This is the Truth Network. Welcome to If Not Forgot. Stories of hopelessness that turn to hope. Here is your host, Mike Zwick. What is your favorite evangelism story?
I've got Robbie Dilmore today, the Christian car guy in the studio. And man, I've had a bunch of them, Robbie. But I'll start you off with this. One of my favorite ones, and to me, I even think it's a little bit funny. Is years ago, I said, I want to start doing evangelism, right?
And so I was out in Yatkinville or Yatkin County, North Carolina. And I said, I don't know what to say. I said, but Lord, I'm just going to open up my mouth. And I talked to this lady and I said, are you saved? She said, No.
I said, Would you like to get saved? She said, Yes. And so I said, Well, repeat this prayer. And I actually baptized her and everything. And so, Robbie, you may not believe this, but that's only happened one time in my life.
But I'm sure you've got plenty like that as well. No, I don't actually have one like that. I have a lot of different ones because, you know, I lived a lot different life. And I. You know, mine Perhaps a little longer process.
You know, I guess if you were to say some of my favorites, because every one of them, you know, somebody came to Christ, like, how do you get better than that? But some that are probably very unique was, you know, I taught special needs at Calvary for over 20 years. And Some of our students, they were all adults.
So these were people, autism, birth defects, numbers of things. And A lot of them weren't vocal. In other words, they didn't speak. And so you used sign language for Jesus and things that you would do in order to witness to them. But.
A lot of times you you really didn't have much Feedback that they were see hearing what you were doing, or you know, they'd be punching the air or looking out the window, or, you know, as sometimes, you know, people with autism and that stuff do, even though they know way more about what's going on than you do. Yeah. Yeah. So I'll never forget that we. You know, I'd been doing this maybe eight or nine years and w we'd like to do vacation Bible school.
Whatever the curriculum would be that Calvary was doing that year, we would do it. And you might have. Done vacation Bible school, whatever, but a lot of times in the curriculum, they'll do this ABC thing: admit, believe, confess. Like you have this chance to share Jesus with it and have people accept Christ. What?
We had two students that were nonverbal that came from a group home. One was named Robert, and the other one was Robert, and the other one was named Marius. And Robert was the kind of guy that always... He would hide his face. You know, I'm sure he'd been looked down on his whole life because he looked different.
And so his hands were always over his face. Although he had a beautifully warm smile, it was a great big, huge smile. And it looked unusual, but it was gorgeous when you knew it was coming from Robert's heart. But you would rather, ever see it because Robert always had his hands over his face.
Okay. And Marius would never turn his face towards you. He would always kind of turn away. And You know, he walked very fast, and so he always seemed to be like, when he, he would be walking away from you. It would never be walking towards you.
And so that was, but neither of these men were vocal. And, you know, sometimes we'd ask people to pray. You know, Morris would put his hands together and you felt like he was praying. And sometimes he'd even make noises like he was praying, but you didn't really know because it was just what was going on. Yeah.
So you can imagine my shock and awe. I mean, I just was one day, I was doing the vacation Bible school, and I said, okay, well, is there anybody here that's ready to do their ABCs, admit, believe, and confess, and accept Christ as their Lord and Savior? And both Marius and Robert raised their hand. Yes. Yes.
And I look at him, and Robert's got his hands dropped, and Marius is looking straight at me.
Okay. In other words, You usually don't see these guys' face. They're both looking straight at me, and they got their hand up, and they want to accept Christ. And so I'm like, okay, guys, here we go, you know. And I signed, you know, Jesus like you would, but, you know, and the whole thing, in order to, like, I admit that, you know.
I'm a s etc. And we went through it. And both of these gentlemen who were probably in their forties at the time. Accepted Christ. Praise God.
And as as unbelievably cool as that was. Yeah. Cooler, in my opinion, was to watch them become a new creation. Yes. Yeah.
Oh I never saw Marius again after that day that he did not come straight up to me. Reach his hand out, expect me to grab it, to shake his hand, give me a big warm smile. I mean, he became my brother that day. Yeah. The smile that you know the hands dropped, and most of the time, you know, Robert would be present.
when he was with you. And so it was a different kind of evangelism than a lot of people may experience, but it was just what God had for me. And it's always been one of my favorite stories because I you know you you In my own mind, I did not see that one coming. I didn't, you know, you're like, I don't know. You know, I'm teaching such stuff, whatever.
