A while back I was leading a Servant Evangelism seminar in the Ft. Worth, Texas, area. I like to actually go out and practice what we've been talking about as part of the experience. So during the afternoon of the second day of our time together we split up into groups of two and three and invaded the neighborhood surrounding the church.
There were many stores and shopping centers nearby so there was no lack of things to do. We held a water give away and a couple of free car washes. Some people gave away light bulbs in a wealthy neighborhood with great success. (I guess everyone needs light bulbs!)
All the seminar participants left with their equipment and lots of connection cards that gave a simple message: "This is to show you God's love in a practical way. If we can be of more help give us a call!" There was a map to the church on the back, along with the Web site, service times and the phone number.
The pastor and I were left alone at the church so we decided to do my favorite outreach project  toilet cleaning! He was a little squeamish at first but pretty quickly he caught on to the rhythm of things.
Just about the time when we were ready to call it quits we said, "Let's do just one more." We walked into an Indian grocery store  our last stop of the day. (Remember from weeks past  the last stop is often the best stop. That's biblical. The last shall be first, etc.)
The smell of curries fascinated me as an outsider to that culture. I approached the owner of the store and gave him my standard line: "Hi  we're here to clean your toilets for free!"
I don't like to beat around the bush. I love the look of shock on people's faces.
With a thick Indian accent this guy fired back, "So you are Christians are you!" He gazed at our connection card. "Well, we have 12 toilets. You must do all 12 toilets or you can do none of our toilets."
I was a little surprised that they had so many toilets. The store didn't seem large enough to have 12 toilets. My first response was to negotiate. I said, "Well, we have time to do three, maybe four of your toilets."
He got real intense with me and threw up his arms. "No! You must do all 12 toilets or you can do none of our toilets."
I retorted, "How about if we did five of your toilets …"
"I'm telling you for the last time," the man said, "you must do all 12 toilets or you can't do any of our toilets."
Finally, I gave in and said, "OK, we'll do all of your toilets."
My pastor friend said, "Are you out of your mind! We'll be here for the rest of the afternoon." I reassured him that I was faster than the average toilet cleaner.
As we were walking back to the first toilet the store owner said, "You know Steve, we actually only have three toilets. I was just giving you a little test to check your heart."
I heard that and I realized that it wasn't us going through the test  it was him. He saw the love of Christ in action and it deeply impacted him.
Interestingly, he sent every single one of his employees back to us as we s-l-o-w-l-y cleaned the three johns. He asked us to explain the gospel of Christ to all of his employees and his regular customers. They listened intently and asked great questions that showed that they were seriously investigating the claims of Christ.
As we left some time later, the owner said, "Well you passed my test."
I thought, "Right! More like you passed God's test and the result is you and your friends were nudged that much closer to Christ."
Steve Sjogren is the founding pastor of Vineyard Community Church in Cincinnati and author of numerous books on evangelism. Sjogren now speaks at conferences and consults with churches interested in the sort of outreach anyone can do. See www.ServantEvangelism.com or contact Sjogren at stevesjogren@mac.com.
