Soul Winning

When it comes to fulfilling the Great Commission, how can the “1 percent” of Christians who work in professional ministry help the “99 percent” who don’t?

Consider the difference between how frogs and lizards get their food. The frog just sits and waits, and lets the food come to him, while the lizard cannot afford to sit and wait, but must go out into the world.

Pastors are like the frog. They get trained in ministry, join a church staff, and then everyone knows they work full-time to meet spiritual needs. Ministry opportunities come to them.

In contrast, when it comes to ministry and evangelism, lay people are like the lizard. They must learn to hunt by building bridges at work or in neighborhoods, earning a right to be heard, and then winsomely, creatively, prayerfully, courageously proclaiming Christ.

Unfortunately, there are many sad lizards out there who think that to have a ministry, they must act just like frogs. Many ill-equipped laypeople sit under-deployed. Even as hostility toward Christians grows stronger, Christ’s Great Commission mandate has not changed, and a pathway for spreading the gospel remains wide open—as it has since the days of the early church—through personal relationships between believers and nonbelievers who work together.

Church historian Alan Kreider sums up the strategic advantage of the workplace: “What happened was this. Non-Christians and Christians worked together and lived near each other. They became friends.”

This is what makes the workplace so key to the Great Commission. Here believers have daily opportunities to offer living proof—through their actions, attitudes, and words—that the gospel is indeed good news.

In a 2019 PBS documentary America Lost, filmmaker Christopher Rufo explores the devastating plight of three of America's forgotten cities: Youngstown, Ohio; Memphis, Tennessee; and Stockton, California. In a YouTube video, he describes a successful men's ministry in Stockton.

Pastor Jereme of the Men's Recovery Home is shown speaking to a man on the street:

We gotta let go of some of those old ways and those old habits, you know what I mean? I know I was there bro. I ran away from home when I was 15 years old. I was living on the streets. I was gang banging. I was getting high, shooting dope. Doing my thing man, running while carrying a gun. You know I was messed up. I was a hurting man. I didn't know any other way until somebody just like this actually handed me a flyer from Victory Outreach.

I said, “God can change your life” and at that moment I was at a point where I was tired. I was tired of the way I was living. I said “Man what do I have to do?” I was ready to make a change. We got a Christian recovery home for men. It's an intense program to help you get your life together.

Pastor Jereme narrates:

Everybody has a story. Could be through drugs. It could be through abuse. It could be through violence. Our families are broken down, our communities are broken down, people's lives are broken down. They're devastated. That's why this ministry is here. We want to let people know that they're not in a hopeless situation. That as long as they're breathing there's hope.

‘The people that come into our church, they come in hurting. They come in empty. They come in broken. They come in in need of a miracle. In need of a healing. A need of somebody loving them. And that's the beginning of the process. If we can affect a person, we can affect the community. We can affect the city. We can affect the world.’

You can watch the clip here (56 min, 36 sec – 60 min, 31 sec).

Dilli Lumjel gave his life to Jesus on May 4, 2011, at 1:33 a.m. Earlier that day, he had performed a Hindu funeral service for his father-in-law in a refugee camp in eastern Nepal, where he lived with more than 12,000 other refugees.

As was the custom, Lumjel spent the night at his wife’s uncle’s house. Both of Lumjel’s parents-in-law had recently converted to Christianity. That night he had a vision: His mother-in-law approached him and shared the gospel, stating, “If you enter this house, you have to believe in Jesus.” Then he saw a flash of lightning from heaven and heard a voice saying, “What you are hearing is true; you have to believe.” In the dream, he knelt down crying and committed his life to Jesus.

When he woke up, his face was wet with tears. Lumjel called a local pastor and told him he had had a dream and was now a Christian. The news shocked his family of devout Hindus. He said, “Every­body—my relatives, my wife, sisters—they all woke up asking, ‘What happened to Dilli? Is he mental? He says he’s a Christian!’”

