You don't have to wear your underwear on your head to be an evangelist. I think.

This week, we'll be discussing J3: Receiver to Giver...booyah.

There are two competing answers to the following question: What is the most awkward conversation you can ever get into?

One answer says that the most awkward conversation you can get into is the infamous, parental "Sex Talk."

The other answer says that the most awkward conversation you can get into revolves around the question: "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?"

Both talks can involve lots of perspiration, stuttering, stammering and bad metaphors. Both can leave the receiving end of the party feeling very uncomfortable. Both can end with each party to the conversation unable to look each other in the eye for the next week or so.

They are the Manning v. Brady of awkward conversations. Both have their strong points. Both create heated debate. And both conversations can have polar effects on different people.

Today though, I will be writing about the Jesus conversation. Why? Because it's what I'm more interested in. Plus, I never got the sex talk. So I really am still pretty fuzzy on what the whole process involves. (I think it's goes something like this: a man and a woman enter a room. Get naked...and then beat a stork to death with an old Indian book of inter-gender yoga positions...Somewhere in there a baby is born, but I still haven't figured that part out yet.)

So why are conversations about Jesus uncomfortable? What is it about this discussion that not only can make non-Christians squirm in their seats, but Christians as well?

I remember my junior year of college, after I had been a Christian for 3/4 of a year, and being on the Outreach Team. The Outreach Team--the posterchild of every blown idea college ministry has ever come up with. Not that outreach teams are bad, just odd. I never understood how we got to the point where one specific group of people was in charge of spreading the Gospel.

Anyway, the Outreach Team consisted of me and about 6 other people who would try to think of ways to get into the dorms so that we could get into conversations with "lost" people and then get them into a Four Spiritual Laws discussion.

By the way if you don't know your Four Spiritual Laws, they go like this:

1. Don't feed a Christian after midnight.
2. Don't get a Christian wet.
   
3. Don't expose a Christian to direct sunlight.
   
4. No running in the hall.
   

And in case you forgot your Four Spiritual Laws (the less smart-mouthed version here), you had countless tracts to guide you through it. Essentially Outreach worked like this:

1. Do something creative to get the attention of a "lost" person. Ex. hand out pop-ice, collect dorm room trash, walk-around with a camera and microphone and intrusively ask them "Are you a good person? Hmmmmm?"
2. In a conversation, link everything back to the Bible and Jesus. "You watch Home Improvement! I love Home Improvement. You know, Tim Allen reminds me of a great carpenter I know...Jesus!"
   
3. Pull out your Four Laws Spiritual Tract--complete with poor drawings and really, really tiny font.
   
4. Walk through the Tract with the "lost" person.
5. Sweat profusely and change the subject if the "lost" person asks you a question not located directly on the Tract. *In code red situations, use your Four Spiritual Laws smokebomb to create a cloud of confusion as you sneak out through the window.
   

I wish somebody that year had set me down and let me know what it really meant to share the Gospel with people.

And so, I present 10 quick lessons I've learned about sharing the Gospel.*

1. If you say it, mean it. Don't tell somebody Jesus is the hope of the world unless you believe that in the deepest fiber of your being.
2. Know what Jesus means to you. Before you tell anybody what Jesus could mean to them, take some time and think about what your relationship with Jesus has really meant to you.
3. Don't get pissy if somebody doesn't change the first go around. It took me dozens of conversations with people before I decided to put my faith in Christ. You do not have the magic words and if you are there when somebody is saved, don't get a big head. You didn't do anything. God did.
4. There is no Hit and Run evangelism. Don't treat people like quick projects. People are more apt to investigate a relationship with Jesus if they feel like you really do care about them.
5. Walk before you talk. Don't just talk about Jesus. Walk with Him and let people watch you walk with him. Yes, don't be a blowhard about it, but let people see you struggle and rejoice with God.
6. Listen, then talk. One of the biggest stumbling blocks I see in the relationships between Christians and non-christians is that Christians rarely weigh a non-christians thought and perspectives with the same validity and care as other Christians. Listen, then explore. Don't just talk.
7. Be willing to put in the time. Just like there is no hit and run evangelism, there is no time-limit when you walk with somebody towards Jesus. Be willing to go the distance, win or lose.
8. Be OK with not having all the answers. You won't. And that's good. There will be points in everybody's walk up to the line of faith where they will have to wrestle with questions on their own and you can only be there to support them. That's OK. Their tough questions can be great opportunities for you to grow in your own faith as well.
   
9. Love like Jesus loves. We're all sinners. People drink. People swear. People sleep around. Not all of them, but some. You don't have to be passive or support their decisions and lifestyles can bring up good chances for conversations, but remember: you aren't perfect, they aren't perfect, but Jesus is. How does Jesus want you to react in those difficult culture-clashes?
10. Pray. The number one thing nobody ever tells a Christian who is trying to walk with somebody towards Christ. Pray. Pray. Pray. Pray morning and night for that person. Pray that God shows up big. He may surprise you.
    

*I know people will argue with some of these. That's OK. Jesus uses all kinds of ways to communicate his gospel. Even tracts. These are just the things I've learned thus far. I am no Billy Graham, more of a Billy Idol.