Steve's Letter: "Did I mention I had a heart attack?"
Yes, it's true. I did have a heart attack.
I died!
Do you know where I'm writing this from?
Seriously, I really did have a mild heart attack. The doctor wasn't even sure I had one. I have two stents and am doing fine. I spent two days and nights in the hospital. And both the people at the hospital and I am glad that I'm not there anymore. (I don't do quiet well.)
Just so you know, the doctor said that there were no restrictions. In fact, the Saturday after my time in the hospital I spoke for a convention in Nashville, the next weekend at a denominational mission gathering and on Easter Sunday for the sunrise service at Sea World. The doctor has given me medication; I can't eat anything I like anymore; I have to get back on that stupid treadmill and I've got to do something about my pipe.
So now you know. I don't want to talk about it anymore.
But I will.
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Steve's Letter: "What's the Gospel? What's Evangelism?" (Part 2)
I can't believe that I'm still talking about evangelism...but I am.
As I've said before, I haven't always had a great "passion for souls." Heck, I didn't have any passion for souls at all. It's not that I'm calloused or anything. It's just that I don't even know their names. A lost soul, without my knowing them, was not something that kept me up at night.
Don't get me wrong. As I said last month, I've always been faithful to the task of doing what I'm supposed to do regarding evangelism. If God put me on an airplane next to a pagan and he or she made it clear that God was going to be the subject, I would share my faith and then invite them into a relationship with Christ. I've taught evangelism courses and taken people and trained them on how to do evangelism training. And, when a text in the Bible warranted it, I've presented a plan of salvation, often saying to the person, "Don't ever say that nobody ever told you. I just told you...and now the ball is in your court."
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Steve's Letter: "What's the Gospel...What's Evangelism?"
As you know, I'm not an evangelist.
To friends who wept over the world's lost, I used to say that I didn't weep because I didn't care. The whole world could go to hell and it wouldn't bother me because I didn't even know their names. How can one weep over someone one has never met?
Don't get me wrong. I've always been faithful to the clear teaching in the Bible on evangelism. I have hardly ever ducked when God brought opportunities. I can't tell you how many times I've shared the Gospel on an airplane, in a sermon, in a broadcast, in a book or in a passing relationship (sometimes under duress, but I did it). Not only that.
But I didn't care.
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Steve's Letter: "The Ultimate Parent!"
I've just stopped working on a sermon in order to write you (you're always more important than sermons). What I was writing in the sermon is still on my mind. I wish I had written what follows to you a month ago. Then I could look at your comments and do some "fixing" of the sermon.
But you'll receive this after I preach the sermon and by then it will have been too late. That's the story of my life. I hardly ever learn important lessons until I've done it wrong.
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Steve's Letter: "Moving Into the New Year!"
I just preached for an Advent service at Willow Creek Church where I'm a member. Pete Alwinson (my pastor) and I are doing an Advent series together where I'm preaching the first and third Sundays in Advent and Pete is preaching the second and fourth Sundays.
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