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With Simon Guillebaud
241 Plays6 days ago
Bringing an African perspective to PEP Talk today powerfully reminds us of the spiritual and experiential realities that we often minimise in our Western culture. With wonderful enthusiasm and amazing stories, get inspired by the host of the Inspired podcast as Simon Guillebaud chats with Andy and Kristi.
Check out the Jesus At The Door app here. Or search "Jesus at the door" on your app store.
Simon Guillebaud MBE, spent two decades living in war-torn Central Africa, and speaks out of that context with raw urgency and passion for the last, the lost and the least. He’s the Founder of Great Lakes Outreach, host of the popular ‘Inspired’ podcast, author of the award-winning book Choose Life, and travels widely stirring up the Church for radical discipleship. His wife Lizzie and he live in Bath with their three teenage children.
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Transcript
Introduction to PEP Talk Podcast
00:00:10
Speaker
Well, hello and welcome to another exciting edition of PEP Talk, the Persuasive Evangelism Podcast. I'm Andy Bannister from Soles and I'm joined by my regular co-host, Christi Mayer. Christi, how are you doing this morning?
00:00:29
Speaker
I'm doing very well. Thank you, Andy. It's great to be back with you. It's been a few episodes. How are you doing? I'm doing really, really well. And before we dive into our really exciting guest, where have you been? Because you've been doing something sort of quite exciting is the reason you've been sort of off the radar for a bit. You've been sort of finishing something quite major, haven't you?
00:00:44
Speaker
Oh, I have. Yeah. Oh, thanks for asking. I submitted my PhD thesis at the start of September. So I'm just waiting now for my viva date. Amazing. So we'll not be long listeners before it will be Dr. Christy Mayer. Before we get to any of that stuff, we we got an amazing guest
Experiences in Central Africa and the 'Inspired' Podcast
00:01:03
Speaker
for you this morning. We are joined on a pep talk this morning by Simon Gilbo. Simon, welcome to pep talk.
00:01:10
Speaker
Yeah, great to be with you guys. Now, of course, you're used to being on the other side, the one with the microphone, aren't you? Because people probably, most people have probably come across you and because of the the podcast that you have, the Inspired podcast. But you've done lots of things, haven't you? You've done a kind of mission, ah you've done sort of teaching, psychology training all across the country. I regularly come across you speaking at events and so on. I think you've written a book or two, am I right as well? So you've been busy, haven't you? Pretty busy across the last few years.
00:01:38
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's interesting that you say people know me for inspired because that is very much more recent. I think most people for the last 20 or 25 years, are I've been, my work has been in central Africa, Burundi and living there for 20 years. So that's what I suppose I was known as the burunddi bloke the Burundi bloke more recently. I mean, the podcast is just, I think it's a reflection of how depressed I'm on the back foot. The body of Christ is, is that, so this it's called inspired and basically it's just 10 is pumping out good news of what God is doing around the world. And we need good news. So yeah so it's it's beautiful how that's been. Well, let's come to that in a moment. But why don't we why don't we start with, start Burundi, start back in in Africa. Tell us a bit about your story. you know How did you end up there?
Journey to Burundi and Spiritual Calling
00:02:23
Speaker
What was all that about? And then how did you end up from from there to where you are are now? So give us a bit of the sort of positive overview of that faith journey. Okay. and Very brief summary, ah probably
00:02:35
Speaker
and And it converted, no definite moment, but about 15 years old. My mum was my biggest influence. She forced me off to a scripture union camp. and i didn't She said, I only make you go once. And I came back saying, I'm going to go every Easter and summer for the rest of my life. So I did that for 10 years. um Sort of worked out that I had this evangelistic tendency when I started giving talks and people responded. I was at Loughborough University. I was a sportsman. I went into a good job. um and Then I was praying, God, I'll do anything, I'll go anywhere. That was my prayer. 24 years old, I'll do anything, I'll go anywhere. And this guy tracked me down in the city in London and I'd never met him before. And he said, I believe God sent me to you and you should go to Burundi. And my heart thumpy in my chair saying, God, is this some nudge or fruitcake or is it you? Now, just for full disclosure, my great grandfather's buried in Burundi.
