Like I mentioned in my previous post, soul winning is a lot like baseball. I likened getting saved to first base, baptism to second, regular church attendance to third, and home plate to becoming a soul winner. At times, we find someone who has spent some time on first, second, or even third base, and we have the opportunity to help bring them home.
When a lady named Amanda found an invitation on her door almost eleven years ago and showed up on the second Sunday of our church’s existence, she had already been saved and baptized. Someone else had gotten her to first and second base, but she did not know much about the Bible. She kept coming to church even though we were holding services in our house and very few people were showing up. In fact, at times it was just our family and Amanda there for an evening service, so we were extremely thankful for her faithfulness in those early days. Amanda grew spiritually and became a great soul winner. She has always been a faithful member of our church and a blessing to our family. I am so thankful that Amanda got saved and that God later led her to this church.
Eight months later, a guy named Dave showed up. He had been saved 9 years earlier, but he hadn't been baptized, so he was standing around on first base. I baptized him, and right away, he started asking questions and spending a lot of time in the Word of God. “Brother Dave” also stuck with us through the house years, did a ton of soul winning, and several years later, I am happy to say that my good friend, Pastor David Berzins, is now the pastor of Word of Truth Baptist Church in Prescott Valley, Arizona.
I read the testimony of a man who was led to the Lord at the age of nine years old by a Baptist pastor. The boy's parents didn't go to church, but when this young man was 21 years old and at a low point in his life, he came across a Bible that his grandma had given him twelve years earlier (the same year he had gotten saved.) He started reading that Bible, and soon he was attending church. He grew spiritually, became a soul-winner himself, and has now been pastoring an independent, fundamental Baptist church for many years. That little boy was Pastor David Grice of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Grand Prairie, Texas. The old preacher who got Brother Grice saved back in 1980 most likely died without knowing what that little boy would later accomplish for the Lord.
Remember that when someone gets saved, they have the Holy Spirit to guide them, and often God will send people or circumstances into their life to get them to take that next step. We can fulfill all three steps of the Great Commission--just not always on the same person. Sometimes we get someone saved and they stay on first or second base for several years before they start to grow. Keep getting people to first, second, third, and home base, and those spiritual RBI’s will add up over time. That person you won to the Lord but lost touch with might just be the next “Second Sunday Amanda,” Pastor Berzins, or Pastor Grice. You may not hear about it this side of eternity, but you will have a part in the souls they win and the people they influence.
Here is the sermon about soul-winning being like Baseball
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