But oh man, God can do, you know, He can make a way where there seems to be no way. And like you've said so many times, I've heard you, if you're obedient, you know, it's just amazing what He'll do.
Well, and it's true. And I think, you know, we have a a friend of ours, Fred Hagee. I think, didn't you sell your dealership to him or something? No, actually he sold his dealership. He was the Jeep dealer.
in Winston-Salem and him selling that dealership to David Neal was the reason I came to Winston-Salem to begin with.
Okay. That that um David Neal bought that and he formed what was Bob Neal Chrysler Plymouth Jeep Eagle and I I came in and president in 1993. That's when I came to Winston Sales.
Well, Fred wrote a book on evangelism, and he does it a certain way, does a great job. But I think sometimes people look at evangelism as a cookie-cutter way. You've got to do it this way. This is the result. This is how it works.
And a lot of times, it's good to have a plan. It's good to know what you're going to say, especially certain times. But I've noticed there's other times when I just rely on the Holy Spirit that the Lord just opens up doors and I say, Lord, what do you want me to say in this situation? And I've got a friend of mine named Tiger, and he sent me a message this morning. It was just absolutely amazing.
He said he went to Myrtle Beach and he said, him and his wife went there. And I said, Did you like it? He says, Not really. He said, It smelled like weed. Everybody was drunk.
Everybody was cursing. I brought my kids there.
So, you know, it was just what he said, but he said there were some evangelism opportunities. And he said, They walked into a store one day, and there was a woman who was either from Haiti or Jamaica, and she had a very strong accent. And when he started talking to her, he just felt the Lord lead him to say, The Lord loves you. And he said to this woman, The Lord loves you. And he said, This woman just started bawling, just started crying.
And he said, What's going on? Like, why, you know? And he said, It was on a Friday. And he said, two days before on a Wednesday, this lady asked the Lord, she said, Lord, are. Are you even hearing anything that I'm asking you for?
Are you even listening to my prayers? And she said, Lord, if you are. I want you to send me one person. Who will confirm that? And she said, by you coming today and telling me that the Lord loves me, it was a confirmation from the Lord.
And what Tiger told me later on in the message, he said, Mike, he said, I wonder how many other Christians. Could have done the same thing that I did. I wonder how many times we as Christians, we feel like we should say something to somebody, but we just walk right on by and we don't do anything at all. And so I want to, it's not a guilt thing. It's not to, oh, I got to feel guilty or whatever, but you know, that today is a new day.
Today has new opportunities in it. My wife's favorite movie growing up was called Anne of Green Gables. And so that's why we've got my daughter Ann over here. Because do you remember that movie series? But she, but, but that was it.
And she said, there's a little sign that we have in our room and it says, tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet.
So, you know, yesterday's history, tomorrow's a mystery, today's a gift. That's why they call it the present. But I don't know. To me, it's not, I think if it's something, oh, gosh, I've got to do this, this stinks or whatever. That's kind of, that's kind of tough.
I mean, and if you have to do it, you have to do it. But I think, Robbie, when you can make it fun. When you can make evangelism fun, exciting, and sometimes a little different.
Sometimes you got to mix it up a little bit. It doesn't have to be something that just stinks. Have you seen that? Yeah. Oh well You know, I guess I I have a different Yeah.
I don't know, experience of Yeah. Evangelism is almost Not something I do out of, like, oh, I need to evangelize. It's more of. You know, I talk about God. I love God.
I want to do, you know, and then it's interesting how God uses that sometimes to bring somebody to a new faith, sometimes to disciple them further in their faith, or sometimes to get you discipled because I can't tell you how many people have taught me when all of a sudden it just brought up the idea of God, and the next thing you know, they're showing you something that just totally blows your mind. And so, um, You know, when you talk about your favorite evangelism moments, I can tell you that another two of my favorites are. Uh my brother and my sister. My actual, you know, physical blood relatives that the Lord allowed me to be part of, you know, at one point in my life. Yeah.
Him bringing them to faith. But my brother's story is actually quite comical, in my opinion. He was coming, he had come to a boot camp. Oh, maybe, you know, we do masculine journey boot camps. You came to one one time or maybe twice.
