How To Evangelize With EQ: Preston Perry

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How to Evangelize with EQ

Guest:Preston Perry

From the series:How to Tell the Truth (Day 2 of 2)

Air date:October 18, 2024

Preston: Matthew 28 is not just talking to pastors, not just talking to youth leaders, not just talking to seminary students. It’s talking to everybody. It’s basically saying go out there and produce other Christians like yourself.

Shelby: Welcome to FamilyLife Today, where we want to help you pursue the relationships that matter most. I’m Shelby Abbott, and your hosts are Dave and Ann Wilson. You can find us at FamilyLifeToday.com.

Ann: This is FamilyLife—

Dave: —Today.

Ann: So in 1980, we came on staff as a young married couple, 19 and 22 years old with Cru®. Back then it was called Campus Crusade for Christ.

Dave: I was a very mature 22-year-old.

Ann: I was very young, knew nothing 19-year-old, but I loved Jesus. But one of the reasons we came on staff was because Bill Bright had a vision of win, build, and send. And so we loved evangelism. And when we would do conferences back then, remember we’d go door to door sharing the gospel. And so sharing the gospel, evangelism, we are all about that. And I’m finding this is so weird. I’m finding the older I get, I’m just as nervous as I used to be. Do you feel any of that?

Dave: A little bit.

Ann: —of sharing the gospel?

Dave:Yeah. I mean, anytime you’re going to step into a conversation with somebody about something maybe they aren’t prepared for or maybe don’t want to talk about, yeah. It requires a prayer and say, “God, I know you want me to be your light. I’m going to do it.”

Ann: And I think maybe it’s because there’s a little more pushback now than when we were younger. “People are going to hate this. They’re going to hate me,” but nothing grows my faith and gets me more excited of when I do step out into that water of “Here I go.” Oh, I feel like I’m rejuvenated spiritually.

Dave: And we got Preston Perry. You just heard his “Mm” over there. Because Preston, this is who you are. I mean, we’re going to talk about your book, How to Tell the Truth: The Story of How God Saved Me to Win Hearts, Not Just Arguments, but I don’t think this is—you didn’t write a book because you wanted to write a book. This is who you are. This is what you are about.

Ann: This is your passion.

Preston: Yeah. I think my passion is to make disciples and to see disciples made, but also too, I—

Dave: I don’t know if you noticed this, but it’s on your hat.

Preston: Yes.

Dave:I’m kidding. I mean, did you have that hat made?

Preston: Thank you for asking that question. I could plug my clothing line, Bold Apparel.

Dave:Yeah.

Preston: So this is on my clothing line, Bold Apparel. And so I make apparel, and this is one of the hats we made.

Ann: It looks good.

Preston: Yeah. Shout out to my wife. My wife actually created this one.

Ann: That’s a cool one. And I will say, Preston, we’ve talked to you and Jackie, your wife, every time you’ve been talking, discipleship has come up in every conversation.

Preston: Yeah.

Ann: This matters to you. We talked a lot about it yesterday because that’s what’s shaped you spiritually. You’ve given your life to Christ, but that discipleship piece—

Preston: It has. I think without discipleship, I don’t think, I know I wouldn’t be the man that I am today if it wasn’t for people investing in my life, pouring into me. And I do think that the health of the church would change if we would develop a culture of discipleship. In Jesus’s day, I mean, that’s how they learn from rabbis. Jesus is walking past the river and John the Baptist sees Jesus walking past and they go, “Look, there goes the Lamb of God,” and they begin to follow Jesus.

And Jesus noticed that they’re following him. He turns around and says, “What are you seeking?” And they say, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” And they didn’t say that because they wanted to know what his house looked like. It’s basically translated into “Jesus, we want to—teach us by showing us how you live. We want to see how you live.” Notice how they didn’t say “Jesus, when is the next conference?”

Ann: Or “What do you know?”

