Do you have some do’s and don’ts for sharing your story?
Don’t exaggerate your past. Some people make their past sound more appealing than their present. They talk about all the parties and fun times they used to have.
Don’t glorify your past. You do the gospel a disservice.
Do tell the truth. Show your past for what it was. You were in sin and apart from God. Talk about the emptiness and loneliness.
Do remember the objective of telling your story: :To get to his story.
Do live and speak good news. The power of the gospel is the story of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. That’s why Paul says, “I don’t want anything but Christ and him crucified.” If we don’t get to his story, we’re missing the point—the amazing story of Jesus and the resurrection he offers each of us.
Behind the wheel of her pale blue 1965 Mustang, Greg’s mother jumped the center divider and nearly killed herself. Her face was badly disfigured in the accident, robbing her of that lifelong defining characteristic: her beauty. Without hope, she fell further into addiction and despair.
Shortly after Greg became a pastor, he contacted Oscar Laurie, the man who had adopted him and given him his name. Oscar insisted that Greg and his wife stay with him.
In the stories of his mother and adopted father resides the hope of the gospel.
The very good news Greg lives and loves to share.
What happened to your mother?
After a car accident, she continued to drink and smoke so when she was 70 she looked 90. She was on dialysis three times a week. It was sad. I never stopped loving or trying to reach her. One day I felt a very strong direction from the Lord to go share the gospel with her. She’d been running from God her whole life. When I told her I wanted to talk about her soul, she said the same thing she always said, “I don’t want to talk about it.” So, I pressed her, “We are going to talk.” It resulted in her recommitting her life to Christ. How was I to know a month later she would die?
What about Oscar, the man who adopted you?
After I became a pastor, I wanted to make contact with him again. Someone in my church tracked him down. I called him up and told him I was going to be in New York and wanted to meet him. He’d remarried and had children. We picked up where we left off. I told him all that had happened. He said he had tried to get custody of me but he couldn’t. That night, his wife made a big Italian meal and she asked me to tell how I became a Christian. So, there at the dinner table, I shared my story.
Oscar had had a heart attack shortly before I went to see him and almost died. He asked me later that night if I’d walk with him in the morning. I rolled out of bed into the cold and walked along with him. He said he had listened very carefully to what I’d said about coming to Christ. He announced, “I would very much like to accept Christ Jesus into my life right now.” He dropped to his knees in the park we were walking in. It was one of the most amazing and instantaneous conversions I’ve ever seen. His life was radically transformed. He lived 15 more years and got involved in his church and became part of The Gideons International.
What do redemption stories teach you about how to share the gospel?
Sometimes people set up a false dichotomy of what it means to share the gospel—either live it or speak it. What we need to remember is that the gospel is good news. Good news that couldn’t get any better. We are called to live it and proclaim it. How could we not?
Greg’s message—that sharing the gospel is dialogue—is the theme of his latest book, Tell Someone: You Can Share the Good News, which released in February 2016 along with an accompanying six-week small group study. For more information: BHPublishingGroup.com/TellSomeone