JOPLIN – Wendy’s is one of Charles Brock’s favorite fishing holes.
As he and his wife, Dottie, entered the fast food restaurant, they prayed and glanced around the room. Who needed to receive the Good News today?
He took out a bright red Bible study guide that has “Good News For You” in large letters on the cover. A family of six gladly received several copies. Then Brock noticed a group of young men, one wearing a jacket with “Kazakhstan” written on the back.
“I assumed they were college students,” said Brock, pastor of Pioneer Baptist Church in Neosho, a town several minutes south of Joplin. “I approached them saying, ‘I have good news for you.’ I shared about the nature of the booklet. Then I noticed a name label on one of them. It said ‘Elder.’”
The men were Mormons who had come to convert Joplin residents to their religion. But that didn’t deter Brock. By the end of their conversation, each of them happily received a study guide. Before their errands were finished, the couple gave away many booklets at the doctor’s office, the bank, the restaurant and Sam’s Club.
The Brocks, who were missionaries in the Philippines from 1971-1991, are intentional to use even the most ordinary days to fish for men to join God’s Kingdom.
But Brock said he hasn’t always done this. When he and his wife first came back from the mission field, Brock was asked by the International Mission Board (IMB) and the North American Mission Board (NAMB) to travel across the country and the world to talk about church planting and reaching the lost for Christ.
“I did that for a while and I found that I was not seeing miracles like I did in the Philippines,” he said. “The reason for that started to haunt me. I realized that miracles happen out in the field, not in my office. I was talking a lot about evangelism, but I was totally unaware of the people who were lost everywhere I went.”
That’s when Matthew 4:19 pierced his heart more than it ever had before. In the verse Jesus says, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
“I thought, ‘If I’m following Jesus, should I be fishing?’” Brock said. “And also, ‘If I say I’m following Jesus but I’m not fishing, am I really following Him?’ I vowed I would never again be so complacent about that which God is so passionate.”
Since then, Brock made a commitment that is the foundation for his passion to walk with eyes wide open and see opportunities for Kingdom extension.
He said when it comes to fishing for men, no one can improve on John 3:16. Simplicity trumps complexity, but Brock said the most important thing is to have true compassion for the lost.
“My approach is non-threatening and there isn’t a lot of talking,” Brock said. “I’ve found that people are too busy with whatever they have going on that strangers stopping them for conversation is more annoying to them than anything.”
The main tool Brock uses to share the gospel is the Good News for You study guide. It is one of several booklets that he wrote while in the Philippines. He needed materials for the biblically illiterate so he started writing his own. Over time, his simplified study guides evolved into Church Growth International (CGI), a company founded by Brock that produces materials designed to facilitate evangelism and discipleship.
“With this approach, I get folks who graciously accept or politely decline, but I never get a nasty response,” he said. “It’s about following the direction of the Holy Spirit, and it’s about massive seed sowing. That’s it.”
For more information about CGI and how to “fish for men,” visit cpqa.org.