Preston: Yeah, “What do you know? Show us. Teach us.” And so they learn by shadowing. I think that it’s very powerful when we invite people into our lives, invite people into our small groups, when we invite people into our worlds, and they can see a life lived out. And so for me, that’s what men did for me. I’m just a product of just being under godly men, seeing them love their wives, seeing them love their children, seeing them apologize when they’re wrong, seeing them pursue humility. And so I think I was just discipled under mature men in faith, and it just did wonders for me.

Dave: They didn’t call you up and say, “Hey Preston, I want to show you how to apologize to your wife.”

Preston: Oh yeah.

Dave:You were just doing life.

Our son wrote a series for our church called The Color of Your Dishes. And we’re like, “Dude, what is the color of your dishes?” He goes, “When you disciple somebody, they should know the color of your dishes because they’re in your house. They have meals with you. It isn’t like show up here at 4:00. It’s like, “No, come spend the weekend with me, watch me be a husband, watch me be a dad, watch me share Christ,” right?

Preston: Absolutely. I discipled my barber.

Dave: I don’t have a barber. So what do you mean you discipled your barber? What’d that look like?

Preston: So he was cutting my hair, young guy. He just got married a year and a half ago. I felt like the Lord was like, “Disciple this young man, just don’t let him cut your hair” or whatever, because he cuts my hair in my house. He’s like a home barber. And I said, “Yeah, I think the Lord wanted me to have a deeper relationship with, wanted me to disciple you.” He just began to cry. He said, “Me and my wife had been praying for two months that you would offer to disciple me, but I don’t want to bug you.”

I remember one time I had said something to my child that was a little hard. I said it in a hard way and she’s on the couch. I said it to her. She got on the couch, and I saw that she was sad. And so I brought her back to me, and I said, “Did Daddy hurt your feelings when I said it that way?” And she said, “Yeah, you hurt my feelings,” and she started crying. So I made him stop cutting my hair and I hugged her, and I apologized to her. At this time, I’m so focused on her, I’m not even aware of him. I’m not even aware of him. You know what I mean?

Dave:Yeah.

Preston: She goes back to the couch, he goes, “Ah, bro, I got to take a minute.” And he was like, “You apologize to your kids.” And he was like, “Bro, never, my parents have never apologized to me.” And he was like, “Man, when I have kids, I’m going to remember that.” So that’s what discipleship is.

Ann: Yes. I think what we can do is we can think, “I don’t have time to meet with these people.” Let them come into your house. And that’s what’s scary because you have to be living it. And it’s not even perfect. It’s messy. Just as you said, you had to apologize to your daughter. Sometimes that’s the best discipleship.

Preston: Absolutely, because God is not looking for us to be perfect. I gave my life to the Lord like I said in the last episode when the person who was discipling me failed. God is not looking for us to live perfect. He’s looking for us to display that we trust in the perfect God. And so I think when people see that dependency and see that humility, I think it just gives people a framework of how we should live our Christian lives. We don’t have to have it all the way together. And I think I love that what you just said, because Matthew 28 says, “Therefore go make disciples,” and it can be translated “as you go,” right?

Ann: As you’re going, yeah.

Preston: As you do life, just bring somebody along with you.

Dave: Yeah. I was walking in our house years ago with Paul, young man I met playing pickup basketball and started connecting with him. Found out he lived on the streets of Detroit his whole life. Mom and dad left him when he was a kid, never even got a high school degree. Anyway, he ends up in my life and I’m pouring—

Ann: —in our lives.

Dave: —in our life. He lived with us for a while. And I remember one time we were playing pickup ball outside, and we were walking, got out of my car in my front yard, we’re walking in the front of my house, and I had little boys at the time, three little boys. And Paul is telling me a story as we stepped to my front door, and as the door opens, my boys come running, “Daddy, Daddy.” And I just swooped them up and picked them up.

I can’t remember what happened, but about an hour later, Paul and I are sitting on my back deck, and he goes, “Hey, I need to share something with you that you did today that hurt me.” And I’m like, first of all, I’m like, hey, I’ve been teaching him to be honest so here it is. He’s going to be honest. I don’t know what he’s going to say, but okay, that’s good. I go, “What’s that?”

