Have You Been Saved?

That was the question asked of me when Brother Epstein approached me and a friend inside the Sears department store in Amarillo. He was the town preacher/evangelist. He had hair hanging down on his shoulders, wore a white robe outfit with sandals. He had a beard just like the white european portraits we all know of Jesus.

Brother Epstein had a reputation for practically chasing you down to preach/yell at you about Jesus. We saw him from a distance and knew what was about to go down. We high tailed it down the main aisle heading for the nearest exit. He caught up with us and grabbed us by the shoulders and spun us around and promptly said, “Boys, have you been saved?”

Understand that we  had very little church background and I for one didn’t know what he was talking about. I looked at my friend
Steve and said, “You say something!” To which he responded, “No you say something!” Not knowing how to respond I said, “Yeah, I’ve been saved.” Thinking that would satisfy him, I smiled. He said, “Well, tell me about it son.” I shared how I was pushed into a swimming pool and a friend saved me, and so I was saved. I literally thought that was what he was talking about. He shook his head and said, “I’m afraid you boys are missing the boat!”

I really don’t remember what else he said after that. I think I mentally blocked him out. 

My grandmothers on my dad and mom’s side, had a propensity to “preach” to each grandchild about getting saved. One grandma put lots of emphasis on getting baptized. The other getting right cause Jesus was gonna come back any time.

So my first experiences with the Gospel were negative in tone. No wonder I didn’t want anything to do with Christianity. It wasn’t until I got involved with Young Life in high school, that I finally heard someone share the gospel in kind and simple terms. I was gently told of His love for me and never pushed to “get saved”.

My high school vice-principal shared the gospel with me in kind and compassionate ways too.  A number of people gently nudged me toward the Savior. Yelling and screaming kind of gospel sharing turned me off.  But a kind, gentle approach brought to the a place where I wanted to know more of Jesus and His love for me.

Confrontational kind of evangelism, at least for me, just didn’t work. I am finding that more and more, that in your face gospel sharing is a turn off for most people. Sadly enough the image most have of evangelism is the smack down kind of stuff.

I remember a young man who pulled up in his car to see if we needed another person to play touch football. There were only three of us and yeah, he was much needed. He played football with us for a while and then afterwards invited us to attend church with him. I liked the guy, he was not pushy and was a genuinely kind person. The three of us agreed to meet him Sunday morning. He said he would look for us and save us a seat. And we went. Why did we go,because the guy didn’t come across as a fake. We saw something different in him. He meet a need that we had and we were grateful and gained a hearing for the gospel.