Friend of Sinners

Friend of Sinners
Taking Risks to Reach the Lost
(CrossLink Publishing, 2016)

WHO: Kelly M. Williams, founder and senior pastor of Vanguard Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

HE SAYS: “It is time to quit cursing the darkness of this world and start seeking ways to multiply Jesus by becoming a ‘friend of sinners’ like Jesus, but to do this, we have to give up our preconceived Christian religious views of this world.”

THE BIG IDEA: We cannot effect change in our society if we refuse to listen to anyone who doesn’t agree with everything we say. The point of evangelism is befriending sinners like Jesus did.

THE PROGRESSION:
Starting a new church in a “Christian” city like Colorado Springs was hard to say the least. For Kelly Williams, it was disheartening. Then people started coming into his life that most Christ followers would classify as “sinners.” As Williams built genuine relationships with them, he discovered that God had led him to these people for a reason. He shares practical steps in how he reached out to the lost as he birthed a church that has now had more than 3,000 people come to faith.

“The only way I have learned to get a burden for the lost is to spend time with them, to look into their eyes, to hear their voices and to care about the stories of their lives.”

Order this book from Amazon.com »

Read an excerpt from this book »

Kelly M. Williams
Kelly M. Williams

Kelly M. Williams is senior pastor of Vanguard Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Evangel Church: Never Stop Serving

Last year, Evangel started a church two hours away inside the largest women’s prison in New York. A pastor and a team go every Thursday to share a message, preach and lead worship for the prisoners.

Angulus Wilson: Evangelism Is the Heart of God

When the church taps into the mission and the heart of God, she gets mobilized, she can get revived. We can see growth and new initiative.

David Kinnaman: Start the Conversation

Church leaders must recognize that what feels hidden is actually hurting people, and that discipleship includes helping people break free from destructive patterns.