But something interesting happened to the struggling guy as he laid his title, something that has significant implications for evangelism, both in our personal lives and for the students and families we work with. I share that story and what happened in the video below.

Who’s your “tile master” for evangelism? What have you learned from them?

PRAY
I try to maintain a daily prayer time, praying for our Student Ministry, lost friends of our students, and lost students who visit our programs. I also pray for my lost friends, family, and acquaintances. Monday mornings our Student Ministry team gathers for 45 minutes praying for these same things. The next step for our ministry’s prayer efforts is to begin meeting before our programming and includes both adults and students.

LIVE
I’m grateful that I have a wife and son who are evangelistically minded. We actually make evangelism a family experience. When we are out at a skate park or playground we look for opportunities to share the Gospel with people we meet. Where I’d like to improve is witnessing with family members. I have started conversations with a few of them (cousin, half-brother) but struggle to close the gap. I am willing to broach the subject but hesitate in expressing any urgency for them to make a decision.

INSPIRE
When I preach I tell stories of my evangelistic encounters (successes, failures, everything in between). I make it a point to highlight in scripture, whatever we are studying, that God’s purpose is to reveal Himself to the world. We have an incredible opportunity to join Him on mission in reaching the lost. I’ll know it’s beginning to catch on when we start seeing traction and get more and more students excited about sharing their faith. A great resource that has helped inspire our students is Greg Stier’s, Firestarter.

EQUIP
I use the Life in 6 Words acrostic for equipping students to share their faith: God, Our, Sins, Paying, Everyone, Life. I have introduced this to our students by sharing the GOSPEL every week at large group. Now that there is familiarity with it we will launch our next ministry year with the Life in 6 Words: the Gospel Explored. Not only will it equip our students to share their faith but it will also take them deep into the theology of it as well!

DEPLOY
This is the area of my greatest focus for our next ministry year. I want to see our students shift from viewing evangelism as a planned outreach event. I want them to realize their potential to be the outreach event and live a life of evangelism by sharing the Gospel on their campuses. When this begins I’ll know we have deployed our teens with the message and mission of Christ!

So, what is your multi-PLIED strategy? Are there any of these areas that you are excelling at or have good ideas to share? We’d love to know what they are so join in the conversation by posting your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below!

Follow Brian on Twitter: @YPBrianFord

Check out Brian’s online Youth Ministry resource: Xposed2Jesus

What are some of the things that you do in your Youth Ministry setting that are making evangelism a priority? What things are you doing with your students to encourage them to share their faith? Share you thoughts and ministry experiences below!

Now that we have shared and delegated to our students the ministry that Christ gave to all believers we now transition in our role as their Youth Leader to a less hands on approach, but never compromising the urgency of what is at stake.

Jesus made it a point to meet with his disciples following their tours of service to hear their reports and to share with them the blessedness of his ministry in doing the same thing. In this sense, one might say that his teaching rotated between instruction and assignment. (The Master Plan of Evangelism, p 81)

I find it all to easy to focus on teaching but not putting as much emphasis on assignments for my students. Probably because it’s messy and I tend to have less control in those situations. How much more effective would I be at making disciples out of my students if assignments in ministry came more frequently than a quarterly outreach or an annual mission trip? Imagine the depth of discipleship that could take place in our Student Ministries if we included regular assignments to do ministry and gave instruction based on their feedback and experiences.

When will we learn the lesson of Christ not to be satisfied merely with the first-fruits of those who are sent out to witness? Disciples must be brought to maturity. There can be no substitute for total victory, and our field is the world. We have not been called to hold the fort, but to storm the heights. (The Master Plan of Evangelism, p 87)

This line of thinking naturally brings us to the end goal of , “The Master Plan of Evangelism,” that of spiritual reproduction. The end game is not just raising up our select students to lead others to Christ on their own, free from our oversight. The end goal is that they can lead others to Christ and then replicate this whole model of discipleship that they have learned from us so that they are raising up a 2nd generation of disciples that will raise up the 3rd generation that will raise up the 4th generation…and on and on and on it keeps going.

