Evangelism and Prayer Encounter

Speaker 1 (Henry):
Welcome back everyone. Now today we're going to pivot here to talk about evangelism and prayer encounter. Now we say that because evangelism, faith efficiency, faith sharing and chaplaincy, there's a delicate balance there that has to be talked about here. In different areas, the balance is different. I know we—in the chaplaincy about public schools—boy, there are strict lines. Okay?

Now, the truck stop chaplaincy might not have them as strict as, let's say, that line—or maybe a hospital line. But there's still… there are certain things we must talk about, because people do want to come to the Lord. But we have to also be very careful that we don't become proselytizing, knocking on trailer doors, excluding anyone—exclusive.

So we're going to talk about that. This is good training for you if you're called to chaplaincy ministry at truck stops. This is just an excellent training session where we look at the best of ministry sciences, the Bible, the practice of chaplaincy throughout the world.

So let's get right into it. Evangelism and prayer encounters. The heart of chaplaincy is sharing Christ through authentic relationships. Evangelism flows through presence, prayer, and Spirit-led timing. Every encounter becomes a holy conversation.

"For I am not ashamed of the good news of Christ. It is the power of God for salvation and for everyone who believes."

So let's dive right in and try to understand this—that evangelism flows through presence, prayer, and Spirit-led timing. It does not flow through being a traditional understanding of an evangelist: Do you know Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Like you mentioned in the last presentation, how you know—Hey, do you know Jesus? Yes. You know, that person had formed a formulaic understanding of: Are you in Christ? Not? If not, let me give you this.

Okay, so talk about this a little bit. That evangelism flows through presence, prayer, and Spirit-led timing.

Speaker 2 (Monte):
Chaplains walk a fine line between chaplaincy and evangelism. You know, ultimately, we want to see people come to the Lord. You know, that's the ultimate of why we're there. But yet, not everybody's ready for that—not everybody. We have a lot more Muslim drivers out there than we used to—drivers that don’t, you know, they have their own beliefs about Jesus. And we don’t want them to feel like we care about them less than we would a Christian driver, because we don’t. We care about everybody.

So the presence—getting to know them, the relationship, the bantering—all that fits in with developing that relationship and looking for opportunities to share.

Speaker 1 (Henry):
Okay, so it's out of the relationship that the open door may be for the evangelist. Okay. Understanding spiritual readiness—not everyone… all these slides just kind of all go together—not everyone is ready to hear the message right away. Discern where the Holy Spirit is already at work. We join God's timing, not force our own. What do you mean by that?

Speaker 2 (Monte):
Sometimes when you—well, God’s timing is important. There are times when He's not going to prompt you to share the gospel with somebody, because they're just simply not ready. And you know it. And you know it. And that's okay.

You know, we're seed planters. We try to plant a seed. But when we listen to their conversation, something they say in their conversation maybe may catapult us into the presence of the gospel in some way.

Speaker 1 (Henry):
Gotcha.

Speaker 2 (Monte):
Or at least talking about Jesus, or at least talking about, "Well, I believe…" Or, "The Bible teaches…"

I like "The Bible teaches…” better than “I believe.” Because if I say “I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe…” well…

Speaker 1 (Henry):
The Bible teaches, right. Yeah, right. And how that can be phrased—this wonderful way: “The Bible teaches, therefore I believe.” Or, “I believe what the Bible teaches.” You know, there’s ways in which—you know, and again, I’ve noticed that.

But again, it’s how you slip in evangelism in a way that is not like—you know, “The Bible teaches you this and you better get with it.” You know, again, there’s that fine line.

Speaker 2 (Monte):
Right. Yeah. Really understanding spiritual readiness. Not everyone is ready to hear the message right away. Discern where the Spirit is already working.

Speaker 1 (Henry):
Yeah, let’s talk about that piece too—discerning. How do we know, as truck stop chaplains—what signs do you see that the Spirit is already working?

Speaker 2 (Monte):
Listening, again, is so important. Listening to what they’re saying, watching their facial expressions, watching their posture, watching the way they present what they’re saying.

Speaker 1 (Henry):
I think that’s interesting. I mean, I’ve noticed also—the tears come. That’s a sign. That’s a big sign, right?

Speaker 2 (Monte):
It is.

Speaker 1 (Henry):
Something is moving.

Speaker 2 (Monte):
Open door.

Speaker 1 (Henry):
Yep. Yep.

Speaker 2 (Monte):
You might want to go through that open door gently. But yeah—open door.

