The Dynamics of an Effective Invitation

 

An Interview With Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship

Editor’s Note: In this interview, Greg Laurie of Harvest Crusades and Harvest Christian Fellowship shared his penetrating insights into the dynamics of an effective invitation. Our editorial team considered abbreviating the text but decided against it because his wisdom and experience permeated the whole of the interview and that much value would be lost by removing any of the content. Greg serves on the board of directors of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse. He has also written more than 30 books. Frankly, we recommend that pastors not only read his thoughts here, but also to reread this article on a quarterly basis. As you do, we think you’ll see the depth of impact it will have on the vitality of your preaching, the eternal destiny of your hearers, and the very life of your church.

Outreach: What advice would you give other preachers about making an invitation effective when they preach?

Greg Laurie: I think it’s really important that we have evangelistic growth in our churches. You look at the early church of Acts, and [Scripture] says, “The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” I think a church that is not growing is going to stagnate. We have a choice, and it’s evangelize or fossilize. And one of the ways to bring about that growth is through the invitation.There are two ways to approach [an invitation]. I approach it differently in an overtly evangelistic message than I might approach it in a regular Bible study that I might give on a Sunday morning.

When I’m preaching in an evangelistic setting like at one of our Crusades, essentially the invitation begins at the beginning of the message. In other words, I make it very clear that I am preaching for a decision, and I make it clear that I am going to bring them to a point of decision by the end of the message. I might even pepper my message by saying things like, “And in a few moments, I’m going to give you an opportunity to make that commitment to Christ,” or, “That is why I’m going to give you an opportunity in just a moment to put your faith in Jesus Christ.” I think it’s very important that people know it’s coming. It creates a tension that I think is really important.

Outreach: So you kind of prepare them?

Greg Laurie: I do at the outset. I don’t sneak up on them. They know I’m coming to this invitation because I am preaching, as I said, for a decision. I’m challenging them to make a decision about Jesus Christ, and I often will conclude my messages with a statement along the lines of, “Jesus said, ‘You’re either for me or against me,’ and this is an either/or proposition. It’s yes or no. And to be undecided is to be decided.” So, I make it very clear to people that to not accept Christ is to reject Christ, effectively.

Now during the invitation, in a crusade, I will invite them to come forward publicly. I will usually repeat before the invitation, “I’m going to ask you to get up out of your seat and walk down this aisle, and stand down here in front of this platform. Why do I ask you to do that? Because everyone that Jesus called, he called publicly. And he said, ‘If you acknowledge me before people, I will acknowledge you before my Father who is in heaven. But, if you deny me before people, I’ll deny you before my Father in heaven.’”

And then I’ll say, “This is a way to do that.” I’m not saying this is the way, because I recognize that people have made commitments to Christ in their seats. Others have made commitments to Christ in the parking lot afterwards, or a week later, so I don’t want to imply that going down an aisle makes you a Christian. But this is a way to put feet to your faith and publicly demonstrate your desire to follow Christ.

Outreach: I think I’m ready to walk the aisle right now! (laughter)

Greg Laurie: So, in our church, like any other pastor on Sunday mornings, I’m feeding the flock, I’m teaching them. But I have found that whatever topic I’m teaching on, there will always be one or two evangelistic hooks in it. For instance, prayer. At the end I would say something like, “Prayer is a privilege for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ. And God says, ‘My hand is not short that it cannot save, and my ear is not heavy that it cannot hear, but your sins have separated you from me’ [Isaiah 59:1-2]. And maybe you’ve tried praying, but the reason it hasn’t brought any results is because there is a wall that separates you from God, and that wall is called sin.” And then I’ll just go right from there into the Gospel. “But you see, Jesus Christ died for you 2,000 years ago on the cross, and if you’ll turn from your sin, and put your faith in Him…”

If I’m speaking on the subject of trials, I might say something like, “You might find yourself going through hardship today. But the difference between you and a follower of Christ is that the believer knows God has a purpose and a plan in everything, and can work it together for good. But if you’re not a believer, you don’t have such a promise. Maybe your trial has gotten your attention, and caused you to turn to God. As the Psalmist said, ‘Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I have kept Your Word’ [Psalm 119:67]. God can use these things to show us our need for Him, and I ask you today, do you have a relationship with God?”

You can take any topic, turn a corner, and make it evangelistic (without making it an evangelistic message from beginning to end). And surprisingly, some of my best responses to invitations have been after topics I'd thought were the least appropriate for evangelism. For instance, when I was preaching on Job, or when I was preaching on marriage and divorce. These were not evangelistic meetings. They were just teaching through the Bible, as I do. But when I gave invitations, they resonated.

People are just looking for reality. Tell them truth. Give them truth, and when you just tackle these subjects unapologetically and from a Biblical perspective, people appreciate that. In a way, it’s like the non-believer is eavesdropping on a family conversation. And it stimulates in them a desire to want to be part of our family. So what you’re saying is, “Hey, you who are joining us as a visitor today, would you like to be a part of our family? Here’s how you do it.” I think that even having a family conversation can be appealing to a nonbeliever.

