EP 1 - Our Vision to Demystify Evangelism

Sent 315 Podcast - Episode 1

Our Vision to Demystify Evangelism

OPENING - Kevin Miller 0:02

Welcome to Sent 315! We're here to encourage and equip Christians to engage in the adventure of sharing Jesus with those God puts into their life. And we're so glad you're here.

Everybody, this is Kevin Miller, your host of Sent 315. I am with our producer, Sarah Mayne.

Sarah 0:21

Hello.

Kevin Miller 0:22

And our consummate engineer Matt Hall.

Matt, I don't know if you can say hello or not. But we're really, truly here to help people– Christians– share Jesus with people that God puts into their lives. And this is especially for you if you don't want to, or you're terrified, or maybe you just don't know how. This is a podcast, really, for non-evangelists. If evangelists sneak in, you're welcome, I guess, but this is to help regular folks out there.

And I'll tell you, you're really on our heart, because this is a time where the world really needs the love, and hope, and power of Jesus. And we really feel that we're the ones that Jesus has sent, you guys and us, just like the Father sent Him. So we're gonna try to do this in 30-minute-or-less bites.

We wanted to get started today to just tell you where this thing started from, and what you might be able to expect in the future.

Sarah 1:23

As we're getting into this, why don't you just share how did this start? How did you get to be a Christian, who not only loves to share Jesus with people, but who also really enjoys and finds passion and energy from teaching Christians how to share Jesus with people? I feel like it's a unique thing about you. So how did it start? Do you have any stories that, you know, a moment or something like that?

Kevin Miller 1:54

One came to mind as I was driving here to the studio today. And that was over a decade ago. I was going into Costco. And I was thinking about what our church, Foothills Christian Church, does, the most magnificent church in the world. Cute, peculiar, in some ways, but very magnificent. Yeah. I was thinking about how many kids we normally reach? We're in COVID now. But before that, we counted it up as about 5,000 contacts a week. We are crazy. Yeah, we-

Sarah 2:28

I was one of those kids there.

Kevin Miller 2:30

Yeah. And I was a bus kid. So, I know, it was amazing. And I was, you know, happy about that. And but I was thinking, as I going into Costco, what about these kind of middle class regular folks? You know, what are we doing for them and with them, and I got this vision. I don't know if it was heavenly, supernatural, or not. I didn't hear any trumpets or anything. But I got this vision of sitting at this little table. Not plywood, but particle board. There we go. particle board table, little round one. I'd be on a chair like I am right now. And I'd have two chairs in front of me. And a little sign that said, “Need Prayer?”. Kind of like the “Need Milk?” or “Got milk?” you know, kind of thing.

Sarah 3:14

Free samples.

Kevin Miller 3:15

Yeah, that would even have been trickier. But I'm just sitting out front of Costco, and somebody needs prayer. So that's where it started from. And so I went, Yeah, that'd be cool. I'll do that. And then a few weeks or months went by, and I think I heard the Lord again. And He said, “So. Are you gonna do that?” And I said, “I'm gonna do it. Get off my back. I'll do it.” And He goes, “When?” “I'll do it right now.” So I went back to my little office, the one our friend David Matranga has now; it's a rather large closet, and I unscrewed the legs up this table, and I printed up a “Need Prayer?” sign, and got some folding chairs (we've got thousands of those). But then I knew that I couldn't do it at Costco. That wasn't quite it. And I started thinking about it.

And I don't know why – maybe because I had been in some legal trouble or something. I don't remember, I went, “The courthouse! When you're going to court, you need prayer! That’ll be it.” So boom, I went right to the courthouse here in downtown El Cajon, set up my chair, had a Bible and I did- and the main thing I remember is I didn't want anybody with me. I didn't want to be engaged. I wanted to see the opportunities. I'm not a like an overwhelming, scary kind of guy.

Sarah 4:33

No, you’re not.

Kevin Miller 4:34

Like, you know, I just smile at folks and stuff.

Sarah 4:35

Very kind man.

