Political Evangelism

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My dad just sent me this from our local Sacramento Bee, a fascinating article about how political campaigns are learning from person to person evangelism models.

This is timely for me. I’m actually pounding hard right now finishing up writing my book on relational ministry with an emphasis on the power of “one-on-one” relationships (just like the Connect seminar we offer).

A little snippet from the article:

When supplicants answering the Rev. Billy Graham’s altar call streamed to the foot of the stage, each would be met by one of the evangelist’s helpers. The pairings weren’t random.

Graham insisted that young women meet young women. Older men greeted older men. Graham understood that the best way to cement the conversion was to show new believers a reflection of themselves within the church.

And then a little further down… (emphasis mine)

The Democrats learned their lesson – they used paid workers who obviously were “not from around here” to do their canvassing – and so this year the Obama campaign is recruiting an “army of persuasion” based on the Bush neighbor-to-neighbor model. At training sessions, “Obama Organizing Fellows” are taught to develop short, personal narratives that will explain to their neighbors how they came to support the Democrat.

It may spoil some of the fun for the newly minted Obama fellows to learn that their device is taken directly from the megachurch. Evangelicals have long known that people come to faith most easily through contact with friends and neighbors, and that one of the most powerful ways to draw converts is for believers to “witness” their faith (Acts 1:8) with personal stories of salvation.  (Click here for the entire article from the Sacramento Bee, 8/18/08)

Hmmmmmm.