Speaker 1 (Henry):
It is, yeah. And even the warmth of the body opens up. I’ve seen it where they’re like this, and then they start opening up, right?

People expect to be thumped with the Bible. Okay? When they see you come up, a lot of them—that’s what they’re expecting. And when they don’t get it, then maybe it’ll open a door. Wait a minute. I can talk to this guy. Right?

Speaker 2 (Monte):
Right. He’s not going to come bite my head off. He’s not going to beat up his Bible by thumping it over my head. You know, I’ve told a couple of them that: I’m not going to thump you with this. I’d rather read it than run it on your head. You know, that type of thing.

Speaker 1 (Henry):
See—banter. And I think that’s—you know, humor, banter, in a way—and we talked a little bit about that—is like gaining rapport, but not going over the top. Right?

You know, where—and again, there’s that… you like oil, but don’t go over the top. You can have fun, but don’t have humor that degrades. Right?

You know, here’s the Word of God and how that can be slipped in. And part of it is just the experience—knowing kind of where that North Star is, but just sort of working toward it. You’re not going to be great at first necessarily, but who cares?

Speaker 2 (Monte):
Yeah, we’re pointers, yes. But—we are. Real quick story—we met a Muslim man. I’m not going to say too much about him, because yeah, confidentiality. But he came in and he was talking to Bobby while I was out in the lot, up in the TV room, and I come up and listen to him and talk to him for a minute and asked if I could pray with him.

And at first he goes, “No, no, no. No prayer. No.” Well, I started praying anyway, and he calmed down, and he accepted it. And he thanked us, and he hugged us for the prayer. But he wouldn’t stay for service.

Well, you know, we didn’t throw our arms around him and make him stay. That’s not what we do. But anyway—two weeks later, he came in. Wouldn’t come for service again, but he came in with big smiles. He just wanted to say hi to us. And we’ve seen him three or four other times besides that, and he’s always happy to see us. He’s always friendly.

So there’s a relationship there that will hopefully lead to a gospel encounter at some point. But you know—that’s, that’s…

Speaker 1 (Henry):
Well, then I like too how—like, there’s that interchange of, “Oh, don’t pray…” and then you prayed. But you have to also have the spiritual discernment that somebody else might have said that, and, you know—they really don’t want you to pray. See?

And there’s that—and I’ve seen that too. I remember this one time when I was doing ministry, you know, it was this—oh, this man’s wife cheated on him. Okay? And when you’re doing community ministry, it’s all the same—leaking oil things. Okay?

So he was so angry and so mad and so, you know? And I said, “Well, let’s meet.”
“I don’t want to meet.”
You know, now on one level you can say, “Well, he doesn’t want to meet. Too bad.” But I felt the Holy Spirit said, “No, we’re meeting.”

So I said, “No, we’re meeting.”
He goes, “I don’t have time.”
I said, “What time?”
And he said, “10:30 at night,” thinking he will, like, blow me off.
“Okay, that works. No problem.”

Yep. At 3 a.m. I led him to the Lord, and it saved their marriage. God did. Not only that—they had two or three more children. I think it was three more children—happily involved in the church, all of those things.

But it was that spiritual discernment. If I didn’t pick up on his “10:30”—right?—today, that family, who knows?

God could have raised up something. I don’t have some belief that I’m, you know, saving the world. I’m not. But—it’s…

Speaker 2 (Monte):
Fun to be used by the Lord.

Speaker 1 (Henry):
Absolutely. There’s no—no greater high in the world.

Henry:
You know, and so it's that, it's that gentle discernment. And yet, you know how? You know somebody who says no, but they really are saying yes, is that? It's that listening so good. It really is conversational evangelism. Absolutely avoid preaching, embrace natural conversations. Ask questions, listen well, speak the truth with gentleness. A little banter is in there. Grace filled this. Grace filled dialog opens hearts. Let your speech always be full grace. Season with salt. They may know how to answer every one.

Monte:
No you can share scripture with somebody without telling them it's scripture principles with somebody without telling them it comes from the Bible. You can tell them what they need to hear without allowing them to throw their wall up and really growing in that ministry skill.

Henry:
Testimony is the bridge. Let's talk about that. For Evangelism, your story is powerful when shared humbly. Testimony reveals how God's grace works in real life. Stories connect the four doctrines convince.

Monte:
Um, when you share your testimony, you're saying, This is what God did for me, right? This is what he did in my life. I know he's real because I've met him, yeah, and that's, that's way I've seen the Lord. I've seen the Lord John is so clear about that in First John, you know, we've seen him, we've touched him, we've listened to him, we've been there, you know. And he's real, you know. Grasp this, but lost my train of thought.

