Can You Relate to Any of These?

Fishing  

Electronics 

Football 

Quilting 

Surfing
 
Work


 
Can You Relate?


FISHING:

Two very special friends, Jerry 
in Colorado and Alex in Georgia, actually light up when they talk about their fishing experiences. They absolutely love to fish and are very good at it, and thoroughly like hosting others so they too can enjoy fishing

TECHNOLOGY:

During this Christmas season my 3 grandsons Jeremiah,  Noah and Joseph were going with me to our early Friday Morning Men's Fellowship meeting. When I woke them up, each of them immediately turned on their devices. Technology is now a major part of our lives and often dominates our every moment.

FOOTBALL:
 
The football playoffs are very exciting. The Clemson vs. Alabama
game promises to be a great one. Multitudes of us will dedicate ourselves to watch every play and every commercial during the game. Many live and die with every play and are greatly affected by the outcome (sometimes abnormally so). Sometimes our team represents who we are as a person...believe me, as a young person I took my sports teams too seriously.

QUILTING:

I'm not a quilter but when I used to go to New England to WB train I found out about the quilting clubs- men and women both are involved. I now know of quilting clubs in Georgia. People involved in these clubs love quilting, much like Tudi, who loves scrapbooking with her group.

SURFING:

When I used to go to a mega church in Southern California to WB train, many of attendees were surfers (it was a very young congregation) and did not relate to any of the aforementioned interests at all. Having been raised in SoCal, surfing is almost like a religion...it is a year round sport and people involved are totally dedicated to surfing.

WORK:

Enjoying ones work is such a blessing, especially if we have the Godly insight to do our work as unto the Lord. 
It is so important to find work that matches our interests and abilities, knowing there will be certain aspects of any job that may not be enjoyable. Money should not totally determine what work we do! We spend about 80% (+ or -) of our lives working. (As a National and International Board member of Christian Business Men's Committee I grew to understand how important it was to be Christ's full time representative in the business world..thanks to role models like my friend Clayton.)
 
For me personally other than family, WORK and GOLF were my obvious areas of time commitment , enjoyment, focus and passion. That's why I wrote my first book GOLFERS OF MEN.


HERE'S THE GREAT NEWS FOR US... 
As we go about our normal activities in life, 
like the ones mentioned and more...
 
The Bible says ...


"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, 
'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.'
And they straightway left their nets, and followed him." 
Matthew 4:17-20 

Whether we are working, surfing, quilting, watching football, wrapped up in technology or fishing...and golf

JESUS WANTS US TO BE
 "FISHERS OF MEN"...
 
In all environments


WITNESS GOAL:

We are a witness every minute of every day regardless where we are...
Why not be a good witness?

THE WITNESS BREAKTHROUGH ministry has 40+ years of experience of making FISHERS OF MEN a daily goal...we have four books available to help believers make Jesus Christ known "where they live, move and have their being" ...compelled by love not duty:

1-Golfers of Men
2-The Master's Touch
3-Witness Breakthrough
4-If we are the Light, Why is America so Dark?

We have also traveled and taught, preached, trained  groups of 
20-2,000... in 44 states... 200+ cities

In 2017, 
WB's goal is 
to speak at 
ten seminaries, universities, and/ or conference facilities throughout America

Our goal is 2 Cor. 2:2-
To train others so they can train others also to witness where they live and work ...compelled by love





WHY is that your goal?  
I'm so glad you asked
 
MY ANSWER
( NOT BASED UPON SOMETHING I HEARD OR READ, RATHER ON MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF WORKING WITH 100+ CHURCHES OF VARYING SIZE AND BACKGROUNDS IN MANY CITIES/STATES THROUGHOUT AMERICA)

Church leaders have not been trained how to FISH FOR MEN
...where they "live, move and have their being"... while doing and living out the list above...
for example... 
Based upon my WB training experiences only 1-5% of believers share their faith in Jesus Christ with unbelievers...
 
Some sad but typical real examples:

-A youth pastor in the south at a well known mega church told me 
"I don't want to play golf with any sinners". Shocked, I almost fainted!
 Unfortunately,
TO MANY PEOPLE, FELLOWSHIP and THE COMFORTABLE SURROUNDINGS OF CHURCH HAS BECOME OUR END GOAL AS BELIEVERS
...
SO FORGET ABOUT FISHING...
SO SAD

-The assistant pastor at a mega church in the west told me he leads short term mission trips almost monthly but has
never witnessed in his neighborhood or community...I CHALLENGED HIM to do so. He played tennis with his neighbor and eventually shared his faith in Christ...he was so excited

-A lay leader who headed the missions effort of a large church in the south told me bluntly... 
"I witness around the world but don't ask me to witness where I work or live" ...As I talked to him I found out he was never taught the importance of love in sharing the Gospel

-A well known international pastor was giving an outstanding message from the book of Romans...I took lots of notes. I was blessed by his insightful teaching. At the end he said to the large audience,  "Now here's what I want you to do: go out and invite someone to church!"  I was stunned. No wonder only 1-5% of believers tell others about Jesus...95% are being challenged to invite people to church not Jesus!? Of course church is essential, but without question I have found it is much more effective and easier to tell someone about my faith in Jesus Christ than invite them to church

-When I was an atheist not one person ever told me about Jesus. Ironically, 
my roommate in college was the President of Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). During my life as an atheist only 3 people did invite me to church...but honestly, I thought "How boring". I truly
believe if a person would have said to me "Ted, can I tell you about my faith in Jesus Christ?" I would have listened and respected their opinions...




CONCLUSION

The 
KEY ESSENTIALS:

WB training is not an event, program or short term mission trip...
it's your daily mission for the rest of your life.

Some equipping key verses:

Acts 17:28- "In Him we live, move and have our being."

John  3:16- We learn to love people so much we give them Jesus

JESUS said, "Come follow me I'll make you FISHERS of MEN..." Matthew 4:17-20

WB training is not only a lecture and interaction, 
it's on the job training...
going out, reporting back, praying, and going out again...
Acts 4:13, 23, 31


That's a portion of what I want to train future 
church leaders to experience...
and then have them teach and train others also

Ted Sprague
2 Timothy 2:2
 




P.S.
 
Please pray for WB as we began to contact people who are connected to leaders in 10 different seminaries, universities, and conference facilities...

Some possible institution assignments would include speaking at...chapel, classrooms and leader gatherings
 
Please be sure to check out our NEW website that is more and more geared to seminaries, universities and conference facilities



 


order your copy of our latest book for you or your small group:
www.condeopress.com