People Need the Lord | David Wong

Let me ask you this morning, how many of you have ever lost something in your life? You lost something—lost a key, lost a cat? Uh, how many of you have lost something? Quite a lot? Huh, yeah.

You know, I’m now 73 years old, and one of the things I always forget is where I put my keys. Uh, you know, and then, uh, Pastor Fing, uh, had to remind me a few times, “Brother David, this Sunday, it’s 10:00 a.m.” I say, “Thank you, I really appreciate that.” You know, senior moment—we might forget, and I might end up in another church.

But one of the greatest fears that we had was when we were on holiday in Greece. You know, we were in Greece, and it was the last day of our tour. Uh, can I have my slide, please? Yeah, next one. Yeah, thank you. Uh, we were in Greece, and it was the last day of our tour.

Uh, maybe let’s just pause and ask the Lord to bless our time together. Father, we—how we need you. Every hour we need you, and Lord, how I need you now. I ask your Holy Spirit to anoint me as I host your presence, and open our minds, that our hearts and minds will be open, and our hearts will be receptive, and we’ll be quick to obey, uh, what you will lay on each of our hearts for your glory’s sake. So, come. Come and speak to us as we listen. In Jesus’ name, amen.

So, we were in Greece, enjoying ourselves, and it was the last day. You know, we were in Athens, and we were all standing around, listening to the local tour agent—tour manager—explaining the sites. And suddenly, I turned around. I saw my wife. I said, “Oh, I was quite tired,” so I sat down on the rock. When I stood, I turned around, and I saw my wife’s bag was open, and then—her passport, her wallet—all stolen, pickpocketed. Wow. I lost our passport.

So, we went to the police station, and the police said, “You can’t—I can’t take your report.” I said, “Why not?” They said, “You have to report in Greek.” I said, “Uh, excuse me, sir, your Greek is Greek to me.” But they were adamant. But we were equally adamant. We refused to move. We just stood there and waited and waited. Finally, they typed as I spoke in English. And then they said, “Now, you must go down to take a photograph of yourself.”

And, uh, we don’t have a Malaysian Embassy in Greece—in Athens. And they had to send all couriers to our embassy in Romania; they take care of that region. And then I called up the ambassador there and said, “Oh, I’m in the city attending to something urgent. I’ll only be back later on in the afternoon.” And, uh, then he said, “I’ll call you back tomorrow.”

But before 4:00 in the afternoon, she called me back. So, I said, “When can I get my temporary passport pass so I can get back to Malaysia?” Uh, all my other tour friends had gone home. They booked a small hotel for us to stay two nights. And he said, “You most likely will get your passport—the temporary pass—in four days’ time.” I said, “I’m flying off in two days.” He said, “No way.” I said, “Is there special courier service? We’ll pay for it.”

Actually, we don’t have any money because our credit card was stolen, our passport was stolen. But the people on the bus were very nice. We didn’t know them; we just met them on the trip. And they lent us $500, some of them staying in Athens. It’s amazing, you know, how kind people are. Malaysians are wonderful people, right? Hey, don’t…

And then we lost our credit card. Called up Malaysia, and they said, “For English, press 1. Uh, for emergency, press 2. Uh, for stolen, press 3. For emergency press—” and it goes on. And before I could finish, it stops! No! Oh. And, uh, to be very honest, I was very scared, you know, in a country where we can’t speak a single word. But thank God, those kind Malaysians lent us some money.

We felt so lost. Did they lose anything? They said, “You can only get your passport in four days’ time.” But we had to fly off in two days’ time. And then the hotel we stayed at—a small little hotel—we said, “Can we shift over to another hotel?” Say, “Now that we’ve got a bit of money.” They said, “No, the whole place is booked because they have a major conference here.”

We were so scared. Have you ever felt scared? Have you ever felt lost? Have you? I was so scared. Then we said, “Oh, no. We have the Lord, right? Right.” So, we went for a simple dinner, went to the park, sat down at the park, and prayed.

