by Holly Smith

RIVERSIDE — Buckets and “big things” were themes addressed by two second-generation evangelism leaders during the On Target Evangelism Conference, Feb. 23-24 in Riverside.

Describing various methods of evangelism as “buckets,” Jonathan Falwell noted some churches have bright, shiny new buckets, while others use older, more well-worn buckets; some buckets are full of fast-paced contemporary themes and others include more traditional efforts.

“We’ve got a lot of different buckets,” Falwell, son of the late pastor Jerry Falwell and currently pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA, said. “We forget the bucket never changed a life — only the living water can change a life.

“We in the church today have got to understand that we can’t wait for the lost to come to us. ... We’ve got to take the message of the cross to them ... out of the walls of our churches.”

Falwell challenged the audience of nearly 500 to “charge Hell with a bucket of living water and change this world for Jesus Christ. ... Because if we don’t, we’re going to lose the next generation,” he warned.

 “Are you willing to let people walk away from the church because you’re not willing to do something new?” Falwell asked about non-traditional ways to evangelize.

“We must stand on doctrine ... but my friends, we can change the methods of how we take the gospel to the world,” Falwell declared.

With the focus on “Reaching the Next Generation,” other speakers included Tullian Tchividjian, grandson of Billy Graham and recently called as pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Coral Gables, FL; Andrew Palau, son of evangelist Luis Palau; and noted author Lee Strobel, all of whom encouraged participants to step outside the walls of the church and share the gospel in both word and deed.

Tullian Tchividjian noted methods of evangelism are debated “in every generation” regarding the church’s mission: whether traditional evangelism — “word ministry” — or social justice — “deed ministry” — between showing and telling, proclamation and demonstration, the spiritual and physical.

But either way, “we are to go out, we are to reach out; the parameters are outside,” Tchividjian asserted.

“We must go out in order to bring in. ... That’s the method of Christ the Head; shouldn’t it be the method of Christ the body?” Tchividjian asked.

If anyone asked a Christian what they want to do in life and they say “anything smaller than `I want to change the world,’ that’s an offense to God,” Tchividjian declared.

“It’s so important to focus on the big things,” he said, noting small things are used by the devil to become “big distractions” in the church. He encouraged the audience not to be a “ankle-biters,” comparing some people’s methods to small, yappy dogs. Think about the big things instead, Tchividjian encouraged.

God alone is responsible for the outcome of our efforts, Tchividjian added; He uses our “small efforts to accomplish His big mission.”

Falwell agreed, adding, “The method doesn’t matter — just the message”

Andrew Palau saw the big things God can do, as he came to faith in Christ at age 28 after living a lifestyle of alcohol and drug abuse and “climbing the corporate ladder.”

In spite of being raised by Luis Palau, the younger Palau described himself as a “punk kid” who didn’t care about hurting people. Eventually his lifestyle led him to become “restless and fearful and hopeless,” and he finally made a commitment to Christ at one of his father’s crusades in Jamaica.

Palau admitted he planned to make the trip just to enjoy what the exotic island had to offer, but, “The joke’s on me,” he said. “That’s just how God loves to do it — He loves to take nothing and make it something.

“Don’t give up on the toughest nuts in your life to crack,” Palau encouraged the audience. “Keep going. Be faithful in prayer and love when the Spirit prompts you to be bold and present the Good News.

“Just do what He tells you to do. Then you can see many, many people to come into the Kingdom.”

Palau added, “We don’t care what bucket” people use for evangelism — “they just have to choose something and be active and get involved” in spreading the Good News.

Lee Strobel added Christians should know “why we believe what we believe,” and be able to share that anytime a situation arises.

“The adventure of the Christian life: you never know when the Holy Spirit is going to open opportunities to get into ... spiritual conversations,” Strobel said, noting “the Holy Spirit can ‘ambush’ you with an opportunity!”

“Young people don’t know why they believe what they believe,” Strobel asserted, “so they often throw away what little faith they had.” However, with mounting criticism of Christianity from atheists there is a renewed interest in apologetics (learning why we believe what we believe), he said.

“I believe we’re on the edge of a golden renaissance in Christian apologetics because of all these attacks we’ve been receiving and ... I think (evangelism) is going to look different in the 21st century than it did in the 20th century.

God can use apologetics as another “bucket” to clear the way for someone to come to Christ, Strobel said. “I believe God is going to use argument, evidence, logic and truth to knock down barriers to bring people to Jesus Christ.”