Henry:
Well, the real, I mean, you've seen the Lord your testimony, you go to someone and you share your story and why it's in this moment.

Monte:
Yeah, it's not just spiritual principles over here. It's real. Yes, he's real. I'll tell people, you know, I don't believe in that, or I don't believe in it, I know. Sometimes I'll say, Well, when you change that, it to him, you'll be on the right track.

Henry:
Yeah, yeah. Do you find that young people today want to hear the stories from old guys like you and me, sometimes,

Monte:
Sometimes they do. It depends on the person. It's fun when you get a young person that just wants to listen, depends on the person. Yeah, age, yeah.

Henry:
Do you find like older people are more receptive now, or, you know, again, I'm asking questions based upon your observation. Your truck stop chaplaincy parish is in Texas. So do you find what? What are you noticing in the discernment of evangelism right now? Is there an opening that you are discerning, maybe after covid, after I mean, a lot of things are happening in our culture right now. Do you feel this is a great time to be a witness for Christ, and is a trust truck stop every

Monte:
Time is a great time to be a witness for Christ, the situations that are going on in politics or in the world or in our country, are often opportunities, you know, a driver might be talking about, Well, the problem is, I just don't understand why this is going on. And it's a good time to share and say, Well, I do you know, God created us in a perfect environment. He had his design for us, but we, we walked away from that, you know, I sinned against him, right? And because of that, we live in a broken society, yeah, yeah. Take them back to basics, yeah.

Henry:
Well, and I love how you do that, too. It's like in testimony, which we're talking about, is testimony can all of a sudden merge in with scripture, like, you know, I could tell the story about, yeah, you know, I was really fatigued last night, and I was tempted to watch something I shouldn't watch, but that I was reminded of a scripture like, watch the covenant of your eyes, you know. And then, you know, and then, but every thought kept Yes, and then what starts happening in this conversation? Somebody go like, Yeah, I did too rather, but you know, it wasn't so easy for me. And you know something, and then, you know, I'll sort of smile, yeah, I will. I totally understand.

Now, in a sense, I am talking about testimony here, but really now we're getting into and I bring that up because what happened the next in this particular encounter is somebody said, You know what? He said, I haven't had sex with my wife in six months. And you know something I don't know. I think I'm losing it. You know? It came with something was quasi testimony.

And then, then further on, the conversation is like, you know, I at some point said, Do you want to know what it is actually to be a Christian? I didn't say, You need Jesus Christ now. I just said, if you're interested, right? I'll share what it actually means to be a Christian.

Yep, and he's, I am it means to me, yes, right, right? Oh, yeah. What it means, what it means to be, all this other stuff at that point. And that person became a believer in their marriage, you know, again, after 40 years, you we have stories. So, you know, now I can tell you seven stories along there that the Holy Spirit wasn't at that moment. To bring conversion.

But I'm making the point. What you're making the point is that lot of times when we just start talking about what the Word of God means to us, right, and how we're real people like they are, it's healed, same struggles, the same same temptations. Bible says that

Monte:
So powerful.

Henry:
Yep. Do you find that prayer is an evangelistic tool. Often prayer, naturally, many are waiting to be asked. A moment of prayer can awaken faith and peace. God moves when we simply invite him to the moment. You find that to be true.

Monte:
Yeah, there's a lot of times we might be out walking the lot, or walking on the fuel island, talking to drivers or whatever, and, and we'll, we'll say, I say we, meaning me and Bobby, you know, she might be down a couple of trucks or whatever, but, but we always try to ask them, is there anything we can pray for you for, or pray with you for, right?

And some of them, "I'm good. I'm good." Well, that tells me what I need to pray for for that person. But, yeah, yeah. A lot of them say, "Oh man, my wife is going through…" or, "My mom's sick," or, you know, "Just good miles." You know, "It's been a rough day," whatever it is.

Henry:
What does good miles mean?

Monte:
Good miles means an uneventful trip—no tire blowouts, no mechanical breakdowns, just a nice day of driving.

Henry:
Okay? I see. Good miles.

Monte:
Yeah, so there are probably all kinds of buzzwords. I'm learning hearing them today—like buzzwords, but kind of industry speak. You talked earlier about our own language. I guess we do, because a lot of times I'll pray for a driver and I'll pray for their good miles. You know?

Henry:
Yeah, good miles.

