Lawrence Phipps never ceases to be amazed when people ask if he and his friends are angels.
It’s happened more than once.
To him, it’s affirmation that the Holy Spirit is at work — and that believers have to be obedient to share their faith.
“One day while we were out visiting, we knocked on the door of a young woman who was crying when she came to the door,” Phipps said. “She said, ‘A few minutes ago, I started praying that if God was really in my life He would send someone to talk to me. You’re not angels, are you?’”
Phipps is so convinced that God desires to use His people that he recently resigned from Vaughn Forest Baptist Church, Montgomery, after nearly 20 years as pastor to start It’s Life Ministry (ILM). Through ILM, Phipps hopes to encourage churches “by rekindling a passion for reaching people for Christ.”
The vision was birthed from a burden that started years ago, one that has already produced fruit from a book he wrote called “It’s LIFE.” The book, written to equip Christians to share their faith in everyday life, uses the acrostic L.I.F.E.: L — God is Love; I — people are Imperfect; F — God offers Forgiveness; E — we can have Eternal life.
He later followed that up with a book for new believers, “More Abundant LIFE: 100 Days to Start or Restart your Christian Walk.”
Both have shown themselves to be fruitful at Vaughn Forest Baptist, which baptized eight new believers in 1994 when it organized — and 2,313 last year.
“I want to see our convention, our churches get re-energized for why God leaves us here on earth,” Phipps said.
One way ILM aims to help that happen is through outreach revivals. Through these events, Phipps gives church members tools to get out in the community and invite people to revival services.
Learning to take off and land
“There are a lot of people wanting to do missions work but they don’t know how to share their faith or engage people in spiritual conversations,” he said.
It’s like flying a plane, he said — the flying part doesn’t take that long to learn, but it takes effort to take off and land. Talking about Christ is the same way — the hardest part is getting into the conversation intially and then wrapping it up at the end, Phipps said.
This is evidenced by the fact that a large majority of professing Christians have never shared their faith with anyone, he said.
Others do share but get discouraged because they share without results, or the people later fall away, Phipps said.
“But we shouldn’t let that discourage us,” he said. “Jesus Himself told us that as we sow seed, it will fall on different kinds of soil. Don’t let anyone deter you from continuing to sow seed.”
Christians should pray that God would send the lost to them, Phipps said.
One method he uses to get people started with “entry-level” outreach is a “random act of kindness” card.
“For instance, you can go through the drive-thru line at McDonald’s and pay for the person behind you,” he said. “I ask the person at the window to give the person behind me a card that says, ‘You are the recipient of a random act of kindness.’”
On the back of the card is information about the revival and the church hosting it.
Phipps also provides resources for church members such as a tract called “Just for You,” which asks the recipient if he or she is looking for a place to be loved, inspired and have meaningful fellowship.
“A lot of people are afraid or intimidated about sharing their faith, but they can start with a handout that says, ‘Come visit our church,’” Phipps said.
During an outreach revival week, or at another planned time, Phipps holds meetings with church leaders to work through the book “It’s LIFE.” The group does this with the goal that nine people will begin a long-term evangelism ministry out of these initial meetings, he said.
“That’s doable — it doesn’t matter how big or small your church is,” Phipps said.
Those who want to go forward with the ministry are organized into teams of three, and in the following weeks and months they go out visiting on a consistent basis, growing in sharing their faith regularly.
Another possibility ILM encourages is to take the church’s Sunday School classes through “More Abundant Life,” which helps both new believers and longtime Christians revive their passion to love God and love others like Christ does. That passion is what ILM sees as its mission, Phipps said.
Through ILM, Phipps consults with church leaders to put together a plan that fits their congregation’s needs. This could include a variety of events, training and guided churchwide prayer options. “It’s not a ‘one size fits all’ plan. We discuss it and discover what their needs are, then put together a plan,” he said.
Phipps recently did just that at First Baptist Church, Athens, where Edwin Jenkins serves as pastor.
“We were not looking for behavior change but heart transformation, and Lawrence fit right in with that. He did a marvelous job of pointing us that direction,” Jenkins said. “Our people were very responsive to him. He provided all we had hoped for in terms of evangelism and seeking God.”
For more information, call 334-328-5232 or visit itslifeministry.com.
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