Kevin Miller 4:36

Every single Friday, I would go, and I would be there at lunch. And I’d spend maybe two hours there sitting out in front and you know, just looking silly or whatever. And every Friday, I got to pray with people. Every Friday. And I'm not going to tell all the stories about that now because there's really fun salvation stories. And when-a-sheriff-came-out-with-a-gun-and-told-me-to-move stories.

Sarah 5:01

Okay, wait, you gotta tell us a little bit about that one. You can't just drop that.

Kevin Miller 5:06

Well, I mean, he came out and said, “You can't be here. Because if there's like some kind of emergency evacuation people will trample you.” I looked at him like, “Okay, come on.”

Sarah 5:15

You’re like, “Okay, I'm a runner.” Yeah.

Kevin Miller 5:18

They'll never catch me. But the deal is like, okay, that sounded – I was behind a pillar. I’m not getting run over. Yeah, I wasn't in anybody's way. This is America, and all of that, but he did have a gun. And I asked myself – I wasn't scared of the gun. But I asked myself, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” Yeah. And so what happened, which has happened other times to me where I just went, “Okay, am I going to stand up? Or am I gonna… am I going to compromise?” And so in this case, I asked him, “Where can I go? He put me far, far away from the front door of the church, but it was some stairs. That was really a pathway. And that day, a guy who – a young man – who tried to kill himself came and sat down and talked with me. So, I went “Okay, this is confirmation. This is okay. You can work even here, Jesus. Okay.”

Sarah 6:09

So the Lord used this cop to move you to the perfect spot. That's awesome.

Kevin Miller 6:17

I guess He did. And there's way great stories with that one, and then other people spun off of that and downtown in the rain. Shout out to my good friend, Bravo. You know who you are, out in the rain in front of a courthouse there with a cardboard sign, and a baby resale shop, and all over. It was really very cool. People just expressing it their own way. And that was kind of the start over a decade ago for this. And I really think I heard from the Lord: “So, you know that thing I kind of planted in your head, Kevin, about this podcast? When are you going to do it?” “I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it.” And He goes, “Wait a minute, wait a minute. I'm going to give you a producer, give you an engineer, give you a state of the art studio. Give you a director/editor dude. And so all you have to do is do what you do, which is sit down and talk.” “Okay… sounds a lot easier now.” So here we are. Yeah. How did you get talked into this? And what do you think about this whole thing?

Kevin Miller 7:17

Well, you pulled me into your office.

Sarah 7:20

Different office. Bigger, grander office now.

Kevin Miller 7:23

It's a good office. Um, yeah. So I've been working on building my career in media while working for the church, where Kevin's a pastor, and he pulled me in a few months ago, and was like, “Hey, can you help me produce?” because he heard I was going to LA for a week to produce somebody else's podcast. And he told me about it, and, knowing you, Kevin, for a long, long time…

Kevin Miller 7:51

When you were the evil Sarah Mayne.

Sarah 7:54

Boy, that was a nickname. It wasn't a real name. It was ironic, yes.

Kevin Miller 8:00

There's no evil in her.

Sarah 8:02

Well, thanks to Jesus. And, yeah, and you were telling me about it, and your heart and your vision to teach people to grow in sharing their faith in a way that's natural and comfortable for them – the way that the Lord's made them. And that, of course, was very, like, “Yes! Like, I want to do that.” And also, knowing you, Kevin, you're the guy that does that every day. And you pursue that and you pursue learning about it. And, you know, you've started different classes and ministries over the years to teach people to do that. And so I'm really excited because with this format, we can get it out to people, you know, easier in our church so they can kind of, you know, sometimes it's easier to send them a podcast than getting them to come Sunday at nine o'clock.

Kevin Miller 8:52

Right.

Sarah 8:53

And then also, it's going to go outside of that, you know: broader and help more people. So I'm just grateful to be a part of the process and help you with your vision for it and dream, and I'm excited for, you know, people to start sending us how it's helped them – and we want to hear your stories and just how the Lord uses it. And it's just gonna be really fun.