00:03:27
Speaker
and i great-aunt translated Bible into Kirundi. So i I knew about Burundi, so it wasn't completely in a vacuum on that level. ah But that guy, I think because my name Gilbo, it's Huguenot, it's a very distinctive, weird spelling. So but so he for some as he prayed, the Lord laid my name on his heart, he came to me, we met up, he said, I believe God sent me to you, you got to go to Brindley. So I said to him, thanks, weirdo. I'll think about it. I'll be spiritual. I'll pray about it. Went back to my job in front of the computer. So God right now, I'll fast, I'll pray. And if that wasn't some not job, if that was you, then right now from the computer, give me a radical sign.
00:04:01
Speaker
ah Which will mean, because it will mean leaving family, friends, security, career going to place where I might get killed and people did try to kill me. So give me a radical sign right now from the computer. If you want me to go to Burundi, the phone rings. I pick up the phone and the voice on the other end out of the blue says, do you know anyone who wants to work in burund da So that was my nuts call, if you like. And basically that led to, you know, I mean, it led to wild times. It was most dangerous country in the world at the time. I know that because when I got there, my mommy sent me through newspaper cutting and there we were number one, most dangerous country in the world. I don't know if she's trying to encourage me or what.
00:04:36
Speaker
and very and and and it just i suppose you know I suppose what I'd be different from other guests is that when you've when you've been exposed to the rawness of ah of Africa, of the imminence of death, you know I lived expecting to die, totally expected to die before the age of 30.
00:04:52
Speaker
had a guy come to my house with a grenade to blow me up, he'd ring me a letter saying he's going to cut out my eyes. you know so Slightly different experiences probably from you in Swindon or whatever. It can be a bit rough here, but but not not that kind of level. um and so so the The imminence of potential death, the urgency the of our Gospel imperative, you know and then flow in the like throw in the likes of nuts witchcraft stuff going on, a totally different worldview. ah So yeah, anyway, maybe you can unpack some of those things. so I would love to hear more about all of those things, Simon. I don't even know where
Spiritual Warfare in Africa vs. Western Skepticism
00:05:28
Speaker
to begin. So you spent 20 years in Burundi. You mentioned the witchcraft piece. That's something that I'm i'm quite interested in, seeing kind of the re-emergence of a lot of kind of spiritual And are there any kind of transferable um insights that you've kind of gleaned from your experiences in Burundi that you think could be applicable to kind of contemporary culture in the UK? Or just feel free to just wax lyrical for a bit. I'd love to just hear more of your stories. But if there's anything in particular that you think might connect with our audiences on that piece. Yeah. Well, I just think that, you know, I think the important thing is to recognize and be humble. God opposes the proud, gives grace to the humble. And we all think our worldview is reality. And we just see reality through our own cultural lens and everything that we've been raised in. and
00:06:18
Speaker
And so again, the benefit of Africa was completely frying my brains in terms of the boxes, the tidy boxes that I had put God into and how he can operate. And and um what they've got to add to us in the mix is I think the reality of spiritual warfare and the need to fast and pray. I mean, fasting is ah is a you know, very you know scarcely talked about spiritual discipline in the West. um Our prayers are often sort of very ah shallow and, ah you know, we don't spend much time in prayer. So Ephesians 6, 12, you know, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but it's against the rulers, authorities, powers, this dark world, spiritual forces, evil in the heavenly realms, you know, I
00:07:00
Speaker
for example, was in the bush once at a mission station and I woke up with this oppressive presence and I was freaked out and I said, be gone in Jesus' name. The next morning the missionary said, did you sleep well last night? Because no one sleeps well in their first few nights here. There's so much witchcraft directed against us and you you we just, people, you know, the spirit alerts them to that and they need to be praying.
00:07:19
Speaker
And well, what was weird was that, you see, you see it my my year off before during university, because I studied French and languages, was that I went to the first half, first bit, I went to Central Africa in a public jungle and was initiated the most extraordinary sort of awareness of witchcraft. But then I went to, cause I was doing German, I went to Hamburg's red light district ah to work with the Sally army who are wonderful doing, you know, doing street imagine stuff like that. But in Hamburg's red light district, the the secular materialistic worldview was a, you know, that this is what's a tourist attraction. It's not, some people might think it's evil, the sex trade and stuff like that, but actually the loads of sexual tourists and they loved it. oh But, but what was interesting was that
00:08:00
Speaker
you know, in ah in Africa, everyone knows Satan's real, you know, people are genuinely scared of the witch doctor. ah So is Jesus, the big issue is, is Jesus, is mu seena ya yes is the name of Jesus more powerful than the witch doctor? And I've got gazillions of stories that I could tell you about, you know, casting out demons and seeing the witch doctors bow their knee and burn their child publicly and 50 people in the village on the spot giving their lives to Jesus. So so it's very real there. Then you come to I came to Germany in Hamburg, where they don't Satan is it doesn't exist. and and And yet, when we would do street evangelism, for example, guys that I've just been talking to five minutes before, in a very normal way, demons would manifest in them.
