Spread the Word (Part 1)

"Looks good, guys." Matías stood back and surveyed the side of the shed he and his younger brothers, Luis and Vincent, were painting. Matías was in charge of the project. He'd helped his dad paint their house before, so he was showing his brothers how it should be done. "Be sure to brush the paint out nice and smooth," said Matías.As they worked, the boys started talking about their friend Nathan who lived nearby. "Nathan asked me about our church and what we believe," said Vincent. "I didn't really know what to say. I was afraid I might not answer right, so I gave him my Sunday school teacher's email address.""Maybe we should ask Pastor Garcia to talk to him," said Matías."Yeah," agreed Luis. "It's the pastor's job to tell people about Jesus."Soon Mom came out with a tray of cookies and lemonade. "Matías," she said as the boys sat down to enjoy their snack, "since you're the only one who's painted before and know how to do it, why didn't Dad tell you to paint the shed alone?""All alone!" Matías shook his head. "This job is way too big for one person." "Dad figured Matías could teach Vincent and me to paint," Luis said. "Aren't we doing okay?""Oh, you're doing fine," Mom assured him. "But I overheard you say that it's the pastor's job to tell people about Jesus. He should do that, of course, but that job is also way too big for one person.""But we're not trained to do that like Pastor Garcia is," Vincent protested."No, and it's good to get all the training you can. Pastors and teachers and other Christians can help equip you to share your faith with others--just like Matías showed the two of you how to paint the shed. Learn from them, but don't wait for them to do all the work.""So you're saying we should answer some of Nathan's questions ourselves?" asked Matías."That's right," Mom said. "It's good to refer him to mature Christians, but you should also talk to him about Jesus yourselves. God put pastors, teachers, and other mature Christians in your life so you can learn from them, but He'll also help you learn from experience--from simply doing it." -Tom VandenBerg