An evangelist I am not; that is not part of my spiritual gifting—there, I’ve said it. I’ve heard many testimonies of the sort where someone leads a sinner to Christ on an airplane. I’ve sat through seminars and read many books about becoming effective in our witnessing. Many schemes have been devised and promoted: cold-turkey evangelism, hard-core evangelism, fire and brimstone evangelism, friendship evangelism, child evangelism, evangelism explosion, power evangelism, social action evangelism, and so on. However, evangelism remains a challenge for me.

The problem for me, now having been in full-time vocational ministry for 40 years, is that I can’t escape my early Christian influence, saturated with exalted stories of those who led multitudes to salvation. Missionary reports always seemed to be measured by the number of Christian conversions. Further, preachers back in the day were exalted for the number of notches they had on the “gospel holster.” One visiting fellow enumerated how many people made “decisions” for Christ at each of his itinerate stops. I rejoice when people are saved, to be sure, yet at the same time, I fight off feelings of insecurity regarding evangelism and salvation numbers because of the emphasis given in my early days as a Christian. This may seem like the morbid introspection of an insecure Christian, but I suspect I am not alone in these nagging thoughts.

However, I’ve long been provoked by the apostle Paul telling his protégé Timothy to “Be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Tim. 4:5). The first thing I take away from this admonition is that it is okay not to be a gifted evangelist. That is a spiritual enabling God distributes through His Spirit as He desires (1 Cor. 12). Timothy was not so gifted. How do I know? You don’t need to tell a gifted evangelist to share his or her faith. In the same way, a gifted teacher gravitates toward teaching, the gifted evangelist gravitates toward talking to non-believers about their need for salvation. To put it plainly, you can’t shut up a gifted evangelist. God places the impulse there; he or she is Spirit-motivated and empowered.

The rest are not left off the hook, however. Paul’s admonition to Timothy resonates to those who are not gifted but who desire to follow the heart of God to seek the lost. But just as it was for Timothy, it is hard work for all who are not gifted as evangelists; it doesn’t come easily. This awareness has helped my spiritual life immensely, especially as I look back on the feeble efforts that God has used despite my hesitations. Case in point …

It was 1973, and I was a new Christian in my early 20s. Our church’s youth group and young adults went roller skating at the local indoor rink, a popular group activity back in the day. I brought a handful of Christian tracts emblazoned with a large arrow pointing upward on the front page with the words “One Way.” The content focused on Christ being the only way to heaven. My idea was to hand these leaflets out as we skated around the rink. But my intent came into conflict with my lack of courage to actually hand out the tracts. As people showed off their moves, weaving in and out of traffic, doing crossovers, and backward skating, all to the up-tempo music that made for a fun and immersive atmosphere, I froze. My idea was bad at worst, or just plain awkward at best. I had a tract in my hand, but every excuse flooded my mind to not simply hand it to someone. The event did not lend itself to giving any comment with the tract, just handing it out and then skating away. Cheesy!

I can’t remember how long into the evening my internal struggle continued with fear, guilt, and not wanting to look the part of a spiritual fanatic. But something happened that can only be explained by the presence of God. As I was skating along, showing off my skating moves, the front wheels of one skate fell off! Of course, I was unprepared for this—what skater ever is! Lurching forward, I launched into the air, falling in a discombobulated slide across the wooden skating floor. The tracks flew out of my shirt pocket and slid across the floor before me, with the One-Way arrows all pointing forward.

In the commotion, a few skaters began helping me back up and off the floor (remember my skate was broken)—I felt like such a klutz! Other skaters were also retrieving the errant leaflets! When they attempted to return them to me, without thinking, I responded, “Just keep it.” God wanted those tracts handed out! So first, He knocked me off my feet. Second, He sent the “One-way” tracts sliding all in the right direction (it was almost comical). Third, the Lord enabled me to overcome my fear and reflexively tell people to keep the tracts. On the one hand, God has a sense of humor; on the other hand, He wanted those tracts out of my pocket and into the hands and lives of other people!

Did anyone come to faith in Christ as a result? Did God use any of those handed-out tracts? My best response is most probably a “Yes.” Some 30 years later, I met a fellow who came to faith in Christ through a tract someone left in a decorative planter near the restroom where he worked. He picked it up to read while doing his business, was intrigued, and then contacted the publisher of the tract to send him a copy of every tract, one of which pointed to Scripture about being baptized. He somehow called our church and asked to be baptized. That’s how I met him; he is still walking with the Lord today!

Another time, we had a men’s outreach with 13 men at a restaurant, six of whom were non-believers. Amidst many jokes, laughs, and good food, a Christian business leader shared his testimony. We were not aware at the time of anyone being saved. About 10 years later, a Christian leader in another city shared his testimony about how he was influenced toward Christ through a men’s outreach dinner. The event had opened him up to seeking the Lord, eventually being saved, and now he was in Christian leadership. Yes, the event was that one which thirteen men had held with no apparent results. God waited 10 years to reveal to us the fruit of that simple outreach effort.

So, yes, God can use a handed-out tract. And He most likely did in the case of my roller-skating folly, though 40 years later I am still waiting to find out. The Lord may be waiting to surprise me when I arrive in glory! I can hardly wait. Thinking back over my pre-conversion days, God honored the efforts of the string of people who shared their faith with me, handed me tracts, and were not afraid to stand up for Christ—yet only the last one is aware that I came to faith. I like to imagine what a time of rejoicing it will be when I meet them in heaven and thank them for their bold faithfulness in overcoming their fears to share Christ with me.

Yes, our Lord can even use our bumbling, fearful, non-gifted evangelistic efforts, like handing out “One-way” tracts at a skating rink. He can overcome our fears and hesitation, and so we walk by faith that He will overcome our un-giftedness. If the Lord is able to bring praise from rocks when we remain silent (Luke 19:38-40), He can certainly not be limited in using the willing testimony of anyone who follows Christ with a heart for the lost.