The next day, the pastor explained the gospel to Lumjel and his wife. The two committed their lives to Jesus. A day later, Lumjel began attending a monthlong Bible school in the refugee camp. Then church leaders sent Lumjel out to preach the gospel to other refugees. Several months later, he became a church deacon, then an elder.

One year later, Lumjel arrived in Columbus, Ohio, as part of a massive resettlement of about 96,000 ethnic Nepalis expelled from their home of Bhutan to the United States. There he joined Yusuf Kadariya in pastoring a group of about 35 Bhutanese Nepali families. As more Bhutanese Nepali refugees settled in Columbus and the group brought more people to Christ, the church continued to grow.

Today, Lumjel is a full-time pastor at Emmanuel Fellowship Church in Columbus. On a wintry Sunday morning in December, about 200 people streamed into the sanctuary, greeting one another with a slight bow and “Jai Masih,” meaning “Victory to Christ.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

God is bringing the nations to our neighborhoods here in America and is bringing many to faith in Christ. We can carry out the Great Commission in part by welcoming them with Christian love and sharing the gospel to those with hungry hearts.

When Krish Kandiah was young, growing up in the United Kingdom, his family could always count on their next-door neighbor, Mrs. Oglive, to be around. They left a spare key with her in case they got locked out, because she was always there—morning, afternoon, and night—to let them in.

Mrs. Oglive never went out. She suffered from agoraphobia, the fear of open spaces. Having lived next door to her for 40 years now, they still haven’t seen her venture past her doorway. She wasn’t always this way. She has pictures on her mantelpiece of less anxious days, from her honeymoon with Mr. Oglive and from a day at the beach with her children. But after her husband died, Mrs. Oglive began to isolate herself.

One can only imagine the heavy cloud of fear and frustration that surrounds her. Now frail and in the twilight of life, Mrs. Oglive’s curtains are almost always drawn.

There are some parallels between Mrs. Oglive and the contemporary church. Many Christians observe the world from behind closed curtains, bemoaning culture instead of engaging it. Many local churches are isolated from the wider community and world, bunkered up like doomsayers, suffering from fear of an open public square with divergent viewpoints and lifestyles.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Only by encountering the risen Christ and receiving the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit are we able to step beyond our doors and carry out God’s mission. When we do so, we are transformed from an agoraphobic church to an apostolic church.

Kathy Troccoli has been a successful Christian singer, songwriter, author, and speaker for over three decades. She also found success in secular music through hits on the Billboard charts, and a collaboration with the legendary group, The Beach Boys.

Kathy initially grew up in a family that wasn't too religious and once said, "The Bible in my family was a book on the end table that was never touched." However, in 1978, while working during the summer at a local pool, Kathy's spirituality was challenged when she noticed a co-worker faithfully reading her Bible during her lunch breaks.

As Kathy began to talk to her colleague about her love for the Bible, the friend began to answer her questions in a way she had never heard before. Kathy said, "I never heard about Jesus in the way she described Him to me.” The co-worker subsequently gave Kathy a copy of the New Testament to read, and invited her to church, where she committed her life to Christ.

Today, Kathy has found success as a Christian artist and received many awards which includes Dove Awards, besides Grammy nominations. But her journey in the Christian faith began because a co-worker served faithfully as a witness for Jesus.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Like Kathy's co-worker friend, let's be a faithful witness for the Lord, wherever he may place us. Who knows what impact our life may have?

Hollywood stuntman Robert Wilton shares his journey through doubt and fear to faith in Christ.

Beginning in my 20s, I worked for decades as a film and television stuntman, facing injury and even death for a living. On the set, I rubbed elbows with celebrities and movie stars. I was living my dream. At age 26, however, I received a gut punch when my 32-year-old brother suddenly collapsed dead from a heart attack. In rare moments of quiet, usually after a considerable intake of alcohol, I would ponder the senselessness of his death.

While doing film work one day, I overheard someone talking about God with one of the stunt guys. To my utter surprise, it was none other than the movie stunt coordinator himself. Eavesdropping on that conversation conjured up some old memories and questions. Did I still believe in God, or had I outgrown the childishness of Sunday school stories?

