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Nathan Lorick’s prayer is that “God would take a moment and turn it into a movement”—the movement being a cycle of Great Commission events, namely praying for, evangelizing and discipling converts in a New Testament model.
“Imagine church members going from not actually sharing their faith at all to now discipling someone they led to Christ by walking them through the process of knowing Christ and then making him known,” Lorick, evangelism director at the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, explained.
It’s called “The GamePlan”—not a program, Lorick emphasized—but an initiative to get churches and families on mission together in reaching lost friends and family members with the gospel and following up in discipleship.
Tasked in his role with helping SBTC churches evangelize their state, Lorick said the appeal of The GamePlan is its simplicity and intentionality. The materials needed are minimal—a card or refrigerator magnet with five blank spaces for names is all a participant needs. The plan consists of:
- identifying five lost people,
- committing to pray daily for them,
- planning for a moment of sharing the gospel message with them,
- presenting the gospel,
- plugging in the new believer to a local church for baptism and discipleship.
Lorick rolled out The GamePlan during the Empower Evangelism Conference with the help of Chan Gailey, former college and NFL head coach with numerous teams, including the Dallas Cowboys.
Sometimes churches, and even pastors, lose their urgency for sharing the gospel outside the church walls and need a renewed focus to help them, Lorick said.
“This gives a pastor a simple way to get his people excited again about sharing their faith with others in a way that creates a buzz in the congregation and within families as moms and dads and their kids pray daily together over a list of people God has placed on their hearts. This initiative, especially with its sports theme, has a wide appeal,” Lorick said.
The GamePlan materials include brochures with football, basketball and baseball themes in English and a soccer theme in Spanish. There are also refrigerator magnets and pocket cards with five blanks for the names of the people each participant is praying for.
Lorick said he is praying that those “moments” that lead to conversions will add up to a movement across Texas as people begin identifying and fervently praying for the lost and discipling them as reproducing believers.
He knows of churches that are planning tailgate parties to kick off the initiative. Being intentional is a significant part of effective evangelism, he noted.
“Imagine a pastor asking his church members, ‘Who are your five? Who are you praying for?’ And, ‘How can I pray for them?’”
The SBTC evangelism team is available to help churches implement the initiative. To order The GamePlan materials, visit sbtcwebstore.com.
For more information on the initiative, visit sbtexas.com/evangelism. The SBTC evangelism team may be reached toll free at 877-953-7282 (SBTC).