He goes, “Dude, I was sharing this story with you when we got out of the car and came to the house and your kids came running out. You just cut me off. You didn’t even know I was there. You just swooped up your kids. And I got to be honest, it sort of hurt me.”

And I go, “Paul, thank you for sharing that. That was really important. I’m sure that took some courage to share that.” I go, “But let me just tell you what I was doing.” I said, “I never had a dad walk in the front door. And I always made a point when I walk in that front door, and my boys are going to feel like they’re—“ I’m tearing up. “They’re the most important thing in my life. And so I’m sorry I didn’t hear the rest of your story, but in some ways I’m not. That is what I’m going to do every time. They are everything in that moment and they’re running to me.”

And I said, “So I’d love to hear the rest of your story now, but that’s what was going on. I’m not making excuse, but that’s a priority I’ve chosen in my life.” I’ll never forget, Paul goes, “Oh dude, that’s awesome. That’s great. I didn’t know that’s what was going on. Thank you for being a model.” Now he’s a dad.

Preston: Wow. Now he understands.

Dave: And he’s got teenagers and now he’s living out what he saw his discipler, which was me at the time, pour into his life. So it’s what you said, it’s like doing life with people.

Preston: That’s such a good example. I think what you displayed to him; he probably looks at you like an older brother figure, father figure. And so he’s wanting in a sense what your kids want.

Dave:He wanted it, sure.

Preston: He wanted it but you’re modeling to him that God is first, my family is second, and you are respectfully third, which it should be. So that was such a great example.

Dave:And we even talked yesterday about planting seeds. I didn’t realize in that moment I planted a seed.

Preston: Yeah.

Dave:Yesterday you said, as we talked about planting seeds, you had more to say about that.

Preston: Yeah. Because I think another thing that would deter people from being evangelist or even trying to make disciples in the outside world is to want right-now results. We think that if our conversation doesn’t end with a sentence prayer, we’ve failed. And I think that’s a lie of the enemy because seed planting is God moving. Don’t think that you didn’t do anything.

Because when I first heard the gospel, like I said in the last episode when I was 15, I didn’t become a Christian, but I became keenly aware of my sin. And 2019, I was doing a poetry event in Atlanta, Georgia. And that same guy who shared the gospel with me was sitting in the front row. And afterwards I was so happy to see him. I walked up to him, and I was like, “Yo, thank you for coming. I haven’t seen you in years.” And he was emotional. He was like, “When I used to give you guys a gospel every week, I thought none of you guys were listening.” And he was like, “To see you up here sharing your faith and talking about Jesus through poetry, it was just so, so refreshing to me.”

And I said, “Bro, can I tell you something?” I said, “The first time I heard the real gospel is through you. And I didn’t become a Christian, but I became keenly aware of my sin. And I know for a fact that’s when God started to pursue me hard.” And he just started crying because that seed of faith that he planted, he wasn’t around to see it bloom. And so God was just very kind in allowing us to see each other again. But I do think that God wants to raise up a generation of evangelists who are okay with being seed planters.

Ann: And I think that’s really wise because there is a time when I felt God started to woo me.

Preston: Yeah.

Ann:I never went to church, didn’t know anything about church. I’m the youngest of four kids, and I felt like people that believed in God were weak.

Preston: Wow.

Ann:That they kind of needed a crutch, that they were weird. And so I was a gymnast at one of the gymnastics meets. I’d gotten to know a coach on another team, and he had come up to me and he said this, “I’m getting ready to warm up on bars,” and he sits down beside me. I think I was ten, and he said, “Ann, if you died tonight, where would you go?”

Preston: Wow.

Ann: And I said, “That’s the dumbest question. What does it matter? I’m ten years old.”

Preston: Wow.

Ann: I laughed at him, and then I made fun of him with all of my friends. That night I go to bed, and I can’t get that question out of my head.

