The Napkin Lady

This last weekend Rachel and I attended the memorial service for Peggy, my wife’s aunt.

I came to know her simply as the napkin lady when she came onboard our mission ship Logos II with her husband Birch, who volunteered as the ship’s doctor for 3 months.

Her strokes meant that she could not climb the many stairs onboard or talk beyond a ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ But she could smile and chuckle.

And everyday I would find her in the dining room smiling and chuckling as she neatly folded hundreds of napkins for the 200 young people serving in mission.

Peggy became known simply as the napkin lady.

She joins the woman who anointed Jesus with the alabaster oil and of whom he said, “she did what she could” (Mark 14:8).

Sunday Message

Our speaker today was Richard Sharp with Operation Mobilization.  He gave a simple, yet powerful model of evangelism which he calls “One Wish”.  It starts with the question: “If you could wish for one thing from God, what would it be?”

There are nine principles that make it work:
·         Heart before Head – You want to share from your heart, not your head.  In the same way, you want the other person to share what is on their heart, not their head.  Once you get past the surface to the need, then you can meet the need.
·         Do before Done – Done is what Jesus did 2,000 years ago.  We must work with the do (today) by bringing Jesus into their problems today so they can be helped.
·         Ear before Tongue – After asking the question, listen.  When you pray, (a one sentence prayer) let it be for that need and only that need.
·         Know before Go – Get to know them.  If you feel they are interested and they have time, tell them that God has one wish for them….
At this juncture, he passed around rubber bracelets with four pictures on them: a diamond, two squares together one black, one white; a hand with a nail print; and two hands (one  white, one black) holding.

·          Show before Tell – Ask if you can show them the four pictures. (See bracelet)

Diamond:  You are of great value to God.

Squares:  God is on the light side, we are on the dark side.  God’s one wish is for us to have fellowship with Him.
Have you ever told a lie?  Have you ever taken anything?  Have you ever wish for someone out of your life?

Hand:  2,000 years ago, God did something about our sin.  He placed it on the cross.

Holding hands: God is holding out His hand to you.  Will you take it?

  • Us before You – Include yourself.  We are ALL sinful.  Don’t create us vs. them, join with them.
  • Special before Sinful – We are of great value to God.
  • Warm before warn – God holding out the hand of friendship comes before any warning of judgment.
  • Prayer before Share – Talk to God about the people before you talk to the people about God.  I want people to mean so much to me that I can’t keep God to myself, and I want God to mean so much to me that I can’t keep the people to myself. Share only to the point they are willing to listen – don’t push.  If they don’t want it right now, let them know that God will continue to hold out His hand until they day they die.  At that moment, it will be taken away.

It was a very encouraging message that released ACTION over the CCC body. After a fantastic share-a-dish, many people went out to practice the One Wish concept. Thanks to all that helped make Sunday such a blessing! The Lord takes notice…

 

Co-laboring with you and Jesus for REVIVAL,

Pastor Pete and Sharon
Coweta Community Church, Newnan GA

One Wish Testimony

One Wish

We recently spent a weekend (Friday, Saturday & Sunday) with Richard Sharp. The two evening services on Friday and Saturday were well attended and Sunday morning the church was almost filled with people. Richard preached on the subject “GET OUT OF THE BOX”. When he preached on this topic he was standing in a three foot square cardboard box! The box represented the church, so in effect he was telling us that if we were going to reach people for Christ we needed to get outside the walls of the church where the unsaved hang out.

On Saturday, Richard introduced us to a personal evangelism tool called “One Wish”. It was designed to help get us out of the box. We met on Saturday morning for a little over one hour to be trained in this particular method of evangelism. This tool consisted of only three things. First, we were given a black T-shirt with the words One Wish in large white letters on the front. Second, we were given a small visual aid in the form of a rubber wristband with four graphic pictures on it. The four pictures on the wristband, with a little explanation, present the gospel in a clear and concise manner. The third object was a gospel tract that told the story of the four pictures on the wristband.

After training, we headed for a local park to eat a sack lunch. After lunch about thirty five of us scattered throughout the park. When we got to a place where they were playing T-ball, I spotted an elderly couple sitting under a tree watching their great-grandson play ball. I ask the lady, “If God would grant you one wish, anything you wanted, what would it be?” She said, “More than anything I would like to know for sure that I will go to heaven when I die.” I went through the four object s on the wristband and in less than five minutes she prayed to receive Christ – Praise the Lord! During that afternoon, several other people were prayed with as well. What an exciting afternoon it turned out to be. I think the genius of the “One Wish” method of evangelism can be summed up in one word – simplicity. The thing that comes to mind with me about the wristband is: “A picture is worth a thousand words”.

The afternoon of public evangelism also had a very positive effect on the church. Sunday the church was full, as I already mentioned. The people seemed to be really excited about what happened in the park the day before. It manifested itself at the altar call after the morning service. A few came at first until almost the entire congregation was at the altar renewing their vows to God. Praise the Lord!

In His Service and yours,

Michael W. Danchenko
Pastor of Park View Alliance Church
Van Buren, AR