If the Energizer Bunny is not a Christian I’d like to get him on our side. Why? Because he/she is everything a good evangelist should be. That little bunny just keeps on going and going, and isn’t that what we’re all called to do. Not only does that little bunny keep on going, he/she keeps on beating its drum and clanging its cymbal all the way. No wonder that little bunny gets on so many nerves.

If we could emulate that little bunny, constantly beating the drum about Jesus, and clanging the cymbal of salvation, would we also get on peoples nerves. Could you look evil in the eye and keep pace? If you feel confident that you could, perhaps you are meant to be an evangelist. Not everyone has such a calling, but if you do, I would like to encourage you to pursue it.

An evangelist’s job is very difficult; because as an evangelist you very rarely see the seeds you plant, grow. You travel the land sowing the seeds of Salvation; but very seldom are you there at harvest. Almost never do you taste the fruit that came from the seeds that you planted. Your character must be strong! You must be like a deep well that keeps on giving and never runs dry.

The attacks and arrows fired at an evangelist are almost non-stop. That’s why so many fail! Their armor falters, allowing an arrow to penetrate. Those that are successful, the Billy, the bunny, Grahams are special indeed. Their armor has been re-enforced by the Lord Himself. Although, in meeting them you wonder how they survive, you see their armor is chinked, scarred, and dented, yet somehow still intact. Like the little Energizer Bunny they just keep rolling along.

The greatest evangelist, ever, had to be Saint Paul, and if one were called to such a life-style, I would recommend studying this great saint’s life. Paul is the epitome of what an evangelist is, right down to his imprisonment and death in Rome. Paul’s life was not one of comfort. He had multiple imprisonments, floggings, stonings, verbal attacks, shipwrecks and finally, he was executed. The hard times of St. Paul life, I believe, would be very challenging to beat, but, who knows, with God all things are possible. But still with all these negatives we hear Paul say how richly blessed he was. You see Paul learned to build up his own spirit by seeing the positive in everything. As it says in Philippians 4:12, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

Invariably, whenever you’re speaking for God you’re going to offend someone. That’s why they crucified Jesus. Very few can handle the truth about the world, about their God, or about themselves. If these areas don’t fit the little box created for them, friction and discomfort are created. Since you’re the cause of this discomfort, the natural recourse is to get rid of you. Although the church should be a safe haven for the evangelist, unfortunately, throughout history, it hasn’t been. Even when Jesus preached his gospel of peace, it was the entrenched church that could not accept His message, and eventually had Him crucified. In John’s gospel, where it states, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free," it’s not the type of freedom that we, today, are used to. It is a freeing of the spirit, but the body is as imprisoned as ever.

When you standup for God, the world will try its best to knock you down. When you beat the drum about Jesus Christ, the world will do its best to silence you. And when you rejoice with the cymbal of salvation the world will do its best to drown you out. Because Satan is the prince of this world, and this world has its marching order. Unfortunately, sometime the church helps this world to quiet their evangelists, because the great deceiver has even deceived the church. Instead of the church being an oasis of rest to the evangelist, it’s a desert of searing ridicule and heated debate about the little bunny that questions whether he/she can go on. Instead of the church being that place where the little bunny can recharge his/her battery, its another place that drains the last ohm of potency from an already tired soul.

Now that I explained what an evangelist is, and how much he/she is persecuted, I’m sure everyone out there is lining up to become one. This book was not written to pull any punches. We have been deceived into believing that once a person takes on the work of God that their life becomes a piece of cake. That just isn’t true. Jesus warned us "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

If you think in accordance with the world’s standards, there is just no benefit in becoming an evangelist. Thank God we don’t think that way, because the benefit God has in-store for all those who serve Him, as an evangelist, are innumerable. God will richly bless His servant, perhaps not in the here and now, but in the hereafter. In doing the work of God here on earth, you shall pile up the treasures, which cannot tarnish, nor be stolen away. Personally, I live my life, here on earth, the way my Father in heaven would want me to, so that at the end I can hear these simple words: "Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world."

I’m not sure if I, personally, was meant to be an evangelist. I like Moses’ am slow of speech. Or, perhaps I just need to change my battery to one that has been Spirit charged! You know, to the kind that keeps on going and going... I will give it a try and let you know what happens. First, let me kneel before the Lord to see if He has an extra set of armor in my size. Size "S" for Servant!

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