Take a risk, stick your neck out…your friend is waiting.

By Beau Crosetto

Think about a time when you really stuck your neck out on the line. When was that time you believed in something so much that you did all you could to recruit to the cause?

It could be that weekend trip that you are trying feverously to get your buddies to skip work for. It could be that beautiful gal or cute boy that you want to go on a date with you. It could be a cause to save millions of lives and you just need people to donate money. When we really want something, we will stick our neck out and do what it takes.

But what does this look like in the Christian faith? What does, “stick your neck out” faith look like when it comes to Jesus?

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This is a guest post by Jordan Seng. He is the senior pastor of Bluewater Mission, and has been engaged in teaching, healing and prophetic ministry, worship, small groups, missions and church planting for the last twenty years. Before helping to begin Bluewater Mission, he served for four years in the Presbyterian church and about 16 in the Vineyard association of churches. He holds degrees from Stanford University and the University of Chicago, with a Ph.D. in Political Theory. He is the author of Miracle Work:  A Down-to-Earth Guide for Supernatural Ministries (InterVarsity Press).  He and his wife Sonya have two children.

A self-proclaimed atheist came with a friend to a recent spiritual encounter retreat hosted by a young man in our church.  She was just curious to see what it was like.  The host politely asked the non-believing visitor if he could include her as he prayed for attendees to be filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit.  She obliged, and soon felt a surge of power as the Holy Spirit filled her and she burst out speaking in tongues.  She was totally shocked.  The next day she returned to the retreat and accepted Jesus as Lord.

Another non-believing young woman was brought to our church because of bizarre, uncontrolled outbursts she’d been having.  While one of our leaders prayed over her in our office, she lost control of herself physically and cried out in a fashion we recognize as demonic.  The young leader cast out the demon, and began a healing friendship with the woman.  Today she’s in control and following Jesus like a trooper.

These stories are a little weird, and also very biblical.  They reflect, for example, the descriptions of the deliverances and healings Philip used to evangelize Samaria (Acts 8), or the way the Spirit fell upon the gathering of seekers in Cornelius’ house (Acts 10), or Paul’s assertion that tongues are a sign for nonbelievers (1 Corinthians 14:22).  The New Testament is filled with accounts of how healings, deliverances, prophecies, and manifest outpourings of the Spirit helped fuel the evangelism and growth of the early Church.

But I find that very few churches today make the effort to use supernatural ministries evangelistically.  Why is that?

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By Linson Daniel

I had an awesome time last week on campus. Within the span of 60 minutes, I had the chance to talk about life, faith, and Jesus with an atheist, a Hindu, and an international student from Kenya. What a rush! None of them made a significant decision to follow Jesus, but I felt that the Kingdom had come nearer to them. That was pretty exciting.

You may believe that you could never be awesome at sharing your faith. Trust me, I was right there with you. In fact, I still doubt whether I really know what I am doing! However, I keep trying. Along the way, I’ve noticed 10 steps that have helped me become increasingly better at sharing my faith with others.

I believe you can be awesome at sharing your faith with these 10 simple steps:

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What are you sharing with the world?

By Beau Crosetto

There is a huge debate in our culture about what is the ”full gospel” and as an evangelist this is very important to me because I want to communicate to people very well what God’s good news is.

I am very concerned with the way that we work to reduce and simplify the gospel, compartmentalizing into our theological camp. Some of us fight for the language of the Kingdom and focus on Jesus and the gospels. Others of us fight for the atonement stating the gospel is only and exclusively penal substitution. We argue from Paul’s letters and hammer the cross. Others are sick of the whole ordeal and are reverting back to the peaceful language of shalom found in the Old Testament.

But what if the gospel is all three ideas? Shalom, The Kingdom, and Atonement.

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