And he came to one, and he didn't get a whole lot out of it. I didn't feel like he did. But his grandson, uh was involved, unfortunately, in his best friend's drowning. That they were jumping off some rocks there in Tennessee into the water, and they didn't know his best friend couldn't swim. And Unfortunately, the best friend drowned.
And as a result, his grandson went into a great depression of trying to understand, you know, what was going on with this. And so in my brother's attempt to try to help his grandson, he said, well, we need to go to a boot camp, right?
So he and Dev and his grandson came to this boot camp. And again, I wasn't In my mind, I wasn't evangelizing. Right? You know, doing my normal thing I always do at boot camp, right? Right.
Well, the way the story went is when he goes to leave to come to North Carolina and he gets in the car with his son, with his grandson, his grandson says, Well, Papa, are we going to See a bear on this trip since we're going to North Carolina. You know, they're famous for their black bears, and my brother being my brother, he's, oh, yeah, we're going to see a bear. You know, because they're coming through the mountains on 40 back then, it was open. And So They get to the boot camp and the very last talk, the very last day, I I was actually doing a talk on being a sage and being a sage, just being a point man. And I was quoting from the movie Rudy, Where he said, you know, and whatever it is, thirty years of of the of Theological studies, I've come to essentially two conclusions.
You know, one, there is a God. And number two, I'm not him. What a revelation. Yeah. And I've showed that movie clip and talked about that essentially that's the deal.
You know, like there is a God and I'm not him. You have questions. You need something. You need to go, you know. And so I didn't think much about it.
Mark left from the boot camp and he took off with his son and fifteen minutes out of camp, You know, I got this text. There is a God, and I'm not him. He said. Ah. And he said, Robbie, I'm really experiencing something.
I'm having to pull over. I'm crying so bad. Yes. And uh You know, a few minutes later, I get another text. This is really messing with me.
I'm going to pull over again. I may have to let Devin drive. And so by this time, they're actually in the mountains, and you know, on 40, where it's so curvy. And he tells You know, Devin, you go ahead and drive. And by this time, Devin's crying, and they're both having this moment where they're accepting Christ in the car together, right?
I don't happen to be there, but I mean, it's what's going on. And it has to do with what happened. And so They switch drivers because Mark really is messed up, right? And When Devon closes the door when he gets back in the driver's cart, cue the bear. Like it comes right across to the light.
And so God making this like, I'm right in this, I'm right here. Yeah. And, and, Again, it wasn't just the moment that my brother became a Christian. It was what happened in his life after that. It was what happened in Devin's life.
Devin went on to to you know join um FCA and start a Bible study there in his football team. Went to you know, go went to Christian college, is very, very, very instrumental in his church. My brother, um, the same kind of thing, just Text me time and time. Oh man, Robbie, I read this in the Bible this morning and the Lord means, and it wasn't just, it wasn't just I got to see the moment that they accepted Christ like it wasn't with the case of the people. I got to see how God really worked in his life.
Yeah. Right.
And I got to see, you know, and so it's one of my favorite evangelism stories, but I can't say that, you know, I went through the Roman road through it. Right.
It wasn't like that. But, you know, God honored me to have whatever part in it. And that what I was sharing that day, you know, affected him. Yeah, I think sometimes, Robbie, we get in trouble. Where we think it's us.
Who were doing something? Yeah, we think it's all, oh, it's all about me. It's what I've got to say. And I was actually talking with Rebecca Haney earlier today. Do you know Rebecca?
I think so. Yeah. So she has a radio show out of Iowa. And she said, when I started to have more success in evangelism, is when I got over myself. You know, I realized that I wasn't worried about what I wanted to say or what I had to say anymore.
You know, a guy named Bob Meist, right? Oh, of course. And one of the things that Bob actually, I brought him to a Bible study and he brought his friend Rob. And his friend Rob was a little bit different. That's his son.
A Rob Meist? No, no, no, Rob. No, this guy is probably older than Bob. Oh, I'm not sure. But no, he said it was his friend.
