Go! A Simple Way to Share Your Faith by Pastor Joe Cameneti

Go! A Simple Way to Share Your Faith Pastor Joe Cameneti

Joe Cameneti is the Senior Pastor of Believers’ Christian Fellowship, located in his home town of Warren, Ohio. Pastor Joe, along with his wife Gina pioneered BCF in 1983 following his graduation from Bible School. The Cameneti’s have four children: Joe Jr., David, Michele, and Deanna.
 
This article is an excerpt from Pastor Joe’s book by the same title.  To learn more about his book, click here.

Go! This is God’s command—to take the greatest story ever told to our world. But why? How? These are the simple questions that all too often stand in the way of a world in need. So many of us spend years struggling to truly find a successful approach in reaching our world. We desperately want to follow God’s command, but we’re lacking training and instruction to make it a reality. Frustration emerges, and soon we give up all together. The good news is this. You don’t have to be frustrated, and you can make a lasting impact for your creator! One of the most common obstacles within the Body of Christ spans from confusion about personality and style. So many have been falsely convinced that their gifts and style are not conducive to sharing Christ effectively. This couldn’t be further from reality! No matter who you are, God has a designated purpose for your gifts, style and personality. You are one of a kind, and you are called to reach those around you just the way you are! Here is an excerpt from chapter six of my book “Go: A Simple Way to Share Your Faith.” It’s called “You,” and I think it will help put things in perspective.

The subject of sharing our faith through our God-given style reminds me of a fishing story—my first fishing experience ever. I didn’t go fishing for the first time until I was in my mid-thirties. Although I had a great childhood, my dad didn’t fish and thus, I didn’t fish. My wife’s father has a lake home, and we were vacationing when our two boys were young—probably six and eight at that time. My father-in-law, who we affectionately call Grandpa Vito, was so excited to have the opportunity to take his two grandchildren fishing for the first time. He had us up early, before sunrise. I was also excited because I had never fished before! We learned how to put worms on the hook and how to cast

our lines out into the water. That part was interesting to me and I figured it out pretty quick. So, I, along with Grandpa Vito, helped my boys bait their hooks and cast their lines. Then, the real art of fishing began. Sitting and waiting for a bite! I’m not the best sit-still-and-do-nothing-person on the planet. Maybe I’m one of the worst! When Gina and I go to a beach, she’ll sit and read a book and tan and hardly ever go into the water. I love to read but I can’t read on a beach, in the heat, shade or no shade! When I go to a beach I have to be moving the entire time. I’ll spend three to four hours in the sun but I have to be moving. I’ll stand in the ocean water for an hour, immersing myself, then standing and walking in the water up and down the shore line. Then I’ll snorkel for an hour. Then I’ll get out and sit until I’m dry, and then I go back in! The entire time Gina is relaxing, lying still and reading, or listening to her iPod.

That being said, you can imagine how I felt when I had to sit and do nothing. I walked away from my first fishing experience feeling guilty. I thought, Maybe I’m not a man; maybe something is wrong with me. Real men love to fish! That night we were eating some fish that the boys caught and Grandpa said, “Let’s go again tomorrow.” My boys were so excited! I wasn’t! I thought, I cannot put myself through another two hours of just sitting there in that boat, or I may explode! Later, I approached Grandpa in private

and told him I thought it would be a great bonding time if he took the boys himself. I felt I was getting in the way!

He was fine with that, and I was free from the boredom of sitting still and waiting! And that’s how some of you may feel about soul winning; about sharing your faith. Your first witnessing experience may have been a disappointment. It might not have been a good fit for you!

Now here’s the rest of the story! A couple of years after my first fishing experience with my father-in-law, I was channel surfing one day, and I saw these guys standing in a river, and they were fishing. But it wasn’t like the fishing I had done, so it caught my attention. And I thought, That looks like fun. They were fly fishing, using those fake flies or real insects as bait. In fly fishing, you throw out the line and hook a certain way—there’s a special technique to it. It has to hit like an insect landing on the water, and then you have to move it along like an insect coming up and down on the water. So I watched these guys fish for a while, and I thought, Wow! That’s hyper enough for me to enjoy! I discovered a type of fishing that fits my personality. I discovered that I don’t hate fishing; I just didn’t like the traditional method I had learned first. Again, it’s the same way with soul winning. I boldly declare to you that you will love to share your faith when you do it within your God-given style. I also want to be upfront and tell you that there will always be a little apprehension when it comes to actually sharing your faith, even if you do so through your style. That’s natural and will dissipate over time as you gain confidence from experience. Moving forward in this chapter, I identify the four Biblical styles of soul-winning with the purpose of showing every reader that they have a powerful gift, shaped by God and driven by their personality.

Here they are with a brief definition:

The Finger Pointer

If your God-given style is that of a finger pointer, you’ll feel very comfortable knocking on the door of a perfect stranger to share your faith with them. Finger pointers have no problem doing a cold call either. It comes naturally for them. The apostle Peter was one of the greatest finger pointers who ever lived. Think about it. Who did God choose on the day of Pentecost to give the first sermon and altar call for His church? He picked the finger pointer—Peter. Why? Because finger pointers don’t mind getting in somebody’s face in order to bring them to Christ. They are bold and tenacious, and they are always ready to do what others are uncomfortable doing.

The Hand Grabber

The hand grabber is a person who grabs people they know and have a relationship with and brings them to church or a small group, or special meeting so they can hear about Jesus. This comes natural to them. Their natural personality style is to look at somebody they know and say, “God changed my life, and I love my church. It’s a great place to learn how Jesus can change your life. I’d like for you to come and check it out.” Hand grabbers may not be able to knock on doors, but they can grab people they know and bring them to church. I recently read a Barna Research Poll that said one in four adults or 25 percent, declared they would go to church if someone would ask them. One in four! Think about that! This should encourage all of us, especially the hand grabbers, to go reach our world!

The Arm Opener

Arm openers are people who open up their lives and pull others in. They like gathering others together, so they’re always inviting people to their house or out for coffee or dinner. An arm opener will develop deep relationships with people, and because of this tendency, they often have crowds at their disposal! Now they just have to take the chance, the step, and in one way or another share Christ with these people they’ve developed relationships with. If this is you, try asking them to watch a DVD with you or invite a pastor or elder in your church to share with them. But, it’s never a bad time to learn to share your faith on your own! It’s simple and easy and you can do it!

The Back Patter

The fourth style of soul winner is what I call a back patter. They have an incredible amount of mercy, and they are always reaching out to the down-and-out, the outsider, the poor, and the hurting. It doesn’t matter whether a person is a Christian or a non-Christian, the back patter will encourage and exhort them to the higher calling, to the correct spiritual thing that they should do. They don’t mind reaching down into hurting humanity and pulling people up out of the pain of this life. This is their DNA, it’s who they are! A back patter can become a powerful soul winner because people will open up to the mercy they’re showering on them. Any of these sound familiar? I’m sure by now you have identified your individual style, but maybe you’re still a bit apprehensive of the whole “going” part. If this is the case, there’s one more thing you can do to implement soul-winning in your everyday life: Pray.