I was almost certain that Lawrence would be joining the church that evening: he'd never missed a meeting, he'd attended every Bible class, and his eyes were moist with emotion every time I made an appeal.
I was wrong.
When I invited him become a part of the church family, he leaned across the desk, paused for a moment, and said, "Shawn, I've got some questions."
"Well," I answered, "I don't know if I've got any answers, but let's give it a try. Go ahead."
"I've been doing some reading - a lot of it, in fact - and there seems to be some question as to whether or not Jesus actually existed as a real, historical figure."
It wasn't anything I hadn't heard before. The question still took me by surprise, however, because it's not the kind of issue people typically raise after more than twenty hours of study. If someone has doubts that Jesus was (or is) real, it usually surfaces well before they study the entire breadth of the Adventist message. By the time you've worked your way through the major prophetic portions of the Bible, there is little doubt that God is real. You might not have finished crossing every t and dotting every i, but typically, the existence of God has been confirmed for most beyond a reasonable doubt.
So what could I say to Lawrence? I suppose I could have started with an apologetic approach. I could have presented the available evidence for the historical Jesus - but I knew Lawrence well, and sensed that wasn't really what he was looking for. You don't typically come to evangelistic meetings for a month without sensing there's something to what you're hearing.
"Let me ask you a question," I responded after a brief moment of silence. I picked my Bible up off the desk and held it up. "Do you hope this is true, or do you hope it isn't?"
I wanted to know if he was really protesting, or merely struggling. It was his turn to think quietly, and his eyes moistened, just the way I'd seen a half dozen times during altar calls. He barely whispered his answer. "I hope it is true."
"That's what I figured," I said, "so let's go back through the basics of what we've been studying with the assumption that it is, and you tell me if it makes sense." We began to review the baptismal vows.
Sometimes, when we argue (and I love to argue), we lose sight of an essential evangelistic principle: people don't come to our Bible classes or evangelistic meetings if God hasn't already been speaking to their hearts. Human evangelists simply don't have what it takes - no matter how logically sound their arguments are - to make a person interested in spiritual matters. Paul is clear: "... the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)
If people are interested in what we have to say as Seventh-day Adventists, it is because the Holy Spirit has created that interest. People do not become spiritually sensitive because we have been clever; they become spiritually sensitive because they have heard the voice of God. God works with people long before He introduces them to us. And by the time we meet them, very few people hope the gospel isn't true.
With Lawrence, it was important to keep that in mind. It wasn't really a matter of not having enough information to make a good decision. It was more a matter of helping him clarify his intent towards God. He wanted a relationship with God. Just like everybody who walks through our doors.