The Truth: Know, Believe, Share, Defend - How to Start a Gospel Conversation

·52 min·5 clips

Standing above 17,000 Muslim men in Indonesia, Tyler realized he didn't share the gospel in English at home.

Tyler McMurray opens by introducing himself as the director for the Basin Baptist Student Ministry, serving three college campuses in the Odessa-Midland area. He shares a personal backstory about meeting his wife Cindy through the BSM at Midwestern State University and their initial call to international missions, which shifted to campus ministry due to health issues and seeing students come to faith. McMurray explains how the BSM impacted both their lives: Cindy came to faith through it, while he, though already a Christian, was discipled by a student named Caleb Acuna. Caleb challenged him to share the gospel, exposing his inability to articulate it clearly, and taught him spiritual disciplines and intentional evangelism. This led McMurray to apply for a Go Now Missions trip to Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim country. He describes the challenges of sharing through translators and a transformative moment at a massive mosque where he felt broken for the lost, realizing his failure to share at home. McMurray transitions to a broader message, stating most people will live and die without knowing Jesus, citing Matthew 7:13-14 and Luke 10:2. He presents statistics: 5% of college students are Christians nationally, with likely fewer in their area, and 90% of Christians never share their faith. He frames this as direct disobedience to the Great Commission. To address this, McMurray introduces the SALT method: Start the conversation, Ask a transitional question, Listen, and Turn to the gospel. He gives examples of questions and emphasizes it's not a canned script. He also briefly outlines the five thresholds from the book 'I Once Was Lost': trust, curious, open, seeking, and following, as a tool to gauge where people are spiritually. McMurray closes by encouraging listeners to list five people to share with and prays for boldness in evangelism.

As heard by us

A candid sermon reframes evangelism as a patient call to notice people and speak faithfully.

Tyler McMurray, director for the Basin BSM, grounds this single-episode review of evangelism in a personal account from a trip to Indonesia. His turning point is simple and pointed: he could speak English, yet often stayed quiet about the gospel at home.

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Why you'd press play

If you need the ache for lost people to become an actual gospel conversation, press play.

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