Selling Jesus: Why Witnessing Isn't a Sales Pitch | Dr. R. Scott Clark

Why do Reformed Christians get a reputation for being bad at evangelism? Dr. R. Scott Clark, who once taught Evangelism Explosion, joins Rev. Chris Gordon to talk honestly about the pressure tactics he learned as a young Southern Baptist, why he came to see some of those methods as manipulative, and how the love of an ordinary Baptist layman still brought him to faith in Christ. Together they make a helpful distinction: evangelism is the authorized proclamation of the gospel by ministers from the pulpit, while witness is something every Christian is called to give.

Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
01:13 - Dr. Clark's Semi-Retirement
03:42 - Hoosiers and Small-Town Basketball
06:43 - Why Are Reformed People Bad at Witness?
07:46 - Evangelism Explosion as a Sales Pitch
09:11 - Tracts, Pressure, and the Altar Call
10:46 - Coming to Faith Through a Baptist Layman
12:46 - Evangelism vs. Witness
13:31 - The Diagnostic Question
14:35 - Reformed Christianity Is Alien to America
15:38 - The Apostles' Creed and Objective Witness
16:44 - Covenant Children and Testimony
17:37 - Mark 5 and the Man Born Blind
19:31 - Sin, Grace, and Gratitude as a Paradigm
21:30 - Pray for Opportunities
22:37 - Witness in the Early Church
24:17 - Street Witness in Escondido

Dr. Clark was educated at the University of Nebraska (BA), Westminster Seminary California (MDiv), and St Anne’s College, Oxford University (DPhil). He was ordained to the ministry in the Reformed Church in the United States in 1988, where he served for ten years. He has been a minister in the United Reformed Churches in North America since 1998.

He has taught church history and historical theology at Westminster Seminary California since 1997, where he served as academic dean (1997–2001). He has also taught at Wheaton College (1995–97) as visiting professor, and has served as a visiting professor at Reformed Theological Seminary (Jackson) and Concordia University Irvine.

x: @RScottClark