00:08:41
Speaker
and there was that clash of kingdoms and yet the Western world in general hasn't got room to accommodate that. So I just think that that's a real blind spot we've got in us and there's nothing that will fuel your evangelism, your prayer life, your sense of urgency than being exposed to a demon actually rearing its
University Evangelism and Radical Conversion
00:09:00
Speaker
head. Now just interesting and and that one that just brings me, I think of ah my mate Simon at university who um I was part of leading to the Lord and it's funny because we used to do Baravangism at Loughborough and ah he was it was he was new turning up, I think my first lecture was 9am on a Thursday morning and so I had very long, long weekends.
00:09:23
Speaker
um And he showed up, this is this sort of druggy, you know, looking, obviously looking guy now, believe it or not, listeners can't can't see the state of my hair these days, but I got very little hair. Back then I was known as the hairy bloke, you know, I had masses of hair out here. And and anyway, he invited me.
00:09:40
Speaker
at the end of his first lecture on our course, he said, do you want to come out for a coffee? And I went, yeah, right. And then as we walked back, turns out it wasn't a coffee, it was a spliff. But as we walked back, he said, I saw you in the bar last night, but there were all those weirdo Christians doing their questionnaires on people. And I went, hey, hang on, that was me. Anyway, he recognized that as a weird meeting.
00:10:02
Speaker
ah His backstory was that his dad had suddenly got radically converted, become ah an evangelist, and this guy Simon had gone completely the other way into a very promiscuous lifestyle, into the occult, into very heavy engagement with Dungeons and Dragons at a deeper, dark level. and And consequently, yeah, there was a lot of, well, as I finished the story, you'll you hear what that meant. but but But it was interesting, his parents had been praying that he'd meet one Christian at university that he could relate to, and there was he inviting me back for it for a spliff because of my hair.
00:10:33
Speaker
um now the next ah time I saw him when he came out from Holly, he ran up to me and I've never known more clearly to Corinthians 5, 17, if anyone's in Christ, their new creation, he was just a different person. And it was beautiful as I heard his story that his dad had prayed to him with another friend for five hours whilst demons wrestled for control of his body and were cast out one by one. And he talks about that very graphic detail about feeling a dragon uncurling from his spine and being cast out in Jesus name and even the smell of sulfur and now some of you listeners are thinking what will it listen if you're struggling to believe in that you are just a victim of your Western worldview.
00:11:16
Speaker
um You know, because that's there's, I mean, there's not stories in the Bible, isn't there? That the the sort of, we say maybe that happened 2000 years ago. Anyway, the point of Simon's story is that the next the next week on the course, James Deere goes, wow, that's real.
00:11:32
Speaker
I want that became apologies. Next week, James, ah James, de Adam Groves, he's like, I want that, you know, because they'd seen the difference. And I think in the West, Satan would much rather ah see him as a guy with horns and a pitchfork. So we don't just don't, take don't take him seriously. and Whereas out there in Africa, it's fear. You're, you're scared of the witch dog. If you diss him, he will curse you and your your two year old will die or you'll be barren or whatever.
00:11:56
Speaker
And so people live in under fear. So actually, all those glory stories from Africa, it's so powerful. I mean, we've seen 21 witch doctors in the first two weeks of August, because we sent out 2,150 evangelists for two weeks, and we saw 25,000 people come to Jesus. 21 witch doctors in the first two weeks of August bowed the knee. And again, when when they do, and they burn their chance publicly, and I got photos of this, you know, they The village responds, you get 30, 30, whatever. Yeah. Different context, but very powerful. Yeah. But what I mean, i what I'm intrigued by, I love the parallel there between the way that the enemy works. I mean, like the back of my mind was, that you know, that C.S. Lewis quote, you know, about the two mistakes people fall into right with the enemy, either taking way too unhealthy an interest or just dismissing it as nonsense. um So let's come. So that's Burundi and the the application today in the UK. I mean, boy, so many stories we could we could talk
Role of 'Inspired' Podcast in Western Evangelism
00:12:51
Speaker
about.