Outreach: Greg Stier has recommended that a pastor decide beforehand that he will give the Gospel in some form every single week. One, is that your practice, and two, is that your recommendation?

Greg Laurie: I would say, principally, yes. But I can’t say that in every message, I give the Gospel and an invitation. For instance, in a mid-week study, I may not do it. But generally, I give people an opportunity to make a commitment, or a recommitment to Christ, at the end of the message in some way, shape or form. You never know who is going to be visiting. That could be a person’s only opportunity to hear the Gospel.

Outreach: Larry Moyer has said that the Gospel is three basic things: One, you are a sinner. Two, Christ died for your sins and rose again. And three, you have to trust Christ. Does that capture it for you?

Greg Laurie: I would say it captures it, but you really have to define your terms. We’re living in a time when we can no longer assume that people know what we mean by any of the expressions we use. For instance, when we say, “sin,” when we say, “believe,” when we say, “cross,” I think we really need to explain every single term. One to begin with is, “What is sin?” It’s very important that people understand that sin is, “You’ve broken God’s commandments and you’ve offended God.” The meaning of the word “Gospel” is “good news.” And to fully appreciate the good news, I have to know the bad news. The bad news is, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” [Romans 3:23]. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” [1John 1:8].

I believe that repentance is the flipside of believing. I believe the two are inseparable. But today, I hear a lot of people talking about believing and not explaining repentance. On the day of Pentecost, Peter told the people to repent. And the first words out of the lips of our Lord when he began his ministry, were “repent.” So it’s important that we explain that, because to believe is essentially to take hold of something, but to repent is to let go of something. I do believe you need to give them the essential message of the death of Christ, a substitutionary death for them, that they need to repent from their sin, and put their faith in him and him alone to save them. There is a lot of watered-down Gospel preaching today, where there is either no teeth in it (that they’re not really explaining what [the Gospel] means), or they’re adding things to it that the Gospel does not give. Paul warns about a false gospel.

Outreach: What are some of those things you have seen added?

Greg Laurie: I think it's adding any kind of extra things where a person must do something apart from repenting and believing to receive that salvation. It's certainly when you add any kind of ritual. In other words, you would say that to accept Christ, you must first be baptized.

And [regarding] the Gospel with no teeth in it, it's like offering God’s forgiveness without any mention of repentance, or presenting Jesus Christ as though he were some mere additive to one’s life, to make it a little bit better, or more successful. It’s much, much more than that. It’s not an improvement plan; it’s a salvation plan. And I think sometimes we downplay that and make it seem that if people ask Christ into their lives, he’ll just make their lives a little better. The joy, the peace, the happiness, those are all fringe benefits. But the big issue is when you turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, you know you receive an inheritance and the hope of heaven.

Outreach: In the psyche of the convert, the thing that needs to be the most prevalent in his thinking, according to what you’re saying, isn’t, “Wow, I’m going to trust Christ so I can be really happy.” It’s “Wow, I’ve got this burden on my heart, and I need to be rescued.”


Greg Laurie: I would say it’s both, not one or the other. Dome would be very critical of any preaching that appeald to the need of man, saying, “That’s a man-centered gospel.” But if that’s true, then Jesus was guilty of preaching a man-centered gospel. And so was Paul. Jesus appealed to the woman at the well about the thirst that she had in her soul. “If you drink of this well, you will thirst again,” he said, speaking to the fact that she had come to the well of personal relationships, and had come up empty five times. He appealed to her and told her that he would satisfy her deepest spiritual thirst.

Then Paul, on Mars Hill, says, “I want to talk to you about the unknown God. I can see you are religious people.” He was building a bridge to the people. And there’s nothing wrong with building a bridge. To essentially say, “The reason you are empty, the reason you are lonely, the reason you are afraid to die is because you need God in your life.”

Outreach: So, to use a bridge is not to say you’ve watered down the Gospel?

Greg Laurie: I don’t think building a bridge is watering it down, if the bridge always brings us to the cross. Paul begins there in Athens by building a bridge to his audience. He could have said, “You Athenians are a bunch of pagans, and you worship false gods and you’re going to go to hell.” Would that have technically been true? Sure. But he said, “Now, I see that you’re religious. And, you have this one image erected to the unknown god. That’s the one that I want to talk you about.” Then he quotes one of their own poets to them, building that bridge, and ultimately he says, “But listen—God has commanded you to repent,” and then he gets down to brass tacks.

So, my point is, yes, build the bridge, appeal to your listener, speak in a way that they understand, define your terms. And then, bring them to the cross. My complaint would be that some people build a bridge and don't bring people to the cross. Other people might talk about the sin, and how nonbelievers have offended God, but they would make no effort to build a bridge or even put it into a vernacular the nonbeliever would understand.

Outreach: What goes through your mind as you’re giving the invitation? Is there ever a sense of intimidation, or, ‘Oh no, what if…?’ What makes you feel confident?

Greg Laurie: I think everything goes through your mind when you’re giving an invitation. When I’m giving an invitation in a crusade, I am under a great deal of pressure, and I believe it’s because I’m acutely aware that a very real spiritual battle is raging. I once asked Billy Graham, “What are you experiencing when you’re giving the invitation?” And he said, “I feel like power is draining out of me.”