We saw some children playing football—foot soccer, you know, just like FIFA Club. And they were playing soccer. And, uh, and then we calmed down. Um, then we kept calling the embassy. On the second day, we called the embassy and said, “Maybe we can give you [the passport] before the end of the day.” I said, “Our flight is at 7. Uh, what time can we get the thing?” They said, “We don’t know.” So, we kept asking the reception, “Has the courier arrived? Has the courier arrived?” Obviously, in the hotel reception…

So, we called the embassy. “Can we come to your—to the embassy?” Actually, they don’t have an embassy. They have a little consular—a guy who used to be in Malaysia. He became a—they got a title for him. He was like a consular there—this temporary thing in his office. So, we decided at 2:00 p.m., we’d pick up our bags and go there. And every time the lift opened, we’d see if there was no courier service. Every time the lift opened, we’d jump a little bit. Uh, and then I think about 3:00 p.m., we got our temporary passport. And we rushed to the airport, rested for about an hour—just in time to fly back. God is good, isn’t he? Yeah. All the time. And all the time—yeah.

You know, if you’ve lost… Have you ever lost things like that? But you know, people are lost all the time. We encounter people that pass us by every day. People need the Lord. They’re all lost. They may not lose a physical thing, but they may lose something else. Yeah. Their laughter might hide their silent cries.

I used to have a little group in my office with some of my suppliers. Every alternate Thursday, they’d come to my office, and we’d discuss a book called Man in the Mirror. Most of these people were non-believers. They’d come, and we’d just talk. We had an advertising agent, the owner of an advertising agency. He was always the life of the group, you know. He’d tell jokes, and everybody would laugh. And then he’d say, “Oh, you know, we Catholics believe in this, and you Protestants believe that, you know. But we both agree that Satan has horns.” And everybody would laugh.

And then one day, he said, “Hey David, can my wife and I come to your home to meet up with you and your wife?” I said, “Sure.” So, we invited them for dinner. The first time they came for dinner, they had a little disagreement, so we prayed about it. A few weeks later, we invited them back for dinner, and the second time, they actually quarreled in front of us, you know—heated argument.

People have pain—inner pain—that we all do not know, right? Everybody is lost. Yeah. There are so many people out there who are lost, who need the Lord. And you and I can share with them the Word of Life. And that’s what we’re talking about today. People need the Lord. Hidden fears. They live from fear to fear with inner pain inside as they hide through their laughter. Yeah. Silent cries that nobody hears. Only the Lord hears. Yeah. People need the Lord. They feel lost.

Yeah, we lose all kinds of things. Sometimes we lose things, uh, and as you grow older, you lose energy; you lose health. A few years ago, I was down with COVID and had to be hospitalized—stage four. Then one year later, I had dengue. I lost all my sodium; I couldn’t even talk. I had to write on the phone to communicate with my wife. She got so scared; she thought I’d lost my voice, but it was just the loss of sodium. And then last year, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. But I’m healed now—completely healed. Praise the Lord.

As you grow older, you lose health. Some of us lose friends—friends move away. We’re losing things all the time. But the most important thing is, don’t lose their soul. Yeah. People need the Lord, and you and I have the Word of Life that we can share with them.

In Matthew 9:36—can’t read so far, I’m old-fashioned, I still can’t read a Bible—Matthew 9:36: When Jesus saw the crowd, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Like sheep without a shepherd. Or in another version, it says they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. You know, like a lost sheep. Yeah. Sheep without a shepherd. But we have the Shepherd, yeah? And we can share the Lord with them.

Doesn’t mean we become Christians, and we have no problems. I’m telling you, I’ve had one health challenge after another. But the Lord always comes through. Yeah. Yeah. And we need the Lord.

Next slide, please.

You know, we’re talking about the Christmas event to reach out, and I understand you are learning how to share the Bridge illustration. That’s so wonderful, you know. When I first started witnessing, that’s what I learned—the Bridge illustration. And the Lord used that. I just faithfully learned that, and I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve come to Christ just from sharing a simple Bridge illustration, you know.