00:12:51
Speaker
Let's talk for a moment because I know we also want to get to a really exciting resource that you want to talk about that you're using in evangelism ah these days and find it really effective. Let's talk for a little bit about inspired just from the podcast you do because you said something very interesting in your in your intro, Simon. You talked about the fact that Christians are today in the West, they need inspiring. They can be a little bit soft flat and a little bit... there man What was the vision behind Inspired? And tell us a bit about about how you've seen God work through. i've been I've been on it, by the way. Loved it. Loved our conversation. Loved listening to it. And Inspired's the right name, right? Because you come away from that show the best you have on there. You come away excited about about God again. so So tell us a bit about Inspired and why you think Christians need a bit of inspiration at times here. Not always, but at times here in the West.
00:13:33
Speaker
Well, totally. um I think the West, you know, I'm speaking to you as ah as a Brit, but also as a Britian. So I'm dual nationality and I'm proud to be an African Christian. And what we Africans have got over you, Europeans, is that we are so gospel confident. You know, we are on the front foot. We're not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God for salvation.
00:13:55
Speaker
And I come back to England, I think, flippin' it. We are so timid. And we are a ashamed. We say we're not a ashamed, but actually functionally we're a ashamed because our light is very much under a bushel. And we're sort of pussyfooting around issues and and just not, you know, by the way, being confident doesn't mean being arrogant. Again, I quoted earlier, God oppose the proudest, but it gives grace to humble.
00:14:18
Speaker
and and And so we can come in humility but in confidence. And so what I say to people is that we've got to stop. listening to the news like I mean listen to the news five minutes a day so that you know what to pray for and what's going on in the world but then otherwise if you're engaged in that 24-7 news cycle you are letting someone else curate all the bad stuff going in the well for you to feel even more depressed and anxious and cynical and you know all the negative emotions and I mean interestingly enough i do I do listen to
00:14:52
Speaker
political podcasts and stuff like that. But at the end of them, I always come off with less shalom, with less joy, because it's depressing and we need good news. And the fact is that there is so much wonderful stuff going on. I mean, I did a podcast yesterday and I was like, I came off saying flipping a God is awesome. and He's on his throne. he's still He's still doing beautiful stuff. And it's the diversity and range of the body of Christ that is so beautiful. So we, you know, we got on so many different people, every, everyone's got their own story. That's what's, what's fantastic. And God doesn't work in all cultures across the world. And he's the same yesterday, today and forever. and And he never leaves. He never forsakes us. And we've got the best news. We've got the best news in the world. So I just think that um we are very much on the back foot in this nation and we need to move to the front foot ah in terms of our approach. And and ah and you you you get fueled. So I get so much feedback of people. It's just like, yeah.
00:15:44
Speaker
Thursday mornings, I can't wait because, you know, I'm going through a rough time. But I love, I love being stirred in my faith to get out there and go for it. So yeah, folks, inspired with Simon Gilbert, if you want to sign up, I mean, ah great to have the chance to give that a plug.
00:15:57
Speaker
Yeah. No, I'm very happy to give it a plug. I think one of the things I love doing at Solas is like pointed other great resources. That's a great one. So what we'll do folks, if you didn't catch all that, we'll put a link in the show notes. So just look in your podcast app wherever you got pep talk from and there'll be a link to to Simon's podcast. And like I say, every Thursday, it's fantastic.
00:16:15
Speaker
Brilliant. i mean Simon, you you also just mentioned um being on the front foot. And in the before we started recording, you mentioned this this resource that you've put together, which I imagine maybe might help crush Christians be a little bit more on the front foot. Could you tell us a little bit about it?
Urgency of Evangelism in Africa
00:16:31
Speaker
Yeah, sure. and and And just before I do that, one last thing to say that I think that what what Burundi taught me to the first first questions going back was was in terms of urgency is that, um you know, I lived expecting to die. That's a really great way to live. If you think you're going to die the next week, how are you going to live today?
