Men get fired up about sharing Gospel
HOLTS SUMMIT – Bill Fay’s challenge to share Jesus without fear has taken root among a group of Missouri Baptist men as a result of the Missouri Baptist Men’s Conference Sept. 7-8.
“A lot of men had shared their faith but didn’t do it on any regular or intentional basis,” said Danny Decker, men’s ministry and missions specialist for the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC). “For a lot of them, that has changed. I’ve had a lot of phone calls from pastors and laymen saying they had shared their faith and had seen that person come to Christ.”
That was the simple mission Bill Fay, author of Share Jesus Without Fear, asked 150 men to accept. Share. If they don’t want to hear, that’s OK, walk away. Just share.
“The reality of what Bill Fay taught was the simplicity of the Gospel and allowing God to do what only He can do through the Holy Spirit,” Decker said. “It’s not our responsibility to save people. That’s God’s job. Our responsibility is to share the Gospel truth.”
It’s simple, but sometimes stubborn man can make it seem not so simple.
“We get caught up in the person aspect of being rejected or accepted personally,” Decker said, “or we get too caught up in whether or not that person made a profession of faith. If we will ever settle the issue in our hearts that our responsibility is just to be obedient, and that God will take care of the rest, we’ll be more intentional and active in sharing the Gospel.”
Frank Whitney, pastor of Union Hill Baptist Church which hosted the event, said he has seen at least two professions of faith in his church as a result of the conference.
“We have a lot of young men in our church and they have really been fired up,” Whitney said. “We’d host another one of these in a minute.”
Committed men not only reach other men, but they strengthen the current church body as well.
“If I want to grow a healthy, strong, New Testament church, I have to have men,” Whitney said. “Godly men, set apart men, men who are called. It doesn’t matter if they’re a mature Christian or if they’re still growing in their understanding. What matters is that men are seeing the need for spiritual leadership in their homes and their churches. Only then will they bring integrity to their churches, their giving, their energies and their outreach.”
Whitney said he hopes more men will participate next year and catch the fever for reaching out to the lost men in Missouri.
“My hope is that Union Hill will be too small to host the next one,” he said. “‘Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus’ will sound a lot different with 1,000 men instead of 150.”