And he said that this is what he did with evangelism. He said that he would go up to somebody and he would say, If you could ask God to answer one prayer for you today, he said, What would you ask him for? And he said that when he tried evangelism in different ways, he said that he wouldn't really have as much success. But when he did this, he noticed that people may not want you to bang them over the head with Jesus always, but he said that people are willing to accept prayer. And he said, There was one day where he was talking to a woman at a Lowe's hardware store, and she said, I've got a personal private prayer.
And she said, I want you to pray. He prayed. And then two or three days later, this woman came into the store. And said, My prayer was answered. And she ended up, I believe, giving her life to Jesus Christ.
The prayer she was about to kill herself. And she was asking the Lord if there was a reason to live. Right.
And so it's like just by this guy being obedient. You know, God did big things. I've heard the story years ago about an American missionary who went to Africa. And they said that when they went to Africa, all of a sudden they woke up in the middle of the night and the Lord said, put your underwear on. They put their underwear on.
Get up. They stood up. go out the door. They s went out the door. Start running.
They started running, run to that tree. They ran to the tree. Finally, the Lord says: share the gospel right here. Guy's like in the middle of the night, so he starts sharing the gospel to this tree in the middle of nowhere. And all of a sudden, there's a guy who comes down with a noose in his hand.
And he's weeping and bawling, and he gives his life to Jesus Christ. That guy was about to kill himself. Had that American missionary been disobedient in any one of those steps, not only would that guy not have been saved, he would have gone to hell for eternity and he would have killed himself.
So, you know, for me, I think it's just about being obedient. No, it's it it is and and You may remember Sam Hicks, or you know, Sam's very much alive. He uh Yeah, so was that? You know, would at this point in time would land and rescue, and he'd travel around the world, and he was. if I'm not mistaken, in Pakistan.
And uh on a motorcycle, you know Trying to help rescue people all over the place from sex trafficking. Yeah. And, uh, He's crossing this bridge on a motorcycle. He said, Robbie, you wouldn't. You wouldn't want to cross this bridge on foot, better yet on motorcycle, but it was just what we had to do.
And we were crossing this bridge, it had these great big overhangs, and he sees. A girl up at the top of the bridge, and he's like, Oh no, she's trying to commit suicide. Yeah. And You know, all these people are gathering around. He goes, I'm supposed to go do all this stuff with, I'm supposed to meet people.
I've got meetings. I've got all this stuff. Here's his girl at the top. And the Lord says, You need to go up there. Yes.
And you're talking about, you know, I forget what he said, four or five hundred feet in the air up this cable. But, you know, he. You know, being who he was and the kind of work he did, you know, he was fully capable of going up that cable and to that girl to speak to her. Yeah. And the Lord told him to do it.
And so he was obedient, and he climbed that cable, and he went up there, and he shared God. Were there steps on the cable or did he just. Oh, no, no, it's a cable. Like you're picturing this bridge, right? I don't, you know.
Oh my goodness. Right.
I don't know how the girl got up there. I just, all I know is that, you know, this was a moment, right, of just pure obedience. And I was just struck by it. Like, man. Right.
And But I've I've seen All sorts of situations where God spoke to people in very unique ways at very unique times, and when they listened, then they were obedient. Even when He told you to put on your seatbelt, it changed. A lot of things, right? We would be no, if not for God, if you hadn't obeyed the minute he told you to put the seat belt on. Think about it.
There would be no Ann, there would be no Michael, there would be no Christian. Yeah. Right, right. Michael Jr.
So, you know, all these things that. Just one little thing and when if And and so it it it is with all of our lives that You know, it's beautiful. For me personally, you know, my style uh has always been still is to this day, that God will show me something amazing. in the Bible every morning. Like, I ask him for it and he shows it to me.
And then I just sit there and worship and all in wonder. And this morning that happened to be Hannah's prayer, which is the hinge on which so much happens. You know, it I could. Do the rest of this podcast easily or broadcast on Hannah's Prayer. But nonetheless, because I have that right now, anybody I get a chance to share that with today, I'm sharing it.
Okay, that's right. And that's that. Mm That's what I've always done.
So when I was in the car business, For years, you know, whoever was standing there, and it didn't matter. Where I felt like they stood, I would go share. Like, man, you know what I read in the Bible this morning? Like, man, do you know that this meant? And talk to whoever would listen.