00:16:49
Speaker
and you know so I remember preaching on the parable, the 10 virgins once on the Congolese border, you know Matthew 25, those girls, they all had a role to play. They're all invited, but five just half of them just weren't ready. and you know You could preach that different ways, but basically Jesus is saying, um I'm coming back, nobody knows when, are you ready? Those are my points. Jesus is coming, nobody knows when, are you ready? and ah A bunch of people responded, two days later, I'm heading back to that village on the motorbike. The military stopped me. You can't go any further. There's been a rebel attack. Those guys were all getting killed. And it struck me as never before the urgency of our message. Jesus is coming. Nobody knows when, are you ready? And I think that is, that is a, that is a piece again that, you know, I mean, praise God that we live in, in, in, in a safe country, but actually the flip side of safety is apathy.
00:17:37
Speaker
and and we need a sense of God's urgency. to So that that is that infuses everything I do. I'm still alive, and I'm alive for a reason, and I don't want to waste a day, and I'm not going to spend six hours binge watching whatever, and worshipping the altar of Netflix, because there's too much to live for today. Today's the day. Now's the time of God's favour. Today's the day of salvation. so That's a key piece of my DNA, if you like, and that is what would fuel me as we get to this resource.
Introduction to 'Jesus at the Door' Tool
00:17:59
Speaker
It's called Jesus at the Door. So, folks, I'd urge you to check it out. I've tried all sorts of ah methodologies, and we're not um I'm not a slave to methodology, but
00:18:10
Speaker
What I love about Jesus at the door, many of you will be familiar with, was it, Holm the Hunt's 1852 picture of Jesus at the door knocking and the handles on the inside. So he's not barging his way in, but he wants a relationship.
00:18:27
Speaker
And that's it. Basically, I've got you get an app on your phone. So I've got it on my phone. So as I'm on the bus or on a park bench or walking the dog or as my literally my chiropractor was cracking my back, I sort of pulled out my phone and said, you know, have you seen this picture before? and Do you pray? It's just such an easy, easy methodology. It's a visual. And yeah it is just something that I have found. It's the the most effective methodology in the West to convey a non diluted gospel in a very succinct way. And I say that because people in the West don't have much time in, in, ah in Burundi again, you know, people got loads of time. So I remember, you know, I remember going to bank once and saying, and
00:19:11
Speaker
And the lady said, uh, why do you speak our language? I said, cause I preach. And she said, well, we'll preach. And, uh, and, uh, you know, I had 15 minutes undisturbed with these two cashier ladies to lead them to Lord Africa. People tend to have more time. Um, but here we don't have much time, but I have found that regularly in a three within three minutes with people. So, you know, looking across now across a couple of hundred yards where I want my dog.
00:19:37
Speaker
Uh, a while back I was talking to Laura and she had tattoos. Uh, I said, that was a nice tattoo. And, uh, so we were actually walk us talking was my dog, Ozzy started humping her Milly. Uh, and so I had to yank. We have to edit that out. Uh, no, no, no. I think every, every pep talk needs a special moments and you just provided it. So, um, so I yanked Ozzy off Milly and then, uh, Laura, you know, that's a nice tattoo. Anyway, we got talking. I pull out this. jesus at the door on my phone i said laura i ever seen this picture before and do you pray
00:20:09
Speaker
And she's like, I've never seen that picture before. Do you pray? No, not really. I said, well, look, that is Jesus knocking at the door of your heart. Can you see where the handle is? It's on the inside. So he's not barging his way in. Does that make sense to you? And, you know, within three minutes, I i'd said, and then you get to the point of saying, well, you know, if Jesus was at the door, knocking at the door right now, would would you let him in? And she went, yeah.