Monte:
Yeah, the loads they need to make, the money they need—all that's involved in that. So even incorporating prayer in the jargon is like a possible prompt for the gospel.

Henry:
Yes, and when I pray with somebody, I always pray, “Thank you, Lord, for going to that cross in our place, being buried and then rising again three days later, so that we can know that we serve a living, living Savior,” right? So, you know, there's the gospel right there.

Monte:
Yeah.

Henry:
And a prayer—

Monte:
Opportunity in the prayer itself.

Henry:
Yes. So you shared the prayer in a real brief—we’re talking like, join us. How quickly that was said. And yet, when the Holy Spirit's working—and I've seen that too—it doesn't take a lot for transformation, because the Holy Spirit, in a second, can change someone.

Monte:
Yep, that's so good.

Henry:
In a lot of ways, it comes down to this—discerning the moment, right? And you know, you got to do that.

Monte:
Yeah.

Henry:
Every encounter is different. Listen to the Spirit's cue. Some prayers comfort, others call commitment. The Spirit gives timing and tone for every word. “A time to tear and a time to sow, a time to keep silent and a time to speak.” Ecclesiastes 3:7.

Do you ever feel like you got that wrong? Like, here you're listening, and then all of a sudden it's like, oh, change of pace here?

Monte:
Oh, yeah. There’s a lot of times I've gone, "Man, I wish I'd have said…" or "I wish I'd caught on to that word," or, you know, after they're gone or something. Yeah. We're not perfect. We need the Lord. We know we need to listen to the Holy Spirit when we're talking to drivers. Different encounters are going to be different.

You might have a great encounter here, and then the next one will be somebody that you're really struggling with even liking, right? And they're just—what they say just bristles, you know, you, and they're really not interested, you know. And they can build your anger up if you allow it, right? And then the next one may be somebody who really needs to talk, and if you're still dwelling on the anger, you're not ready for this person.

Henry:
Right? Wow, that's so good.

But there are times—and we're gonna talk about this next—that people answer the question, "Yes, I'd like to hear about the gospel." So let's talk about those times.

Keep it simple: God's love, sin separates, Christ saves, faith restores. The language of love, hope—not debate. The gospel is God's power, not our persuasion.

So what are some of your, like, stories or your observations about when people are wanting to hear the gospel? What are some of those ministry skills that kind of resonate with you?

Monte:
A lot of times, it's the after—the initial contact with somebody. You may say something that, you know, they were just going to—it was going to be a quick hi, and they were going on or something—but all of a sudden you’ll say something, and it makes them turn and come back. And, you know, that's an open door, in my opinion.

Yeah, sometimes just the prayer—like I was saying—where I just, you know, "died on the cross, buried and resurrected"—sometimes they'll say something about that. Okay, you know, here's an open door. If you share it simply, then maybe you'll have an opportunity to expand on that, right?

It depends on what the Holy Spirit is doing with that heart, and that's what you have to be listening for.

Henry:
Do you ever give out tracts?

Monte:
Oh yeah.

Henry:
Okay. Have them in your pocket?

Monte:
Do you have one right now?

Henry:
I do.

Monte:
Okay.

Henry:
Look at this—wow—"Road to Heaven."

Monte:
Oh, look at that—"Heaven. Road to Heaven." Sorry, I got it. "Road to Heaven."

Henry:
I like that one because it's fairly simple in its presentation.

Monte:
Yes. Some of the tracts are so in-depth, you know, and you gotta be really interested to read those. So I like the more simple—tell you what you need to know, but don't give you a whole theological book on it.

Henry:
Right?

Monte:
The Bible says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory"—we all leak oil.

Henry:
Okay?

Monte:
Then before we can declare innocent by God, we must admit we're guilty.

Henry:
Wow, that’s just really—

Monte:
Okay, I come to you, "Yes, Lord, I do leak oil," right?

Henry:
So we first—we all leak oil. "Yes, Lord, I do leak oil." Then Jesus paid for our sin—His death, burial, and resurrection. See, this gets right to the point. And now talking about salvation—we need a Savior God's way. And with any gift, the gift of salvation must be received. And then we go to John 3:16.

Henry:
Whoa, Truck Stop Ministries.

Monte:
Yeah, that one there—I was able to personalize it, so my phone number is on there, and email and that kind of thing.

Henry:
Nice.

Monte:
And then Truck Stop Ministries has a 24/7 prayer line that anybody can call, and they're always going to get a live voice—somebody that's going to talk to them when they call that.

