How to find your own modern Mars Hill

An obvious principle of successful fishing is to go where the fish gather. But the dilemma for every fisherman is to find out where they gather. 

As fishers of men, we don’t have that dilemma. One of the biggest shoals is in the schools — specifically at your local secular college. Here is an institution that is filled with lost people.

When the apostle Paul was in Athens, he was taken to a gathering place called “Mars Hill,” where he preached the Gospel to contemporary thinkers and philosophers (see Acts 17:16-34). It takes a concerted effort to scale any hill, but with Mars Hill it takes extra effect because it is particularly steep. However, climb it we must because that’s where many unsaved are gathered.

I have made that special effort almost daily for the last 14 years. I go to a local college in the city of Cerritos, California, which is about a mile from my home. I go there to share the Gospel — and it’s not as intimidating as you may think. Granted, many believe in evolution and many embrace atheism. But both of those issues can be easily dealt with in minutes if we understand one simple principle. 

One of my all-time favorite quotes is from D. L. Moody. He said, “I’d rather set a thousand to work than do the work of a thousand.” I love it because it holds the key to reaching the world with the Gospel. It goes hand in hand with these verses:

“The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38).

The “therefore” infers that if there were more laborers, more sinners would come to the Savior.

You can set your church to work in the form of a team that will regularly go to a local college to share the Gospel with the unsaved. Call it a regular “short-term mission trip.” It doesn’t promise the romance and adventure of traveling to a far country to preach the Gospel, but it is less expensive and can be just as rewarding. All you need is a faithful team who is willing to join you to climb the hill. Your job as their leader is threefold: You are to encourage, equip, and then lead.

How to encourage your people

The word “encourage” comes from two French words. The first is en, meaning “to put in,” and the second means “to make strong.” How do you put courage in your people? You do it in the same way the military puts courage into soldiers who are about to go into battle. They issue them with weapons in which they can have the utmost confidence. Faith in weaponry breeds courage. 

How to equip your people

The Scriptures tell us that God has given us “weapons of warfare” that “are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4).

Charles Spurgeon said that the greatest weapon is the moral Law (the Ten Commandments), and hand in hand with the moral Law is the human conscience. That’s “the work of the law” written on the heart of every person (Romans 2:14-15).

Using the Law to stir the seared conscience as Jesus did (see Mark 10:17-20) and as Paul did (see Romans 2:18-20) is the key to reaching the lost — atheists, believers in evolution, transsexuals, the self-righteous, homosexuals, and everyday fornicators. 

A video is worth more than a thousand pictures, so here is a clip showing you how easy it is to change the mind of an atheist about the existence of God.

Here’s one on how to address the issue of evolution, and here is one on how to share the Gospel with a transsexual or homosexual — without any offense and without compromise. 

The key to dealing with atheism and evolution is not to make these issues the main issue. Anything that goes off the path to the Gospel is a rabbit trail, and the way to avoid going too far down the trail is to gently but firmly ask, “Do you think you’re a good person?”

Most answer without any hesitation, and that redirects the conversation toward the cross.

How to lead your people

If you’re like me, the very thought of going to a local college will make you sweat drops of blood. But, if we’ve had our Gethsemane experience, we will live for His will, not ours. We look at the agony of the cross and say, “Lord, if You would do that for me, I will do anything for You.” Once you’ve accepted the task of leadership on the Mars Hill short-term mission, this is what you then say to your team:

“When we get to the college, we will spread out. Here are some million-dollar tracts to give to students. As you reach out, say a friendly, ‘Good morning. Did you get one of these?’ As they take it, say, ‘It’s a Gospel tract. Do you think there’s life after death?’ You are like a bee going from flower to flower, looking for the sweet nectar of an open heart. If there’s no nectar, no problem. Just say, ‘Have a great day,’ and move to the next flower.”

You will go on each short-term mission dragging your feet, and you’ll come back clicking your heels. Let me tell you about one big heel-clicking college moment. I was finishing sharing the gospel with a student when I was approached by a middle-aged man who said that he was a professor of mathematics at the college. He then said that he’d been watching our videos, and he added, “I’m going to be real honest. I’m concerned about my mortal soul.” If you’re interested in seeing the amazing thing he said next, you can watch it yourself.

I hope it encourages you to climb Mars Hill.