00:20:32
Speaker
And I said, well, you know, visualize the wind. You can't see the wind, can you? But you can you can feel the wind. Can I just pray just before I head off now? Can I pray that you feel God's presence and know Him for for real? And she went, yeah. So we pray. And um And she ah she she she hugs me afterwards. This is within three minutes. And then I say, well, the last thing is, is at the moment, you're choosing to live on your own. So like I said, did you feel this present? Yeah, I felt it was amazing. I felt it was present. Well, the last thing, Laura, before I head off is that, you know, at the moment you're living your life your own way, you could invite Jesus into your heart right now. Do you want to do that right now? She went,
00:21:12
Speaker
yeah and we ah again we prayed just it's so short but it was genuine and again she hugged me and it's like it was so easy now I've done it on a train I've done that it on a park bench I've had three rows on an airplane discussing it and this is not because I'm a great evangelist it's just the easiest tool I remember at university so back in Loughborough days you know I always lived with and not yet believers because I want you know I'm an evangelist so But I remember you know praying every day for an opportunity to to share with them. And I guess I did get opportunities. But I remember one day ah being at my mate's house with his parents, and it was a dinner party, and they were all there. And during the dinner party, they said, Simon. um that The dad said, Simon, they know we love you, essentially. He said, we love you, but we don't really get you. Can you tell us about the Jesus piece? And this is my big opportunity. And I went,
00:22:07
Speaker
And it was so lame, my answer. you know it was I just butchered it. And I was so sad because I wasn't ready. I wasn't equipped. I didn't have a tool. And what I want to say with this Jesus at the door thing, uh, it is such a simple tool. And what I have found when I go to churches now and if I'm given, you know, if they want this and I'd say you should want it guys. And if you're running a church, whatever. Um, I think J. John did some research, a thousand churches. Uh, how many have done training on evangelism? 30 said yes.
00:22:43
Speaker
So 0.3% are trained in evangelism in terms of their people. That's, that's shocking and and needs to be rectified. But what I've done, you know, I was at a church and I did a church weekend recently in Ipswich. And so for the bold people that stayed on after service and we had lunch together to go out on the streets and they're about 10 of us. And what what what was great about it was that within, you know, I ran through what I'm doing now slightly extended. I spoke for about half an hour.
00:23:11
Speaker
And then I said, right, let's practice on each other for 15 minutes and let's go out. And so you can actually train people up within half an hour to go into it. And then obviously, you know, you're you're not very good at it first time around, but if you're doing a business presentation, you nail that script at you. And it's only a three minutes into them to learn off by heart, pretty much. And we're not slaves to methodology and there's room for Holy Spirit to work in there. But, you know, I just had lots of wonderful stories of leading people jesus and there's nothing more energizing for for your own faith journey than when you've led someone to the Lord. Or even if you haven't led them to the Lord, what I find is that if you get beyond that first thing, have you seen this picture board? Do you pray? If you get beyond that and they're interested in carrying on the conversation, then you pretty much get to a stage of at least of being able to pray that they feel God's presence like the wind.
00:24:00
Speaker
Now, if I can just add one thing that the most liberating thing I can say to you listeners.
'Jesus at the Door' and Its Evangelistic Impact
00:24:06
Speaker
So listen to this clearly. And I found it so liberating. So this the guy started this school, Scott at McNamara. So this is not my illustration. He said this, essentially, we are all walking through the apple or should have life. And our job is to shake the tree. And if the fruit is ripe, it falls.
00:24:31
Speaker
And if it's not ripe, don't yank that tree branch because it'll be falls through. Now, when I heard that, I thought, that is so good. You know, the eternal destiny of that person I'm talking to doesn't depend completely on me. I mean, that is a crushing weight to carry. But actually, what it means is that when I talk to people, you can tell within 30 seconds whether they're interested or not. And if they're not,
00:24:57
Speaker
move on because they're not interested. But ah according to talking Jesus research, I think you might be able to correct me on that. I think it's 36% of this nation are actually, genuinely, properly interested, wanting to be invited to church, wanting a conversation, a spiritual conversation. That's essentially one in three. So basically, you're thinking about your neighbors, your colleagues. One in three is up for it, is up for a conversation. So you check it out. They're not interested. Zero pressure, move on.
00:25:26
Speaker
But you shake, there's genuine interest, move on in, confident, front foot, bold, humble. And ah as I said, as a practitioner, and you know, again, this is quoting Barna statistics, 4% of ah followers of Jesus in this nation have led someone personally to the Lord.
00:25:47
Speaker
4%. Now, that the last thing our listeners need is guilt. So we're not into guilt. So in sharing that stat, that's not to make us feel guilty. It's just to recognize we're not very good at this. um And with the first people I took out in Bath, the first week I did it. So I started a monthly taking people out on the streets where I live now in Bath.
