Share Jesus Without Fear, Audio CD Audio CD – CD, June 1, 2005

Abstract In his book, Share Jesus Without Fear, William Fay gives a practical handbook on how to share one’s faith. Fay begins his book by giving the vision behind evangelism suggesting that success in evangelism is “sharing your faith and living your life for Jesus Christ. It has nothing whatsoever to do with bringing anyone to the Lord. It has everything to do with obedience.” The author spends the rest of the book talking about how the believer can be obedient to the commands of Christ and share their faith effectively. Fay spends the first several chapters addressing common misconceptions when it comes to evangelism and addresses the fear that is often associated with sharing the gospel. He challenges the reader to drop the excuses and trust the Holy Spirit to works and move on our behalf.After laying the groundwork for the book and addressing common fears, the author then begins to share practical ways to begin sharing one’s faith. He spends sufficient time talking about conversation joggers and then speaks of the five share Jesus questions, which are: “(1) Do you have any kind of spiritual beliefs? (2) To you, who is Jesus Christ? (3) Do you think there is a heaven or hell? (4) If you died, where would you go? If heaven, why? (5) If what you are believing is not true, would you want to know?” Fay proposes that these questions can help transition everyday conversations to spiritual matters that can lead to sharing the gospel. In addition to using the five spiritual questions, Fay also talks about the importance of using scripture in talking about the things of the Lord. There is power in using God’s word in sharing the good news; Fay suggests having the person you are sharing with read the selected scripture passages out loud from a small New Testament. After the scripture has been read out loud ask, “What do you think this passage mean?” These questions will force the individual to process the information presented and apply the truth to their lives.After introducing the truth of scripture and having the individual process each scripture passage you must then lead them towards a decision, asking, “are you ready to invite Jesus into your life and your heart?” After asking this question, it is important to wait for an answer even if the silence in uncomfortable. When someone prays to receive Christ, the job of the believer is not complete. The new believer will need someone to help them understand their new faith and grow in their faith. Fay gives a list of new follower questions that assist them to comprehend the decision that they have made. In chapter 8, Fay provides a list of common objections when it comes to people not willing to respond to the gospel and how to address each misconception.As Fay closes the book he shares tips on how the believer can maintain and develop friendships with unbelievers. He suggests that you can meet neighbors, take prayer requests, conduct block parties, and do kind deeds and community service. In addition to giving practical ways to reach unbelievers, Fay also provides step by step directions on how to pray for unbelievers. The author suggests to pray before you share, pray for opportunities, pray for love, pray for others to see Christ in you, and pray for boldness and power. Additionally, we should also pray for the lost, he gives a seven-day prayer plan and the importance of keeping a prayer list. The book closes out with Fay encouraging the believer to be proactive in going out and sharing the good news of Jesus.Concrete Response In the eighth chapter, the author addresses the common objections to people rejecting the good news of Jesus. In reading through the list, I was reminded of a time when I shared my faith with a young woman who refused to make a faith commitment because of some negative experiences with Christians in the past. The girl, Amanda, was once a part of a church where she was actively involved in serving and attending. She expressed to me that she had some friends in the church and that she enjoyed being part of the gatherings. However, after several years of being at the church, she discovered that the pastor was stealing money from the church and that he had been engaging in an extramarital affair with another woman from the church. When Amanda found out about her pastor’s indiscretions she approached other church leaders and they swept the sinful actions under the rug and told her it was no big deal. Amanda’s faith was crushed, she left the church, and her heart became hardened towards the church and the things of God. As time progressed, her heart became more and more hardened, and she refused to spend time with Christians. My wife and I befriended Amanda, and we had her over for dinner on a weekly basis. We did not begin talking about spiritual matters, but as time progressed, Amanda started to share about her past complicated relationship with the church. Much like Fay suggests, my wife and I responded with love and compassion. We didn’t argue with her, and we didn’t try to justify the actions of anyone from her past, we just listened and asked a lot of questions. As we asked her questions more and more doors were opened for us to have a spiritual voice in her life. While we were able to share the gospel with Amanda, she never accepted Jesus as her Savior. We continue to pray for her and that the time spent with her would be part of planting a seed of faith in her life.Reflection In reading through