EP08 | How to have Daringly Missional Conversations with Jason Shepperd from Good.God.Gospel

I agree. And I'll tell you, we have a principle that is woven through our Good God Gospel Conversations, and that principle is we do not push people past their point of readiness. We don't push people past their point of readiness. So if somebody's not willing to have a good conversation with me, then I do not need to move into a god conversation. Sure. Absolutely. If If somebody's like, I don't wanna talk, then what am I doing? Why would I try to force that? [00:23:19] (29 seconds)  #RespectReadiness

And he always started, like, just with a good conversation. I mean, something as simple as, can I have a drink of water? The goodness in that though, it struck her. You're a man talking to a woman. You're a Jew talking to a Samaritan. Like like, there's there's so much goodness that got him to even ask for a drink of water or to get to Zacchaeus' house. Just the good stuff that always precipitated his conversations. Sometimes the good, of course, was healing. So he could feed people or heal people or help people. But a lot of times, there wasn't any of that going on. It was just it was just some goodness. [00:13:44] (41 seconds)  #LeadWithKindness

the greatest evangelist, Jesus. Yeah. And I started looking at the way that he represented himself to people and how he walked people toward himself. And I I really started looking deeply at all the nuances of Jesus' conversations. Like, I would see how Jesus would take someone who was living in sin and unrepentant up to that moment, or they were super legalistic and religious or whatever. I mean, all the different encounters he had with people. [00:12:37] (33 seconds)  #FollowJesusExample

Well, he, you know, he's does a good thing, and then he would transition to a god conversation. Like, I like I believe this, and we teach our people this here, but I started believing it for myself. Everybody's thinking about god. They're thinking about what God is or what God isn't. And I I I started to believe that everybody really likely wanted to have a conversation about God, and they don't have a place to do that. Yeah. And they don't have a safe place to do that. They don't have a place to be wrong or not be judged or even have somebody that wanna talk about it. A lot of times, people can't talk about it with their family, and a lot of friends don't wanna talk about it. [00:15:10] (41 seconds)  #SafeGodConversations

Well, I mean, I had to I had to first care about it. Yeah. And before I even prayed about it for myself. And the scriptures taught me to care about it. I mean, I would read about Jesus turning the corner going into Jerusalem and weeping over a city. And I'm like, I I need to first care for these people around me who don't know Jesus. I need to believe that the gospel that I believe in, that they need it. And if they don't have it, what's gonna happen to them? And so, like, I started getting really convicted and started caring [00:09:28] (35 seconds)  #CareBeforeConversion

I'll I'll I'll be brief, and you could press in if you want more. But I grew up in Tyler, Texas, a smaller town in East Texas, and the same kinda church is all I ever knew. You know? I thought I was gonna do something else. And then in college, God called me, I knew, to give my life to the local church, and I prayed a prayer in my apartment complex, in my pickup truck. And I said, God, if you want me to be a part of your local church in this way, please let me be a part of what you originally intended for it to be. I mean, I remember that prayer in '52. I remember that prayer, like, thirty two, thirty one years ago. [00:03:11] (33 seconds)  #CalledToLocalChurch

you know, I came to Christ at this church. Wow. And it's all I ever knew of church, of course. And I would bum rides to church as a junior high student and a high school student. And, you know, Jesus was just so gracious to me to keep me in in his body and surround me with people who taught me the word. I mean, it was a real traditional Baptist church, you know, but God used it in my life to help me know the scriptures and love Jesus. [00:06:14] (29 seconds)  #RaisedInFaith