Southwestern’s ‘Everyday Evangelism’ to reach second mile and beyond

This fall, Southwestern Seminary is taking the Gospel “everywhere to everybody” through Everyday Evangelism, an initiative that expands Going the Second Mile to reach beyond the two-mile radius of campus. While the seminary will continue to organize evangelism teams daily to reach homes within the vicinity of the Southwestern campus, this expanded initiative will advance the focus beyond a specific geographical area by encouraging students to share the Gospel wherever they are with whomever they meet.

“Our goal and motivation is not just to reach every house within a certain geography, but to instill a desire in students to do evangelism everyday everywhere,” says Brandon Kiesling, instructor of evangelism. “The Everyday Evangelism initiative is [designed] to get students to begin thinking that it doesn’t just have to be within a mile or two miles of where they are. … We want everybody to be intentional everyday of their lives in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

The name “Everyday Evangelism” is also a better description of the evangelistic activities that have been going on at Southwestern Seminary over the past several years, Kiesling says. Evangelism teams have already been reaching beyond the two-mile radius of campus every week, carrying the Good News to Texas Christian University, the University of Texas at Arlington, Texas Wesleyan University and various parks. (See here to learn some of the ways in which God has blessed these evangelistic endeavors.)

“We are still going to be evangelizing in the first and second miles around campus, but even now, we are going to [places] that are outside of the second mile,” says Matt Queen, L. R. Scarborough Chair of Evangelism (“Chair of Fire”). “What we are doing is trying to be more descriptive of how evangelism is taking place at Southwestern. Instead of focusing on a geographical area, we are focusing on a consistent evangelistic lifestyle everyday.”

With the launch of Everyday Evangelism, Southwestern Seminary will also be partnering with Herb McCarthy, who has worked with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The partnership will provide “Jesus” films in multiple languages and evangelistic mapping software that will help keep record of visited homes.

The “Jesus” films will be added to the evangelism packets that Southwestern teams will distribute when visiting homes later this fall. The mapping software will also provide data on the religious and cultural distribution of homes and neighborhoods in the area, allowing evangelism teams to prepare in advance to share the Gospel with specific religious or cultural groups.

Southwestern Seminary welcomes churches in the area to join in Everyday Evangelism. Contact everydayevangelism@swbts.edu if interested.