Could a gifted evangelist win 1,000 converts a day? Unlikely. But imagine there was such a Spirit-filled man. That would mean that, in one year, this evangelist would have helped 365,000 people decide to follow Jesus Christ. In 26 years (allowing no vacations, holidays or travel time), the total number of converts from this heroic effort would reach 9.5 million.

Now consider a second plan—a believer who wins one soul-winner a year. In other words, he evangelizes not just to convert but to align his coverts with the heart of God, whose primary goal is to save people into His kingdom. The evangelist aims to train and disciple one person a year who can lead another person each year to Jesus and train them for soul-winning. A modest goal, wouldn’t you agree? After the first year, there would be two—the evangelist and the person he has brought to Christ and trained. If they continue with the one-new-evangelist-a-year plan, in 26 years, 67 million souls would believe in Jesus and be actively sharing with others!

What is important about those numbers? It just so happens that I have been wrestling with how to reach 67 million people—the population of Turkey. Though it would be an amazing thrill to baptize 1,000 people a day every day (a very strenuous and wet life indeed!), it would not be enough.
The second plan—a plan of training—is much better. It spreads out the gifts and launches the movement horizontally, which, of course, is why it is much like the method Jesus used when He was on earth. Though winning a soul-winner a year doesn’t seem overly difficult, it obviously hasn’t happened in the Adventist Church yet. How do I know this? The entire Adventist population is less than 20 million, and our movement has been around for more than 150 years. (If we had kept to the one-a-year plan over that time period, we would have baptized more than 6 billion soul-winners by now!) Our current statistics mean two things are happening: 1) A whole lot of people haven’t been winning anybody. 2) Those who are winning others aren’t training their converts in how to win somebody else.
This week, an amazing thing happened to me. I met a successful Turkish business man named Erdinch. In the first ten minutes of our conversation, he set his Blackberry cell phone on top of his day planner (he’s a busy man), looked me square in the face and said in halting English, “I want you to teach me about Jesus.” I have been here in Turkey four years now, and that was the first time I have ever heard those words! More than that, he went on to say, “I want you to teach me well enough that I can teach others.” A man with a plan! Then he said something I will treasure the rest of my life. “I must learn. Someone must teach me. How can I teach my friends unless someone teaches me? I think God brought us together so you can teach me, and then I can teach the people I know. I know a lot of people.”
Believe me, I felt supercharged! I couldn’t believe my ears. As I write the words, I can still hardly believe them, but that’s what Erdinch said.

It takes a special kind of conviction for an upwardly mobile professional man to launch out on a path that goes against everything his Muslim, secular society teaches. That kind of conviction doesn’t happen overnight. In fact, Erdinch’s journey to this point has spanned 15 years. In 1993, he met an Adventist visitor from Scandinavia whom I’ll call Jan. Jan was very friendly to Erdinch and spoke affectingly about Jesus, the Bible and a better way to live. For 15 years, the two where in occasional correspondence. Typically, they visited once a year when Jan was on vacation in Turkey.
Nine years ago, Erdinch visited Jan in Scandinavia and attended church with him for three Sabbaths in a row. It made a lasting impression upon him. I praise the Lord for faithful Jan who, every year, would find his Turkish friend, sit with his family and show love and kindness in different small ways. Though they barely could communicate, Jan’s smile affirmed that Jesus makes people happy. So, really, I have inherited 15 years of trust building—a slow, slow work that suddenly has budded.

I think of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:6, 7. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one.”
Erdinch and I had our first Bible study two nights ago. He shows great promise. I tried to listen more than speak, to learn what was in his heart. He spoke to me about watching a documentary on the life of Jesus, and how he admired Jesus for His industry and love. Erdinch also spoke about covetousness being the root of evils in our world.

The starting point for the Bible study that God put on my heart was John 18:36, 37: “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.’ Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is on the side of truth listens to my voice.’”

Grabbing hold of those last words I began, “Erdinch, I see you want to be on the side of truth. Yes?” He nodded emphatically. I continued, “There are many things Jesus could have said here that the people on the side of truth would do. But He didn’t make a long list. Instead, He said, ‘if you are on the side of truth, you will follow Me.’ The side of truth follows Jesus. Every kingdom has a king, and Jesus takes that honor. He is a King, and He is ready for us to side with Him.”

Erdinch drank it in like a man with a 15-year thirst.

One soul a year who is trained and ready to teach other souls. Please pray for Erdinch and me this year. He has asked to meet me each week for as long as I deem necessary to train him to reach others. And who are these others? Erdinch belongs to a very affluent and tight-knit community—one I could never enter alone. He is a man of influence and will make his impact when and where Jesus directs him.

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