His whole evangelistic strategy—indeed, the fulfillment of his very purpose in coming into the world, dying on the cross, and rising from the grave—depended on the faithfulness of his chosen disciples to this task. It did not matter how small the group was to start with so long as they reproduced and taught their disciples to reproduce. This was the way his church was to win–through the dedicated lives of those who knew the Savior so well that his Spirit and method constrained them to tell others. As simple as it may seem, this was the way the gospel would conquer. He had no other plan. (The Master Plan of Evangelism, p 91)

What do you think of a less hands on approach to discipleship with the intention of evengelism?  Have you done this in a way that is successful?  How?

We have to continue to be extremely intentional with the teens that we have chosen, spend time with, have raised the bar for, and are pouring ourselves in to. We now need to demonstrate very critical spiritual disciplines that Christ demonstrated for his disciples (prayer, scripture reading & application, EVANGELISM, and teaching). The level of discipline we instill in our teenagers directly correlates to their spiritual effectiveness down the road…and the end goal is always that of EVANGELISM?

Practically everything that Jesus said and did had some relevance to their work of evangelism, either by explaining a spiritual truth or revealing to them how they should deal with people. He did not have to work up teaching situations, but merely took advantage of those about him, and thus his teaching seemed perfectly realistic. In fact, for the most part, the disciples were absorbing it without even knowing that they were being trained to win people under like conditions for God. (The Master Plan of Evangelism, p 66)

What’s extremely critical to remember in this process is that class is always in session. When we are with our teens they are absorbing whatever it is we are putting out there. This is why it is so important to carve out time to draw away and refuel our spirits with prayer, scripture reading, time with mentors, and certainly with our family. Because in a very real sense, when we are with our teens we need to be “on.”

…judging from the printed text, he spent three times the amount of time explaining this story to the disciples than he did in giving the initial lesson to the crow (Matt 13:10-23; Mark 4:20-25; Luke 8:9-18). (The Master Plan of Evangelism, p 67)

The next step in this 8-step process, as outlined by Robert Coleman, is the one I find both critical and difficult for me: delegation. It was Jesus’ intent from the outset of his ministry when he promised the disciples, “I will make you fishers of men,” (Matt 4:19) and then solidified that strategy when he said, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” (Matthew 28:18-20). His intentions all along were to hand the reigns to the disciples.

Christian disciples are sent men and women—sent out in the same work of world evangelism to which the Lord was sent, and for which he gave his life. Evangelism is not an optional accessory of our life. It is the heartbeat of all that we are called to be and do. It is the commission of the church which gives meaning to all else that is undertaken in the name of Christ. (The Master Plan of Evangelism, p 79)

How have you been successful at delegation for your students?  Do you have a story you could share that would help another youth leader delegate well?

Once you have selected those few students that you are going to spend your time with it’s time to get intentional and strategic with the time that you give them. With this commitment of time from you comes a higher expectation from the teens that you have picked. They need to understand that you aren’t in it just to hang out and be better friends with them, but that you are in it to make disciples out of them and invest in their spiritual development. They have been called up from the JV squad to be your Varsity starters!

Jesus expected the men he was with to obey him…for in time obedient followers invariably take on the character of their leader. (The Master Plan of Evangelism, p 43)

There is no place in the Kingdom for a slacker, for such an attitude not only precludes any growth in grace and knowledge but also destroys any usefulness on the world battlefield of evangelism. (The Master Plan of Evangelism, p 51)

We need to place this higher expectation on our selected teens because what you are going to give them in return is invaluable to their faith journey: yourself. You are literally going to impart who you are, your experiences, your love…your very being into the maturation process of these kids, and by doing so you are prayerfully pouring God’s love into them as well. I think of Paul’s encouragement to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.” (NLT)

Jesus gave himself to those about him so that they might come to know through his life, a similar commitment to the mission for which he had come into the world. His whole evangelistic plan hinged on this dedication, and in turn, the faithfulness with which his disciples gave themselves in love to the world about them. (The Master Plan of Evangelism, pg 55-56)

Read part 3 of this review series: Demonstration and Delegation.

