Tag: Jesus

How to Share Jesus with Gamers

Goal: how to get in front of gamers and be a light for Christ while honoring the context and the person

Why Share Your Faith?: 

Love for God and for others – 

  1. When we genuinely love God, we want others to know and honor Him
  2. When we love another person, we want what’s best for them (and nothing is better than knowing God)

Successful Evangelism Defined: “going out in the power of the Holy Spirit, and sharing the truth in love, leaving the results to God.” ~Bill Bright, founder of Cru

How to Share Your Faith – 3 types of evangelism in the Bible

In the Bible, evangelism (telling people about Jesus) seems to fall into 3 types. 

  1. Body Evangelism

Preaching the good news to a crowd, or coming to believe as part of a Christian community

Possibly the hardest (because people have to agree to come, and you don’t 100% know what they’ll experience). Best when mixed with the other two. That said, people change temperature the most when they are in an environment of that temperature, even more than just being around one person of that temperature (idea applies to backsliding as well).

  1. Bible Examples
    1. Peter and Paul in front of crowds (Acts 2:14-41; Acts 13:42-43) 
    2. Church growth (Acts 2:42-47)
  2. Modern/Gaming Examples
    1. Host a gaming event with a presentation (7Admirals Rally, VGM Fortnite tourney)
    2. Invite to Discord Bible Study (Healthy Gaming Study)
    3. church alter call
    4. small group bible study
  3. Tips
    1. Invitation requires trust (the further they have to go from their comfort zone, the more relational equity or felt need promise is needed to get them there)
  4. Tools
    1. Discovery Bible Study
    2. Church invite script
    3. Invite them to game with you and your Christian friends
  1. Relational Evangelism

Telling friends and family about Jesus (all at once or over time)

Possibly the most thorough of type. The people you pray over the most for the longest. Can be the most powerful impact you have on someone’s life, but not possible to do well with many people (depth vs scope).

  1. Bible Examples
    1. Phillip & Nathanial (John 1:43-46)
    2. Woman of Well & her town (John 4:28-30)
  2. Modern/Gaming Examples
    1. Car rides with family
    2. Jeff’s D&D Story – Paul Yurgel (also MtG 2-headed Giant tourney, local game store)
  3. Tips
    1. Story: David at MtG tourneys (open to the possibility that God may have other plans for you tonight, MtG is secondary)
  4. Tools
    1. Wondering Questions
    2. The “Sometime” Question
    3. “How can I pray for you?”
    4. CoJourners Training 
    5. Quick Bible Stories
    6. Micro Testimonies (Snippets, Biscuit Trail?) – 3 statements
      1. Your longing for peace (relief from anxiety) – ex. “My wife and I are experiencing anxiety about care for our elderly parents”
      2. How Jesus meets us at this point – ex. “Just the other day, we got a call from their caregivers saying how they had things in hand and were taking good care of them. That really showed us how God is still in control 
      3. How that gives us hope for now and the future
    7. Book: “I Once Was Lost” (5 thresholds – spiritual tracking tool)
    8. Book: Bringing the Gospel Home (relational gospel drips over years)
  1. Initiative Evangelism

Starting a spiritual conversation with a new person. 

Easiest to learn first, also possibly your only option when somewhere you won’t be again (unless you can somehow boost the local heroes). Effective if God has already been preparing that person (others have planted and watered).

  1. Bible Examples
    1. Jesus & Woman at the Well (John 4:6-10)
    2. Phillip & Ethiopian (Acts 8:29-31)
  2. Modern/Gaming Examples
    1. VR Chat conversations with Survey (sample surveys)
    2. Board Games with Soularium
  3. Tools
    1. Conversation Starter:
      1. How can I be praying for you?
      2. Spiritual Survey
      3. Soularium
    2. Gospel Presentation
      1. Knowing God Personally Booklet
      2. Well-Crafted Testimony
      3. G.A.M.E.
  4. Tips
    1. Opt-in
    2. Not every conversation will lead someone to a salvation decision. How can you lead them as far from A to Z as they are willing to go without pushing them backwards?
    3. Follow-up
    4. Don’t need to have all the answers (“That’s a great point, and I don’t know the answer, but I’d love to look into it and get back to you!”)
    5. Book: God Space (wondering questions – windows to the soul)

Further Training: 

Conclusion: Inspirational video – “where were you?”

College Football and Christ!

In an effort to reach each student on every campus with the love of Jesus, we think about different types of students, their interests and how to build communities with them. That is why we build ministries like Athletes in Action, so we could meet students like Tommy, a football player from Canada.

     Tommy found us because of a training camp we run in Ohio. He had never been to church before, but he was drawn to the fact that we develop athletes in physical, mental and spiritual aspects. He wanted to grow in any way he could, so he picked our training above all his other options, and came with an open mind. Impressed with how the coaches saw faith as an integral part of the total athlete, and moved by a local pastor who helped him see how the Bible applied to his life, Tommy put his faith in Jesus.

     College football is kind of a big deal. With annual revenues over $1 billion, and regular stadiums filled with 100,000 fans (compared to 65k fans in NFL games), it is safe to say that there is an audience here and an opportunity to be a light for Christ to college students as well. Our missionaries are working through coaches and athletes from high school up through professional and Olympic levels to use their influence to shine Jesus’ love to their teammates. We’re also meeting players and fans in gathering opportunities, where people can experience God in powerful and relevant ways.

     Some of you who have been following our family’s ministry work also know that we’ve been working to reach students through video games. If physical college football made $1 billion last year, a single video game (Madden ‘24) made more than that in just 3 months! It is safe to say that there is opportunity to meet the 90% of students who play video games right where they are. Now, the same company that makes Madden will be releasing their newest College Football video game after 11 years of waiting. This promises to be even bigger than their NFL games, and will be extremely relevant to the players and fans we are trying to reach. I’ve arranged to partner with that company in big outreach events on campuses this year.

     In order to move with this incredible opportunity, Karen and I are waiting on the Lord to provide $10,000 in special gifts. This will equip us with the budget we need to move forward with our goal to set up gospel outreaches on 15 college campuses in the coming school year. Would you prayerfully consider helping to meet this need right now with a financial gift of any amount God puts on your heart?

Whether or not you are able to give at this time, your prayers and encouragement have meant so much to us and have helped us extend God’s love to so many people! Thank you for serving with us to bring the gospel to the whole world through the next generation!