Evangelist Unfairly Criticized

April 2012 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Evangelist Unfairly Criticized

When Franklin Graham was conducting one of his early evangelistic campaigns in Danville, Illinois in 1993 I was privileged to serve as part of a group charged with finding church homes for those who accepted Christ as their Savior. At the end of his last gospel message, while convicted sinners were moving down front to make their decision public, a man next to me said, “Franklin’s just like his father, a catch-and-release fisher of men.” When I asked what he meant, he said that while he was a good “fisher of men,” after the “catch” he would just “release” them back into the world instead of making sure they were attached to a church for discipleship.

I explained to him that Graham wasn’t a catch-and-release fisher of men. He had a team of local Christians assigned to personally contact those who signed a commitment card, to make sure they were referred to a local Bible church. But the man told me it wasn’t working, because his church had not been contacted to help in discipling. When I asked the campaign follow-up organizer why that church wasn’t used in follow-up, he said it was because it was openly opposed to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s way of doing things. Then I saw that the sign in front of that church was competing instead of cooperating by advertising its own gospel campaign during the same nights as Graham’s.

How sad to see fishers of men fighting with one another over the same fish! I wish I’d remembered to paraphrase Jesus’ words to His disciples: “Open your eyes and look at the fields (seas)! They are ripe for harvest (catching)” (Jn. 4:35). And if an evangelist catches fish but fails in follow-up, Paul wrote that we can be confident “that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). Finally, Paul also wrote to remind us that while some plant (catch) and others water (disciple), it is God alone who makes the new believers’ faith grow (1 Cor. 3:6).

We hope you find this month’s Features an encouragement to go fishing.

By Larry Ondrejack