Reaching influencers, every influencer, is of course not about getting the same number of people to do more things.  Its not about getting anybody to do anything, actually. Its about giving lots of people an opportunity to follow God’s plan for them in the Great Commission.

This is a very multi faceted process as we all know.  However, some simple ideas are still the foundation of what we do.  One of the simple ideas that gets lost is that having multiple outreach tools at our disposal increases the number of ways we can give opportunities, which increases the number of people we can effectively motivate.

For instance, if the only thing we know about is Outreach Dinner Parties, and we challenge a person to help host one and he turns it down we will usually think something on the order of “He/She is just not as far along as I thought.” What we didn’t know is that had we approached them about some other evangelistic venue they would have jumped on it.

Often, I think, we simply fail to carry around with us a conscious remembrance of the many ways we can challenge people to reach others.  We know what we are good at, and we stick with it.  However, within EM and the Body generally is a great collection of creative ways to attract non-believers.  

I am asking that we capture this collection.  What are the different ways you have challenged others to reach their peers?  The three we will not discuss now are outreach dinners, outreach luncheons and outreach breakfasts.  We all know about those.  However, variations on those themes are fine, like having a wild game cookout in someone’s back yard.  Also, we do not have to stick with large group events.  A strategy that has resulted in small events or one-on-one is a great addition.

What creative and fun venues and strategies have you seen successful in attracting lost influencers to and environment where they can hear the Gospel?        

I will begin with two ideas, both of which, merely coincidentally, involve golf. One could take virtually any hobby or activity and do these same two things:

1. Several years ago 4 believers invited two non-believers each to go on a 2 night golf outing.  The attractions were (1) a great course with 5 star accommodations (2) the believers paid for the cost of the accommodations, (3) a presentation the first evening by a noted sports psychologist on the mental aspects of golf. One of the hosts shared his testimony the second night.

2. In this closed community where everyone knows everything, group events that include a hard close can separate the believers from the non believers: i.e., after a couple of dinners all the non-believers would say, “Don’t go to a dinner hosted by so-and-so, they just want to get you in a bible study.” However, initiative evangelism is still a redundant term, so how might we accomplish it without creating a divisive environment?

In our case we did the dinner in a home to maintain a purely social environment. After the dinner the hosts called every attendee to get together one on one, purely socially, so we planned for a long follow up process.  The purpose of the social interaction is to look for an opportunity to share testimony and gospel, whether that occurs at the first interaction or later.  Social interaction and evangelism become synonymous terms.  Some of the hosts give out a book called The Mulligan that relates golf to the Gospel as a way to build a spiritual dimension in the relationship. In this scenario a higher degree of accountability and encouragement is necessary.  We keep prayer lists, discuss them, etc.  We know who has heard a direct testimony and who has not.