Preston: Wow.

Ann: Because of God wooing me. It was the seed. He planted the seed. He probably felt like, “Well, I was rejected. That was a fail; that was terrible.” And I wish now, sometimes I wish that he could see what we’re doing.

Preston: Wow.

Ann: Like, “Thank you for that seed, even though I rejected it, I made fun of it. That wasn’t your job to do anything else, but just to say that. Just to say that one sentence, and then God, he kept watering that seed.” But just to think of how the Holy Spirit moves, and I think we don’t think, “I can’t do anything.” Just a sentence; a sentence is all God needs to start that germination.

Preston: That’s so powerful. That’s so powerful. Yeah. I think if we can remember that it’s not our job to make anyone make a decision, but it’s our job to bring people to one. And I think with me, I just always try to figure out how can I bring you to a decision? How can I ask you a question to make you think about something that you never thought about before? How can I say something that God can use? Because at the end of the day, if the Holy Spirit doesn’t move upon somebody’s heart, they won’t see God.

But God just wants to use us to be faithful. That’s why I love the Apostle Paul. When he was arrested in Rome, he wrote his mentee in the faith Timothy, and he says, “I’m bound in chains as a prisoner.” He says, “But the gospel is not bound. The gospel is not in chains.” He says, “Therefore, I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they might obtain salvation through Jesus Christ with eternal glory.” And I think what Paul is essentially saying is, “Timothy, don’t be afraid that I’m in prison because my preaching is not in vain, even in jail, because God has a people out there who will hear. I don’t know who’s going to respond. I just know God has a people and I’m just faithful with the gospel message and I’m just going to give it.”

And so I think that the church kind of conditions us to want right now results. But I do think that God wants to raise up a generation of evangelists who are okay with not seeing the fruit of that work until we get to glory. We’re going to play a role in people’s story and just be faithful with the gospel and God can do wonders with that.

Dave:Well, it’s interesting. The president and founder of Campus Crusade, now Cru, we’re on Cru grounds right here. FamilyLife® is a ministry of Cru. Bill Bright, his definition of evangelism, I know this because we met Bill in the eighties. He’s with the Lord now, but his definition was sharing Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God. That was it. And it’s like just share Christ. And sometimes it’s literally walking through the gospel; sometimes it’s planting a seed; sometimes if you die tonight, but the results are not ours. They’re His. And so we can walk away like, okay, I might’ve planted a seed. It may never bear fruit. It may bear fruit tomorrow or ten years from now. But I’ve been obedient to the call on me as a disciple to make disciples. And it starts with shining the light with a conversation.

Ann: But guys, let’s just say it can be awkward. You guys are good at this. You have a gift of evangelism, of turning the corner. You know what I mean? You can feel God’s prompting, the Holy Spirit’s prompting you to say something. And for a lot of us, I call it turning the corner to get to a conversation that’s spiritual.

Dave: Jesus barrier.

Ann: It’s a tough one.

Dave:Like, the second you bring up that—

Ann: Give us some tips because as we’re listening, I think hearts are resonating like, “Yeah. Yeah, I want to do that.” Give us some ideas besides we’re going to pray, “Lord.” And that’s a big one. Even praying, “Father, I want to do this.”

Dave: I’ve never forgotten this quote. Talk to God about people before you talk to people about God.

Preston: Oh yeah.

Ann: That’s a good one.

Dave:And just a reminder, are you praying about this before? Because we go out and rush around and it’s like, no, let’s just pray, ask God to work, ask God to communicate, ask God to open a door in a conversation, whatever it is.

Ann: Yeah. Let’s hear some of those stories. Do you have any?

Preston: Well, so I have a lot of thoughts for the question.

Ann: Good

Preston: One, prayer is big. I think that when we pray, God helps our fear, helps our impatience, helps our anger. One thing I learned in evangelism, people don’t make you do anything. They just bring what’s in you out.

Dave:Yeah, yep.