Kevin Miller 9:16

And we really see it I think we both agree that this should be a dialogue. So it's a conversation, a God conversation, with authors, with a real-live, “capital E” evangelists. Yeah, with normal people who found a way in trying environments, like your dad. I'm gonna have him on for sure. Yeah. Where you have to navigate and see how God made you where He planted you. And just like He brought you to me to help me with this. And just like the sheriff sent me not to jail but up the stairs. God will provide a way if we’re faithful to what He's talking. I mean, I remember Erwin McManus, who we both enjoy quite a bit. In The Barbarian Way, his son, that scoundrel Aaron, had gotten kicked out of camp.

Sarah: 10:08

You can't say things like that. We’re gonna get shout… They are gonna shout us out.

Kevin Miller: 10:13

Oh, cool. Give us a shout, Aaron. I want to talk to you about Calvinism.

Sara: 10:18

We love the McManuses.

Kevin Miller: 10:19

Yes, we do. Absolutely. Well he was talking about his son being a scoundrel at that time – he got kicked out of camp, and there was an altercation, right? And so I think I got the story right. He, you know, got into a little fuss and, and so [the] short version is his dad said, “Aaron, so do you know what you should do?” And he said, “Yeah, but I'm not going to do it. I don't want to.” And he's… he said, “So you've heard from… from the Lord what you're supposed to do, and you're not going to do it. I got to tell you, son, that's a dangerous place. Because if you don't respond to the voice of the Lord in his direction, you will… His voice will get quieter and quieter until you don't hear from Him. And then at some point, you may not believe that you've ever heard from Him.” So it was powerful for me, because in those times, where we do have an opportunity to share our faith, if we engage in it, He gives us more. And it's an adventure. It's craziness. It's really, really good. But if we get cold, or lethargic, or apathetic, or too stinking busy and distracted with just the other things. Kind of like, you know, Jesus telling Martha “Hey, Martha, chill out. Come on. I know you're doing good stuff. But am Jesus and I'm here. Yes. Okay.” Right? But it can be that way for us in the world, especially us in the world and today. So looking for those opportunities is really, really important and responding even if you fail bitterly.

Sarah: 11:56

Yeah. And I think it's important to to remember, you know, we don't have to make those opportunities happen. We just have to have our heart postured right before the Lord and be open to them. And when they come before us, we say, “Yes” in those moments. I know for me, some of the craziest, cool sharing-my-faith stories that I have, they came in completely unexpected moments, where the Lord just opened up the door. I was telling Kevin about one yesterday where I was in community college at the time, and I was taking a television studio class. And for this class, like, we had a full television studio, and we each would run a different position. So you would run the sound, and you would run the teleprompter, and the camera, and you'd play director, directing the angles. And so we would go all the way around, including the reporter, the interviewer, and the interviewee. And on the day that I got to be one of the reporter people in front of the camera, I got paired with this guy who I'd barely talked to in the whole class, because we were just moving around a lot, so there wasn't a lot of like chat time with people. And the way that we would kind of find like an interesting point to interview each other off of, we’d just start chatting, and we had like icebreaker questions to ask each other. And I was 19 at a time. So this was like, I don't know, eight years ago, and I really wanted to be a pastor's wife at this time of my life.

Kevin Miller: 13:39

Don't we all?

Sara: 13:41

You want to be a pastor's wife, Kevin?

Kevin Miller: 13:43

Never!

Sarah: 13:46

Yeah. Anyways, that was like one of my main desires at the time. So, when he asked me like, “Hey, what's your vision for your future? Like, what do you want to do? “You know, and he was a little older than me in his 30s. And, and so I didn't have anything else to say, because that was really something I wanted. So I said, “Well, I want to be a pastor's wife.” And it just floored him. He couldn't even believe it and immediately told me, “Well, I'm an atheist.”

Kevin Miller: 14:16

There you go. Now the conversation has began.

Sarah: 14:19

And I was like, “Cool.” And he just couldn't believe that I wanted to be a pastor's wife. He was like, “Wait. Really? Like, I've never heard anyone say that.” And then he decided, “I'm interviewing you for the interview.” And so we get up there, you know, we're all set up. And then for the interviews were almost 8 to 10 minutes long. And you would have to pay attention the whole time because you're running the set, you know, whatever position you’re doing.

