like a fire

In marketing, many conversations begin with finding what is remarkable about a product. It is hard to promote a product that isn’t remarkable in any way. By remarkable, I mean that people will find it so exciting that they will talk to their friends about it without being prompted. I have been thinking that this is not unlike evangelism.

Evangelism is becoming a secular word. Marketers refer to it in their promotion plans. They speak of an evangelist as a person who loves something so much that they promote it without being asked or paid. What ever it is that they promote, they find it so interesting that they want to tell others about it.

I have a friend who loves a game called The Settlers of Catan. He loves this game so much that he not only tells people about it, he invites them over to play. He has converted people to this game and they are converting others. He is a Settlers evangelist. This game is remarkable to him.

What is remarkable about the gospel? So much has already been said about it and so many people know the basics of the gospel that it might be hard to find something truly remarkable about it. Don’t get me wrong, I think the gospel is amazing, but that isn’t what is remarkable. Remarkable is what people work into conversations without being asked. It is what people are so excited about, that they talk about it without being prompted.

Remarkable is not:
Generic - Jesus died for your sins
Common - The same story already heard
Impersonal - Some random story about some random person
Canned - Can you imagine the reaction to reading a propsoal from a script?

Remarkable is:
Specific - Something that touches one person
Mythic - Just like the movies, it transcends the believable
Personal - This is my story
Impromptu - Excitement is its own transition

After three months out of youth ministry, guess what I am excited about?