Let’s just say I am sitting on a plane and I run into someone, and this man is despondent. He wants to know how to be born again. Well, the first thing that he has said to me is that he is not happy and he’s very discouraged.
He’s telling me his story, and this is the way a lot of people will do. They begin to tell you about their lives. This is what I’ve often done, and it’s true. I’ll hear a man saying how discouraged he is with his job, how bleak the future looks, and he doesn’t know how he’s going to make it through the day. He doesn’t know what to do.
Well, I do know what to do. I do know what to tell him. Here’s how I start off. I’ll say something like this: “You know I don’t blame you for feeling like you’re feeling, because quite frankly, I have been in the same place.”
Did you notice what I just said? I tell him I was there, and I was. I tell him that I was in the same condition that he is in. He will say, “Do you mean that you have experienced something like this?”
And I say quite frankly, “A lot worse than even you’ve described. I mean I had reached a place in my life to where I just didn’t feel like I could go on any further. I reached a place in my life where my future was so bleak, I didn’t know where to turn, everything I was doing seemed to be wrong.
“My future, as a teenager, looked terribly bleak because I was running after this and running after that, and nothing worked out until I found the answer. I just can’t explain to you the terrible condition that I was in.”
Identify First, Minister Second
Right away, you see, I’ve identified. So what I am saying here is you can identify with them because you were there.
Now listen to his response, “Well what did you do?” Then I say “You’re not going to believe this, because it sounds so far fetched, but it is so simple. You almost will ignore it. But you know what happened to me?”
Then I began to tell him about my life. I was raised in the home of a minister. All my life I grew up in this home, then I went out on my own. I started a career and I wanted to go into retail work. I was doing good on my job, and I was getting promotions. I was becoming a buyer for this company already—yet I was miserable; I was unhappy; I was making money, but I was still sad.
Even being raised in a preacher’s home—I didn’t have peace. But one day I read in the Bible that Jesus Christ really loved me, and that He had a plan for my life, and the He was not against me succeeding in life; He was for me! There seemed to be nothing but a lot of pressures and nothing was satisfying me.
I found out it was because I was a sinner; I didn’t know God and there was guilt in my life. Then I turned to Jesus Christ and I prayed a simple prayer.
I began to tell people just in my own words what happened in my life, and do you know I can say before God, that 90 percent of the people that I have approached like that (by just witnessing to them and not preaching at them)—just telling them my story and what the Lord has done for me—have asked if I would pray for them and lead them to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Tools for Winning Others to Christ by Dwight Thompson
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Dwight Thompson has become one of the most powerful evangelists of our time. Known worldwide for his legendary ability to captivate and move an audience, he has devoted his ministry to touching the lives of all those who are lost and hurting with a message of hope, found through salvation and deliverance in Jesus Christ.
The elements that make his message unforgettable include humor, compassion, deeply rooted Biblical convictions, and unique ways of illustrating the meaning of Scriptural phrases, parables, and promises.
Dwight has traveled around the world as an evangelist, preaching to millions and leading thousands of lost souls to Jesus Christ. His crusades frequently launch long-lasting revivals. With his ability to communicate the Gospel with power and charisma, he touches countless lives.
Dwight and Zonelle have been married for 51 years and have two children, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Zonelle travels nation-wide with Dwight, and she is the founder of Operation STITCHES (Saving The Inner-city Through Christ’s Hope: Eternal Salvation), an outreach to inner-city children and their families.
God has given both Dwight and Zonelle a divine love for souls. He has created within the two of them an obsession for helping people transform their very existence.
Dwight and Zonelle know the worth of just one soul and are committed to continue being obedient to the calling God placed on them over 49 years ago.
Truly, Dwight Thompson is a man with a call on his life and a commitment in his heart to reach lost souls for Jesus Christ.