Fire Hydrant or Sprinkler?

Updated 08/30/2024 Our ministry team listened to the audio Angelia references in this article, “Mr. Genor on George Street.” (Link included below.) This older recording was so powerful we shared it with our family and friends. After hearing of Mr. Genor’s work, one husband was going to look at a used vehicle posted for sale and said, “I will talk to the seller about the Lord - whether I buy the car or not.” True to his word, and after passing on buying the car, he ended the visit with the young man using a simple approach in the recording; "I have a question for you. Are you saved? If you died tonight, would you go to heaven?" The young man, Jeff, responded, “I’ve not been a very good person.” When prompted, Jeff seemed eager to pray. While he didn’t sell his car, he got something money couldn’t buy. Jeff repented for his sins and asked God for forgiveness. Confessing Jesus as Lord, He became a born-again believer that sunny afternoon in his front yard!

The church I grew up attending had a door-to-door visitation program on Tuesdays, but it wasn’t my favorite day. The only prayer I remember was, “Lord, please don’t let anyone answer this door when I knock!” Surely I’m not alone in that thought; have you ever been a part of visitation and prayed no one would answer the door?

The idea of witnessing came to me with three things: I know this is my duty as a Christian but:

1. I didn’t know how. Confusion set in.
2. The thought gave me instant butterflies in the pit of my stomach, and suddenly I was tongue-tied. Fear entered in.
3. I knew I should be doing this, but my feeble attempt was usually motivated by obligation. Guilt drove me.

​I don’t remember any exciting stories from our visitation program, but I can see why. It is humiliating to think that instead of praying for the person we would encounter, even the adults were praying they wouldn’t be home. I sometimes wonder how God has ever had enough workers in the harvest to make any real difference when we use our prayer life only for self-focused reasons. An exciting journey began as I learned how to share my faith, and this next verse motivated me.
 
“But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 10:33

I loved the Lord! Why was witnessing so hard?
I will share with you some things I have learned along the way. There are two very different and opposite concepts of evangelism.
      
I’ll illustrate: 
I attended a major conference where a Baptist pastor I admired was the morning speaker. He said, “Evangelism is sprinkling where you’ve planted. Just sprinkle the gospel on people.” He went on to say that the trouble with most people was their coming on like fire hydrants and blowing people away who didn’t want to be listening to them. He gave an unforgettable picture of this while dancing around the stage, demonstrating a water sprinkler. When a large green fern on the stage caught his attention, he ran to the fern, mimicking how the sprinkler worked with his hands. His act was getting funnier by the minute, but no one would ever forget his illustration. Although he was a very masculine man, this illustration reminded me of Tinker Bell in Peter Pan, more than a preacher speaking on national television. But I never forgot his point. His stories of people he reached with the gospel were unique testimonies of his method’s effectiveness. He made a strong case for his approach to evangelism.

That same afternoon, an evangelist known for his bold life for Christ got up to speak. He went right to his point, “If you are not out there knocking on doors every single day, you are out of the will of God. There’s a lost and dying world out there headed straight for hell.” He said that the world so badly needed the Lord that nothing less than a fire hydrant with a fire hose turned on full blast would penetrate the crisis. He gave us no legitimate reason to waste time not evangelizing. His stories of people’s responses made us listen to his method seriously. Those who heard couldn’t help but admire his courage when we thought of our weak efforts. 

Suddenly, I had a problem with my notes in the successive sermons— “This is a major discrepancy. Are we to be a sprinkler or a fire hydrant?” But nothing could have painted the picture more clearly for me than hearing those two sermons back-to-back. One group applauded the pastor and his sprinkler system; another applauded the evangelist and his fire hydrant. I’m sure at the moment, your personal evangelism concept leans one way or the other. Both the pastor and the evangelist had given conclusive, scriptural proof of why we were to be out there evangelizing. 
     
