Mom often slept on the couch. She and dad had split up two years earlier. It was my job to wake her and get her off to work. I was twelve. And I was lonely.

A cool, twenty-something neighbor befriended me. I don’t remember his name, but I do remember his T-shirt: a blue bolt of lightning firing through the words Strategic Air Command. Wow, such an important guy paying attention to me---a goofy twelve year-old. He was Mormon, and I gladly would’ve become one as well, had he invited me.

My mom, sisters and I lived within walking distance of three of the largest evangelical churches in our city. But we didn’t know that. Apparently we were invisible to them as well. Not a single Christian from those churches---or anywhere else---intentionally befriended me. Not one Christian noticed me. And I wanted to be noticed.

Evangelism isn’t ordinary enough.

That’s why the Christians in my town didn’t show up---for me, at least.

The confrontational brand of evangelism that most Christians are taught is simply too risky. Evangelism must become doable (simple and natural) and ordinary (part of everyday life) if more of us are going to play. The phrase Ordinary Attempts (or OAs) says it well. To make an "ordinary attempt" is to evangelize through relational acts of kindness. OAs normalize evangelism for ordinary Christians.

Personality or program?
Traditional approaches to evangelism can be divided into two groups: personality and program. Personality evangelism is gift based. Billy Graham and Bill Bright are both gifted evangelists. But we don’t kid ourselves; we can’t see ourselves either doing what they do or acting the way they act. Ask yourself this question: How many complete strangers have you led to Christ? I thought so. How many people sitting next to you on the plane have you told about Jesus? Hmmm. It’s hard enough just to talk about the weather, isn’t it? Program evangelism is system-based. Three steps, four laws, five questions. Bad? No. Ineffective? No. Sustainable? Not for long. Like diets, program evangelism is someone else’s idea. Until evangelism becomes our idea it won’t be a good idea. It won’t be sustainable.

Evangelism for the rest of us

OAs are the little things. Small and ordinary behaviors like:

• Asking someone "How are you?" and really listening to them
• Praying for a co-worker behind her back
• Asking a "tip-sensitive" food-server about his life outside of work
• Being unusually interested in someone else

Small, ordinary acts of relational kindness. Free attention giveaways!

People crave being noticed. Yet it’s the one thing most of us don’t get enough of. So when you take even a moment and give someone your attention, people remember it. They carve out a place for you in their memory and sometimes their heart.

Ingredients of an OA

Evangelism is like baking a cake. My wife can bake the same cake with the same ingredients several different ways depending on the mood she’s in or the tastes of those being served. When you "OA" you decide how to bake the cake. There are three ingredients to an OA.

Ingredient #1 - OA s are real

Jesus came to bring reality not religion.

We should be known as the most real people on earth rather than the most religious.

Being real means we are human, authentic and kind. We don’t talk down to people--we talk with them. We don’t push something---we present ourselves. We try to be unabashedly human yet passionately committed to Jesus. Pre-Christians are caught off guard when they encounter this type of believer. Authenticity is difficult to resist.

Sharon’s OA story captures the effectiveness of reality as an evangelistic approach:

"I had an interesting experience today in a toy shop while buying a Christmas present for my son. As I was at the check out counter I overheard one of the sales girls (a young college student) telling one of the other sales girls that she was exhausted, hungry and needed a break but all she had was $3.25 which wasn’t quite enough money to get the deli sandwich she really wanted. The other gal said, "Why don't you just buy a bagel?" She said she could but she was really craving a deli sandwich. So... I reached over the counter, handed her a five dollar bill and said, "Merry Christmas!" She took the money, started to cry and came around the counter and hugged me. Two other sales girls stood there looking quite perplexed, along with their customers. They just stared at me. I then handed each of them a free coupon for a drink at Starbucks and said Merry Christmas. (I think this is technically called an OA pile on) They took the coupons and continued to stare at me. I asked if I could pay for my items. They looked kind of flustered and started to ring the items up. One of the gals asked me, "Why did you do this?" I said, "Because Jesus loves you and Christmas is all about him, giving, and him giving his life for you." They both stood there looking very perplexed, finished ringing me up, said thank you, and then I left. It was so much fun!

Like Sharon, Jesus frequently left people with their mouths hanging open. His authenticity stood out in stark contrast with the artificiality they had come to expect from other religious leaders. OAs are small acts of authenticity. Not a program or a pitch. Just me being me---doing what’s doable.

Focus and intentionality are two principles that make businesses successful. Great business leaders know what they’re trying to do, and then go about doing it on purpose.

A few years ago, while pastoring a church in Seattle, I used the Burgermaster---a local fast-food joint---as my personal corporate center for strategic studies. Translated, I went there each week to put my sermons together.

My booth, with books askew and papers in various piles stood out as an oddity amidst the local lunch crowd. While they dined and dashed, I nursed a Diet Coke for the better part of the day. Bob, the owner, couldn’t help but notice my sacred mess and would inevitably stop by and ask what I was up to. I told him I was trying to put together a talk about God. I piqued his interest even further when I started asking his opinions about spiritual topics. Being a non-Christian gave him the street credibility I was lacking as a man of the cloth and I eventually began using his ideas in my talks.

Burgermaster Bob was shocked. Not only was I intentionally listening to him. (we talked weekly.) but I was also valuing his thoughts.

This process took several years. I didn’t do it just for the fun of it (although it was fun). I did it as an intentional ordinary attempt to try and connect with him and nudge him closer to Jesus. I did it on purpose.

He eventually came to church several times to help critique my talks. His interest increased and we began meeting regularly to talk about Jesus. He became much more open to the possibility of God being a viable option in his life. Although I didn’t "lead him to the Lord" the God who misses him is certainly leading him to himself. A little intentionality mixed with a little reality turned out to be just the right mix for nudging Burgermaster Bob closer to Jesus.

Business gets it. As competition heats up they’re lightening up. Old corporate titles like CEO are being replaced by Manager of Mischief as they realize that "staring at the bottom line " doesn’t make it increase. Evangelism is too darn serious.

John, a church planter, believes that making God out to be boring is a sin with a capital "S". He also believes that lost people matter so much to God that unless your outreach-idea is immoral or unethical it’s God’s will to try it at least once. In this spirit of adventure his church recently sponsored a "Battle of the Bands ". They opened up their stage to local secular bands and let them do their thing. Not only did they get to meet the musicians. They also got to transform their impression of church without saying a word. As a side issue they received national press coverage. A Battle of the Bands in church? John thinks evangelism is much more doable when we have fun and quit trying to be so darn serious. Oh yea one other thing---his church is in India.

Jesus said: If anyone gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple. I tell you the truth; he will certainly not lose his reward. Matthew 10:42

The OA paraphrase reads like this: 
If anyone… even cowards for Jesus Gives even… small things are the big things A cup of cold water… ordinary things are the real things Because he is my disciple… good intentions count too He will not lose his reward… It counts and God will multiply its effectiveness

Christians are the freest people on earth. Our past, present and future are all secure through the love of Jesus. Not only do we have eternal security but internal security. In a word we have nothing to lose. We can risk, attempt and fail and we’ll still go to heaven.

When it comes to evangelism we can be our ordinary selves and it turns out to be good enough. It turns out that all He needs are the five loaves and two fish of our lives. Something we already have. Rather than trying to escape the ordinary we ought to exploit it and attempt something small for God. Something ordinary.