What have you done to raise the bar for the teens you are investing your life in? How have students responded to you when you’ve demanded more of them? How do you feel when you consider more is expected of you in order to effectively invest your life into your selected students?

One such story he told me fits perfectly with some of the things we’ve been talking about here on the Relational and Relentless Blog. Thankfully he was willing to share that story on camera with you all even though we only had about 10 minutes to get everything setup, shot, and torn down. This video may be the quickest video shoot I’ve ever done! So, check out the video below where Dave gives actual examples on how and what to post to build those relationships and stand out.

How does your ministry use social media to connect with people in your community?

Next Steps:

• Check out the curriculum at Dare 2 Share’s online store and preview the leader’s guide and some of the video content. You won’t regret making this purchase!
• I’d also like to invite you to join a Facebook Group that was created to share ideas, tips and tricks on how to implement this curriculum. You can also ask them their take on the curriculum.

If you’ve already purchased the curriculum or previewed it, share your thoughts in the comments section below.

When it comes to making disciples the idea of “Selection” almost seems to be counter-intuitive. When you select a few from the masses, specifically from your youth group, it immediately feels like we are leaving students on the outside looking in. The reality is…we are. Yet as we study the life and ministry of Christ He selected only 12 from the masses.

Nevertheless, we must acknowledge that there was a rapidly diminishing priority give to those outside the Twelve (The Master Plan of Evangelism, p 24).

As a Youth Pastor, I find this a tough pill to swallow. One of the many reasons I feel called to work in Student Ministry is to impact every teenager I can with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As I continued to read and digest this book I realized that in order to reach every teenager I possibly could, I would have to pour into fewer to make a greater impact.

Though he did what he could to help the multitudes, he had to devote himself primarily to a few men, rather than the masses, so that the masses could at last be saved. This was the genius of his strategy (The Master Plan of Evangelism, p 28).

As difficult as it will be to “Select” a handful of students from the masses, it’s just as difficult to realize that my “Association” is given to the few that I’ve selected. In other words, once I have selected those to be my inner circle (and ruled out the majority) the vast majority of my time is spent with the selected.

Having called his men, Jesus made a practice of being with them. This was the essence of his training program—just letting his disciples follow him (The Master Plan of Evangelism, p 33).

His whole ministry revolved around them (The Master Plan of Evangelism, p 37).

Of course we still love ALL of the teens we minister to and we teach/preach to the masses. I strongly believe there is a need for large group ministry which is also seen throughout Jesus’ ministry (i.e. feeding the 5000) but the large group setting has limitations. We have to come to the understanding that when we cast a wide net it’s not going to be deep, but by casting a deep net and pouring into a few, they in turn have the power to help us reach more and more and more.

If we want to reach the masses, we must Select and Associate with a few.

Read part 2 of this review series: Consecration and Impartation

What thoughts come to your mind when you consider Coleman’s principles of Selection and Association? Does this line up with your philosophy of Youth Ministry or challenge you to reconsider your ministry paradigm? What do you use in determining which teens to select?

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with inviting people to an event, but I think there’s something to Jesus’ example that’s worth noting.

What would it look like for us to focus more on inviting people into a relationship with us or even with Jesus more than inviting them to visit a program? It seems that Jesus’ model was to invite people into community first and then naturally through that relationship people would join Him in what He was doing and what he was a part of.

Could the same work for us today? If so, what would that look like? These are the kind of thoughts I explore in today’s video post.

Is the event what we should invite people to or the relationship?  What does that look like in practice?  I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!