The illustration of the sprinkler was similar to that of a hot summer day in Texas when we were kids. Placing the sprinkler into a hose, a small stream of water came out of it. On these sultry days, we danced and splashed in the water, cooling off in the sprinkler made for slowly watering the grass. It is slow and refreshing. This summertime experience is like Relational Evangelism.
     
The second type is Propositional Evangelism. The fire hydrant is applied when a force of water is needed in a dire situation. It is often considered the best type of evangelism to reach the most people in the shortest amount of time. It is straight and to the point. It simply states the case: here it is, take it or leave it; Jesus Christ died for you. He wants you to accept Him. Are you willing?” A person can either take Jesus or refuse the offer and walk away. This one is not slow and not thought of as refreshing, but it is made for when the world is on fire and is not being reached. “Here’s the deal: I’m giving you the opportunity for a life change. It benefits you, but it is your loss if you don’t see it like that. This direct approach is Propositional Evangelism.

In and of themselves, both Relationship Evangelism and Propositional Evangelism have their pitfalls:

With the Relationship Evangelism method (the sprinkler system), we are working among those we have regular contact with. However, we can miss the opportunity to make new contacts with people who are open but have never had a chance to hear the gospel. Many are lost because it is a slow approach. Also, many “Christians” never share their faith or disciple anyone. 
​
​The Propositional Evangelism method (fire hydrant system) can sometimes turn a person off. At times, it can come across as offensive. It does not involve a “relationship”; therefore, there is no follow-up. For example, after evangelistic crusades in Africa, horror stories are shared that different religions come in later, often turning the new believers away from Christianity in mass numbers. 

I’m sure you can think of people who fit into one of these two categories. Which one are you inclined to use? I believe we are to use both methods under the direction of the Holy Spirit. 
                                                      
Will you begin today?                                                      
Make it a priority to obey the Biblical mandates to go into the world and make disciples. It begins with prayer followed by action. Consider setting a simple goal and sticking with it. We are told that John Wesley committed to God that he wouldn’t go to bed until he won at least one person to God every day. He was known to have crawled into bed after a long day on horseback only to remember his commitment, and he got back up and went out and won his one. 

This concept was brought closer home to me through this next story:

We took a summer mission trip to the Philippines with an extra extension for evangelism in Australia. Someone shared a video clip with me just before we left home. It was from the very place we were going to be staying. This man had committed to sharing the Lord daily, and it wasn’t until the end of his life that he saw much fruit. The timing of the video was perfect for the goal we set, and the experiences we had on this trip are never to be forgotten. 

Don’t skip over the opportunity to watch this inspiring video showing the rewards of obedience to the Lord.  Amazing Testimony of Mr Genor The George street evangelist (Free tract info below) - YouTube

Take Inventory of Those Around You       
It all begins with your first person. Sometimes, God sets a wide-open door of evangelistic opportunity before us, but we don’t see it. A man once came to Spurgeon and asked how he could win others to Jesus. 

Spurgeon asked him, “What are you? What do you do?” 

The man said, “I’m an engine driver on a train.” 

“Then,” said Spurgeon, “Is the man who shovels coal on your train a Christian?”

“I don’t know,” said the man. “Go back,” said Spurgeon, “find out and start on him.” 

What we don’t want to happen is for someone to say, “No one ever told me…” on Judgment day, only to find that we had lived our life next to them and never shared the Lord. Someone who came very close to dying in a car wreck was incensed that their best friends had never— not even one time—shared Christ with them. Would your friends be angry with you because you have never shared your faith in Christ with them? 

