God blesses teams’ cold-call evangelism 5 weeks in a row

Over the last five weeks, at least one person has been led to the Lord every Friday by a Southwestern Seminary evangelism team led by Associate Professor of Missions Mike Morris. Evangelizing in Rosemont Park and its surrounding neighborhood just down the street from the Southwestern campus, the team engages in “cold-call” evangelism—that is, they speak to strangers who have not been contacted in advance—and through the movement of the Holy Spirit, a total of 20 people have traded an eternity in hell for an eternity with their loving Savior.

“I frequently hear people say that so-called ‘cold-call’ evangelism may have worked in the past, but it doesn’t still work today,” says Matt Queen, L.R. Scarborough Chair of Evangelism (“Chair of Fire”) at Southwestern. “I always want to ask them, ‘When did God stop blessing that kind of evangelism?’

“The only thing I can conclude after reading about these particular evangelistic encounters of Dr. Morris’ students is either (1) God has decided to begin to bless ‘cold-call’ evangelism again, or (2) He has continued to bless it all along. In hearing the weekly stories of everyday evangelism at Southwestern, I tend to believe it to be the latter, and I assume these individuals who received Christ would also agree.”

Morris attributes the abundant harvest of the past five weeks to two factors. First, students have been faithful to the God-given task of spreading the Gospel message, and God has utilized these students’ obedience to great effect. Second, Rosemont Park and the surrounding area comprise many receptive individuals who are willing to listen with open hearts and minds. “Successful fishermen usually know where the best fishing holes are,” Morris says, noting that as the evangelists have been faithful to cast the nets in this particular area, the Lord has been faithful to provide the “fish.”

Though the makeup of the evangelism team has fluctuated, with some students going every week and others going only once or twice, Morris has nevertheless led a team of evangelists every Friday since the first week of the spring semester. On Friday, Jan. 29, a team of eight students led three people to the Lord—two high school students and a young mother. The following Friday, Feb. 5, a three-person team led five people to Christ—four students and a father. Then, on Feb. 12, a nine-person team led nine people to the Lord.

Two of those saved on this day were a married couple, and the Lord used one of the Southwestern students’ proficiency in Spanish to minister to them. The other seven included a mother with five small children, a high school student, and a middle school student.

On Friday, Feb. 19, 10 students evangelized and saw two people surrender their lives to Christ. Finally, on Feb. 26, four students saw one profession of faith. When news of a successful evangelism endeavor came out for the fifth week in a row, Queen pointed out that God “just keeps honoring evangelism.”

Morris commends the students who have gone out over the past five weeks for their fervency and humility, explaining that they give glory to God for the great things He is doing and are sure to follow up with the new converts in order to ensure that they are properly discipled. He also notes that the more they have witnessed, the more proficient they have become at the evangelistic task.

Regarding why Southwestern students and faculty are so persistent in evangelizing the lost, Morris says, aside from being obedient to God’s calling, “We really believe that an eternal hell exists, and we want to be used by God to explain to non-Christians how they can be saved from that place of torment. We want to see them surrender their lives to Jesus in repentance and faith, committing themselves to serve Him for the rest of their lives. We want to see them love Jesus. We want to see them become our Christian brothers and sisters.”

Morris says there is also a personal benefit to doing evangelism. “Obedience leads to joy,” he says. “I always feel wonderful after God has used me in evangelism, especially after I have seen someone receive the gift of eternal life.”

To learn more about Southwestern’s weekly evangelism opportunities and how you can get involved, visit swbts.edu/secondmile.