The Sower: Tools and Tips

This Site Has Moved

mikeandsus — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:18:41 +0000

Thanks for dropping in!

I’m in the process of moving all this information to:

After I get all the kinks worked out, I should be posting every Tuesday with true stories, quotes, tips, and resources, so please sign up here for a weekly email with a post from The Sower. The default on the sign-up page is to receive updates from ALL my other blogs and/or our newsletters, so if you only want news from The Sower, go to

“Choose the news you want”, click “no thanks” and then
click on “The Sower: encouragement to share your faith”

Filed under: Sower Resources

DVDs for Your Non-American Neighbors

mikeandsus — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:29:47 +0000

Probably every American can now say they know a fellow student, neighbor or co-worker from another country. We need to recognize this opportunity to take the Gospel to the nations just by befriending the people who have come to live and work among us.

Check out these DVDs to find a DVD in the right language group for your friend and their family. The DVDs are grouped by regions of Asia, Africa, and more. If you work on or near a campus, you might be interested in the All Nations JESUS DVD for International Scholars. This one DVD has the “JESUS” film in 16 languages: Arabic, Cantonese, English, Farsi, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish (Latin American), Thai, Turkish, Urdu, and Vietnamese. Subtitled in Arabic, Chinese (simplified and traditional), English, French, German, and Korean.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Reaching the Nations Among Us website to see what more they have to offer.

Also, check out the Jesus film store for more DVD options. In addition to the DVDs offered on the Reaching the Nations Among Us website, you can order specific languages of the Jesus film and also different language versions of the Story of Jesus for Children.

Filed under: Sower Resources Tagged: DVDs, foreign language, presents, recommended, students, web site

Recommended Book: God is the Issue

mikeandsus — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:23:13 +0000

I highly recommend a short, but important book, God is the Issue by Brad Bright. Brad explains the purpose of the book on page 17:

“This book is written to the person who ardently desires to bring about wholesale change within the American cultural mindset. It is written to the person who wishes to help frame the message that could ultimately allow us to win the war, not just individual battles.”

You can get an overview of the content of the book by reading this CBN interview of Brad Bright.

Filed under: Sower Resources Tagged: best books, quotes, recommended, what to say

Using Web Addresses

mikeandsus — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:08:23 +0000

I had forgotten my tracts that morning, so I thought I would not talk to anyone. However, a conversation naturally opened up with Lindsay and I jotted down a web site address for her. Read more…

I have often written a web address on a slip of paper when witnessing to people, especially if English is a person’s second language or I do not have a tract with me.

Some easy-to-memorize web addresses you can use are:

For evangelism:
everystudent.com for college students

For discipleship:
growinginchrist.com for learning how to walk with Christ

These will work without the http:// and the www. Try it first, if you like, and then visit Global Media Outreach for a partial list of their ninety-plus evangelistic and discipleship web sites which you could memorize.

You can also make addresses easier by using tinyURL.com. I made one for the video presentation on my web site, which you may use:

tinyurl.com/whyjesuscame for a complete video Gospel presentation

and also two more:

tinyurl.com/whoisjesus-really for the Good News in dozens of languages

tinyurl.com/watchthejesusfilm for a film of the Gospel of Luke in hundreds of languages

If you just want to send a really short link by Twitter or texting, try using tr.im, which will assign a random shortened URL. (If you create an account at tr.im, it will keep track of your shortened URLs for you. With tinyurl.com, I have had to make my own list so I will remember them.) Of course, these really short URLs from tr.im will not be meaningful and will be harder to memorize, but not impossible.

Here’s one, ready to go for texting or Twittering:
Who Is Jesus – Really? tr.im/yboN

If you write an evangelistic blog on WordPress.com, they automatically provide short links now (wp.me), so you can send your evangelistic post easier as a text or a Tweet. Just click on “Get Shortlink” under your post title when you are writing or editting your post.

You could also write these shorter addresses on the back of tracts or make a business card with web addresses if you wanted to.

Please add your suggestions of websites you would use.

Posted in Sower Resources Tagged: blogs, foreign language, internet, links, recommended, technology, texting, true stories, Twitter, videos, web site, what to say

Rate These Posts

mikeandsus — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:12:34 +0000

I discovered I could add ratings to my posts, so I decided to do that. You can help me know what posts are most useful to you!

Posted in Sower Resources Tagged: blogs, interactive, recommended

Reaching Urban Communities for Christ

mikeandsus — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:18:13 +0000

“In the Bible, the word poor includes the weak the elderly, the mentally and physically handicapped, the refugees, the new immigrants, the working poor, the natural disaster victims, the unemployed, the single-parent families, and the orphans.” – Tim Keller

On Wednesday, July 22, Tim Keller, the pastor of Redeemer Church in Manhattan, joined Campus Crusade’s inner city ministry (Here’s Life Inner City) to discuss “The Gospel and the Poor: A Case for Compassion.” Tim and his congregation have a very successful urban ministry. In this video, he offers many suggestions about reaching diverse urban cultures.

You can be equipped and challenged by this interview.

Posted in Sower Resources Tagged: links, quotes, recommended, videos, what to say

Another blog with good tips

mikeandsus — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:57:28 +0000

EveryStudent.com has a new blog with great help for sharing your faith. I just read the first post and liked the creative and culturally relevant idea they are trying this summer in Chicago.

Posted in Sower Resources Tagged: recommended, students

Creative Evangelism Ideas for Groups

mikeandsus — Sat, 09 May 2009 11:56:20 +0000

I was impressed with the wide variety of creative evangelistic ideas at Evoke Ministries. Most of the ideas presented were on a large scale that a church or a campus ministry could try, but they also encouraged individuals to witness when they attend, or participate in, large events. See more…

Posted in Sower Resources Tagged: recommended, true stories

Internet Evangelism Day website

mikeandsus — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:39:13 +0000

Even if you are not planning an event on Internet Evangelism Day (April 26, 2009), this site has testimonies of people who have come to the Lord through the internet, stories from internet evangelists, advice on how to make your church web site more effective and more. Check it out.

Posted in Sower Resources Tagged: Facebook, interactive, links, recommended, true stories, web site, what to say

Volunteer Opportunities

mikeandsus — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:26:20 +0000

I am starting a list today of Christian websites letting you know how you can volunteer your time and reach people for Christ in a practical way. I will add to this list when I find more. Please include your comments if you have worked with any of these groups or know of other opportunities to share your faith through volunteering.

Here’s Life Inner City, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ
Prison Fellowship
Rescue Missions
Salvation Army

I found a very useful directory at ChristianVolunteering.org to help you find more volunteer opportunities.

Other places to volunteer could include:
• food banks
• pregnancy counseling centers
• adoption centers
• foster parenting
• hospitals

Posted in Sower Resources Tagged: recommended, web site, what to say