At Text-Driven Ministries, we have been encouraging you to be an active participant in the International Day of Evangelism on March 16. We have also been reaching out and urging local church pastors to commit to preaching John 3:16 and for church members to invite a lost person to church with them on Sunday, March 16.
The vision of the International Day of Evangelism started with Dwayne Carson, the founder of Date the Word. He's also my dad. Before the concept of preaching John 3:16 on 3/16 began, Carson had a concept of connecting one verse with a specific date. With this vision in mind, he did this for every day of the year and wrote a complementing daily devotional for each of these verses. Carson also has an ingenious method of evangelism: giving people their birthday verses. If you're looking for a way to evangelize, invite someone to church, or if your church is looking for a method to use in outreach, this article will describe this "Birthday Verse" method of evangelism, step by step.
Step One: Download the Date the Word App
The first thing you need to do is download the Date the Word app. You can find this app on both the Apple Store and the Google Play store. After downloading the free app, you will find the homepage. On the homepage, you will see a link that says "Find Verses for Date/Birthdate." When you click on that, you will see sections every month, and then when you click on a specific month, you will see verses for every single day. Start by familiarizing yourself with this app.
Step Two: Ask Someone Their Birthdate
The next thing you want to do is find someone to evangelize. This can be a co-worker, neighbor, friend, family member, waiter/waitress, Uber driver, etc. Ask that person what their birthdate is. You can add some flair to this by telling them that you have an early birthday gift for them or saying something to keep them drawn in. NOTE: You are not looking for the year. Some people may be offended if it seems like you're asking how old they are. Just ask for the month and day.
Step Three: Find Their Birthday Verse
At this point, you should already have the Date the Word app open. Go to the month they told you, and then find the specific day. When you find the date, there might be a few verses to choose from. Do a quick glance at them, and then choose what verse you believe fits the person best.
Step Four: Tell Them Their Birthday Verse
After you find the best verse for them, tell them what the reference of the verse is, and then read the verse to them. You might want to add a comment to the verse you read, an explanation of the verse, or a question about what they think of that verse. If you have a tract with you (or a piece of paper), write down the reference of the verse so they can go back and find it.
Step Five: Ask Them About Their Second Birthdate
After you have given them their birthday verse, ask them a very specific question: "Do you know the date of your second birth?" This question is asking the person if they have been born again, saved. You'll get a variation of four possible answers:
"Absolutely, on this day, I was saved"
"I don't remember the day, but I know that I've had a second birth!"
"I know about the second birth, but I don't know if I've experienced it."
"I don't know what a second birth is."
Depending on the answer given, will determine what you do next. If they say either of the first two, it's important to follow up with clarifying questions like "Tell me about when you got saved" and "Where do you attend church?" Depending on how they answer those questions, answers one and two may require you to skip to step six. For the latter two answers, move to step six.
Step Six: Share the Gospel and Call for a Decision
Share the gospel clearly. Tell them that God loves them and because of that He sent Jesus, who was truly God and truly man, to come to earth, live a perfect life, be hung on a cross, have the sins of the world placed on Him, have the wrath of God poured out on Him, died, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day. Then, tell them that because of that, they can put their faith and trust in Jesus to be saved. Tell them that faith means you're giving your entire life to Jesus, that He has all authority over their lives. Then, ask them if they want to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Discuss with them what that means. If they genuinely want to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior, you can lead them in a sinners' prayer that might sound like this: "Dear Lord, I know that I am a sinner. I know that I have done wrong. Forgive me of my sins. I believe in you, Jesus. I believe you died on the cross and rose from the dead for me. Come into my life and be my personal Lord and Savior. Thank you for saving me, Lord Jesus." NOTE: For more on this, read a previously written Text-Driven Ministries article that walks through the "end-game" of evangelism.
Step Seven: Invite to Church
After you have shared the gospel and called for a decision, invite the person to church with you. Whether they accept Jesus or not, invite them to church. Offer to drive them. Offer to buy or make them lunch after church. Intentionally invite them to be your guest at your local church on the following Sunday.
Step Eight: Pray
The final step is to be fervent in prayer. Pray for the person you evangelized. Pray that if they prayed to receive Christ that it was genuine. Pray that if they rejected Jesus that they would change their mind. Pray that God would work in their lives.
Conclusion
Over the years, I have witnessed my dad use this strategic method many times, and it is incredible to see people's reactions and openness to this creative method. For some reason, people are very open to talking about Scripture when it is directly associated with their life, their own birthdate. Of course, this is not the only method of evangelism, but it is a helpful one if you're wanting to get started in everyday, text-driven evangelism.
Written by Klayton Carson
You can listen to the Text-Driven Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or at www.textdriven.org/podcasts. New episodes are released every Monday, just in time for your morning commute.
