LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY

GOSPEL FLUENCY PROJECT

Submitted to Dr. Benjamin Forrest

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of

DSMN – 520

Spiritual Formation

by

Kenneth Blythe

August 16, 2019

I met up with one of my cousins who I felt like I needed to have a conversation

with about Jesus Christ. This guy has this crazy story of drug addiction that started in

middle school and expanded into his twenties where he had over fifteen overdoses and

had several prison stints because of it. I really enjoy hearing him telling his story, but

feel like there could be so much more added to it if he was saved and spreading his story

to the lost who are fighting those same addictions. He could show that he is able to

overcome the grip of addiction and his story is very powerful.

I decided to meet him near Dayton, Ohio and buy his dinner. My wife, son, and

another friend who lived close by went and we had an awesome dinner. After we

finished eating my cousin and I took a walk out by this lake and river because I wanted to

catch up with him. I had been seeing all these post about him being clean, but I wanted

to hear his story and tell him a little about mine. As we walked he told me he was over

two years clean and he was not aware of how treatment worked or if it could even work

on him. He told me about how he goes to group 3-4 days a week and has picked up

softball as his new addiction. Although I wanted to hear his story, I also wanted to share

Jesus Christ with him because as good as his story is, it really did not have to end there. I

felt like a story of redemption and transformation that deep is a testimony of what God

can do in your life. I began to talk about God to him and moved closer to scripture with

him.

Part 2: Gospel Content

The scripture that was sticking out to me when I spoke with him was Matthew

28:18-19 which tells us “all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go,
therefore and make disciples of all nations. After taking my first evangelism class at

liberty I was told about an app called share Jesus without fear. Typically I have no

problem sharing Jesus to people, but what this app has given me is a strong foundations

to what questions I should be asking and how I should following up questions that are

said or asked back to me. So during our conversation, I was able to read to him Romans

3:23, 6:23, and 10:9-11 as well as John 3:3, 14:6.

I asked John if he believed in Christ and if he asked Jesus for forgiveness and I

really did not get a full answer. He told me he prays daily and reads his bible, but I

brought the question right back to the question are you a sinner? Have you asked Jesus to

forgive you for your sins? I then told him that all he had to do was ask Jesus into his

heart and then all that was forgotten. He told me after this conversation that he had asked

Jesus into his heart and life. We were able to pray together and I congratulated him on

his transformation, but I said the most important part of that was when he asked Jesus to

forgive him. That moment offsets anything else he has accomplished on his own and his

entire life.

Part 3: Fluency Critique

When I look at how I prepared the gospel with this individual, I liked the way that

I used the share Jesus without fear app. The app allows you to have a conversation while

looking at your phone which does not present itself as highly aggressive and it allows you

to follow up on questions you may not think about on your own or helps you answer

difficult questions along the way. I think this strength is definitely a benefit to use with

people because it can help you start a conversation and keep it going instead of moving

along to something else because you do not know what to ask next.
 I think another strength was including scriptures in which were applicable to

salvation because I think they had an important meaning that John needed to hear. I think

adding those really helped to get him to think of the importance of our sin and why we

need to ask for forgiveness. There is no better way to speak God into someone then by

reading scripture. Scripture speaks life into people and it can really impact their life

because I am living proof of that. Without scripture we are simply trying to bring

someone to Jesus with our own understanding and will fail every time.

I think one area of my weakness included the questions I asked. I asked him

about asking Jesus to forgive his sins, but I did not expand on it or ask him if he felt he

was saved. I know John is not attending a church so sometimes people say they have

asked that question, but really have not truly gone through the process. Explaining what

that process looks like would have validated for sure. I never want to question someone’s

salvation, but I also want to make sure that someone understands the importance of that

salvation. Making sure John knows the exact steps and making sure he understands the

process is important in case he has never repented from his sins.

Part 4: Gospel Fluency as Spiritual Discipline

Before I got married, I had no problem sharing Christ with anyone. It seems like

as I have gotten older that it gets pushed to back of my to do list and I need to change

this. The one thing I have learned at my time at Liberty is that you are able to share the

gospel pretty easily almost wherever you go. Whether that is at Starbucks, your

workplace, or your next door neighbor, sharing the gospel can be done and needs to be
done more frequently by all of us. We need to forget about the excuses and start

faithfully and obediently doing what Jesus commanded us to do which was Go and Tell.

I think doing this on a frequent basis requires action and that action starts with a

goal. My goal is to focus on sharing Christ to one person I work with a week at work,

one person in the community, and then one of my neighbors. I do not mind going up to

strangers in Starbucks and telling them about Jesus, but I struggle more with people I am

closer with. People like distant family, co-workers, and neighbors make the process more

difficult because I am closer with them. I have already started talking with neighbors

about Christ and going to church in the community as well as people I work with. I had a

co-worker come to church with my wife and I last week and I feel like this practice needs

to continue more and more. My plan is to talk with at least one co-worker a week or

when the situation arises about Christ as well as focusing on my neighbors and

community with the same attitude. When we are proactive like this not only will we win

people to Christ, but it allows God to use us so much more.