For one film gig up the coast, I caught a ride with the stunt coordinator—a man I dubbed “the Preachernator.” When conversation inevitably turned to religion, I told him I was doing fine without God. I began regaling him with stories of my close calls and narrow escapes on set. There was the time, for instance, when I was tapped for a fire stunt. The idea was to paint myself with a flammable substance, land on the roof of a car, whose driver would set me on fire, and peel out toward a wooden wall. But nothing went according to design. First, my rope line snagged. Then the fire wouldn’t light and I gave up and signaled for the driver to floor it. When he stomped on his brakes, I went flying through a wooden wall, only not on fire as planned.

As I picked myself up my heart leapt into my throat. I realized I had completely forgotten to apply the protective stunt gel to my head and face. Had I actually been set ablaze, I almost certainly would have sustained serious, possibly fatal, injuries.

The Preachernator listened to my story and said, “Sounds like God was still looking after you.” His words cracked my pride; Could God have been looking out for me, even when I was so far astray? I found myself thinking about God on a daily basis. Could he really love me again after I had turned my back on him?

Everything came to a head one night. I had been hired to jump off of a 60-foot-high catwalk, grab a chain with one hand and slide down to the cement floor below while firing a pistol. Fear began to overwhelm me, and I couldn’t shake the thought of possible catastrophe. I wondered if the moment to give my life to Jesus had finally arrived.

An internal debate raged within. One side of me said, “You’re only doing this because you might die, you hypocrite! Do it after you finish the stunt.” But another side said, “No, the whole point in giving my life to Jesus is in case I die. It’s smarter to do it right now.” So that’s what I did.

The following weeks confirmed (that) God had indeed heard my prayer. Before long, I worked up the confidence to evangelize my fellow crew members. God granted me dramatic change in some areas, but in others he gave the gift of struggle. In fact, I have experienced some of the greatest grief life has to offer. Once, a crew member asked me why his friend’s child had died. Where was God in this tragedy? I tried explaining God’s heart to him. The crew member said that much of what I shared made sense. But he also wondered whether my faith would survive the death of one of my own children. So did I.

I think of this conversation from time to time, because the question has been answered. I have lost children since that day. I watched my wife as she rocked our 19-day-old son while he died in her arms. Three years later, my wife watched me cradle our newborn daughter as she met the same fate.

God never promises us a life without pain and suffering. However, he more than sustains us through challenges. From the tremendous joy of a beautiful, 20-year-old daughter to the depths of deep sorrow, my life attests to the truth that absolutely nothing can separate me from God’s love (Rom. 8:39).

Justin Kimball had not even worked a year in health care when he invented medical insurance in 1929. A former teacher, the vice president of Baylor Hospital in Dallas watched the stock market crash and was thinking about money. His hospital was half empty and sitting on piles of unpaid bills. Kimball said, “the people who owed them had no money.”

His solution was the earliest version of modern health insurance. The hospital sold it to Dallas schoolteachers for 50 cents a month. The plan was instantly popular. Thus began the Blue Cross and Blue Shield family of insurance companies. Kimball was watching out for his employer’s bottom line, but he and the Texas Baptists who oversaw the hospital were also following in the footsteps of the early church.

When the plague struck third-century Rome, Christians organized themselves to care for the sick and the dying as both the government and their pagan neighbors looked on (helplessly). These public displays of righteousness persisted despite growing persecution of the church. They also laid the groundwork for modern Western medicine. In less than a century, church-run infirmaries and hospitals emerged as formal parts of Roman society.

Like the early-church in Rome, modern Christians have been some of the first in and the last out in responding to medical needs. They have founded some of the world’s most important medical centers. They are a key driver of short-term medical mission trips, which provide an estimated $3.7 billion worth of volunteer health care in poor countries each year. And evangelical groups operate countless small hospitals and clinics around the globe, filling prescriptions and performing major surgeries for free.

