Preacher 55 years without one-on-one Bible study shows need for personal evangelism

Ted Knight teaches in Romania

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (BNc) — Evangelist Ted Knight remembers a lectureship series where a preacher friend made a shocking confession.

The Mars Hill congregation near Vilonia, Ark., hosted a program for many years called the Evangelistically Speaking Lectureship.

“I heard some of the greatest lessons during those years on the subject of evangelism that I have ever heard. Brethren from many congregations attended and were edified by these studies,” Ted said. “One year, after the closing lesson of the series, a gospel preacher whom I’ve known since childhood said to me, ‘Ted, I have been preaching for 55 years and I have never conducted a one-on-one, personal Bible study. I really didn’t know how until today.'”

“He knew the Scriptures, but he allowed the fear of rejection to keep him from asking for a Bible study,” Ted concluded.

Surely this preacher must be the exception to the rule. But Ted knows that personal evangelism is lacking in local churches.

“I believe that the path to church growth is loaded with opportunities to teach people privately as well as publicly,” he said.

To that end, besides his Evangelistically Speaking website, which hosts reports of his efforts, Ted inaugurated today a Facebook group of the same name to explore how to foster evangelism in congregations.

“There are many methods of evangelism today. Alan Bryan used to say, ‘If you can plug in something, you can teach the word of God.’ Let’s explore some of those methods through this page and see what we can find to help us all become evangelists,” Ted said.

Let no preacher go for 55 years without a personal evangelistic Bible study. And let every Christian learn how to plug outsiders into God’s power to save.