But you can’t share with somebody if you don’t have friends who do not know the Lord, right? How many of you have non-Christian friends? Wow, that’s a lot. How many of you have, uh, two non-Christian friends? One non-Christian friend? It’s difficult to grow if you don’t have non-Christian friends, right?

So after a while, we all have Christian friends because we’re so busy in the church, we’ve got no friends anymore. Life, yeah. But every day, we are interacting with people all the time, no? I want you to just take a moment to reflect: the five people in your natural sphere of influence. Who are the five people in your natural sphere? Maybe it’s your mother. Maybe it’s your father. Maybe it’s your auntie that you meet almost every day. Maybe they do not know the Lord.

Number one: family members. Maybe it’s the people you play football with. Yeah, we play sports with. Yeah. Maybe it’s your colleague, you know—the guy in the cubicle, staring at the computer. Your colleague that you meet every day. We spend up to 70% of our working hours at the office. Those are our non-Christian friends, right? Yeah. Do you ever share with them? What about next-door neighbors? You just say hi and bye. Can we go one more step further?

Just in the quietness of your heart, think of five people in your natural sphere of influence. Five people. Can you think of five people? And if you have five people, raise your hand. Yeah, those who have five people in your mind, raise your hand. Wonderful. That’s all—five friends.

How many of you have five friends? Now, some of you have no friends? Okay. Four? Three? Come on. You have five friends that you can name, that you can lay on your heart. Your parents, you know? When I first became a Christian, I learned the Bridge illustration when I was a student at university. I went home and shared with my father the Bridge illustration.

No, actually, before I shared with my father, I was studying overseas in New Zealand. I learned this Bridge—I thought it was so wonderful. So I sent mail to him. I broke the—I broke the Bridge illustration into three parts. I sent him the first part, and I, uh, what you call that? I mailed it. In those days, registered mail. Yeah, registered mail, so it didn’t go astray. Registered, um, mail—snail mail. Those days, there was no email. No WhatsApp. No handphone. I sent registered mail, the first part of the Bridge illustration. My father wrote back, “Very interesting.” I sent the second part. He said, “Waste money. Why you do all this thing? Scared me.”

And I sent the third part. Now, I came back to Malaysia. I went to visit my father and shared with him again until he got so fed up with me. Then the Lord laid on my heart to serve him. So sometimes, I feel very tired. I go for reflexology. So I learned the technique. I went back and massaged my father’s legs. Now, my father would say, “Oh, very pain, very pain.” I’d say, “You want me to stop?” He’d say, “No, no, do some more, do some more.” Actually, he loved it.

And through that, I began to share with him. And I had the privilege of leading my father to Christ. Yeah. So, friends—how many friends, families—you know? We go back and preach to our father. How about going back and giving money to your father and mother? Yeah.

So, first of all: five people in your natural sphere of influence. Yeah? Before you leave this place, I would like you all to have at least five people in your heart. Okay. So now, how many of you have five friends now? Oh, that’s small. Oh, wonderful, that’s wonderful over there. Five friends or family members? No? Yes? Okay, okay.

Next slide.

How we pray for them. Matthew 9:36 just said we were lost like sheep without a shepherd. Then verse 37 said, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest and ask him to send more workers into the field.” Pray. The first thing is to pray. When you pray, things happen.

You know, I remember when I first took over tapware, our business was so small, you know. And they wanted to close the business. So I went to the Customs Department to try to get a reduction, and they wanted bribes. And I refused to give them. But I prayed, and then God changed the hearts of the person. Proverbs 21:1 says even the king’s heart is like a stream of water that God can direct.

We pray our loved ones—our friends—their hearts will change as we pray for them. Pray specifically, you know, that God will remove the scales from their eyes. Pray that their hearts will be open. Pray, uh, that God will give you wisdom.

