Greg Laurie’s ‘Tell Someone’ Equips Christians to Share Their Faith

Book Takes Biblical Principles from Jesus’ Life and Witness

By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST News Service

ARLINGTON, TEXAS (ANS – March 12, 2016) -- No one would have expected Greg Laurie to grow up to be an evangelist. Conceived out of wedlock with a mother who married and divorced seven times, he was a confused teenager who sought meaning in partying and drugs. But that’s the point of his new book, “Tell Someone: You Can Share the Good News.”

No matter who you are or what you have done, you can share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “Tell Someone” (B&H Publishing Group, Feb. 1, 2016, ISBN 9781433690143) will equip and inspire readers to do just that.

According to a news release from A. Larry Ross Communications (http://alarryross.com), Laurie is now the pastor of one of the largest churches in the U.S., Harvest Christian Fellowship, Riverside, California, and also Harvest OC [Orange County], in Irvine, and has been in ministry for 40 years. As the featured speaker at the Harvest Crusades, he has presented the Gospel at arenas and stadiums in front of crowds as large as 82,000.

“Tell Someone” is full of biblical principles drawn from the life and witness of Jesus that anyone can apply, as well as several of Laurie’s own personal examples – both successes and failures.

“Sadly, the vast majority of Christians in this country have never led someone to Christ,” said the news release. “In fact, Laurie says the Great Commission, Jesus’ call to His followers to make disciples of all nations, has instead become the Great Omission, largely because evangelism can make Christians and unbelievers uncomfortable.”

But those Christians are missing something.

“It should be a joyful, happy thing to tell others about your relationship with God and explain how they can have one, too,” Laurie writes. “I have found that the happiest Christians are the evangelistic ones.”

In his latest book, Laurie urges Christians to use the “Jesus style” of evangelism – “be friendly, engaging, and caring.” Jesus never dealt with any two people the same way, but he engaged in a dialogue with each of them.

He uses Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John as “the template for one-on-one evangelism.” Instead of confronting her with her sin, He begins a conversation by asking her for a drink of water. Instead of following a prepared script, He listened to what she had to say and responded in kind.

Once she expressed her faith in Jesus, she began sharing her new-found belief with others. Her personal story had power because others could see the change in her life.

In much the same way, Laurie says, “one of the most effective tools in your evangelistic toolbox” is your personal story. “… A person can argue all day with you about certain facts. But they cannot argue with your personal story of how you came to faith.”

For more information about “Tell Someone,” please visit BHPublishingGroup.com/TellSomeone.com.

Note: Greg Laurie is the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside and also of Harvest OC, in Irvine California. He and his wife Cathe have two sons, Christopher and Jonathan, and five grandchildren. In 1990, Laurie began holding large-scale public evangelistic events called Harvest Crusades. Since that time, he has presented the Gospel to more than 5 million individuals through these outreaches, with nearly 500,000 registering professions of faith. On March 6, 2016, Laurie conducted his largest evangelistic event yet, Harvest America, which was attended by 82,000 people at the AT&T stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Note to media: For more information about “Tell Someone,” please visit BHPublishingGroup.com/TellSomeone.com. To arrange an interview with Greg Laurie, please contact Melany Ethridge at 972.267.1111 or via e-mail at melany@alarryross.com .

In addition to the book, LifeWay Resources has produced a six-session DVD and book study.

Photo captions: 1) Book cover. 2) Greg Laurie preaching a Harvest America in Arlington, Texas, which was attended by a record-breaking 82,000 people. (Dallas Morning News) 3) Another picture of Laurie preaching at the outreach. (Dallas Morning News). 4) Dan Wooding pictured with Greg Laurie at his Riverside church after Dan had interviewed him for his Front Page Radio show.

About the writer: Dan Wooding, 75, is an award-winning winning author, broadcaster and journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, and is now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for more than 52 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. Dan is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS), and is also the author of some 45 books, the latest of which is Mary, My Story from Bethlehem to Calvary (http://marythebook.com).

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