Share Jesus Without Fear William

Share Jesus Without Fear

William Fay)

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY

Fay, William and Linda Shepherd. Share Jesus Without Fear. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1999.

AUTHOR INFORMATION

William Fay advertises himself on his web site as a "sinner saved by grace."

Fay, author of Share Jesus Without Fear, was saved by God while he was the CEO and president of an international, multimillion-dollar corporation, which remains unnamed in all of his literature. Fay writes on the first page of his book, "I owned one of the largest houses of prostitution" and "was involved in racketeering, bookmaking and gambling…and I mocked anyone who dare share his faith in God with me."

Once he was saved, Fay left his business interests for a religious life of full-time ministry. Fay attended and graduate from Denver Seminary, where he met his mentor, Gordon Lewis, whom Fay credits for giving him a strong foundation in ministerial work. After graduating from the seminary and being ordained, Fay went on to serve as the senior pastor of a church for many years. He left that post to work in evangelism full-time. He has a world-wide syndicated radio program where he encourages listeners, as he encourages readers, to share their faith with others.

CONTENT SUMMARY

William Fay's book Share Jesus Without Fear is an instructional manual designed to motivate, teach, and equip evangelical Christians in sharing the gospel. Fay instructs his readers to share the gospel in several steps: presenting God's vision for evangelism; explaining God's plan for salvation; and starting conversations confidently and getting around objections that people may raise.

Fay has developed a relatively simple, distinct system for evangelists to use during the course of everyday life to move any conversation in the direction of the gospel, and he has one reason for doing it: obedience

. One evangelizes because Christ commands him to. Fay does not want his army of lay evangelists to be overly concerned with the results of their conversations. He does not direct his readers to care about whether or not a person makes a decision. Instead, he is only concerned with whether or not the evangelist is obedient to Christ's command.

The no-fear evangelism plan is split into three parts: five "Share Jesus" questions; seven "Share Scripture" passages; and five "Commitment" questions.

Fay is not promoting in-depth discussion. Each of these questions requires just one thing from the evangelist to make it successful: silence. By not saying anything, the evangelist keeps his own views out of the conversation and the listener keeps his or her heart open to the Holy Spirit.

The five Share Jesus questions are designed to convince a person of their where they truly stand when it comes life after death, and they need not come in any particular order. The seven Share-Scripture passages are used to bring a person to the realization of their need for a Savior. The five Commitment questions bring a person to the front step of decision.

Following these five commitment questions, if the Lord has been working and the person has responded, Fay suggests ten more simple things to ask of and say to the new believer. These simple comments and questions get the person to repeat what exactly has taken place in their heart and let them know that the believer who has just led them to the Lord cares now about their growth and discipleship in Him.

Towards the end of his book, Fay also offers a chapter of 36 common objections people will make, and possible responses we can have ready to combat these excuses.

These common points of objection often pose great roadblocks for Christians because, on the surface, they seem too difficult to answer. However, while these objections may seem difficult to answer, Fay encourages his readers take them head on.

EVALUATION

William Fay deals extensively with personal evangelism in Share Jesus without Fear. He is sure that his book is needed to fill in for the lack of Gospel-sharing by the church. Using examples from personal experience, Fay shows how easy it is for any believer to share the Gospel. His purpose, that Christians cannot fail if they simply share the truth, is clear. God can use imperfect attempts to share the Gospel; however, Fay argues that God cannot use a Christian's silence to save anyone.

Fay's purpose is to convince his readers that, regardless of who they are or how much self-confidence they have or lack, they can "share Jesus without fear." Fay not only uses examples of "cowardly" Christians sharing the gospel fearlessly, he also shows examples of true believers using his method on all kinds of people, including both well-educated and uneducated people. Fay shows the power of the Gospel and contends that the evangelist is merely a conduit for God, who is the only "convincer."

Fay assumes his readers believe the Bible as he does -- literally and conservatively. If a reader does not have this save presupposition, then he or she will find little use of this book. For any Christian who approaches this book with the same presupposition concerning the inerrant protestant Bible, the outcome is scathing if he or she was previously silent concerning the Gospel. In one instance Fay ponders what makes a "good" Christian. A good Christian cannot be silent. So, this naturally follows that if the reader isn't sharing his or her faith then he or she isn't a good Christian.

Fay's book is interesting in that it teaches the opposite of what most Southern Baptists teach. Fay teaches that as long as believers share, they can't fail. This isn't necessarily a new teaching throughout the world of evangelism, but it is a desperately needed throughout the evangelistic community. Every member of God's kingdom must see himself or herself as stewards of the mysteries of God. They are either good stewards or bad stewards; and according to Fay, most are bad stewards.