with Darrel Davis

Best-selling author, speaker, and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland.

Best-selling author and apologist, Dylan Burrows. Together, bringing you truth. For a new generation, this is TNG Radio. In Matthew 28, 18, 19, and 20, Jesus, as He was risen from the dead, giving a final charge to His disciples and ascending back to heaven, Jesus said, Go into all the world and make disciples of every nation. That verse, along with Mark 16, 15, which says, Preach the gospel to every creature.

Those verses are commonly referred to as the Great Commission. And I welcome you to today's edition of TNG Radio, Truth for a New Generation, Alex McFarland here. I'm so excited, not only about the subject matter, evangelism and Christ's Great Commission, and really how your church can jumpstart its outreach efforts, but I'm very excited about the person that we're going to have a conversation with, because he really personifies evangelism. I have known Reverend Daryl Davis for 20 years. I know 19 years ago, Daryl, you and I were in Amsterdam, and I give God the glory, but you and I were among the only North Carolinians invited to Amsterdam 2000, but I had known you a good several years before that. But Daryl Davis is the pastor of Bailey Baptist Church outside of Raleigh, North Carolina, and he's a national traveler. He's preached internationally. He's a guy that I've known for two decades to always have his kind of hand on the pulse of the culture and how to reach people with the gospel of Jesus, and I wanted to have Daryl on TNG Radio, and we're going to talk about, here's the question, whatever happened to evangelism? Brother Daryl, welcome, and thanks for making time to be with us on TNG Radio.

Well, thank you, Alex. It's been a pleasure knowing you all these years, and I think back to the Amsterdam 2000 conference, I remember how everybody was walking around all sleep-deprived because of the crazy schedule, and folks were falling asleep during that, but anyway, it was a great time, a great opportunity, too. Yeah, and for those that may not know, Amsterdam 2000 was in the summer of 2000. The Billy Graham ministry convened, it was really called a World Congress on evangelism. It was in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and let's talk about that for a minute.

Let's go back. First of all, a gathering with people from more than a hundred nations, I really don't think anybody but Billy Graham could have put that meeting together. Would you agree?

Oh, absolutely. I mean, people know him from all over the world, and that organization at the time was the only one that really could do something like that logistically, and of course, people were like, well, why did they meet in Amsterdam? Well, logically, it made a lot of sense, because Amsterdam is kind of a central hub there for the world.

I mean, so many points... Kind of the crossroads of East and West. Yeah, exactly. So they did a fantastic job putting things on, and it was a real blessing to me. It was a real help to my ministry at that time, and I made some friendships that have lasted for a long time. Do you remember Yarbroughs?

Yes. You know, here I come, I'm an American, and I got there, and there was an overnight flight, and it was delayed, and I mean, the minute my feet hit the ground in Amsterdam, I was exhausted already. So we take this train out to the Rye Conference Center, which was this ginormous conference hall, and they said, okay, we're going to take a train to where you're going to stay. And I'm thinking, oh, I can't wait for my hotel room. Well, in this heavy equipment warehouse were, was it seven or eight thousand cots?

It was at least seven thousand there, I believe. And you know, my kind of pampered American nose was turned up at it, and I thought, I'm not going to stay here. And I get to my cot, which was an eight or nine minute walk, you know, quad B, segment C, row A, you know. I mean, it was, it was like deep in this mass of humanity from all nations. And on my bed, I'll never forget, I don't know about yours, but there was like a very small loaf of brown bread and a block of cheese and a few bottles of water. And we're supposed to eat on this for a few days. And I thought, okay, I don't have much money, but I'm going to do better than this.

And what changed my mind, and I want to give you my impression, then I want to hear yours, a man walks in and he's in some toga looking thing, and he's like from India or somewhere. And he picks up his piece of bread and block of cheese, and he, I'm watching this guy hold it, and he's looking at it like he's looking at some unusual object. And he falls to his knees and he starts weeping. He's holding a tiny loaf of bread, a block of cheese, and he's weeping. Thank you, God.

Oh God, thank you for your bounty. And I just felt very convicted. The steward, one of the blue vest guys who's giving directions, he looked at me, he said, Alex, don't you understand for these evangelists from developing nations, this is the finest accommodations they'll ever have in their entire life.

And I was really under conviction. Yeah, I remember that they were talking about some of them had never even slept in a bed like that before, which was astonishing. And I don't know if you remember that one evening we ate a meal together, you and I and several other people, but we met an evangelist from India, and we asked him about the persecution in his country, and he says, well, it's not really that bad. Every now and then they'll beat our pastors and burn our churches down, but it's really not that bad. And you're going, whoa. Suffice it to say, I came away from Amsterdam feeling like we've got it pretty good.

