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Jesus never said that the whole world should go to church. Essentially, He said that the church should go to the whole world. This is an important principle we need to remember. God has primarily chosen to reach people through people. That takes Christians going into the world and sharing the gospel message.

Sharing God's love is the foundation upon which we have built Harvest Outreach Ministries. We hold Harvest Crusades, broadcast A New Beginning radio programs, and make God known on television so that people might believe in Jesus Christ. That they might believe is foundational to our mission.

In light of the Harvest Crusades, we have identified four points of evangelism for believers to emphasize here at Harvest Christian Fellowship. In fact, we believe these four points are so essential in our evangelistic outreaches that we have them posted on banners throughout our church campus. We want to emphasize the importance of telling everyone, everywhere about Christ (see Mark 16:15). That's why I want to share these four points of evangelism with you.

Pray is the first point I want to tell you about. Before we share the gospel, we need to pray. We need to ask God to help the people with whom we share to see their need for Him. We need to pray that God opens their eyes so they come to Christ. But all too often, we pray once and then give up. As Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7 nkjv). As Christians, we are fighting a spiritual battle for the souls of people—and prayer is an essential spiritual weapon to help us gain victory. The church marches on its knees.

I want to ask you a favor now that the 2004 Harvest Crusades have ended. Will you commit to praying regularly for the continued impact of the crusades? By that I mean will you pray for believers to continually preach the gospel, for God to transform the churches involved, and for all the people who came forward to become disciples of Christ? Will you pray so that the lost might believe in Jesus Christ?

That leads us to Invite, the second point of evangelism here at Harvest. We want Christians to invite others to church or to Harvest Crusades. In the first chapter of John we read that Jesus invited Philip to be His disciple. The next thing Philip did was find his friend, Nathanael. Nathanael was a little skeptical about Jesus. But I love what Philip said to him: " 'Just come and see for yourself' " (John 1:46 NLT). We need to say the same thing to our friends and family. Invite them to come and see for themselves. I believe if someone comes and truly wants to see what God has to offer, then He will transform their lives.

At a Harvest Crusade, thousands gather together as God's people. It is a powerful testimony to our culture as they see 40,000 people praying, worshipping, and hearing God's Word together. Then there is the essential message of the gospel that I proclaim at our crusades. Paul said the gospel is "the power of God to salvation . . ." (Romans 1:16 NKJV). But there will be no one to hear that message unless you, like Philip, invite them to "come and see."

Invite is closely tied to our third point of evangelism, Bring. Notice that Philip didn't stop with simply inviting Nathanael to see Jesus. Philip took the next step and actually brought him to meet Jesus (see verse 47). We can learn a lot from Philip. Let's not stop with a simple invitation to church. Let's make the time to bring our friends or family members to church or to a crusade. There needs to be a sense of urgency in evangelism. This is not something we should do if we find the time. We need to make the time to bring people to church, to crusades, and to any other opportunities to hear the gospel.

This brings me to our fourth and final point of evangelism, Share. Far too many Christians believe it is their pastor's job to preach the gospel. Instead of sharing their faith themselves, they take their unsaved friends to church to hear the gospel. But sharing the gospel is not only the job of a pastor or evangelist. It is also the duty of each and every Christian. It's your duty. The Apostle Paul said, "Do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry" (2 Timothy 4:5 NKJV). If you take friends or family to a Harvest Crusade or to church, don't give up if they don't make a decision for Christ right away. That is the time to ask what they thought about the message and their experience at church. Then make it a point to follow up and continue to share your faith with them.

We at Harvest are focusing on these four points of evangelism because they will help you go into your world and reach people for Christ. I have never converted anyone, and I never hope to. Only God can convert someone. But I believe God does primarily reach people through people. And I believe you are one of those people. It is my prayer that you will pray, invite, bring, and share . . . that they might believe.