00:26:06
Speaker
And by the way, I did that because I came out from Africa and i and I was like, what am I going to do so that I am not tamed back in England? And and one of the outworkings of that was to push myself out of my comfort zone. So no one, I mean, very few people want to go out and do street evangelism. That's something for me to push myself out of my comfort zone.
00:26:24
Speaker
The first time I took out people on the streets of Bath, 25 people went out, having quoted that stat of 4% have ever led someone to the Lord. At the end of that hour, so we you know we did an hour, two and fro, training, practicing on each other, praying, out we go, do an hour of it, come back, do the feedback. The feedback's really important because that's when you learn lessons.
00:26:42
Speaker
and share victories and stuff. At the end of that hour out there on the job, two of the 25 people came back, turbocharged, saying, I'm one of the four percenters! you know that Literally, they'd they'd both been following Jesus for over 30 years and they'd been given a tool and they'd come back and said, I've led someone's tool. One lady on the way back, she led a second person to the Lord. In that first month, she led five people to the Lord.
00:27:08
Speaker
So it's not a magic silver bullet, but it is a tool and I commend it to you. Jesus at the door, you can get it as an app on your phone and then it's there. And what I love about that, it's a visual thing at any opportunity. So I was at a dinner party a couple of weeks ago.
00:27:24
Speaker
And this bloke's obviously going through a hard time. I said, have you got anyone helping you? know Have you got a source? Do you pray? um And he was totally interested. and you know i shook the I shook the tree. I said, should we just go through the other room?
00:27:40
Speaker
I took him to the other room, led him to Jesus, following up. He's been in my hot tub. You know, I mean, maybe that's been appropriate. No, no, and it's just been a follow up. He's come around. He's now a mate. We are journeying together. And, you know, and it's it's ah yeah, go for it. Cracking stuff.
00:27:57
Speaker
Thank you so much, Simon, as there's so much there that we'd love to ask you more about. And I think one of the things that you've mentioned about this um Jesus at the Door kind of picture is that it is an image. And often we're so used to kind of channelling and narrowing, not to merely kind of rational explanations of the gospel and actually seeing a a vivid picture of Jesus knocking at the door. It really kind of brings to life in a different way and to compliment the words that go with it. And you mentioned the Holman Hunt painting, and that was instrument that was one of the instrumental things for me when I came to faith was that very painting. So thank you so, so much. You mentioned that if we want to get hold of the and the resource, we can find it through the app. Where do we find the app?
00:28:42
Speaker
Yeah. So but Android or iPhone, you just go to the app store and type in Jesus the door and it'll come out. Yeah. And we know what one last thing to say is that, you know, I think maybe with so last folk, the approach could be more cerebral and and apologetics clearly has got its place. One of the things I like about this is that ah at one point you pray, you you know, when you say um picture the wind. you can't You can't see the wind, but you can feel it, can't you? ah and you can see And you can see its effect, you know, rustling through the trees right now as we're talking. ah Before I go, can I just pray that you feel this presence? So you're inviting a sort of an experiential aspect into the into it. And, you know, and then almost everyone says, yes, you can pray. You don't get all weird and shut your eyes and put your hand on them necessarily. You know, you just you just look them in the eyes and say, oh, I just bless Warren right now. And I pray that like the wind, he would feel your presence. And at the end of that,
00:29:36
Speaker
I'd say one in three says, yeah, I really, you know, you say, did you feel anything? Yeah, I really felt, you don't have to feel something. Two out three said, no, I didn't feel anything. The most extreme thing I had was Zach and Gwen on the streets of Bath. And when I saw her pray and she went, ah what's happening, Simon? And I said, Gwen, I just think that's God wanting to really know that he's real. Never. She said, I will never forget this for the rest of my life. So, you know, you don't need a dramatic, um,
00:30:05
Speaker
you know, manifestation of God, but it's nice when it comes, isn't it? And I'd say it's good to be open to that as well. And again, I think that's what the African side brings in, is that we believe that God is very real, that he's at work and that there's tangible manifestations sometimes in that journey. Amen. Simon, thank you so, so much for your time today. Thanks so much for being our guest. um Andy, great to see you as ever. And this brings us to the end of another episode of of Pep Talk. We look forward to being with you in a couple of weeks time. Bye for now. Bye. Bye for now.