How to Start Conversations About Jesus: An Interview with Evangelist J.John

I recently sat down with my good friend and evangelist J.John to discuss the art of sharing the gospel naturally in everyday conversations. He’s my favorite evangelist in the whole world and probably the most gifted human being I’ve ever met when it comes to sharing the gospel. 

If you’ve ever felt awkward sharing the gospel with somebody, this interview can completely change your perspective on why and how to share the gospel. You can watch the full interview with J.John on YouTube here. Or, listen on Apple Podcasts here. (Or your favorite podcast provider.)

Here are the highlights of the interview…. 

Phil Cooke: You consider yourself an evangelist, right? Which I have to say, not many people call themselves that today, which is a shame.

J.John: Yes, I do, and interestingly, Phil, in recent years, I kind of felt a bit of pressure to change that, particularly on my social media, and put something like a Christian communicator, and then I thought, no, no, why am I doing that? I am an evangelist. I’m not embarrassed about it. So just say it.

Phil Cooke: Help me understand the difference between a witness and an evangelist.

J.John: So every Christian is a witness. And a witness gets up in a court of law. They don’t even have to memorize their script. Just tell the truth. This is what I know. This is what I’ve experienced. So every Christian is a witness.

But then there are evangelists. Now the evangelists are like lawyers or what you call attorneys, barristers. And they get up in court and they present the facts of Christianity in such a convincing manner as to get the jury to make a decision. Now I’m a witness, but I’m also like that attorney.

Phil Cooke: That is a powerful illustration because a witness just tells what they know. They’re not there to convince or argue. Sometimes we get on social media and we think it’s our job to change people’s mind or argue with them. You never win somebody to Christ in an argument. So really, sharing the gospel is not as hard as most people think it is.

J.John: I agree Phil, look. Let’s look at the master at work. Jesus with a Samaritan woman in John’s gospel, chapter four. When Jesus met the woman, what were the barriers that existed between the woman and Jesus? 

Well, she’s living in adultery. He’s the high priest. So you’ve got a moral barrier. She’s a woman. He’s a man. So you’ve got a social barrier. She’s a Samaritan. He’s Jewish. So you’ve got a religious barrier. She’s a Samaritan. He’s Jewish. You’ve got a racial barrier. So you’ve got four barriers: moral barrier, social barrier, racial barrier, and religious barrier.

How does Jesus connect with this woman? Well, first of all, when you read the story, it says that Jesus was at point A wanting to go to point B. Every other Jew would have walked around Samaria, but Jesus walked into Samaria because Jews and Samaritans hated each other. So the first thing you read is that Jesus broke longstanding traditions. 

He meets the woman. You’ve got four barriers. So what does Jesus do? He focuses on what they’ve got in common. They only have one thing in common: H2O. It’s water.

Phil Cooke: That’s pretty powerful. And I love the fact that he spoke to one woman. You never know when you’re sharing the gospel. You never know who’s listening, who could go out and share it to hundreds, thousands of more people later down the road…

One of the funny things about being with you is we’ve been all over the place together all over the world, and you’ll share the gospel with anybody. Our waitress at a restaurant, the guy driving Uber. Whatever. Wherever we are, you feel absolutely comfortable just starting a conversation about Jesus with anybody. So how do you get to that point? Because most Christians are absolutely terrified to even start that conversation.

J.John: First of all, Phil, it’s an intentionality. I like that word. You’ve got to be intentional. And my wife, Killy and I, we’re very intentional in doing three things: praying, caring, sharing. So that’s the first thing we can say. We’re intentional. We wake up in the morning, we have our routine. We pray the Lord’s Prayer, we proclaim promises. We pray for that family. We pray for the people that are sick. But we then pray for everybody we know personally who does not yet know Jesus. Now, currently on our list, there are 42 people. We pray for them every morning, every day, every week.

So before we’ve even got out of bed, we’re praying for the lost and we’re praying that the Lord will open their eyes, open the eyes of their hearts. We then say, Lord, this is your day. And Lord, if there are any divine appointments, guide us. So we’re open to any divine appointments that God gives us.

Phil Cooke: Can you give me an example of how this works in practice?

J.John: So the last time we were in America, we were ministering at this conference and they put us at this hotel the day before the conference was starting. We thought, well, why don’t we catch an Uber and go to the local mall and then we can just walk around the mall, have a coffee, come back. So we order the Uber, we get into the Uber and we confirm where we’re going. And then I said, “Is there anything we can pray for while we’re traveling to the shopping mall?”

Simple question. He doesn’t know I’m a Christian. He doesn’t know I’m an evangelist. He doesn’t know anything about me. All I said was, “Is there anything we can pray for?”

He said yes, “Could you please pray for my mother? She’s got Alzheimer’s.” 

I said, “Of course. What’s your mother’s name?” So he’s starting the journey with Killy and I. And now I’m praying out loud, praying for his mother. As I’m praying, he starts weeping in the car. 

He’s sobbing and he’s going, “Oh, God, oh, God, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. God I’m sorry. I’ll go back to church. I’ll go back to church.”

I didn’t mention church. I didn’t mention God. I didn’t mention anything.

Phil Cooke: That’s amazing. When we become intentional like that, we start thinking like that. We see opportunities that everybody has every day to start that conversation with somebody.

Is there a final thought you could leave people with?

J.John: This is what I would say to a church leader… I have traveled extensively throughout the United Kingdom and in 69 other countries for the last four decades. I’ve interacted seriously, no exaggeration, Phil with thousands of church leaders. I would say those are the two things most church leaders do the least: prayer and the ministry of the word. We don’t live by priorities. We live by pressures. My encouragement to you is focus on prayer and the ministry of the word.

How to Start Conversations About Jesus: An Interview with Evangelist J.John

Watch the full interview with J.John on YouTube here.

Listen on Apple Podcasts here. 

(Or your favorite podcast provider.)

To learn more about J.John’s ministry and resources, visit jjohn.com or just10.org for materials related to the Ten Commandments series.