John Hopkins professor Henry Mosley, told CT back in 1986, “Traditionally, Christian missions have led the way in caring for the sick. Mission agencies can take the initiative to demonstrate compassion and caring for those who are neglected by their governments.”

The happiest place in medicine right now is a basketball arena in New Mexico. Or maybe it’s the parking lot of a baseball stadium in Los Angeles, or a shopping mall in South Dakota. The happiest place in medicine is anywhere there is vaccine, and the happiest people in medicine are the ones plunging it into the arms of strangers.

“It’s a joy to all of us,” says “Nana” Poku, a nurse vaccinating people in Northern Virginia.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had an experience in my career that has felt so promising and so fulfilling,” says Christina O’Connell, at the University of New Mexico.

For health-care workers, the opportunity to administer the vaccine has become its own reward. Giving hope to others has given them hope, too. In some clinics, so many nurses have volunteered for vaccine duty that they can’t accommodate them all.

The arrival of “The Shot” has transformed the grim pop-up clinics of the pandemic into gratitude factories—assembly lines where Americans could begin to put back together their busted psyches. Pharmacy manager Ebram Botros said, “I will never forget the face of the first person I vaccinated. It was an 80-year-old man who said that he hadn’t seen his children or grandchildren since last-March.”

Corie Robinson, a nurse in D.C., was selected to give the ceremonial first vaccinations on camera at a Dec. 17 news conference. The positivity has buoyed her spirits. She said of her patients, “You can see their smiles through their masks.” One elderly man sang while he got his shot. Others request pamphlets about the vaccine because they want to put them in time capsules.

Robinson said, “I say quite often, this is probably the most important thing I’ll ever do in my career. Sometimes it’s a little overwhelming because you’re like, ‘Wow, I’m the keeper.’”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Christians experience an even greater joy seeing the faces of those who receive Christ as Savior! It is time of rejoicing when someone passes from death to life and can literally be the most important thing you will do in your life.

Generally, getting stuck in a snowstorm isn’t a great experience, but for a group of stranded motorists in Oregon it ended up being a stroke of good luck. That’s because in their long queue of cars stranded during a snowstorm was a group of healthcare workers returning from a vaccine clinic at a nearby high school.

The workers from the Josephine County Public Health Department had six doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine remaining. But with a jackknifed tractor-trailer ahead of them, the crew realized they could be stuck for hours and the doses would expire.

Public health director Michael Weber said, “We knew the vaccine would not make it back to Grants Pass. In all likelihood, it was going to expire.” So, the workers made the decision to walk from car to car asking stranded drivers if they wanted to be vaccinated, right there on the spot. One of the healthcare workers said, “We were a little nervous because not a lot of people in this part of the state are eager to get the vaccine at this point in time.”

In total, it took them 45 minutes to find six individuals willing to get the dose. Weber said most politely declined, but some of those who accepted were overjoyed. "We had one individual who was so happy, he took his shirt off and jumped out of the car. I can’t imagine a better way to spend four hours stuck in a snowstorm.” He said it was one of the coolest operations he’d been a part of. The ambulance that accompanied the workers to the high school was also on hand for anyone who may have had an adverse reaction to the vaccine.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Believers have a cure for the virus of sin and death. In these troubled times we should take every opportunity to hold out “the Word of Life.” As in the case of the Covid vaccine, many will decline, but some will receive it joyfully.

Anil’s life took a sudden turn after his mother was miraculously healed following a woman’s simple prayer to Jesus. In this episode of God Pops Up, follow Anil’s journey to learn more about the man who he is convinced saved his mother.

After watching this episode of God Pops Up, read more about Apilang Apum’s call to Christ in a remote corner of India.

If you were traveling to outer space, what would you take with you? Photographer Steve Pyke got to find out what items some American astronauts felt were significant enough for that. Starting in 1998, Pyke began a series of portraits of those who had traveled to space or walked on the Moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But he also photographed objects that had made the journeys with them. There were the wonderfully geeky working items: a case used to bring the first lunar rock back to Earth on Apollo 11 in 1969 and the geological hammer used during Apollo 12.

