Witnessing in the Workplace: Ginseng Boss

There are many Christians out there who don't evangelize because they think its too hard or that God can't use them. Well, the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few so I'm quite sure God wants to use every Christian cause there's a lack of Christians working in the field. Evangelism isn't rocket science. Furthermore, evangelism isn't just sharing the full gospel message... BAM... Holy Spirit moves... people realize they are sinners... tears... full on CONVERSION! Obviously that is the desired outcome. But that doesn't happen all the time. In fact it doesn't even happen often. Many an evangelist will tell you that. Pastor Bill Hybels is very candid about his evangelism and many times he doesn't even go into the gospel presentation (Bill Hybels - Walk Across The Room). Personally, it has only ever happened to me ONCE! Amazingly that was when I was just starting to evangelize and was a nervous wreck with no composure. Which goes to show that any conversion that happens is God's doing and not ours! That is a story for another post but really, I feel I am a lot better at evangelizing now but that wonderful, glorious scenario has not occurred ever since.

Let me tell you, I have only (knowingly) brought 3 people to Christ, but I only prayed the sinner's prayer with the first guy. Does that mean I didn't bring those other people to Christ? No. I would say I played a significant part in those 2 other people's conversion. However, each conversion that happens is the work of the Holy Spirit and God uses MANY people to bring about a single salvation. I personally believe that there can be dozens or hundreds of people that God uses to bring one single soul to salvation. So even though you don't see it now, what you sow into a person's life can reap salvation later on! I can say this because I have seen it happen in friends I have evangelized to! It can be done! There's evidence from my life to back me up!

Anyways, I just wanna praise God for a divine opportunity that he gave me to share with my boss at work. Hopefully this will shatter some misconceptions about what evangelism is all about. I personally believe that the basic building block of evangelism is to just get people to think about God and eternity.

I work at this restaurant in Frankston called Ginseng. Wes from church told me that he was going to bring his lovely wife Julia to Ginseng for her birthday dinner. I asked for permission and my boss kindly allowed me to spend a few minutes talking to them at dinner in the middle of work! The restaurant was almost empty so he could afford to let me do that. The boss' cousin talked to me asking me about them and I told him that they were friends from church. He then told me that he and the boss used to go to church when they were kids.

As I was collecting my pay I started talking to the boss about the restaurant business. I told him that my housemates and I talked to Wes about Ginseng and he decided to come for the Peking duck. Boss man was grateful and continued talking. I could sense that he was interested in talking to me and not just making polite conversation. Armed with the knowledge that he was a former churchgoer I brought up the topic of church and God. I found out that his sister and many of his friends are strong Christians but he didn't think that church was essential for him anymore. He thinks (like many others) that all you have to do in life is be good to people. I brought up eternity and the conversation was progressing. Then we both got calls on our mobiles. After that a bunch of boss man's friends showed up and I knew the evangelism time for today was up. I said my goodbyes and praised God in my heart for giving me the opportunity to share about Him. I was glad that I obeyed His promptings without any hesitation. Hopefully this will be a springboard to more evangelism opportunities and that boss man might be saved!

See, not too hard isn't it? Plus, God can indirectly use other people as well to create openings! If Wes hadn't come yesterday night I would not have had the opportunity to talk about church and God! Wes was unknowingly used by God to create an avenue for me to share about God! How glorious is our GOD! The whole earth praise Him!