What is it?
Spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by public proclaiming or personal witness.
Why do we do it?
Campus Outreach has a strong commitment to sharing the Gospel with people on the beach. We believe that this is commanded and modeled all throughout scripture. To help explain the Gospel we use verses like Romans 6:23 which says,
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We believe that this verse summarizes the Bible and includes two main characters, God and man. On the man side there are wages (something you earn), sin (disobedience or action against God), and death (separation from God). On God’s side there is the free gift (costs nothing), God (opposite of sin, perfect), and eternal life (living forever with God in heaven). Through this we can ask different questions to see where they are and ask why they feel like their on either side of the cliff. Then we explain that the only way to get to God’s side is through Jesus Christ who freely takes all of our sins and wages on the cross so that we can be in relationship with God the Father.
Personal Experiences
Jessica Tweeten and I went out on the beach together and walked up to a lady named Brenda. She seemed a little intimidating at first but was very happy to talk with us. I asked her what her faith background was and she explained that she goes to a Baptist church and is very involved there. During part of the conversation she asked us to pray for her brother Don. He was a marine and out of the picture for 20 years. He has struggled through tough times with alcoholism as well as is recovering from a broken hip. Now reunited with his family, he lives with Brenda who has been ministering to him every day about Jesus. Jessica felt like she could relate to Brenda because she has a similar relationship with her brother.
Another story from going out on the beach was with Alberto Ramos who walked up to two teenage guys and talked with them about their faith background. One guy shared that he was from a Christian family but was not sure of his beliefs yet and asked Berto to pray that it would feel real to him.
Evangelism happens anywhere and everywhere. Haley Gibbs went to Goodwill one day and a lady asked where she was from. Haley explained that she is a part of a group called Campus Outreach and the woman said that someone shared with her on the beach 2 years ago. This was really encouraging to hear and helps to give motivation for going out on the beach talking about Jesus.
It can also spring from other conversations or interactions. One day while working at Chick-fil-a, Elliot Larson, talked to a guy about sports for a solid 30 minutes and then that next Wednesday he saw the same man on the beach and shared his faith with him.
Each evangelism experience is unique and not always the best conversation but hearing encouraging stories like these, we can see that it is worth it.