But then there were more personal and sometimes surprising artifacts that orbited the Earth and even made the journey to the Moon. A figurine of a Madonna, an unopened bottle of brandy, a golf club, and quotes from famous people, and a copy of the Declaration of Independence. Astronaut Rusty Schweickart brought those quotes on pieces of lightweight onionskin paper tucked inside his tunic during Apollo 9. Pyke writes, “To him, they were pieces of wisdom from Earth that would remain up there, on his person, even if he was lost during the mission.”

Each lunar astronaut was allowed only two pounds of personal items that they could bring back, so the items they chose can be curious, odd, and personal. “The objects that are documented here—the quiet and intimate minutiae—give us access to the very personal, psychological, and human side to the journey into space. What is it that these astronauts and pioneers wanted to take with them on their ultimate journey into the unknown?”

Possible Preaching Angle:

What are you taking on your ultimate journey to heaven? Many things that we spend our life pursuing, such as material possessions, money, fame, hobbies, and status, will be left behind. Among the only things we can take are our own soul (Matt. 16:25-26), our good works done with the right motive (1 Cor. 3:8, Rev. 14:13), and the people we have led to faith in Christ (Dan. 12:3; Phil. 4:1).

Alfred Mendes enlisted in the British Army in January 1916 at the tender age of 19. He was soon sent off to France to train to be a signaller. Signallers were responsible for signaling communications from the front lines back to the command position and vice-versa. Often, it involved laying landlines down in dangerous enemy territory.

On October 12, 1917, Alfred faced his most daunting test yet. Hundreds of British soldiers had been charged with reclaiming the village of Poelcappelle in Belgium from the Germans. It was an important location from a strategic standpoint and Allied forces resolved to have it back under their command. The British troops attacked on a day that poured down rain, suffering heavy losses. One hundred fifty-eight men in Alfred’s battalion of 484 were killed, wounded, or MIA. No one could locate the missing men as they were scattered across miles of sucking, waterlogged foxholes and craters in the mud. Stuck in the middle of No Man’s Land, they were unable to communicate their positions back to their allies in the safe zone without being killed.

When Alfred Mendes’ commanding officer asked for a volunteer to do the almost certainly fatal job of running out to locate the positions of the surviving men and then reporting back to the troops – Alfred volunteered for the job.

Miraculously, he survived and . . . located a number of survivors, enabling them to be rescued. It was an act that later won Alfred the Military Medal for bravery. His actions became the inspiration for the film 1917. In an interview, writer and director Sam Mendes explains the source of the film: “I had a story that was a fragment told to me by my grandfather, who fought in the First World War. It’s the story of a messenger who has a message to carry."

Possible Preaching Angles:

Evangelism; Great Commission; Preaching – Our Commanding Officer has called believers to carry the greatest message ever given. At times it involves risk and danger, but it leads to the saving of many lives in the deadliest battle in history.

An anonymous missionary in Japan uses the following illustration to show how we need to listen to people before we share the gospel.

A Japanese language instructor held up a cup filled to the brim with water and said:

“The Japanese are like this full cup. Their lives are very busy and full.” He held up the glass full of water. “We’ve got to be careful of pouring on the truth, as important, great, and glorious as it is. If you pour water into a cup that’s already full, where will that water go? Of course, it spills onto the floor.”

He said, “Sometimes in our zealousness to share the good news, we can overdo it, and we just pour it on. And then that opportunity—that water—is wasted because people’s cups are already full.

“But when you take time to listen,” and he took a sip out of the cup, “you’re now providing space. There’s now capacity for you to share something that’s going to impact their heart because now you know their story. Now you know what passage of Scripture to share or what encouraging word to say. Now you know how to pray for them because you’ve taken the time to listen.”

Preaching Angles: This principle is applicable to any culture. We love to talk about ourselves; it’s hard to listen. But listening is a powerful way to show love. Listening to people’s stories gives you credibility and trust so that when you do share something, it’s something that’s actually going to impact their hearts. You’re weaving their story in with Scripture. It’s not a canned response. It really is heartfelt, and the Holy Spirit can use that.

