ICE BREAKER

My Belief

When I enter the flight deck I feel like I have a very clear mission. I only have 2, 3 or even 4 days to find a way to share the hope that I have in Jesus with the guy or gal sitting next to me. Hopefully, with God’s help I will get a chance to share with some of the Flight Attendants in the back, as well. The Lord has helped me to form a very effective strategy regardless of the “type” of lost person I am flying with. It is simple but it works. I like politics and current events and most people have some sort of opinion or at least pay attention to what is going on in the world a little. Usually, when we have long overnights or long flights at cruise we “chit-chat” about union stuff, contract stuff, or career progression stuff…blah blah blah etc… I use this awesome forum as an opportunity to grill people on what their personal opinion is and what they think about the issues in the world. I NEVER talk at first! People love to hear themselves talk and so I just keep asking questions. More and more questions. For Example: What do you think about health care? What do you think about gay rights? What do you think about Iran and the middle east? etc… Then I just listen and listen. It is funny how the conversation always turns around after a bit. People love to keep talking to a point, then they change their tune. After a bombardment of questioning then something clicks over in their mind and they HAVE TO HEAR FROM ME. It drives them nuts. They say things like, “What about you? Don’t you have an opinion Mr. question guy? I’m doing all the talking here, tell me what you think?”. THAT IS WHEN I GET TO HIT THEM WITH MY ICEBREAKER. I tell them, “Well I don’t really fit the “norm”. I am a conservative that thinks the Republican party is CRAP and a Christian that thinks Religion is CRAP”. This also drives them nuts and causes them to start asking even more questions! The first one is usually “What-in-the-heck does that mean?!?!” This is where I get to start telling them about my Biblically based values and how no where in the Bible is “Religion” mentioned, except in a bad way. I tell them that I believe in a personal relationship with God that is given through his son Jesus Christ. I tell them that the story of the Bible is simple. God created everything, we screwed it up, and so he gave us a new way to fix it. This strategy usually provokes long and beautiful conversations about values, beliefs, and most importantly FAITH. In the end most of these conversations end great. They end with people telling me that they have never heard anybody present the Gospel like this and they found it very thought provoking and enjoyable. The conversation is always there and it just starts with a good ICEBREAKER.

Scripture

1 Peter 3:15

¹⁵ But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

Application for Life

It is important to know what is in the Bible so you can give it to the world around you. It is also important to find a way to present it to the people in the mission field that God has given you. Make it meaningful to yourself so that you can make it meaningful to those around you. Find a way start conversations that relate to people and then find a way to turn that conversation toward Jesus. We CANNOT convince people, but that is not what we are called to do. We are just called to till, plant, and water. The Lord God in the form of the Holy Spirit is the one who makes it ALL grow!