Few Christians ever try to share their faith. That's why four-and-one-half billion people don't know Jesus even after two-thousand years. Even those Christians who do share their faith may be at the wrong place at the wrong time, talking to the wrong people. Jesus tells us to focus our evangelistic efforts on the "beggars and the crippled, the lame and the blind" (Lk 14:13). We are to invite these people into our homes to feed, heal, and love them. We should be good news for them as we speak the good news of Jesus.

Sometimes we Christians not only avoid eating with beggars, we don't eat with anyone, thereby wasting untold opportunities to share the gospel. Alternatively, we may eat almost exclusively with committed Christians. We must intentionally put ourselves in situations where we can have serious conversations with unbelievers about salvation in Christ.

Christians should always be meeting new people and starting off conversations. You have to get near the water if you want to catch fish. Moreover, you must throw out the net as often as possible. Those who want to catch fish do a lot of fishing where there's plenty of fish. Become a fisher of men (Mt 4:19).

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Robert A. Stricker, May 8, 2001

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, May 18, 2001