Most of us have memories of a favorite teacher. Mine is of a fourth-grade teacher named Mrs. Fazoli. I don't think she taught me more information than any other of my teachers. I don't recall her leaving me with any special insights or filling me with any dreams. No, she was one of my favorite teachers, because she connected with me on a personal level in a special way. I suppose she cared deeply about all the students in my class, but she made me feel important. Because she cared about me, I just enjoyed being in her classroom and listening to her teach. There have been many teachers in my life that have revolutionized my thinking. These men and women have taught me a great deal and given me a desire to learn more and to study harder. Yet, if you were to ask me about my favorite teacher, Mrs. Fazoli immediately comes to mind. I think that, of all the things she taught me, the most important is that touching the heart is more important than touching the mind.
In my college days, I was interested in witnessing. I took a class, "Evangelism Explosion", and as part of that program, we would go out and visit those who visited our church. These visits offered us practice in sharing our faith but resulted in very few conversions. Why this was so troubled me. I thought the Evangelism Explosion was a well-thought-out way to share the gospel. We studied objections that some might make to our presentation and worked on ways to effectively counter them. In spite of our scholasticism, we had few successes. Why?
I think Mrs. Fazoli can help us answer the question. One thing I have learned over the years is this: most of the time, people make decisions based on emotion rather than logic. That is why precious few commercials emphasize facts; rather, they attempt to create a positive attitude about their product. It is no different in the spiritual realm. Most people come to Christ not as a result of an intellectual search, but because someone they trust offers help during a time of crisis.
In college, this bothered me. I loved to study apologetics (a defense of the faith) and believed that, through sheer logic, I could bring unbelievers to their knees, confessing that Jesus is Lord. It didn't happen. I won countless arguments but no souls. My successes in evangelism have come through relationships, either as a pastor or as a friend, offering the hand of God to someone who has begun to recognize his or her need.
This fall, we will be taking some time to talk about evangelism, its importance, and ways that we can share the Gospel. All of the technique in the world will be useless, if we do not have people with which to share--people who will care about what we say, because we care enough to listen to them--people who trust us enough to be honest, because we have been honest with them--people who love us, because we love them. Mrs. Fazoli was my favorite teacher, because she won my heart. Our success as evangelists will be for the same reason.