We're blessed. You know, the reason I'm bringing this up, and if you're just tuning in, we're talking with Reverend Darrell Davis, and we're going to ask the question, whatever happened to evangelism? Darrell, what is evangelism? You know, we talk about Billy Graham, Amsterdam, your ministry of more than 25 years. Darrell, what is evangelism? Well, evangelism is proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God.

That's what I've always heard from several of my mentors. And so evangelism is that opportunity that we get to introduce people to our Savior, Jesus Christ. You're listening to TNG Radio, our very special guest today, Reverend Darrell Davis, Baillie Baptist near Raleigh, North Carolina.

TNG Radio is back after this. From I Am a Watchman Ministries, here's today's I Am a Watchman Minute. Do you study the Word of God? It's a discipline God appreciates and expects to see in His people. In the book of Acts, believers in the early church were commended because they studied the scriptures daily. When you hunger for God's Word, you will find wisdom, insight and blessing.

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Go into all the world and make disciples of every creature. That's the Great Commission, and we're talking about this today on TNG Radio with Reverend Darrell Davis. Before we go any farther, let me say thank you for making time.

It's great to have you on. And a website. Does your church or your ministry have a website, Darrell? Well, our church does. It's www.welovebailey.com. So that's our church website. And I still actually maintain a site on Facebook for my evangelism ministry. So if people want to search evangelist Darrell Davis, D-A-R-R-E-L, they can find information about some of the evangelism opportunities that I continue to do, even as a pastor. You know, one of the things that I have done now for 10 years in a row is I have joined a group of men down during Mardi Gras season in New Orleans, sharing the gospel on the streets.

I was going to ask you about that. So there's pictures up there and testimonies of people who we've had opportunity to share the gospel with. And it's an interesting experience, because you talk with people from all different backgrounds – atheists and agnostics and nominal Christians, and of course a lot of people from a Catholic background. So it really – And there's down there in Voodoo, and there's a cult activity in New Orleans? It's a dark place, especially in the French Quarter. And you know, you've got to be prayed up.

Sure, sure. I want to talk about evangelism in America. You and I have witnessed the rise of megachurches, and there are some churches that are huge – multi-campus, thousands of people.

But yet, stats generally show that new conversion growth in the USA is flat, if not declining. The Word of God is clear. As you said, every church is to be evangelistic. We know what the message is – the death, burial, the resurrection of Jesus. We still have prayer, still have the Holy Spirit, and there's still multitudes around us that need to be born again. And yet, in the USA, a land of more than 350,000 churches, we're not seeing salvation.

How come? I think there's several reasons. I think one of the biggest reasons, and I've come to this conclusion over the years, is I think the church has really lost confidence in the power of the gospel to say whosoever will, whenever and wherever it's proclaimed.

And I think in order for us to begin making an impact again, we've got to regain that confidence. We also are living in a different culture. I know Dr. Chuck Kelly, who is the former president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, made a statement one time – and I'm a Southern Baptist – and he said, Southern Baptists are a harvest-minded generation in the midst of an unceded people.

Say that again. Our Southern Baptists are a harvest-minded generation in the midst of an unceded people. In other words, people don't have any background on the Bible like they may have had years ago. Now, years ago, 50s, 60s, we had a lot of cultural Christianity, but at least people were exposed to the Bible and the teachings of the Bible. Darrell Bock Somewhat biblically literate.

Dr. Darrell Bock Exactly. Somewhat biblically literate. And now, as I've talked to people out there on the streets, many of them have no idea what the Bible is.

And some that do basically parrot out what they've heard from some professor in some college somewhere. And of course, obviously, he's not going to come at it from the perspective of a Bible-believing Christian. So I think that's another factor, is that's what we're dealing with. And then third, Alex, I think one of the big problems is the church is still living back in the 40s and 50s and 60s. And we still don't have any clue about the changes that are taking place around us so rapidly. It may be a little different in urban settings, because those churches tend to be a little bit more up-to-date where I'm at in a rural setting. You know, people are still living with this mentality and mindset of, hey, you know, people are supposed to come to us. Yeah.

Yeah. Not we go to them, which is actually what the Gospel is. We go to them. Well, and you, where you're ministering, you're just a few minutes away from Research Triangle Park, RTP we call it, which is a seat of technology and pharmaceuticals and defense contracting.

In a way, where you are, it kind of reminds me of Silicon Valley in California and things like that. I mean, you've got the whole wide world, different cultures, different backgrounds. How do you share the Gospel in this culture that is very unchurched, not knowledgeable about things of the Bible, and probably, in most cases, not under conviction over sin?