You know, I used to share with my mother. And then my mother accepted Christ. Then I said, “Next week, I’ll come back and remove the altar—the idols from the house.” And then she’d change her mind and say, “No, no, I don’t want—I don’t believe in Christ anymore.” So I’d go back to visit her again, and then I’d share again, and she’d say, “Yeah, okay.” She’d pray to accept Christ. And I’d tell my sister, “Next week, I’ll come back.” And then she’d change her mind again.

And I was—after a while, I got so fed up. I said, “Why is she always changing her mind?” Then my sister said, “David, Mom is very scared that if you remove the altar, the spirits will attack you. Why don’t you just invite a pastor to come and remove it?” I said, “Done it for many people.” She said, “But you know, you’re not a pastor. If the spirits attack the pastor, okay. But they won’t attack you.” You see, it’s a cemented block. I cannot see it—I just don’t see it. Yeah. Because I’d been doing it for so many people, I thought, I don’t have the title “pastor,” you know, so I’m not qualified to remove that. And my mother was trying to protect me.

Sometimes we pray, and the Lord gives an idea. There’s just an obstacle. If we remove that, then our family members come to Christ—simple as that. Yeah. So, by the grace of God, I’m the first in my family to come to Christ. My father, my mother, one brother, five sisters—they all came to Christ. Yeah, amen? Amen. It can happen to you too. Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you’ll be saved—you and your entire household. That’s what it says in Acts 10. Yeah.

Ask God to pray to change their hearts. Ask God to give you insight—what obstacles to remove, the fears that they have. Ask God to bring the appropriate people in. You know, we tried to reach our parents, and it was very difficult. My wife and I were busy doing ministry. We used to have 40, 50, 60 people come to our house to do Bible study. We’d lead our friends to Christ. Then, suddenly, one of their ministry parents would go to the hospital, you know, sick. Then we’d rush there, and we’d pray for them. They couldn’t even talk. Then we’d say, “Uh, Auntie, if you believe in Christ, you just blink your eyes three times.” And then they’d accept Christ, and we were so happy.

Then the children would say, “Don’t know if it’s true or not—they blinked two times only.” Then we said, “Why must we wait until they’re about to die before we witness to them? Why don’t we spend time reaching out to our parents?”

So, we decided to have what we called “Parents’ Night.” We hosted a dinner in First World Hotel, then two years later in Shangri-La Hotel—an eight-course dinner. We invited them to come, and the parents came. We arranged very nice gifts, and one of the children went up on stage to share and say, “You know, I’m now a managing director of this company. My parents are not rich, but they saved up to send me to school. Today, I want to formally thank my parents.” They cried.

Then we went around table by table, and we said, “Okay, now we go to table one.” At table one, there were Mr. and Mrs. Wong, Mr. and Mrs. Yong, and so forth. They stood up, and the children gave them gifts—some gave VSOP. We did a program called “Love.” And many of the parents got angpows, and many cried. After three Parents’ Nights, we reflected on it. About 85% of our parents came to Christ. Yeah. Just through serving them and praying for them.

Some of the children never visited their parents. They were so busy. We’d say, “When was the last time you went back to Alor Setar?” They’d say, “Only Chinese New Year.” We’d ask, “The whole year you never go back?” They’d say, “So busy.” We’d say, “How about you go back at least twice before the event?” So, they visited their parents. And the parents started to soften. They experienced the love—the touch. One of the parents we asked to share—one of the parents was in New Zealand on holiday, and they cut short the holiday to come back and speak on behalf of the parents.

The second time, my father shared his testimony. The third one, my sister shared her testimony. And so on and so forth. Lots of people came to Christ—our family, our parents, our brothers, sisters—they all came to Christ because of the love, the feel, the love, the touch. Yeah. So, we pray.

Next slide, please.

The second thing is: we serve. We find ways and means to serve. I know this church and Dignity for Children are well-known for serving. You all have food distribution and all kinds of things you do—very admirable. But we can serve in so many ways, simple ways, you know? Serve by spending time with children.