Yeah. Well I had a used car manager at the dealership here in Winston that ended up that Craig Hage sold to David Neal, I ended up the general manager of. I had a used car manager named Tony Raheems a day, and I had she was a customer relations manager, and I'm trying to remember what her name was. But both of them were people that I would see on a regular basis, and both of them were people that I always share something exciting about. the Bible.
It would like it you couldn't go That's just something I was always doing. Yeah. Well, I hadn't seen either one of them in about 10 years in one week. I had somebody that knew her get hold of me and she said Robbie, I forget the girl lady's name. She wanted you to know that she accepted Christ.
Yes. And in the same week, I remember the guy that called me and said, Tony Reams today. Which was, by the way, he's Iranian. He's born in Iran and very much was a Muslim. And he said, They told me you call Robbie Dilmore and tell him I accepted Christ.
Yes. Uh and so You know, it wasn't like I sat there one day and said, Do you believe, you know, you need to accept Christ? It wasn't like that. It was just that. I love God, I love his word, and I've always shared whatever it is I've had.
And for me personally, You know, it came from my heart.
Okay. And God used it. To make a difference, but he used it in his time, and a lot of other people were along the way that you know that scripture that you know. No. Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow.
Yeah, and it's true. And so, what I think about Robbie is when you hear that, is that. Don't worry about the way that everybody else is doing it, right? You know, I mean, and so we talk about the Romans Road. There have been many times where I've used the Romans Road, and there have been many times where I've seen it and I've done it, and it's worked, and it's been great.
Um And so I don't want to put that aside either because that works for a lot of people. And there's some people who just really need to understand the gospel. I would say in America, it's different in a lot of ways in that most people know about Jesus. You know what I mean? Most people understand a lot of this stuff.
But when I actually start to talk to them about the Lord and I say to me, and this is what we may not have talked about a lot, but is just sharing my testimony. Right.
You know, because as my friend Jeff Hoover says, he says, Mike, he says, people can argue with you about your facts. I'm sure they argue with Carl Kirby or argue with you or whoever. He said, but it's hard for them to argue with you about your testimony. And there's a guy named Pastor Dean Odell that I know out of Auburn, Alabama. And he goes over to Auburn University and he said that he was sharing the gospel.
And he said there was a guy who was the leader of the debate team. And he said that this guy. I ended up saying to him when he was finished talking to him, he said, You almost convinced me to become a Christian. He said, Because I argued with your logic. He said, But the one thing that I couldn't argue with was your testimony.
And what is your testimony? I was a lost sinner. I was dying. I was going to hell. Many people were on drugs, alcohol, had all these problems, infidelities, addicted to pornography, whatever it was.
And then Jesus got a hold of me. And he changed my life forever. And I tell you what, you don't have to be a debater, Robbie. You don't have to be a Carl Kirby. You don't have to be an apologist or anything like that.
You can be just an everyday guy, but if you share your testimony and you share it with passion and conviction, I've seen it make a difference in people's lives, and I'm sure you have too. Oh, my goodness, my testimony. Because here it says in Acts, right? You're going to see power from to be my witness.
Well, what's that telling you? That when you're sharing your story, this is how God changed my life, you know, that's exactly where you're going to have the power, according to what the book of Acts says. And there is no doubt that the fruit of my ministry. Um Based on the testimony the chances I've had to share my testimony has gone seventy billion fold. Because of that, there's no doubt in my mind that part of the reason I'm on a radio, part of the reason that God gave me whatever audience he gives me, is based on testimony.
It's based on this is what he did for me today. Yeah, one of the first Bible verses that I ever remembered was Revelation 3, 15 through 16, where he says, I know your works. He says that you're neither hot nor cold. He says, but because you are lukewarm, I will spew thee out of thy mouth. And so for me, what I do to try to stay hot is to stay in my Bible and pray.
And I know you talk about it, we're about to run out of time, but you talk about it every day. You get up early in the morning. And you spend how much time praying? Oh, usually three or four hours. Three or four hours.
And Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant Reformation, said, I'm so busy today, I've got to spend the first three hours in prayer.
So, Robbie, thank you for coming on again, and we'll talk to you soon. If not for God. If not for God. All right, for my YouTube channel. If not for God with mighty's wick Just like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell.
Um So you'll be alerted when we have our next video.
