Hi, my name is Jon and I have a new strategy for world evangelization–let me explain.
I believe we could reach a sizeable percentage of the world for Christ…if Christians started acting like Christ around service people.
What do I mean by “service people.”?
It's the guy that fixes your car. It's the lady with the accent that gives you your coffee at Dunkin' Donuts. Service people. I'm thinking about the waitress at your favorite restaurant hang-out. The busboy that fills your water glass repeatedly—because you're so thirsty.
Give it a moment's thought, and you'll think of a bunch of these people.
Notice that I called them, “people.”
Because all too, often, we don't think of them that way. We treat them like mere servants. After all, we're paying good money for that meal, so the waitress had BETTER get it right…..right? Wrong.
My brother once worked as a waiter for a successful Italian restaurant chain. He told me that some of the worst tippers in the world…are born again Christians.
The leader of a major Christian organization once told me that he cringes at the knowledge that evangelical folks attending his national conference have the reputation for being the most demanding and least gracious of all the groups that show up at the hotel. And the list goes on and on—with my poor behavior…and yours.
But what if… instead of a reputation for being demanding or being cheapskates…we Christians were known by our love (um….the thing Jesus said we were SUPPOSED to be known by).
What if we looked the busboy in the eye—and genuinely thanked him for filing our water glass? If Christians were known by the service industry for our “Please” and “thank you very much” instead of our griping, it would open up a whole new platform for sharing Christ.
Think of it: The wrong food order comes to your table and instead of whining, you say, “Hey, no problem. I'm in no danger of starving…” Wow!
But you know who are starving? The service people around us. They are starving for human affirmation….starving for the kindness that comes from being with Jesus.
Let's you and I give them a taste of the Jesus life.
We can be sure they'll be hungry for more of Him.