Now, my wife and I are—uh—we’re dinosaurs, you know? I’m 73, and my wife is nearly 70. We always have problems with our computers. So every now and then, we call our son to come back. Our son says, “Oh, so simple, finish.” Then my wife Katie would say, “Son, can you write down step one, step two, step three?” And then I say, “Son, why—how come I’m always calling somebody?” He says, “Because your phone got no password. You must have a lock.”

We’re always calling people, and then we have to apologize all the time. Simple little things. Young people, you just go back and help your parents with the computer—they’ll be so happy. That’s one way you can serve. In the office—you can…you know, there’s a staff member. I had a management meeting once a month. I had a warehouse manager. He was in charge of about 30 or 40 people. He was invited to the group, but he’d speak with a stutter. He was always stammering. And he was a chain smoker, you know?

I recruited him when we had a business of about 200 million. Then we grew to 300 million, and we introduced other products. He couldn’t cope with it. And I was thinking of laying him off. I thought, “Let’s get somebody on top of him.” Then one day, a missionary couple came and stayed in our home. This missionary couple specialized in marriage and family. In the course of the conversation, the guy said, “You know, David, before I was a marriage counselor, I used to be in business. And I found that every time the staff didn’t do well, at least 70% of the blame was on me because I didn’t give them clear instructions.”

I wondered, “Why did he tell me all this?” I didn’t even know he was a businessman before. Then I felt the Lord was speaking to me. So instead of laying off my warehouse manager, I went down to his warehouse office three days before our management meeting. I walked through with him how to prepare his presentation so that he could present to me and the rest of the management team—help him to present to me. He was so touched that he became very open. And then one day, my logistics manager called me and said, “Hey, boss, can we have lunch with this warehouse manager?”

I said, “Sure.” So, we went to lunch. And we were just talking, so I asked my logistics manager, “Hey, Lee, what did you do over the weekend?”

“Oh, I went with my family to 1 Utama.” I said, “Oh, amazing! We went there, couldn’t find parking. My 5-year-old girl prayed, ‘Jesus, please give us a car park,’ and suddenly one car came out!” I hoped Christians had more answered prayers than just parking.

Then she asked, “What did you do?” I said, “I went to New Creation Church.” Whatever—we shared.

To cut the story short, we led him to Christ. Then he went back to the office. He stopped smoking and told everybody about Jesus. Then we began to follow him up, had a little Bible study with him.

He thought, “Hey, this is a good thing to do.” He recruited my secretary, and together they invited all the friends in the office to join them. Eight of them came to Christ. How did it happen? Oh, you know, we helped them do some simple Bible study—assurance of salvation, assurance of answered prayers.

One day, one of the supervisors, her name is Aini, was on the way to work in a bus. Her knee had been very painful. She’d seen many doctors, but it couldn’t be cured. Then she just prayed, “Jesus, please heal my knee.” When she stood up as the bus stopped, she heard three clicks—click, click, click. She went to the office and said at lunchtime, during their discussion, “Ah, today I came to work, and my knee was very painful. I just prayed, and God healed me!”

It was just a simple conversation. Then one of the people who came to the discussion was another girl, Cecilia Anu. Her husband sold burgers—Ramly burgers. So in the evening, after her work, she helped her husband. But nobody came to buy the burgers. She remembered Aini sharing about praying and the clicks. So she prayed. Suddenly, one man came and bought three burgers—just like the click, click, click, three times. She went to the office and told everybody. It just spread around, and people came to Christ. Eight of them came to Christ—just like that.

Why do I share all these stories? It’s not so difficult. Evangelism—sometimes we make it sound so hard, so difficult. We think we have to memorize verses or learn how to share the Bridge illustration perfectly. But sometimes it’s just chit-chatting the Gospel.

Next slide, please.