Sure. And I think we have, first of all, have to probably back up from using some of the evangelism methods that we've used in the past. You know, a lot of our evangelism in the past is really focused on, you know, if you were to die tonight, would you be 50, 75, 100% sure you'd go to heaven? Well, statistics have said that people in the millennial generation and Generation Z, which is the newest one, don't even think about that. They don't even think about heaven. And I think, consequently, too, that's caused a problem in the church because it has created this idea about salvation, that salvation is just something I check off my list, and once I've got it, then I just wait for God to call me to heaven.

So I think one of the things we have to do is we have to begin with where people are. If you look in the Bible, in Acts 2, Paul is addressing primarily a Jewish crowd that has a background in the Torah, the Bible. And then when you go over to Acts 17, Mars Hill, you know, he's in a completely different environment. He's with people who have no background in the Bible.

Well, what did he do? The Bible says that he found an idol to an unknown god, and that's where he started. He began proclaiming the gospel based on that idol, you know, and he said, you know, this is the god that you've made this altar to.

I proclaim him to you now. And you know, it's interesting, too, because one of the things I also do as far as, you know, I'm a pastor, but I also do some part-time driving for Uber and Lyft. And, you know, I encounter people that have never heard the basics of the gospel. And so, again, we cannot make the assumption that our culture is familiar with those things, and we have to operate, you know, like I said, from a whole different game plan. And, you know, we may have to back up and begin talking about why this world is in the shape that it's in right now, you know, because everybody can look around and see that even though this is a very beautiful world that we live in, there are some wrong things. You look at all the crime, you look at all the poverty, you look at all the bad and evil that's in the world. And where did that come from? Well, Christianity is really the only religion that gives a credible answer to that. It's because we live in a fallen world that's been affected by sin.

You're right. Hey, we've got to take a brief break. This is so interesting, folks. Do not go away, because when we come back, Darrell, I'm going to put you on the hot seat. I'm going to ask you to define sin to a 21st century millennial and younger, and how would you explain our need to be born again through Jesus Christ?

Stay tuned, folks. This is TNG Radio Truth For A New Generation dot com, and we're back with more on evangelism after this. For centuries, the Bible has inspired humanity and shaped the very world we live in. But how do we know this book is the Word of God and not merely the words of men? What we believe about the Bible is based on what we believe about its source. The God Who Speaks explores the evidence of the Bible's inspiration and authority through some of the world's most respected biblical scholars. We have essentially a dual authorship, so it's true to say that Paul wrote Romans. It's equally true to say that God wrote Romans. He says, We saw this, and that sets the Bible apart from almost everything else in the ancient world and its religious pantheon of gods and goddesses. The God Who Speaks is a feature-length documentary from the American Family Association.

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That's Liberty.edu backslash explore to learn more. Truth for a New Generation is coming to greater Fayetteville, North Carolina. Join Alex, McFarland, along with Josh McDowell and Mark Middleburg for a three-day seminar filled with biblical truth, speaking to the needs of the local and military Christian communities. When is it? May 3rd through 5th at Rockfish Church. What's the cost?

Just bring five non-perishable food items for local food banks. That's it. Learn more and register at truthforanewgeneration.com. Welcome back to TNG Radio.

Alex McFarland here just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina with my friend Daryl Davis. Before we resume our conversation on evangelism, we want to talk about how you as a person in your church can jumpstart your evangelism and do what Jesus told us to do, which is to win the lost. But I do want to make you aware of some incredibly exciting things. Folks, we are coming to Fayetteville, North Carolina, May 3, 4, and 5, Truth for a New Generation. And we're going to be at Rockfish Church in Fayetteville.

Now listen to this, folks. Rockfish Church, my dear friend Dr. Dan Stanley. It's one of the country's great churches.

May 3, 4, and 5, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Josh McDowell, one of the great living defenders of the faith. Mark Middleburg, Mr. Evangelism. He's the man that discipled Lee Strobel who wrote The Case for Christ. Mark wrote Becoming a Contagious Christian. Truly one of the great living experts on evangelism. And Mark is eager to meet you, to help train you, encourage you. I'll be there speaking.

So much more. Please join us in Fayetteville. And I want to say how much I appreciate the great folks of Rockfish Church, many of the people on the base there at Fort Bragg. And that's coming up very soon, so go to the website truthfornewgeneration.com about that. But also our camp.

Now listen to this. Summer is rushing toward us really rapidly. And the camp that we do, the TNG apologetics camp, it's for middle schoolers. It's for high schoolers. We generally have some college students. We have entire youth groups that come.

And yes, Mom and Dad, you can stay too if you want to. It's July 29th through August 2nd. And last year we had people from nine states. And we were in South Carolina last year. This year we're in North Carolina. Camp Cale, C-A-L-E. Those of you that are in Virginia or North Carolina, Camp Cale is down near the coast.

