve said or how youve lived has made a difference?

There are no easy answers. And, anyone who tells you that theres a simple formula for saving your friends probably doesnt know your friends.

As you try to share what you believe about Jesus, what isnt cool? It isnt cool to be a Steve. And it is cool to be yourself. If God has done something wonderful in you, then its totally cool to be yourself, and tell others what Hes done in you in a way thats both comfortable (that fits you) and compelling (that helps the other person understand Jesus and the change Hes made in you).

Witnessing 101 will help you be both comfortable and compelling. Look, we wont load you down with unimportant, useless stuff that might confuse you. Youre not going to get a silly system that will help you put notches in your Bible. Instead, youll find simple stuff you can use as you try to live out what you believe around your unbelieving friends.

{chapterone
Reality Check

Its really easy to totally mess up something really great and embarrass yourself. Many years ago Al Capone, a ruthless gangster, ruled the city of Chicago. He didnt stop at anything to make money in underhanded or dishonest ways. He was known for running alcohol into Chicago when the city was under prohibition. FBI agent Elliot Ness was assigned to handle the problem of Al Capone. It was his job to take Capone down at any cost. Ness assembled the best lawmen around him, and he set out to break apart Capones network of corruption.

One of Nesss first attempts at pulling Capones network apart was the night he went after one of Capones warehouses. The attack plan was simple: Wait until it was late at night, attack Capones warehouse, break open the cases of illegal alcohol, get good press, become known as the guy who successfully attacked Capone (which might possibly scare or anger Capone), and keep after it to eventually beat Capone.