Yeah, so we pray, we serve, and we just chit-chat the Gospel. In Colossians chapter 4, Apostle Paul was in prison, in house arrest in Rome, and he wrote to the Christians in the city of Colossae. He said, “Pray that I proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders. Make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

What did Apostle Paul ask them to do? “Pray for me, that I might proclaim the Gospel clearly, as I should.” He’s Apostle Paul, right? He’s a church planter, starting new work, with an apostolic calling. But for the man, he said, “But as for you Christians in the city of Colossae, as for all of you in NCCC…” Only Pastor Elijah and Pastor Fing are pastors, right? The rest of us are laypeople, like me, who’ve never had Bible college training. We just share.

You know, as for you, let your conversation—it’s not proclamation, it’s conversation—just daily conversation. Yeah. So, Aini shared about her click, click, click. It wasn’t so theological. She just said, “Click, click, click,” and then someone bought three burgers—one, two, three. And then everybody came to Christ.

James, my warehouse manager, liked to play golf, but he wasn’t very good at it. So he told one of our suppliers—our transporter—“If you teach me golf, I’ll teach you the Bible.” Of course, the transporter wanted our business, so he said, “Sure.” They went for a few rounds of golf, and Philip was a single-handicap golfer, so he taught James how to play golf. Then James said, “Well, now you’ve taught me two rounds, so now it’s my turn to teach you the Bible.”

He came to the office and shared with Philip, and Philip came to Christ—just like that. It was very simple. Actually, James got stuck when answering some questions, so he called us in the office, and we gave him the answers. Over the phone, he talked to Philip—just simple, you know, nothing so complicated.

So evangelism is just sharing your life—conversation, daily conversation. We can all do that, right? Yes? Amen? Yeah. All of us have five friends. All of us can pray. Yes? All of us can serve. Yes? Serving doesn’t have to be food distribution or something major—it can be a simple thing, like listening to someone. You spend time listening, and people have all kinds of pain inside, all kinds of challenges inside, all kinds of grief and silent cries. If we just take time to listen to them…

I’ll share one more story. One day, we were having a management meeting, and suddenly one of my accounts girls came in. She sat in the management meeting. As she switched off the light in the conference room, the boardroom, she sat with us. Everybody wondered what she was doing. So I asked my controller, “What happened to her?”

My controller said, “We’re thinking of sacking her.”

I said, “Why?” She said, “Her mind is somewhere else all the time.”

But my controller had just come to Christ because of a conversation. We were having some discussion on raising children, so we invited her to come. She saw James’ life change, so she was willing to come. She’d just come to Christ.

So I said, “How about instead of sacking this girl, let’s find out what’s wrong with her?”

We invited her for lunch, and we found out she’d gone on social media, made friends with a married man, and was devastated. She went crazy. So we talked to her, shared with her, prayed for her, and she came to Christ. She became one of our best workers—just like that.

It’s opportunities all the time. You don’t need to be a great evangelist. We just talk. Just chit-chat the Gospel. Pray, serve. We served her by listening to her. She was so hurt inside. Broken dreams, broken heart. We just listened to her, shared with her, and prayed for her. She came to know the Lord.

Evangelism is like that. We pray. We serve. And we chit-chat the Gospel—conversation, not proclamation. Yeah, of course, if you have an event, then you want an expert like Fing to proclaim the Gospel—that’s proclamation of the Gospel. But for most of us, conversation of the Gospel is good enough. Just conversation.

Next slide, please.

Everyday opportunities—lunch conversations, next-door neighbors… We had a lady called Margaret. She and her husband stayed in Whampoa. Every time, she would hang up clothes, and over the fence was her neighbor, who was also hanging up clothes. Just through conversation, she found out that her neighbor was a nurse. They talked, and she discovered her neighbor always liked to do night duty.

So she asked, “Why do you like to do night duty? Do they pay you more for night duty?”

The neighbor said, “No.”

Then she asked, “Then why do you always do night duty?”

Just one conversation—one question about night duty—it opened the door. Over time, they built trust, and the lady eventually said, “I do night duty because my husband always comes back very late, and I can’t stand him coming back so late with alcohol.” Her husband was in the army and liked to go out drinking.