I feel the same way. Physically, I feel like I am just exhausted. I’m just physically, emotionally and spiritually drained as I’m doing it. That’s not the case every time I give an invitation at church, but I think in an evangelistic setting, especially in a stadium, everything seems to be multiplied. You're always aware of the fact that people might not be coming forward. But, it’s a risk you take. And it’s a risk worth taking.

Look at it this way: The Bible says there is rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who comes to repentance. You just want to faithfully proclaim the Gospel. I think one of the reasons we have small responses to our invitations is people don’t really understand what we’ve asked them to do. I’ve been to so many services or listened to guys preach, and I thought they did a really good job with the message. The message was sound; it was evangelistic; it was appealing. I liked it. It had all the elements it needed, but it fell apart at the invitation. And it’s simply because you have to put yourselves in the shoes of a nonbeliever. This is all new to them. They may not even know what it is you are asking them to do. So I give the invitation, I repeat what I have asked them to do, and I repeat it again.

For many preachers, either it breaks down for a lack of clarity or it breaks down for a lack of confidence. Preachers almost sabotage their own invitation because they’re afraid to put it out on the line and say, “Just come and make your commitment to Christ.”

SermonCentral: Have you ever felt like you botched an invitation?

Greg Laurie: Oh my goodness yes, many times. It concerns me when I hear Gospel presentations that have left the cross out. But I’m even more concerned that I have done that. And I’ve done messages where I’ve given a presentation and forgotten key elements that I remembered later. I have given messages where afterward I realize, “Oh no, that’s really not what that should have been!”

I've fallen short many times, but God will honor his Word. And as you give it out, you will see him bless, and you will see results. There have been times when I’ve felt I’ve done my worst, and we have had great responses. It ebbs and flows. Sometimes it’s larger, sometimes it’s smaller. Again, it just goes back to something I said a moment ago. You have to leave the results in the hands of God.

I’m reminded of a passage in Acts where it says, “As many as were ordained unto eternal life, believed.” When I’m giving that Gospel presentation, I believe the ones the Lord has called will respond. I just leave that in God’s hand. When you look at the day of Pentecost, 3,000 believed. And when you look at Paul on Mars Hill, a handful believed. Was Peter a success and Paul a failure? I don’t think so. I think they both faithfully presented the Gospel. You have days where it goes better than others, and that’s just life.

SermonCentral: Does hell come into play when you present the Gospel? Can the concept of hell be mishandled in preaching?

Greg Laurie: Yes, and yes. I believe it’s important to mention the judgment of God. I was just speaking on Elijah last Sunday, and I pointed out some of the qualities of his life, and one of them was that he faithfully delivered the Word of God. And I pointed out that Elijah had the job to go into Ahab and Jezebel’s court—two very powerful rulers—and tell them there was going to be a drought; basically, judgment was coming because of their sin. And he did it. I told the congregations that we have a message to deliver as well. It’s not always popular, and it’s certainly a difficult one in this day and age, to say that Jesus Christ is the only way to God, the Bible is the Word of God, and that the only way to be forgiven of your sins is through Christ. And also to say there’s a hell. I think we can be very tempted to leave that part out. The “H-word”: Should we use it? I believe we should. But as D.L. Moody once said, “No one should ever preach on the topic of hell without a tear in his eye.”

Many people have reacted to the hellfire-and-brimstone preaching, as it’s called, and said, “Well, I don’t like that kind of preaching.” But frankly, I can’t remember the last time I heard a hellfire-and-brimstone preacher. We’ve swung so far to the other side that we’ve lost sight of the importance of what the Scripture says, that we need to warn some, and they need to know that there are consequences for their sin. To leave that out is to do them a disservice, and it is to fail to declare the whole counsel of God. We certainly shouldn’t do it in a gleeful manner, but with compassion and love, we warn unbelievers that the last thing God wants is for any person created in his image to end up separated from him in this place called hell.

In my crusade messages, I often will dedicate one night to what happens after death. And the message will usually focus on the Great White Throne Judgment. Those who don’t believe will be cast into the lake of fire. And I can say unequivocally that some of our greatest response over the years in the crusades is when I preach on the subject of judgment, and warn people about it.

SermonCentral: Do you have a favorite passage that you like to preach evangelistically from?

Greg Laurie: It’s hard to beat John 3. It is so beautifully laid out with a beginning, a middle and an end. I love John 3 for evangelism. You have Nicodemus, the religious man, searching, empty, coming to Jesus, and the Lord just unfolds the gospel, culminating with John 3:16, which is the Gospel in a nutshell. It’s just perfect, and a great way to end the invitation. And the other one that I really love to preach on is John 14:1-6. It’s a message that I do called, “God’s Care for Troubled Hearts.”

Another one is Revelation 20, with the Great White Throne Judgment. Those are three messages that I often return to.

 

Excerpted with permission from SermonCentral (sermoncentral.com).

-Outreachmagazine.com, "Web Exclusives," March/April 2007

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