the book, it is impossible not to feel convicted, challenged and inspired to share the gospel with non-believers. It is clear that Fay has a passion for evangelism and has a love for people. I enjoyed his writing and his desire to encourage the believers not to be fearful in sharing their faith. I also appreciated that his writing was concise and to the point, Fay does not beat around the bush but typically writes using lists and bullet points. The lists made reading enjoyable and helped to communicate clearly his main points and purpose. The lists also make this a handbook that can easily be consulted when questions emerge about sharing the good news. While it is next to impossible for me to critical about this book, I would have appreciated some of the stories to be a little more realistic. I’m not suggesting that William Fay is fabricating stories to make his point, but I do find it odd that most, if not all, of his stories, involve him being the hero. He rarely misses an opportunity to share his faith and as a result, it is hard to relate to him at times. I think his argument could have been strengthened if he would have talked about times when he failed to share. While the book gives a simple strategy on how to share one's faith, at times it makes light of some difficult situations and doesn’t give realistic explanations to questions that need to be addressed. The book and subject matter would have been better formatted if the author had shared more about listening to Holy Spirit and following his lead in sharing our faith.Action As I stated above this book was convicting, challenging and inspiring in my quest to share my faith. One of the first takeaways and action steps that I need to put into my life is implementing the five “Share Jesus Questions.” When it comes to sharing my faith in the past I have used a combination of my personal testimony and the Romans Road to get my point across. While I think that sharing my testimony is helpful and needed at times, it focuses more on my story and less on the individuals with whom I am sharing. In using the “Share Jesus Questions,” it forces a response from the hearer and leads into a spiritual conversation where topics of faith can be discussed. In the next month, I would like to use this method of sharing Jesus with at least one person. While I will continue to use the method I am accustomed to using, I think using this method will open up new doors and opportunities to share Jesus with people. Many times I am guilty of not having tough conversations, when the moment gets tense or awkward I bail and change the subject. The “Share Jesus Questions” force me to embrace the awkwardness and allow the Holy Spirit to work and move in the life of the individual with whom I am sharing. Fay also talks about the importance of using scripture in sharing our faith. While I have always tried to reference certain passages in when sharing with others I have not followed the lead of Fay in using a physical Bible in reading the scriptures. Fay encourages the speaker to get the hearer to read out loud the strategic passages and then ask them about that specific passage. The using scripture methods makes sharing our faith less about personal preference and more about the truth of God’s word. In the next month, I would like to use the Bible to share with at least one person. I would want them to open the Bible, read out loud the passage, and then answer an appropriate question. While I could use my cell phone to pull up the scripture passages, I think that it would be more beneficial to carry a pocket-sized New Testament around with me so I can quickly flip to passages that need to be read. My plan is to buy the “Share Jesus without Fear Bible” which will help me to easily lead people through the scripture. My final takeaway is to do a better job in following up with people once they have turned to follow Jesus with their life. Currently, after I lead someone to Christ I encourage them to get baptized and to get plugged into the church, but I don’t do a good job at following up with discipleship. Fay lists a series of ten questions or suggestions to make to a new believer. “(1) How many sins has Christ paid for? (2) How many of your sins does Christ remember? (3) Where does Christ live? (4) Let's pray. (The new believer should say what's on his heart.) (5) Who has been praying for you? (6) Do you know where your friend goes to church? (7) Do you know your friend's phone number? Let's call him now! (8) May I take you to church with me? (9) Read the Gospel of John. (10) I will call you tomorrow to see if the Word became different.” These questions help the new believer understand the foundations of the faith and some essential practices that they can apply to their lives. Just recently I had someone hand me a small workbook entitled Christianity Explained by Michael Bennett. In the workbook, he covers all of the issues addressed by Fay and gives some creative ways to explain difficult concepts. My plan is that I would use this handbook to work through these ten directives to better help the individual process their newly found faith. My plan is to take the workbook and these questions work through each item with three people by the end of May. I will hopefully be able to follow up with new believers I have shared with in the past and other people I will lead to Jesus in the near future.BibliographyFay, William. Share Jesus Without Fear. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1999. Kindle.

