By Stephen J. Hustedt, Director of Communications

The word evangelism can have a lot of baggage attached to it. People often think of television evangelists or individuals standing on a corner with heavy foot traffic condemning the unholy to hell. These collective images are unfortunate.

The model of evangelism all Christians should be looking at is Jesus. Jesus took time to really connect with people and share the good news. He did so with love and compassion. This is the model we should all be following, and frankly it is much easier than we make it.

The fact is we live in a hungry and hurting world that is desperate to have something to believe in. What we have, as Christians, is truly a gift that we are called to share with the world. Sadly, we are all too often selfish and keep our amazing gift all to ourselves. Further, this is rarely because we do not want to share. Like most failings, the reason we often ignore our call is fear.

We are scared that people don't want to hear our faith story and that they will judge us. We are too fearful to make a simple gesture like invite a friend to church or even give away our copy of Transformation because we don't want to be rejected. Of course, the reality is that even if someone says no we lose very little, but what do we lose by not acting? More importantly, what do the people we are called to reach out to lose?

Indeed, sharing our story is not actually about us. It is about sharing what we have with the world and bringing hope to all the people that have no reason to be hopeful. That is a task that has to be taken with the highest level of seriousness.

This issue of Transformation will take a close look at evangelism. It will explore concepts and attempt to give readers useful tools for sharing their faith stories. Be you a long-time church leader or a first-time church visitor, this issue will attempt to help you explore your own faith journey more deeply and inspire you to share your story.

Then, once you have finished with your copy of Transformation, you are encouraged to give your copy to someone else and encourage them to share their own story. If you want to reference a particular article in the future you can always read it online at desertsouthwestconference.org/transformation. Even a simple act like sharing your copy of Transformation can serve as an act of evangelism to someone.