Kevin Miller: 14:46

So people are listening.

Sarah: 14:47

Yes, you're engaged listening. This whole interview basically turned into this really cool God conversation, as you would call it, Kevin, where I got to share my faith and what I believe and why and my story with the Lord and background with this atheist, as he was asking me questions in front of the whole class. You know, “Quiet on the set. “Everybody shut up and listen.” And it was just… I was so amazed. And it was a really great conversation. And he started going into a little bit of apologetics because religion is something he was really into. It opened up the door after class, we actually went to the cafeteria and some of the other students went with us. And we kept talking. And you know, and the Lord was just working on it. But I remember sitting there and just being like, “How did this happen that I am in front of the whole class, sharing about you, Lord?” It was just, you know, it was so natural. It wasn’t forced. The Lord open the door. But it started with the honesty, you know, where it was like, “Well, what do you want to be?” And I was like, “Well, what else am I gonna say?”.

Kevin Miller: 15:58

It was a natural thing to you to say, though.

Sarah: 16:00

Yeah, it was .

Kevin Miller: 16:01

Came from your heart. They heard that. I was just like, this is me.

Sarah: 16:04

Right. And that was what impressed him so much, because he was like, why? Are you serious?

Kevin Miller: 16:10

Yeah. And I've had conversations with atheists that are, first off, seriously, most of the people that I talk to end up probably not being really, like, definitive atheists. There's an anger or a hurt or something. But you don't earn the right to be heard until you listen, which is like a complete podcast in itself, or 10. But if you're just sincere and disarming, it's amazing what kind of conversations can happen. You know what I mean? One of the things that, that I wanted to talk about in a little bit here and a whole lot more later. I think it's really important that we're spending this time on conversation so the people who are listening, whoever they are, can just get a flavor of us a taste of us and see, you know, we promise, I promise, I'll get better. I don't know if Sarah has any more room for improvement –

Sarah: 17:04

Oh, I do.

Kevin Miller: 17:05

But I promise, if you like is even a little bit now, you may like us a little bit more later. Especially because there's just a lot of interesting people that I know, that bring their fears or failures or, or accidental successes like you had, right? That really can speak to so many different people. Hopefully, there's a lot of different types of people. And what we found from looking at some of the stuff from, you know, experts like Middleburg and those guys that have put things together way – you know – that can help define how we're built and how we communicate, and how we don't have to compare ourselves to anybody else.

Sarah: 17:48

Definitely.

Kevin Miller: 17:48

I think when I've taught classes, one of the two of the most exciting things for me when I've taught classes, number one is when somebody gets the lightbulb that they really are already effectively sharing their faith. And they don't have to have any guilt or shame because they're not like Billy Graham, or

Sarah: 18:07

Todd white or

Kevin Miller: 18:08

Yeah. Yeah, nice braids. So once that relaxation comes in, and you know, you're… this- No, this is what Jesus meant. This, you're doing it. The other thing is, I remember I got to teach at a middle school, teach about God conversations and sharing your faith. And a young man in the class, after I left (And we just went through basics and stuff. It was fun. I loved it.) said, “You know, I'm not really a Christian.” And he gave his life to the Lord in a class about sharing his faith.

Sarah: 18:42

That's awesome. Yeah.

Kevin Miller: 18:43

And I, you know, he's got a testimony: “Hey, I was sitting in this class hearing about sharing my faith and realized I didn't have one.” Yeah. So I think there's a lot of different examples that other lives have, not just us, that we get to share with them, we get to bring some of our friends in.

Sarah: 18:58

Yeah, I think too, you know, when you think about who Jesus picked as his disciples, they were all sorts of different personalities. Peter was the more, like, in-your-face, go-for-it. The other disciples, they weren't as much like that. You know, Thomas, he seems to me he was a lot more logical, you know, and skeptical kind of a person. And John was obviously more like just peaceful and loving, kind of personality,

Kevin Miller: 19:27

Except when he and his brother wanted to call down the fire on [Inaudible 19:31] . He was a son of thunder.