Henry:
So if—we'll talk about this later too—but just briefly, we're very much open to work with Truck Stop Ministry. If one of our Christian Leaders Institute students wants to become ordained with the Alliance, would like to connect to Truck Stop Ministries—is that a possibility?

Monte:
Yes.

Henry:
Okay, so we will lay it around. We'll get all that information—you're always recruiting.

And I really like—hey everyone—I really like, you know, get your training, become ordained, and then find a ministry like this that not only you can maybe possibly tithe to, but also you can then, like, have that 24-hour prayer line, have a little card like this. That's really a game changer.

Monte:
Yeah.

Henry:
And it's so easy to—"Road to Heaven." Yeah, when that moment comes, right, they can look at it—like carry a little wooden cross, crosses in this pocket. And sometimes it's just, "Here, here's a little something to remind you that Jesus loves you," yeah. Just as simple as that.

Monte:
Well…

Henry:
And I love that combination of things you have. Like the ordination matters. We have students constantly talking about how, you know, people will say—believers—they don't care that you're ordained or not, because they are guided by the Word of God. An unbeliever wants to know that.

I mean, don’t go to a doctor if the doctor doesn't have something that says someone else has said, not just themselves. And it's not a, you know, spammy ordination that they paid for $25 for. It's actually study-based ordination.

Monte:
Right.

Henry:
So people want to know you went to seminary too. They want to know that you've studied. But they also want to know that somebody else says you're ordained.

But they also, I feel, want to know that you are connected to a group of people. So you could actually create your own soul center in your area, in a truck stop, but then connect to a ministry like this. And now you're like, okay—because again, one soul center in a local area—you cannot probably have a prayer line. And there is someone here, 24 hours—

Monte:
24/7. Yep, the phone will be answered.

Henry:
Wow.

Monte:
Someone's willing to talk to you about whatever.

Henry:
So let's talk now about leading someone to actual salvation—the leading of salvation prayer.

When somebody is ready, guide them gently into prayer. A simple confession of faith changes eternity. Rejoice when God grants repentance and new life.

Have you seen this true—how that powerful prayer, simple as it is, changes everything?

Monte:
Yeah, many times. Yeah. Sometimes somebody will say they're saved—I mean, they say that they accepted the Lord that day—and you kind of wonder. And other times you saw it. You know, you saw the difference from when they walked in. At that moment, like with the one man I was telling you about, at that moment, you can see the difference. You can see the Holy Spirit come in. And those times are just—you live for the Holy Spirit.

Henry:
Yeah.

Monte:
They're addicting.

Henry:
Is that the truth?

Monte:
I have never got over that.

Henry:
Nope, neither have I.

Monte:
Don't want to get over it.

Henry:
I don't either—actually, good point. But it is true. It is really true. I'm now, as we're doing this tape, and I'm 64 years old, and I feel young in my spirit as ever—on this truth, right?

Monte:
I do.

Henry:
I do. I feel young as ever.

Then it comes to follow up. So now, in a local church ministry, follow up is—you know, you meet all the time. Here's the Bible study. But evangelism through relationships—stay in touch. Connect with them. Connect them to a local fellowship. Disciples multiply. Discipleship multiplies transformation.

So how do you follow up with someone who you might not see again?

Monte:
Well, that's where the ministry comes in. That's where the prayer line comes in. Okay? Somebody—they know they can talk to. That's why I give my number and my email out, right? And it's on here as well.

Henry:
It's on there as well?

Monte:
It's on my cards. Truck Stop Ministries has Bible studies that they can take with them, that they can get from the main office. Sometimes we have materials for a new Christian, you know, to help them learn to walk the walk, so to speak. And just—it's up to them. The opportunities are there, you know. So we encourage them to take them—call. Please call. Anytime. You know, I need to talk, if you need to pray—whatever it is—please call.

Henry:
So in action—every small act of kindness can plant a gospel seed. We plant, others water. God gives the growth. Trust the Spirit to bring fruit in His timing, you know? And I think what's great about this is, in the end, it's still not all up to us—because God has a plan.

Monte:
Yep. And we don't know where we are in that plan. We don't know if we're the original seed, if we're a later seed, if we're a waterer—or if we're going to be there for the harvest.

Henry:
Yeah.

Henry:
The power of the gospel. The power of prayer. Every prayer opens every heart. The Gospel transforms lives. Every truck stop can become a place of salvation. You carry the message of eternal hope wherever you go.


पिछ्ला सुधार: बुधवार, 21 जनवरी 2026, 12:49 PM