How to share the Gospel when they don’t feel like talking?

Sometimes it’s difficult to get people to come on camera to be interviewed. Yesterday was particularly lean. So I decided to go to the skateboard park I normally avoid — because most people there are high as a kite.

When I arrived, someone immediately began walking towards me to take a closer look at Sam (my dog), no doubt because he was wearing sunglasses. I handed him a card with our picture on it, and said, “It’s a YouTube channel with 163 million views...” He was very impressed, but to my dismay he responded using the name of Jesus in blasphemy. I tucked that into my memory banks and decided that I would gently make mention of it when I interviewed him.

“I ask people if they think there’s an afterlife. Do you think there’s life after death?” He said that he didn’t, but that he did believe in ghosts. When he said that he was an atheist, I got excited. But no matter how much I pleaded with him, Chad didn’t want to be on camera. “You sound like you’d be a really good interview. Do you believe in evolution?” “Absolutely! And I don’t believe in religion.” This was sprinkled with very bad language. All the while, his sweet little girl stood beside him, clinging to her skateboard and listening closely as we spoke.

No matter how much I pleaded with him, he didn’t want to be interviewed. I didn’t feel comfortable taking the conversation further with his little girl so intently listening, so I gave her a card with Sam’s picture on it, and said to Chad, “Here’s a $5 gift card for you and one for your little girl. And this is a booklet I wrote called, 'How to be Free From the Fear of Death.' When you’ve got no answer to death, it’s a haunting fear that’s always there.” Suddenly, Chad’s demeanor changed from being resistant to being warm and very grateful. He said, “You didn’t have to do that. Thank you.”

I didn’t get an interview, and neither did I get to share the Gospel, but I wasn’t disappointed. This was because I had reverted to my faithful backup plan — one that works almost every time — evidential love and kindness.

Sometimes it speaks louder than a thousand sermons. 

By the way, you can get both of these publications. The card is a great icebreaker (every sane person loves dogs). You give them the card, say, “Have you seen this YouTube channel?” and tell them the view count. That’s enough for most people to smile and say, “I’m going the check this out. Thank you!” Get the “Living Waters YouTube card” and the booklet “How to be Free From the Fear of Death” as well as other tracts at the Living Waters Store.