It was a very lucky St. Patrick’s Day for a woman in need of a life-saving assist at a Chicago area restaurant. A last-minute staffing issue left the Trifecta Grill in need of a busboy to fill in during the busy holiday weekend. Waitress Alina Benge had an idea: she would call her dad, who had recently retired. “Just because he’s had the time on his hands … and not doing a whole lot,” Benge said.

Her dad is Dr. Bill Benge, a retired Harvard-trained cardiologist, who jokes he traded his white coat for a white apron. Bartender Nicole Papalia said “this is not funny – but what happens if there’s some medical event, and he just happens to be here on this night? We were all kind of laughing in jest about it.”

But just after he arrived an elderly customer began choking on her meal. Restaurant owner Patrick O'Neil said, “He wasn’t here for more than five minutes with his apron on when a lady stopped breathing from choking.” So instead of clearing tables, Dr. Benge stepped in to clear a blocked air passage. “Did the Heimlich maneuver, which is abdominal thrusts, and she was able to clear the object,” Dr. Benge said.

His daughter said, “I kind of go back in my mind and say, what if he wasn’t here? How would that have turned out? What would the outcome be? I’m just so lucky my dad was here that night.”

Dr. Benge says it’s a good reminder that we should all take a moment to learn the Heimlich maneuver, because you don’t have to be a doctor to save someone’s life.

Possible Preaching Angle: 1) Incarnation; Humanity of Christ - Jesus served as a humble carpenter at the Father’s request (Jn. 6:38) and at the right time stepped forward to save the world (John 3:17); 2) Evangelism; Salvation; Soul Winning – Christians should be prepared at a moment’s notice to rescue the perishing.

All of the approximately 400 St. Paul firefighters train for ice rescues. The department’s firefighters usually respond to a couple of ice rescues each winter and practicing for them is important because, if someone is in the icy water, time is of the essence.

Less than two hours after St. Paul firefighters completed ice rescue training this month, they were called on to put their practice into action. A cross-country skier fell through the ice on McCarrons Lake in Roseville, and St. Paul firefighters got him to safety.

Tom McDonough, St. Paul deputy fire chief of training, said, “The new firefighter who actually went in the water to effect the rescue, said the training that day was the first time he had been in the water with the ice rescue suit doing those maneuvers.”

Possible Preaching Angle: Evangelism; Preparation; Witnessing; Soul Winning – Believers should also train in using the gospel and be prepared at any time to rescue the perishing since time is also of the essence.

In 2024 FedEx delivered over nine million packages to valued customers. FedEx’s delivery routes cover every U.S. street and service more than 220 countries. In order to send well, FedEx has over 430,000 employees, 675 aircraft, 80,900 ground transportation vehicles, and 2,000 office locations. It’s a bit mysterious, but somehow FedEx has figured out a way for customers to ship packages within a one day turnaround. If FedEx knows anything—they know how to send well!

The church may not be in the package delivery business, but she is in the people delivery business. At least that’s what Jesus wanted the church to be about! However, sending people isn’t always the top priority in churches and, if we are being honest, sometimes the church hasn’t done a good job sending out laborers for the Lord’s harvest.

FedEx has a unique way of looking at the world. FedEx operates with a deep conviction that everyone in the world should have the ability to send and receive packages. God may not be all too concerned about packages being delivered on time, but the scriptures make it clear that God desires all people to receive the message of salvation and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:3-4). God operates with a deep conviction that everyone should have the ability to send and receive eternal hope! What is God’s distribution plan? Simply put—God’s people! This reality means the church may need to take a few notes from FedEx’s commitment to send well.

Editor’s Note: The stats were updated as of March 2025

Residents of a sleepy central Virginia town were surprised in March by a coordinated campaign to identify and woo one of their local teenagers.

Carnival Cruise Lines first posted signs all over town, then augmented their effort with a gigantic rolling billboard on a truck. The sign featured a picture of "Chief Fun Officer" Shaquille O'Neal with the text "DOES ANYBODY KNOW DARIAN?"