Sarah: 19:33

Anyways, there's that, you know, that range that you have, and I think that's important too, because the people that aren't Christians, there's a range of them, too. And so sometimes someone who doesn't know the Lord, yet they need a more skeptical thinker like a Thomas to reach them. And so it's just so beautiful how the Lord uses different people and puts them in the place, the right time to reach those people.

Kevin Miller: 20:03

And he wants to use everyone in, like you said, that we’ll be trying to communicate in the way that God made them. There's a book that I really, really like. It's called Evangelism for the Rest of Us. And, you know, for me, evangelism is the “E” word. It's got so much weight to it. And, you know, non-believers, you know, they've got a feeling about evangelism and all of that. But Evangelism for the Rest of Us is about how God made some of us, not so much me, but some of us introverts. And introverts, write most of the books, they really, and they sit with each other, or in a small group at a coffee shop and have no problem communicating. It's not that these people are shy or backwards. It's that they just don't want to be shouted at on a corner with a bullhorn. And they certainly don't want to be that person

Sarah: 20:53

Who doesn't want that, though?

Kevin Miller: 20:55

I don't know. Let’s see if we can find one to come on the show. That speaking of coming on the show, it won't always just be you and me. Right, Sarah?

Sarah: 21:02

Yeah.

Kevin Miller: 21:02

So some of the guests that I'm really looking forward to bringing on – some are regular folks who have navigated strange situations. There are people who have overcome obstacles, and then there's experts. So, we've got some – a plethora of books. I do. I have a bookcase of books. And having those people come in, those that will be adventurous enough to do that, to share wisdom. And so we've got more people coming that will relate to these range of people that we were just talking about, um, why don't you talk about some of the other things besides the podcast that we're going to be using?

Sarah: 21:43

Definitely, yeah, so we have a website. It's sent315.org, again, sent315 (that's the numbers) .org. And on there, you're going to find more details about who we are, what we're doing. And then there's [a] really cool resource page, right, Kevin, with some of these experts and people and books and some that you're really excited about.

Kevin Miller: 22:11

Yeah, the resource pages is exciting, because you know, there is a large range of people. And so being able to understand your style and your personality and how God made you so you can organically share that – for apologists, we’ll have some of that, links to some people that know way more than I do about that kind of thing. So it's basically a collection of everything that I've read, that I think might be helpful to people. So the resource page is going to be an exciting one for me.

Sarah: 22:41

Definitely. And on there as well, you can sign up for our newsletter, because we have a lot of other things that we're not ready to talk about right now. But we'll be launching in the future. There's going to be trainings, extra outside of the podcast, there's going to be some community groups where you can get encouraged with other people who are putting this practically into practice. And we also have our Instagram page, which is really a great way for us to engage directly with you. It is sent_315. That's our Instagram, again, sent_315 with the numbers as the numbers, and on there, we would love for you to follow us, to share it with friends. We're going to be posting clips from our podcast, also DM us. We want to know what your struggles are, what you want to hear us talk about if you have questions. We'll probably do some Q&A episodes and have fun with that. We'd love to just engage with you on there.

Kevin Miller: 23:48

And one of the ways that I found to be effective, I mean, very effective in having people help you. And do what you'd really, really like them to do is we'll be having giveaways as well. So many of the resources that we have, we really want to give it away. And the idea is as this grows and more people become a part of this, then the Word of God is getting spread more and more and more, which is what should be happening. So that is all real exciting. And we just thank you for listening and engaging with us as we go along.

Sarah: 24:24

We'll be doing this weekly and posting and on the journey with you, and I think we should close in prayer.

Kevin Miller: 24:31

Father, thank you so much just to allow us to be about Your business. It is a joy, Father. And so we just pray right now that you would use this. That you would bless the people who are listening to this to be ignited to share Your love with the people that You've planted in their lives, and that You've called them to be a light to. It's just so, so good Father, and we love You. In Jesus’ name.