It's beautiful. There's going to be kayaking, ropes course, swimming, Frisbee golf, great food, great fun, great memories. But I want to challenge you, listen, as literally every day we get emails from families whose children fall away, they get disconverted. Invest a week that will count for a lifetime.

Sign up now for TNG camp. Well, I want to go back to our dear, dear brother and friend, Daryl Davis. And with the time left, let's talk about the basics of the gospel. You said that we're a harvest-minded church in an unceded generation.

Let's talk about sowing that seed. How do you, to a 21st century person who probably is not feeling bad over sin, how do you explain what sin is, Daryl? Well, you know, and I remember years ago, Alex, an evangelist who defined sin in a very simple way. Sin is when I choose me instead of God.

And that's an explanation that's so simple even a child can understand. Of the churches that are really reaching lost people and are seeing growth, what are some commonalities you see, Daryl, in churches that really are able to reach lost people in the 21st century? The churches that are starting to reach people are actually, first of all, discipling their church members and teaching them to become disciples who make other disciples. When we equip our church members to become disciples who make disciples and teach them it's their responsibility to build relationships with their neighbors, their friends, their loved ones in order to share the gospel with them, I think that will revolutionize the way our churches are reaching people.

Let me ask you this. Let's say we're friends and we've got a relationship and we're talking. How do you move the conversation to spiritual things? How do you lay the cards on the table and say, hey, you're my neighbor, you're my coworker, we're friends, but I want to talk with you about your soul.

How do you make that move, Daryl? One of the biggest ways is, hey, Alex, let me tell you about the one thing that's made a difference in my life, and that's Jesus Christ. You can begin with your personal testimony.

First of all, your personal testimony, people can't refute that you didn't have that experience, because you know that you've had that experience. So that's just one of many ways to bridge the gap. But I think as I'm building a relationship with someone, I want them to understand that the reason why I'm doing this is because Christ transformed my life back in 1996 when I surrendered my heart to Jesus. Do you know, I've found that when things happen, whether it's maybe a tragedy in the news or a death or a bereavement, sometimes that's when you can gravitate the conversation toward spiritual issues.

That's true. I think when we're faced with our mortality, that gets us to asking a lot of questions. You know, on Easter I'm planning on preaching a message on the two thieves that were on the cross, and of course the Bible tells us that one thief was hurling insults at Christ and blaspheming, and originally the second thief was doing that, but then later on the Bible says that he turned to Christ and he says, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. The penitent thief. There was a change of heart in those moments as he was there on that cross dying.

Now let's be careful. Not everybody gets a moment to have a deathbed conversion, but I also believe that when you're faced with that, the idea of you're mortal, you're going to die. I think that really starts the wheels turning in your spirit and helps you understand there's something beyond just this life. Darrell, if you had a cry from your heart to God for the church in America right now, what would that be?

Well, I think I started out with this, Alex. I think my prayer for the church in America would be that the church would recover the confidence and the power of the Gospel to save whosoever will, whenever and wherever it's proclaimed, because it seems that we have really lost that, and it also seems that we have become so inwardly focused. You know, a majority of church members today in the majority of our churches are really only concerned about what the pastor is going to do for us. Is he going to be there when we have a surgery?

Is he going to be there to hold our hand when we're sick or when we're dying? And don't get me wrong, those things are necessary. But when the focus is on them and us and not on the Great Commission and reaching other people, you know, there's a problem there. And so I think I would also pray that God would bring about a revival in our hearts, in the heart of the church. Sure. You know, I've heard it said that the church is the one organization that exists for the benefit of its non-members. I thought about that quote the other day when you asked me about doing this interview, and that's absolutely true.

Yeah. Well, we're out of time, and, Darrell, we're going to have you on again. And, folks, I want to challenge you to be a person who's committed to reaching the lost, and certainly your church as well. This is an old quote. It's been used and used and used.

D.T. Niles said evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. We hope you found the bread of life, and we hope you're helping others find him too.

Thanks for listening to TNG Radio, and we'll see you next time. Truth for a New Generation, in association with Alex McFarland Evangelistic Ministries, exists to equip Christians with a biblical world view through conferences and camps. For information about upcoming events, visit truthforanewgeneration.com, or give us a call at 877-YES-GOD-1. That's 877-YES-GOD, and the number 1. TNG Radio is made possible by the friends of Alex McFarland Evangelistic Ministries, P. O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. That's P. O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. Or give online at alexmcfarland.com or truthforanewgeneration.com. Thanks for listening and join us again next time as we bring you more truth for a new generation on TNG Radio.