Pastor Matt Sturdevant, who leads Hope Church in Fort Worth, TX, understands an important reality about Jesus followers: most of them desperately want to make a difference, but don’t know how.
Matt and his staff do four Big Days at Hope Church every year. (A Big Day is an all-out push toward a single Sunday for the purpose of setting an attendance record.) As their September Big Day approached last fall, Matt knew he needed to do something a little different; something to remove the common stumbling blocks that keep people from sharing their faith and inviting others to know God’s goodness.
He knew his people were motivated to invite others to the Big Day, but their motivation was being stamped out by their fear and lack of training on how to make the ask. He felt a strong conviction to give them the tools they needed to impact others.
Matt is a Titanium member (my highest level of coaching) and he turned to my book The Difference Maker: Using Your Everyday Life for Eternal Impact to help.
HELPING PEOPLE MAKE A DIFFERENCE
A few weeks before the Big Day, Matt began promoting a one-night The Difference Maker training. He wasn’t sure what to expect. There were a lot of new people at Hope Church at the time, representing a variety of maturity levels.
At first, the sign-ups were slow. But as the day got closer, the number of people signing up jumped. So much so that Matt had to make the decision to move the training from a classroom, as he had originally planned, to the auditorium. When the night of the training came, about 60 people showed up to learn how to share their faith effectively.
EXTENDING INVITATIONS
Matt notes that a great thing about The Difference Maker content is that it is accessible to everyone, no matter their level of maturity. The content was applicable for both the students and the adults in the room. Not to mention, it had the additional effect of planting a seed with anyone there who may not have already known Jesus.
Matt was keenly aware that as he was teaching on how to share the gospel, he was also sharing the gospel with those who hadn’t yet given their lives to God.
The mission statement of Hope Church is to invite people to discover and experience God’s ways. Matt says, “The word invite is important. The Difference Maker talks about inviting people to church and inviting people to know God. That’s what we want to do.”
And, as Matt attests, The Difference Maker gives people practical tools to do that inviting. Those practical tools lead to confidence and confidence spurs motivation.
THE POWER OF NUANCE
Matt contends that one of the most powerful things about The Difference Maker as a resource is that it positions evangelism simply as a way to make a difference in someone else’s life. The training is inviting to people because, as he says, “Jesus has made a difference in our lives, and we are called to make a difference in the lives of others. People came [to the training] because they want to make a difference. They wouldn’t have shown up in the same way if we had called it evangelism training.”
People are looking for purpose and meaning. They want a way to make an impact.
Click here to read the full story of the one-night evangelism training that Matt led at Hope Church.
Your partner in ministry,
Nelson
P.S. Find out you too can lead an evangelism training in YOUR church!
You’re invited to join me for a brand new FREE online workshop, How to Train Your People to Share Their Faith this Easter. I’m leading this LIVE, one time only, on Wednesday, Feb. 19 from 2:00pm – 3:30pm ET.
I’ll walk you step-by-step through the process of training your people to invite others to church for Easter 2025! It’s FREE for you if you act fast plus you will receive over $439.92 in bonuses when you sign up and stay to the end of the workshop.
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