Ann: That’s good.

Preston: And so if you have fear that you have to give to the Lord, somebody’s going to bring that fear out. If you have anger, somebody’s going to bring that fear out. But also too, I think I have to just connect it back to asking good questions. Because I think that when you ask good questions, people teach you how to serve them. I think a lot of times people, they get nervous because they’re thinking about what they’re going to say, not asking really good questions to actually listen. So you have a framework to how to respond.

So for a practical example, I walk to somebody and one, I’m not going to say, “Can I share Jesus with you?” I’m not going to say that because now it’s just awkward. I don’t know. But one thing I’ve learned is everybody want to be heard.

Now, it’s another thing if I say, “Tell me what you think about Jesus,” or “Tell me what you think about the church.” Oh, they have a lot of stuff to say.

Dave: Oh yeah.

Preston: So now they’re just giving me information and I’m just learning “Okay, I hear hurt. Okay, maybe she’s hurt by the church. Maybe he’s hurt by the church. Okay. Did you come from the Christian Church?”

“They hurt me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry that they hurt you.” It’s like, you know what? Now you can have an opportunity to relate to them. “I was hurt by the church too. They hurt me back in the day.” We all have hurt stories or whatever.

Dave:I mean, that conversation I watched with you and that woman on the street—”

Preston: Yeah.

Dave:“—you asked her that.”

Preston: Yeah.

Dave:And she was hurt by the church.

Preston: And I said, “I was hurt by the church.” And so now when the Bible tells us to be wise as serpents but harmless as doves, He’s saying, go out there and discern creative ways to give the gospel to people.

Ann: That’s good.

Preston: So I’ve learned to say, “Man, I was hurt by the church, but can I tell you why I’m still a part of the church, even though I was hurt?” “Sure.” I didn’t even gulp in telling her. I asked her can I tell her?

Ann: Now, see, that was just winsome. Did you see how his face looked? Like I want to hear your story, Preston.

Preston: Yeah, yeah. “Can I tell you why? Man, I was hurt by the church because I was just around people who didn’t represent Jesus well. But I learned that God’s church is vast, is big, right? And the enemy wanted me to think that the way that certain Christians acted towards me was the character of God. But God, He didn’t give up on me, and He led me to people that love me well and show me His character and show me how to teach the scriptures. I would love that for you.” So now I gave her some truth, and it wasn’t forceful.

Ann: No, it’s very loving.

Preston:But I was only able to do that because I asked good questions, and I listened well.

Ann: That’s good.

Preston: And so I think that if we learn how to do that, I think it just alleviates so much pressure from us. And I think that people are looking for the right thing to say and not listening well. And I think when we listen well, people will teach you how to serve them.

Ann: I’m thinking of John 4 with the woman at the well, and I think of all the questions and the conversation that took place; that was winsome, and it was truthful. It was loving, all of that.

Preston: Yeah. That’s why I put this in the book.

Ann: See, that’s why this book is good. This is why we—

Preston: Jesus came, and He displays such wise ways to share truth with people. And He loved people. He loved people well. He asked good questions. People felt seen. I mean, this woman at the well, she was a Samaritan woman talking to a Jewish man, right?

Ann: Yes!

Preston: When people didn’t do that, right? She came to the well at a part of the day where she wouldn’t be seen; the hottest time of the day to avoid people. And Jesus walked all this way to encounter her, to ask her questions, to make her feel seen. And right afterwards, she became an evangelist. Right?

Dave:I mean, it is interesting too, isn’t it? I remember in seminary, just this thought about that story was one of the thoughts was, what was the first thing Jesus said to her? Can you give me a drink?

Ann: Can you give me a drink?

Preston: Can you give me a drink?

Dave:And my prof at the seminary is like, “If you want to reach your neighbor, go ask to borrow something.” “Well, I don’t want to bug them. I don’t want to—” Go ask for a ladder; go ask for something. They love to be helpful.

Preston: Yes.

