I realize that many times the reason people have been hesitant about sharing Jesus with others is a lack of knowledge. People feel that they just don't know how to share Christ with others.

But really there is no excuse for that. You have a Bible, don't you? A lack of knowledge is really no excuse for believers today because we all have a copy of God's Word.

If you don't know where to look in God's Word to find out how to be an effective witness, I suggest that you go to the book of Acts. That is exactly what the entire book is about—sharing Jesus.

If you want to know how to share Jesus effectively, I suggest that you read about Peter, Paul, Philip, and Stephen. These men were effective witnesses. The Apostle Paul said it well: "...our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament" (2 Cor. 3:5-6).

You see, all that God is looking for is someone who is willing to go. When you make yourself available, you will find that it isn't as difficult as you thought.

Why I Went
In 1969, when I accepted Jesus as Lord of my life, the only thing I knew to do was share with others what God had done for me. I knew that God had called me to the ministry, so I just started preparing myself for it in my bedroom.

For three months, I locked myself up with tapes and books by Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, and E. W. Kenyon. They introduced me to the Word of God. Before that time, I hadn't known anything about it.

Then the Spirit of God took what these men had introduced to me and expounded upon it. After about three months of intensive study of the Word - of listening to tapes over and over until I was saturated with the Word, until it was coming out every pore of my body—then I was ready to preach.

My only problem was that nobody wanted to hear what I had to say. I didn't have a congregation I could go to. I didn't have any seminars scheduled. I had no crusades to hold. It seemed as if no one even knew I was in the ministry.

But I decided, "This is too good to keep to myself. I've got to tell it to somebody." So I went to the streets. I thought, "Well, I don't have a congregation. I don't have a seminar or a crusade set up. Nobody's invited me to come preach, so I'll just go where the people are."

I decided to get out of that bedroom, get in my car, and drive to wherever I saw people gathered. I thought one of the best places to go would be where the people didn't have anything else to do except listen to me. So I started standing out in front of some bars and lounges waiting for someone to come out.

Somebody once said, "I sure wouldn't start my witnessing with one of those kind." I found out that the "outcasts"—the alcoholics, drug addicts, and prostitutes—were easier to reach than some of the people who had been in church.

Most of the people I came in contact with who had been to church at least once in their lives considered themselves to be "saved." They would say, "Oh, yes, I believe in God. I've been to church. In fact, I'm going again on Easter." These people were very hard to minister to at first, but I learned how to reach them as well.

I soon learned that the drug addict and the alcoholic were looking for some good news. These people are searching for something, and you and I have what they are looking for.

The next thing I knew, people were calling and asking me to pray for them. They wanted me to go to a hospital and pray for a sick relative or friend. They wanted me to minister to a drug-addicted son or daughter.

Before long, we were ministering to ex-drug addicts. They were coming into our home every Monday night and bringing their buddies to get delivered. This was back when the "hippie movement" was strong in our nation. There we were with a houseful of longhaired, barefooted, stinking kids.

They were bringing all their dope into our home, and we were turning it over to the proper authorities. My wife, Carolyn, had an uncle who was a detective, so we gave it all to him to see that it was properly disposed of.

These kids would get delivered and they would bring their buddies to experience the same new freedom, which they had found. We discovered that making ourselves available caused people to want to hear what we had to say.

I have shared all of this to make a point. It wasn't the name I made for myself, nor even the great success I had in witnessing. The point is that I was willing to go.

Now let's see what happened because I was willing to go, as the Lord has commanded all of us to do.

Jerry Savelle Ministries, Int'l.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.