Margaret then invited her neighbor, “Why don’t you come to our house for a meal?”

The neighbor came to the house for a meal, and later they persuaded her husband to come too. They had young children, and when they came to the house, the kids played around and accidentally knocked down a huge vase—a beautiful vase belonging to Margaret. Margaret and her husband rushed to the kids and said, “Are you okay? Nothing wrong with you?”

The neighbors saw this and were deeply touched. Instead of worrying about the vase, Margaret and her husband were worried about the kids. They said, “Wow, instead of worrying about their broken vase, they’re worried about whether our children are okay. They’re so caring.” They went home, and the husband said, “Our neighbors are really very caring people.”

One thing led to another. They ended up doing Bible study together. The husband came to Christ, the wife came to Christ, and the husband—Patrick—went on to become one of the greatest evangelists in Whampoa. Later, he became the director of Prison Ministry for Asia and even became a pastor in Perak. Eventually, they migrated overseas. All of this started with one conversation over the fence.

You can do that. It’s not too difficult, right? Just asking, “Why do you like night duty?” That’s all it took to open the door.

Another example: a café discussion. My wife and I were having a drink at a café. I was dating my old girlfriend—my wife. We were spending time together. Two men were sitting next to us, singing Christmas songs—Christmas was coming. They were singing Christmas songs. We turned to them and said, “Good, good, good.”

Not long after, an elderly man came in with a trolley full of goodies he’d just bought. He stopped by their table, started talking to the two men, and said, “Why are you singing Christmas songs? I love Christmas songs.”

The two guys said, “Come, come, come and join us.”

Before long, they were talking about a Christmas event at their church. These two men were trying to persuade the elderly man to come to their church. The man said, “I don’t want to go to church. I hate church.”

They asked, “Why?”

The man replied, “My wife and I have been going to church for 10 years, and despite that, we don’t have any friends in the church. Everyone has their own cliques.”

My wife nudged me and said, “David, go join them.”

I said, “I don’t want to. They’re all strangers. I don’t know them.”

She said, “Go, go. The Lord is prompting you.”

I said, “So clever, you go!”

But, as a husband, I listened to my wife. 1 Peter 3:7 says, “Husbands, be considerate as you live with your wives so that your prayers will not be hindered.” So, I listened. I went over and said, “Excuse me, I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation. I’m so sorry, but may I join you?”

They said, “Sure!”

I said, “So, you don’t like going to church?”

The man replied, “Yes.”

I said, “I also didn’t like going to church in the beginning.”

He said, “You don’t like going to church?”

I said, “I go to church, but like you, I felt that everyone had their cliques. But now, the four of us—we’re also a clique, right? We all click somehow, because we all have gray hair. That’s why we click. The young ones have their own clique, and we have ours. You need to participate in some activities to be part of a clique.”

We talked, and to cut the story short, we prayed for the man, and he accepted Christ—right there in the café, in a public area. Just like that. My wife prompted me, and that’s how it happened. It wasn’t so difficult—it was just conversation. You can do that.

Now, you add one more to your circle of influence. You’ve got five friends—now you’ve got six.

One-on-One with Staff

This is another example. I was helping a businessman. He was very dynamic, traveling everywhere, speaking at events. He approached me to mentor him. I told him, “Stop. Stop all these speaking engagements.”

He asked, “Why?”

I said, “Stop speaking and getting all the glory. Move away from the center of attention—let Jesus increase, and you decrease.”

He didn’t like what I said. But I worked with him over time. After many years, he stopped his speaking engagements and started spending time with his staff. He began having one-on-one sessions with them, not checking KPIs, but talking about life—his challenges, their struggles. Many of his staff came to know the Lord, just through these one-on-one conversations.

Conclusion

We can all do it. Evangelism isn’t so difficult. It’s about praying, serving, and having simple conversations. People need the Lord, and you and I have the Word of Life. Let’s share it.

God bless you. Thank you.