Dave:And it starts a relationship. I’m like, “Okay.”

Ann:You’re really good at that now. I’m like, “No, I’m not going to bug them.”

Dave:I walk over there, and you know what? I’ll never forget, I was sitting on the Lion’s bus for a road trip, and this is early in my career as their chaplain, and the voice of the lion sits down. He’s our radio guy. I don’t even know him. I just know his voice. I know he is on our flights, and he sits down beside me. He goes, “Hey man, you probably don’t know this about me, but I went to Ball State.” He goes, “You’re a ball state legend.” I go, “You went to Ball State? I went to Ball State.” So we had this right away connection. His name was Mark Champion. I go, “Really, when were you there?” So I started and all I know is I’m sitting there. I feel like the Lord’s like, “I’m going to use you in this guy’s life.”

Preston: Wow.

Dave:So all I did for that whole bus ride was ask him questions. I mean, it’s easy. It’s like, “Wait, did you like Ball State? What’d you major in?”

“Radio and TV,” blah, blah. Before the bus ride ended, and we got to the hotel and then the stadium. I said, “Well, hey, how do you like what you do now? Is it all that you thought it would be?” I’m trying to get at, “Are you happy? Are you finding life being the voice of Detroit Lions radio voice?” He goes, “Yeah.”

Next time we get on the bus, he sits down beside me. Next time we get on the bus, sits down beside me, and every conversation was me asking him questions about his life until he finally said, “Hey, you asked me that first trip three, four weeks ago, if I enjoyed what I do, what about you? What do you do?” He’s like, “You’re the chaplain. Most people are afraid of the chaplain, but I only sat with you because you went to my college, but what do you do?” So I shared the gospel. I said, “Basically, I tell people this.” He goes, “Huh.”

Ann: And you shared your testimony.

Dave:Yeah, I shared my testimony when I was at Ball State.

Preston: That’s so much wisdom,

Dave:Quarterback, I wasn’t a follower of Christ. Here’s what happened. I’m not kidding. This conversation went on for the whole season, and then one night he calls me, I’ll never forget it, he goes, “Can we do breakfast tomorrow morning?” I go, “Yeah, what’s going on?”

“I got to meet with you tomorrow morning, 7:00 AM blah, blah, blah. Can you be there?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there.” I walk in this restaurant. I sit down. Mark sits down. I go, “Mark, what’s going on? Are you okay? What’s going on?” He goes, “I want to do the deal.” That’s what he said. I go, “You want to do the what? You want to do what deal?” “He goes, “I want to give my life to Christ right now. Can we do that?”

Preston: Oh, wow.

Dave:He goes, “You’ve explained it all to me. I have no more questions. I’m ready. Can we do this?”

Preston: Oh wow.

Dave:I said, “Mark, here, I’m just going to lead you through a prayer. This isn’t some magic thing, but I’ll pray, just repeat after me.” Just quietly I go, “Lord Jesus, I need you.” He goes, [loudly] “Lord Jesus, I need you.” The entire restaurant is watching him give his life to Christ.

Preston: Wow.

Dave:It was just this amazing moment, and the man is still walking with God 30, 40 years later.

Preston: That’s such an amazing story.

Dave:I mean, it’s just like that is what God has created us as followers to be about. At FamilyLife we say, “Make an impact on your corner of the world. “Well, to make an impact, you are the light in darkness. And I always say this, I always say, “Man, if you’re a follower Christ, someday, somewhere, God wants to use you to lead somebody to Christ and maybe even baptize them.”

Preston: Oh, yeah.

Dave:You don’t want to go to your grave not being used in that way.

Preston: Oh, yeah. I love that story so much because I think it just displays the wisdom of God because it was just such a wise way to woo somebody. And when we think about how God led us to the Lord, we were wooed over a course of time. And so God is just, I mean, he was so kind to come to the earth to display these things for us. And so yeah, I think that man, if Matthew 28, it’s not just talking to pastors, not just talking to youth leaders, not just talking to seminary students. It’s talking to everybody. It’s basically saying, go out there and produce other Christians like yourself. Make more yous. That’s all its saying. And I love the word, make, because I think a lot of times, we try to microwave disciples, but make means and implies that it needs to be some work.

