It took only a single prompt to burst open the floodgates of my friend Ramesh’s sincere spiritual inquiry.

A few weeks earlier, he insisted on attending the Christmas celebration with me and my wife at our church.

“I have so many questions,” he whispered as he sat down next to me. But the service was starting, rendering conversation impossible.

After the service, he and four of his friends came over to our house for our family Christmas celebration. We had a delightful time sharing the love and truth of Christmas with them — but it was still not the setting to follow up on Ramesh’s comment.

It was not until two weeks later, with Christmas and New Year’s travels behind us, that Ramesh and I met for lunch. We talked for about an hour before I felt led by the Holy Spirit to ask Ramesh about his comment at the Christmas service.

“I don’t know if you remember, but when we were together a couple weeks ago, you said you had a lot of questions,” I prompted. “What kind of questions?”

We talked for about an hour before I felt led by the Holy Spirit to ask Ramesh about his comment at the Christmas service.

It was like Ramesh had been waiting two weeks for me to ask. Questions of faith seemed to flow out of him, one right after the other. For the next hour, we talked about Jesus being God and how God could be three yet one, what makes the Bible unique, forgiveness as an undeserved gift, why sin against an eternal God demands an eternal punishment, and about a dozen other essential truths.

In case you think I’m some great apologist, let me assure you that my answers were far from perfect. That wasn’t the point. In that moment I wasn’t the teacher and he the pupil — we were just two friends talking about the things that matter to us. And it was really, really good.

Why? Because Ramesh knows that not only does Jesus matter to me, but that he, Ramesh, matters to me too. He knows that by the countless hours we’ve spent eating meals together, playing games, doing sports, celebrating holidays, discovering his Indian culture … simply put, sharing life together.

Ramesh isn’t a project; he’s truly a friend. If spiritual conversation comes up when we’re together, great. If it doesn’t, that’s fine too. I don’t feel a self-imposed pressure to be “giving the gospel” every time I see him. Why? Because I’m living the gospel in front of him by loving God supremely, loving people sacrificially, and waiting for God to open doors — just like he did during our lunch that day.  

I said it took only a single prompt to burst open the floodgates of Ramesh’s spiritual inquiry, but that’s not quite true. Behind it was a deep friendship months in the making.

I think that’s how Jesus intended people to encounter him: through ordinary followers who are filled with the extraordinary love of God.

I think that’s how Jesus intended people to encounter him: through ordinary followers who are filled with the extraordinary love of God.

Perhaps we’ve made too much of the process and alienated thousands of would-be disciple-makers who are convinced they don’t have the gift of evangelism.

Don’t count yourself out of the joy of making disciples.

The world is ripe for a movement of men and women who simply love God and love people. When those two passions are joined in the same human heart, the power of God is unleashed.

Dale Losch joined Crossworld as a disciple-maker in France in 1988, and served as Crossworld’s president from 2009-2023. He is the author of A Better Way and Giving Outside the Box. He loves to motivate people to use their God-given passions to make disciples wherever life happens.