As Louisiana Ambassador for the North American Mission Board, I have a close association with that organization. The North American Mission Board is Southern Baptists doing the work of missions right here in North America.

The mission board (NAMB) has two main focuses. They plant churches, known as the Send Network, and they minister to people undergoing difficult times. This is known as Send Relief. Southern Baptists have been working tirelessly with people affected by hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.

Kevin Ezell, president of NAMB, likes to say that what they mainly do is send hope, either by relief or with the gospel.

Dr. Ezell has encouraged Christians to have “gospel conversations.” These are brief times of interacting with people who don’t know Christ.

This is tremendously important because we know that almost all people need a series of gospel conversations before they are ready to make a commitment to Christ. Serious students of the Apostle Paul and his conversion point out the many different interactions that Paul probably experienced before he saw the Lord on the road to Damascus.

You and I plant the seed by having gospel conversations, but God gives the increase. Our Lord is the One who brings the harvest.

While we can’t or shouldn’t want to make people profess Christ, we can influence them by sharing our faith in “chance encounters” of life.

If you start looking for these opportunities, they are everywhere. I encourage people to pray that God would open doors for them to give the reason for the hope they have in Christ (1 Peter 3:15).

I generally pray in this way, “God, if you will open doors for me, I will do my best to walk through those doors.” I find that God always answers that prayer.

I also encourage people to ask God to give them opportunities that fit who they are. For example, I recently ran into a man in an elevator. I asked how he was doing. (This completely fit me). He responded, “I’m blessed.” I immediately thought he was a believer, but his response to my question left me puzzled.

I quickly asked, “What makes you blessed?” I thought I had thrown him a “softball” to hit out of the park. His response left me wondering. He said, “I’m just blessed to be alive.”

Notice how easy it would have been to respond with, “Let me tell you how God has blessed my life in Christ.”

These gospel conversations will help people have the real opportunity to meet credible Christians who seek to live out their faith wherever they go.

Gospel conversations will open doors for people to trust Christ and to yield their lives 10 Him.

Would you pray today that God would open doors for you to have gospel conversations?

Each day I write about our life with God. If you would like to receive all of these daily looks at life in Scripture, you can sign up at Waylonbailey.com or in the box below.