“And He saith unto them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19
Our church cancelled our Fall revival as did most churches due to COVID. And churches who have revivals most likely will not have much success in reaching the lost. Our thoughts even with our current situation should be, “what can I possibly do to affect the lost people in my family or community? After all, God didn’t call me to be a Billy Graham!”
Most of you are still venturing out into public with jobs, school, shopping, and visiting families and friends as much as possible. There is still an opportunity to witness for our Lord. Even though you may seem like you are not a professional soul-winner, your effectiveness can go beyond what you may imagine.
In the 1800’s, a Sunday school teacher named William Kimball went to see one of his pre-teen students who worked at local shoe store to tell him about Christ. The young boy was saved. His name was Dwight L. Moody. Then the ripple effect began…
- Moody was preaching a crusade in Liverpool, England and influenced a local pastor name F.B. Meyer (many of us still have his teaching books in our libraries today).
- F.B. Meyer came to America and while preaching at the Northfield Bible Conference, a struggling young minister named J. Wilber Chapman was influenced to greater service in evangelism.
- Chapman became a powerful evangelist and recruited a young baseball player name Billy Sunday.
- Sunday became one of the greatest evangelists America has ever known. Mordecai Ham was converted at one of his crusades.
- Then, in 1934, Ham preached a crusade at Central High School in North Carolina and a student named Billy Graham gave his heart to Jesus.
I believe you know the rest of the story.
You may not be a Billy Graham. Few people would ever come close. But we all have an opportunity to be a William Kimball and play our part in influencing others even if it’s a twelve year old, like D.L. Moody. Let the ripple effect begin in your life and ministry. It is impossible to calculate the effects of sowing a seed of evangelism in someone’s heart.
Bro. Larry
