Doug Roe

A few years ago, I was standing on a street corner giving away cans of soda. Traffic backed up as people stopped to get their free soda. While most people were pleasantly surprised, one man stood out as particularly unhappy. He pulled to the corner, the windows of his big dark blue Buick rolled up, with an annoyed look on his face.

“Diet or regular?” I asked. He took a diet soda – though he was not appeased.

Several weeks later I was washing cars at a business near the same intersection when who should appear? The same annoyed man in the big Buick!

You are causing a traffic jam!

My job that day was to be the “wheelman” – that is, to wash tires and whitewalls. I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the grim from the annoyed man's tires, when I looked up to see him towering over me like a vulture. He had the same annoyed look on his face. I figured that I needed to say something before he did.

The first thing that popped into my head was this:  “If Jesus were here, what would you ask of him?”

The question seemed to disarm him, and for a moment he forgot that my act of kindness had annoyed him. He offered money for the car wash, but I refused. I continued my offer to pray for him. He asked me to pray for his family, so I prayed a quick prayer and he was on his way.

A few weeks later, low and behold, I was shocked to see “Mr. Buick” and his family seated on the front row at our Easter Sunday service. At the end of the service, he and his wife came forward and asked me to pray with them. We prayed, and he accepted Jesus as his Savior.

In more than 20 years of serving others, I have learned a few things that have helped me enjoy the ride.

Servant Evangelism cannot be delegated!

When thinking about evangelism, we often think of wheat, but I have discovered that it is more like growing asparagus. When a gardener grows asparagus it takes three years before he can yield a crop.

Pastors often ask, “If I do this serving thing in my church how many people will come to my church?” That is the wrong question to ask, and really reflects a “me” mentality.  Servant evangelism is about the Church being the Church and serving others. If I try to grow my local church things just get mucked up. But if I serve other people, seek to expand the kingdom of God, and do the deeds that Jesus did I find that God brings the people. In the end it is not about the size of our congregation or budget, but about the number of people we have loved along the way.

Gene, the annoyed man in the Buick, has been part of the church for more than 10 years now. He and his wife lead a small group. This once annoyed driver now helps me give soda away to other annoyed drivers.

“You know that day I stepped out of the car while you were washing the tires?” he asked one day.

“Yes,” I said, very clearly remembering it.

“I was going to chew you out for having caused such a traffic jam the day you gave out the sodas,” he said.

“What stopped you?” I asked.

“The fact that you wanted to pray for me,” he said. “I still have the can of diet soda you gave me sitting on the mantel of my fireplace. I kept it because it was the starting point that brought me to Christ.”

People may not flood into your church because you gave them a soda, but their lives will be changed because you were willing to share God's love with them.