God at Work "TURN-IN OIL" By Bob Hesse

Turning Knowledge about Evangelism into Action

After listening to Pastor Denny's sermon about outreach to our FRANC's (Friends, Relatives, Acquaintances, Neighbors and Coworkers) and attending Pastor Jeff's Sunday school class on the same subject for several weeks, I realized that to date I had been accumulating information but doing nothing to assist the Holy Spirit in bringing people to faith.

This caused me to recall a situation that occurred in one of my jobs. We had about 20 sales people who worked to sell our product through a dealer organization. They did a really good job of training, motivating and selling through existing distributors, but were doing very little to recruit new dealers.

In an attempt to cause them to spend time and effort doing something that was uncomfortable for them, I bought twenty small cans of 3-in-1 Oil. At the next sales meeting I passed the cans of oil out, labeled “Turn -in-Oil”, and instructed them to carry them in the front seat of their car and told them “Every time you drive by a potential dealer's business, stop and put a little oil on your steering column. It will then be easier for you to 'Turn In' and talk to the prospective dealer about how our products and service could benefit them.”

The next day I purchased a can of 3-in-1 Oil, which now resides in my car's center console. It has caused me to be more active in talking to friends and family about how AEFC has helped my faith to grow and mature. I called a friend who recently went through a difficult divorce, took him to lunch and encouraged him to consider AEFC's Celebrate Recovery. No response to date, but more prayer and lunches to come. The training and motivation I received from Pastor Denny and Pastor Jeff, and the constant reminder from the can of Turn-in Oil in my car has caused me to work with Pastor Jeff to attempt to collect stories from AEFC members and attendees about how God has worked in their lives.

We plan to post their stories, encouraging people to read and, as appropriate, share with their FRANC list in person or over social media.