Un indien dans la ville

Several years ago there was a French film titled "Un indien dans la ville" ("an indian in the city"). This morning the Belleville Church had a guest preacher named John Sujo. He is originally from India and was a successful businessman working in NYC in the Twin Towers. His life was spared on 9/11 and he now is a full-time preacher with a strong gifting for evangelism. His manner of sharing his testimony was compelling. He held back nothing and even gave a traditional evangelistic invitation at the end of his talk. At least 5 people responded at the service we attended.

I have several reflections to offer about this.

The first is that God is bringing in people from all around the world for the harvest here. Some of these are just short-term, like John. Others are coming for the longer term to live and minister here. Some are non-white, non-French-speaking like John, who preached in English and was translated into French. But one could sense John's heart for France.

The second is that there is a place here for straight evangelistic preaching. Certainly, this isn't the only method of spreading the seed and getting people to cross the line into commitment to follow Christ. But there is a time to challenge people to make a commitment.

I appreciated the chapter in Bill Hybels book about tools for sharing our faith. Right now I don't have a hard time being around preChristians. However, I have a hard time bringing up the issues of faith sometimes. I think that I err in the direction of not being assertive enough, at least with my words. May God give me discernment and boldness.