The Darian in question was Darian Lipscomb, 15, owner of a Snapchat account with a distinctive handle: @CarnivalCruise. Lipscomb had previously been on several Carnival cruises, and had such a good time that he started a Snapchat account to document his adventures and share with friends.

Carnival representatives eventually found Lipscomb, and surprised him by offering, in exchange for the desirable Snapchat handle, an all-expenses-paid cruise to Barcelona for him and family aboard its newest ship, Carnival Horizon—a trip with a retail value of about $5,000.

"We thought this would be a fun way to claim our handle and reward a 'superfan' at the same time," said Robyn Fink, a spokesperson for Carnival, who also referred to the trip as "a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

Potential preaching angles: 1) Names have lasting importance and value. Carrying a name can confer power and authority if the name is significant enough. God's name is special and should not be treated lightly.2) Testimony; Witness - We should be as excited as Darian to "share" the Good News of our experience of salvation with others; 3) Seeking the lost. Christians are on a mission to seek and find the lost and offer them a personal invitation.

Pat Payaso is currently running for an open seat on Boston's city council—and he recently got an idea for a creative way to campaign.

"Payaso" translates to "clown" in Spanish; according to a report in TIME, Payaso "donned a rainbow wig, a red nose, and clown makeup in recent campaign photos and videos on social media."

But then he actually showed up at a polling place with the clown costume, and people were a little scared: "Police tell The Boston Herald that Pat Payaso's presence near a polling location at Roxbury Community College made some people nervous … and they called the authorities."

Later, an officer stopped Payaso and "realized he wasn't a threat."

Potential Preaching Angles: Payaso wasn't trying to terrify anyone (at least, we hope not)—he just wanted to spread the word about his campaign and garner some interest from potential voters. But the way he did it ended up being far from fun. Now think about the ways you try to share the gospel and the good news about your faith: Are you making friends, family, or coworkers feel comfortable and safe as you tell them why you believe what you believe? Or might they feel confused or judged?

Convincing someone to buy a used car can sometimes require a certain level of ingenuity, especially if the automobile has seen better days. Ingenuity would be an understatement, however, for Eugene Romanovsky (an Israel-based visual effects artist), who developed a full-blown Hollywood-style action trailer to try to sell his 1996 Suzuki Vitara.

The 2-minute video he uploaded with the hashtag #BuyMyVitara includes a barrage of dramatic "footage" of his Vitara traversing exotic terrains, from the sand dunes of the Sahara to valleys filled with dinosaurs to the craters of the moon behind some astronauts. The clever promotion succeeded in gaining some attention, quickly achieving over 3 million views online. Ironically, however, the eventual buyer of the car didn't know about the video. "He saw it on the street," said Romanovsky.

Potential Preaching Angles: Witnessing; Evangelism—On most occasions you don't need to be a visual effects artist to present the gospel. You don't need a dramatic presentation. You just need to be a friend on the journey who is willing to love people and point to Jesus.

It seems everything we see in media has a political tinge to it these days, and television commercials appear to be no exception. Some have been offering perspectives of conservative nostalgia, while others liberal idealism—but one ad (produced by Heineken) seems to attempt to straddle these deep divisions at work in the world by conducting a sort of controlled "experiment."

The ad begins by showing several individuals describing their unbending political and social opinions and their disdain for those on the other side of the issue. The individuals with divergent views are then paired together and guided through a series of tasks requiring them to collaborate and get to know one another. After they seem to achieve true camaraderie, they are shown the individual footage taken before the experiment, where each had described their hardline stances and disgust for people with differing opinions. After hearing the "truth" about one another, the participants are then told that they may leave, or stick around and spend time with the other person. The ad closes with each group electing to stay and talk, in spite of seemingly insurmountable differences.

Potential Preaching Angles: The point of the ad is not to blindly tolerate and accept sin; the point is that the Gospel opens doors to its enemies instead of closing them.