I read this book because I was required to in a Seminary class I took on Evangelism. I was blown away! It is one of the top 5 best books I’ve ever read. It completely transformed my life and how I view sharing my faith. I have bought this book and given it to so many friends because of how life changing it was for me. HIGHLY recommend. Easy to read and the concepts are SO powerful for sharing faith. I have led people to Jesus thanks to these practical tools.

While there is a good message here, the presentation is off-putting in the extreme. Several times, I wanted to stop reading. I detest cocky, arrogant sales presentations. This book is one big presentation by a man who was once into organized crime. His attitude from that time is reflected in full here. There is not a hint of humility. There are mentions of his other products for sale, scattered throughout this book. For your convenience, of course.Christianity is not presented as a way of life, but as a high pressure sales tactic designed to shove someone into the door as hard and fast as possible without much concern about the future of that person. (The convert is then expected, borderline commanded, to continue that same hard sale at a dizzying speed to others.) He explicitly leaves the future, the day-to-day hard work of applying Christianity to all aspects of life to the pastor of wherever he is at currently. The way he treats pastors is dismaying. The Church isn't portrayed as anything critical to a person beyond a support group that is reminiscent of AA or other such organizations. He attacks all organized churches equally from Coptic to Protestant.There is a great message of confidence here. However, the rest of the book should be taken with a grain of salt by anyone who cares about the Church or about long-term spiritual health of a person and society.

Maybe this worked in a different era. But as someone who is committed to evangelism and apologetics (even working on a graduate degree in the latter), this is not a great popular guide for two reasons.First, the overall method is rather high pressure in practice. He makes it clear that's not how it's supposed to be, but it's what it is functionally since it's very much about getting the Gospel out there with a selection of Bible verses. Some of the advice--like making the person re-read a verse until they understand it--is so strange I wonder if the author actually uses the tactic regularly.Second, the section on answering objections is pretty weak. Even as a Christian, I found some of them rather bad and most of them weak. This wasn't merely a consequence of the author reaching a popular audience. It seemed the author had a very limited understanding of apologetics material, and relying on other experts in that area would have done him some good.I suggest getting Tactics by Greg Koukl instead for faith conversations. That's the single best book for it. And then follow it up with I Beg to Differ by Tim Muehlhoff. If you put those books into practice, you'll have longer, deeper conversations.And then check out the world of folks like John Lennox, J.P. Moreland, William Lane Craig, Mike Licona, and Gary Habermas for the "case" side of it. They all have more popular-level works, and you'll get more out of engaging with them.We *should* share Jesus without fear, though, and that's where this author does get it very, very right. If you do it with gentleness and respect, far better than not at all!

I own a copy of this book and have listened to brother Bill Fay speak. I admire his boldness and courage to share the Gospel. But I am not inclined to use cookie cutter approaches anymore, with a little salvation prayer formula at the end to close the deal. Evangelism involves discipleship. Getting involved in peoples messy lives. This type of evangelism that Fay is promoting I call hit'n'run evangelism. It's a good book to get some pointers and tips and maybe a dose of courage, but be with people. Call them and lead them into the Kingdom. That would be a better way.Here's a better resource for evangelism; One Thing You Can't Do in HeavenOne Thing You Can't Do in Heaven

I found this book very timely , extremely encouraging . Just what I need and have been waiting for, I feel motivated by this book and will get the new testament that accompanies it.Thank you so much William Hay ,I pray that I will begin to do the same as you. God Bless. mark Hodge.

Clear and successful resource that we will be using here at Destiny Church Newcastle. Thanks to the authors for their straightforward style and content. Don't hesitate, just do it!

Buenas tácticas para evangelismo y testimonios poderosos. Algunos puntos creo que no son tan aplicables al tratar de llevar el mensaje a mexicanos pero hay material valioso.

Its amazing witness and at the same time very helpfull handbook to lern how to witness and share your faith.