Dave:Yeah. It’s going to take time.

Preston: It’s going to take time. And so the time you invested was great, and so invest time. So sometimes it’s a one encounter, like street evangelists and people have, Jesus encountered the woman at the well once. But when we look at the disciples’ life, the Bible doesn’t say that they were Christian when Jesus first got them. We don’t really know when that conversion happened, but Jesus walked with them and I’m pretty sure they became converted. Sometimes Jesus is going to have you walk with people like you did that guy. And then sometimes it’s going to be a woman at the well encounter. But I think just be ready and, in the end, know it’s going to take time. So I think every Christian should be trying to figure out, how can I lead somebody to Christ?

Dave:Yeah. If you want some inspiration, let me say again, pick up Preston’s book, How to Tell the Truth. It’s at FamilyLifeToday.com. I’m thinking as people read this, not only will they learn how to maybe defend their faith a little bit, but they’re going to learn to win people, not arguments. They’re going to learn gentleness and tenderness and love.

Ann: That’s important today.

Preston: Yeah. I definitely think the book can be applied in the home space. A lot of times we’re just so fixated on winning an argument and God is saying no, calls you to care for one another. The only way the world will know is about the love that we have for one for another. So yeah, the way you present truth matters.

Dave:It could be. I was just thinking if you’ve got teenagers, this could be a cool book as a parent to read with them.

Preston: Oh, absolutely.

Dave:And have conversations about what would that look like in their high school. It’s pretty cool.

Preston: Yeah.

Ann: Good idea. Preston, it’s great to be with you; keep writing.

Preston: Oh, I will. I think my next book will be on manhood.

Dave: Alright.

Preston: I really want to write a book about manhood.

Ann: Nice.

Preston: Yeah, so that’s what I’m working on.

Ann: Thanks for being with us.

Preston: Thank you, guys. You guys are good at this.

Dave:Thank you.

Shelby: I just love Preston, and I love his heart. It really shines through as he talks about communicating the gospel with others in love, and as Dave said, winning hearts instead of just arguments. I’m Shelby Abbott, and you’ve been listening to Dave and Ann Wilson with Preston Perry on FamilyLife Today.

Preston’s written a book called How to Tell the Truth as they were just discussing there. The subtitle is The Story of How God Saved Me to Win Hearts, Not Just Arguments. You can get your copy of Preston’s book by going online to FamilyLifeToday.com or looking for our link in the show notes. Or you can give us a call. Our number is 800-358-6329. Again, that number is 800-F as in family, L as in life, and then the word, TODAY.

And the gospel is not just something that is for non-believers. The gospel is for us; the gospel is for me; the gospel is for your kids. And at the end of this month, you’re going to have a unique opportunity to be able to communicate truth in the midst of a lot of confusion that comes with this time of year at the end of October.

Well, we have created a free resource for you that’s called Gospel in a Pumpkin. You can get this free download with activities, pumpkin face stencil sheets, and a guided script to help your kids learn about what matters most, which is the gospel, while you carve your jack-o-lanterns. You can find this free [email protected]/pumpkin. Again, this is a free resource from the ministry of FamilyLife. You can find it at FamilyLife.com/pumpkin or look for a link in the show notes.

Do you follow us on social media? Well, if you don’t, you could head over to Instagram and look for our handle FamilyLife Insta, or just type in FamilyLife on Facebook for more regular encouragement.

Now, coming up next week, Collin Outerbridge is here to debunk dating myths and emphasize the importance of a specific kind of love to build lasting relationships. What is that kind of love? Well, you’ll have to tune in next week to find out.

On behalf of Dave and Ann Wilson, I’m Shelby Abbott. We’ll see you back next time for another edition of FamilyLife Today.

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