Missions Resources - Bibliography
Speaking of Jesus: How to tell your friends the best news they will ever hear
Authors: Mack Stiles
ISBN: 0-8308-1645-3
Publisher: Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1996
Type of cover: Soft Cover
Summary: Why is it scary to talk about Jesus with those who don't know him? In part, because Jesus is not content being a quantifyable and predictable force in our lives. He will be king, whether we like it or not. He has an amazing way of getting under people's skin: You just can't know how people will respond to the mere mention of his name.
"Following God is a strange business, filled with wonder," (pg 28) says Mack Stiles in his book, Speaking of Jesus. Through lively, humorous and often moving stories about everyday people sharing their faith in everyday situations, Mack shows how we can talk about Jesus so people will listen.
Mack knows it’s not easy being a witness in the real world. For instance, when he was a student, one spring break he decided to join InterVarsity’s Fort Lauderdale beach evangelism project.
The beach itself was a zoo - all those almost-naked people ... Everyone’s sound system roared loudly enough to drown out the noise of the surf ... Then it dawned on me: “I’m supposed to share the gospel with them!” I felt I was trying to invade Normandy in a rowboat with a squirt gun. I felt daunted, then ill (pg 44-5).
He could have turned around and gone home. But he didn’t. Mack hung out where the action was, made friends with total strangers and found numerous opportunities to talk about Jesus! He had expected to “do evangelism”; instead he learned to love and pray for people, be equipped to tell the truth about Jesus, and to seize opportunities to share the Gospel naturally and relevantly with others.
Mack helps us see evangelism differently — that God works through people who are available, not only those with the weighty seminary degrees. He says, “I can be a positive evangelist today not because I’ve hypnotized myself in front of a mirror, but because I came to believe what the Bible says about me is true” (pg 105).
Speaking of Jesus is a book that every Christian should read, who has ever struggled with being a witness. It gives a healthy, biblical perspective on how Christians can “go physically and mentally into all the world: to Africa and non-Christian cubicles at work, to Congress and smoking sections of restaurants, even to Florida beaches” (pg 45) to tell others about Jesus.
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