Evangelizing the Guy at the Next Table

When my co-teachers suggested that we take our sixth graders to McDonalds for breakfast and Sunday School, it sounded like a fun idea. It didn't occur to me at the time that there would be other people in McDonald's.

If you know me very well, you know that my teacher voice is loud and proud. I don't need a mic at Honors Night to be heard. As a matter of fact, I don't think I need a mic anywhere. It's a good thing because McDonald's is a little loud on Sunday morning.

Once the kids had finished eating and had done their warm-up, I launched into our lesson on prayer - from the diaphragm. There were lots of distractions, so I really had to work to keep the kids' attention. As I went through the notes I had prepared, the Holy Spirit prompted me to include a couple of other things about prayer (using the salt and pepper shakers as visual aids no less). It worked out well because I was able to talk about our freedom as Americans to talk about Jesus and prayer in McDonalds as a segue to share some information I had found on Voice of the Martyrs about persecution of Christians around the world. Once we were finished, Jeff took over again to do the worksheets. It was then that I glanced to our right.

There were three dour-looking gentleman at the table next to ours. I smiled and said hello and one nodded at me.  It occurred to me that there was a better than average chance that they were in McDonald's (and not in church) for a reason. All of a sudden, our Sunday School outing had become a missionary journey. Once I made it back to church, I texted DW about our experience and told him that I had taught three elderly gentlemen, whether they wanted to be taught or not, as well our sixth-graders. Those gentlemen found their way into my praise and into my prayers as I sat in worship this morning.

I don't always do well in the talking to strangers department, but Jesus showed me today that I can do well in the talking around strangers department. As DW and I are out and about, the conversations that we have (in my louder than usual voice) can deliver the gospel message to the guy at the next table, the checker who scans our groceries or the lady beside us in the doctor's office waiting room. We can be purposeful in our conversations, making sure that we talk about spiritual things in the middle of our daily routines.

I'm praying that that what we discussed in sixth grade Bible study stirred up memories in those gentlemen of a time when they were little boys in Sunday School or a mother who taught them to pray. I'm praying that some little bit of what they heard sticks with them, nags at them and drives them to church next Sunday instead of to McDonalds because they heard the lesson, whether they wanted to or not.