Unplowed Ground
When I was in my teens, I became a volunteer at the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) for incarcerated youth simply to learn how to share my faith. Eventually, I developed a Monday night program where I would train my college friends to go to dorms at TYC and disciple these youth before their hearts became hardened to the gospel. This program provided an area where we developed relationship evangelism and discipleship. I enjoyed interacting with these incarcerated youth whom otherwise I would never have had a chance for an hour of their time. I think about those Bible studies with students who had committed serious violent crimes and how they poured their hearts out to me, often hearing the gospel for the first time. The program became so popular that the staff used it as a punitive method to motivate the students. One guy sailed a chair over our heads when he was removed from the lesson for infractions committed earlier in the week. He was screaming as he left, begging and crying to hear the rest of my story. I always thought that chair was one of the biggest compliments I had for coming out to speak to these guys week after week. Many staff members said they enjoyed the lessons and that I gave them the only church they ever had. And it all started with a desire to get the courage to “sprinkle” life-giving water on people who had never heard the gospel. So I learned a lesson that often, we are waiting for someone to invite us to do something when, instead, we need to find unplowed ground and begin the work.

While I worked in a doctor’s office, I always enjoyed the variety of backgrounds of our patients. The bigger the character a person was, the more I enjoyed them. Or, at least, the challenge they presented! One guy stands out in my mind for several reasons. When I was getting his information on file, he said, “I am Satan!” This large guy was a hardened drug dealer who had made a lifestyle out of intimidating people. He would flash his roll of cash at me from his pocket. He would say, “This is Lucifer speaking,” as he pushed his upper torso across the counter to put his face into mine, his eyes with a crazed look. 

Roaring at me, he would tell me what he was going to do to me. I burst out laughing and told him, “If I ever met a guy who needed Jesus, it is you.” I took him into a private room and stayed with him for the rest of the visit. Before he left the clinic that day, he was saved. He came back multiple times over the next couple of weeks to give proof that his salvation was real. I think he found it as hard to believe as everyone else. He could tell changes in himself. One indicator was with the youth he had influenced to get their start on drugs. He gathered them up and took them to a carnival with money he had obtained in his previous life of crime. (I would get tickled at some of the things new Christians would do). He had started sharing the Lord. It suddenly stopped.

In a crossfire between two gangs, a bullet struck him in the heart. He was dead just a month after he had been yelling at me, trying to intimidate me. I knew God had sent him to me. It was a veiled cry for help. God will give us the boldness we need for this hurting world we live in if we want it.

On an airplane trip, I was nervous about witnessing to the man beside me. I felt a tug to speak to him but found the bold evangelism method difficult. So, silently, I prayed and asked the Lord what to do. I was surprised when the Lord gave me these instructions: “Just start talking, and I will bring Myself up!” True to His word, I just started with a friendly conversation, and the Lord did bring Himself up! That took all the pressure off me, and I just began to have fun. I don’t remember how the conversation shifted because it happened so naturally. It was easy from there to share the Lord!

Many times, we make it too formal. Pay attention to surprise things that happen because God often draws your attention to someone. When I moved back to my hometown after college, my car was rear-ended while driving across town. Coming from a small rural town, we both jumped out in the traffic. The lady who hit me visibly panicked, but we became instant friends when I burst out laughing. I gave her a copy of my book and realized that God had protected us both. There was no damage to either car, but it was a doozy of a way for us to meet! Pay attention to your surprises during the day!

Blood On Your Hands
In our interviews for the Psalm 91 book, I talked to one person whose life was saved by seconds when he stepped into another room. He had never shared the Lord with a couple of ladies in the cubicle next to him. When a terrible disaster struck, his life propelled him into fame. His life was spared, yet it haunted him that one moment, his colleagues were alive and, then the next, they weren’t! He knew he had never shared the Lord with them even though he had been convicted and knew they went into eternity without ever knowing the Lord. Who are you doing life with regularly, yet you have never shared the Lord with?

The concept of blood on our hands comes from Ezekiel 3:18 and Ezekiel 33:8. Both lay out a dire warning that we have a “partnership of consequences” in the lives of those we ignore and don’t warn. Have you won your first person to the Lord? To whom have you been putting off sharing your faith? To whom should you be sharing with?

Let the Holy Spirit lead you for which method to use for each person, but do something! There is a world out there waiting to hear the gospel from you!

by Angelia Ruth