Overcoming My Fear of the "E-Word"

I don't know about you, but I get a lot of people interested in surveying me.  I get emails and calls from all types of businesses and organizations asking me questions about the my satisfaction with my purchase or my experience with their company.  Surveys typically annoy the heck out of me but they can useful so I try to fill one out every so often.

I read an interesting article about surveys by Fred Reichheld, author of "The Ultimate Question." Fred contends that businesses and organizations should really care about the answer to only one survey question:

"How likely are you to recommend our company to a friend or colleague?"  (0 - 10 where 10 = very likely)

How strongly someone is willing put their name and reputation on the line for you is a clear predictor of how quickly your organization will grow.  People leveraging their platforms and their networks to promote your business willingly can be significantly more potent for growth than the most creative and crafty marketing schemes.  Their willingness to recommend you is a true indicator of their loyalty. (Faithfulness?)

So, the survey question I've been playing with for myself is this:

"How likely am I to recommend Christ to a friend or colleague?"

My knee-jerk response is that I would answer, "10 - very likely" to that question, but when I look at the reality of my own track record, the numbers don't really line up with that.  Don't get me wrong, if someone walked up and asked me if I would recommend that they follow Christ and His Way I would answer, "Absolutely!" Unfortunately, no one has ever really just walked up and asked me that.

This is a big problem.  It's a problem for me, it's a problem for my church, it's a problem for those God has placed in my life who don't yet know Christ, and I'm pretty sure it's a really big problem for God.

Evangelism.

I fear it. I cringe even saying the word sometimes.  In fact, let's just call it the "E-Word" from now on.   Jesus says I need to do it, but I just don't do it often enough.  I've grow far too comfortable saying, "Evangelism is not my Spiritual Gift." And, after being in the presence of those who truly have the Evangelical Gift, I still  believe that.

However, whether I have the Gift of Evangelism or not, doesn't relieve me of my responsibility to engage in it.  And so, I'll be working on overcoming my fears and writing about my discoveries along the way.  I don't plan on buying any bullhorns or "The End is Near " signs (it's just not my style) but I'll be discovering and writing about ways I can become better at sharing the Good News with a world in desperate need of it.