Free Evangelism Books

[Cary Polachek]

Thisbook was a game changer, the first serious and yet popular(ish) level theological reflection on evangelism. Written in 1989, it still holds today as a seminal work to encourage discussion about what evangelism is, particularly in light of the kingdom of God. It is weighty but not inaccessible, and anyone who wants to look with a more seriously theological eye at evangelism would do well to start here.

They are not based any sales ranking or statistics, or in any particular order, but are books that I have read on the subject of personal witnessing and narrowed down to my favorite personal evangelism books.

Christians are called to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). In today's contemporary culture, this continues to be provingly more difficult. How can we make the message of Jesus Christ still relevant and accessible today? IVP has produced this range of books to help you spread the life-changing news of Christ in an increasingly fast-changing world. Books include A Better Story and The Contemporary Christian.

8 Habits of Evangelism Books

This resource identifies and explores eight habits of faith which invite the reader on a journey into the love of God, the lives of our neighbors, and the transformation of creation. Radical Welcome. Worship. Sacraments. Prayer. Justice. Teaching. Fellowship. Generosity.

8 Habits of Evangelism Website

Find more content at www.8habits.org. Watch video interviews with the authors, download PDFs of the books and access study guides for small groups.

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Tech evangelist, author, venture capitalist and entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki will visit Old Dominion University on Wednesday, Feb. 18, participating in two events as part of ODU's celebration of its entrepreneurial spirit.

Kawasaki, perhaps best known for his roles as chief evangelist at Apple and as an adviser to the Motorola business unit of Google, will speak to ODU's Economics Club of Hampton Roads over the lunch-hour, and will deliver the President's Lecture in Webb University Center in the evening.

Kawasaki's evening lecture, "The Art of Enchantment," is co-sponsored by the Old Dominion University President's Lecture Series, the Strome Entrepreneurial Center and ODU's Strome College of Business through its Landmark Executive-in-Residence program.

The speech explains how to influence people's hearts, minds, and actions. Kawasaki's message is that the goal is to bring about voluntary, enduring, and delightful change that enables you to maneuver through difficult decisions, break entrenched habits, and get colleagues to work for long-term, mutually beneficial goals. Topics include how to achieve likability and trustworthiness, how to overcome resistance, how to enchant people who work for you, and how to enchant your boss.

For the Economics Club, the title of Kawaski's address is "The Art of Innovation." This speech is designed to inspire people to take chances, innovate, and change the world. Kawasaki lays out the strategic steps to create new products and services by calling upon his experience with Apple as well as his study of dozens of world-class companies.

The chief evangelist of Canva, an online graphic design tool, Kawasaki is an unabashed social media advocate with more than 6.7 million followers on Google+, 1.4 million on Twitter and 270,000 on Facebook. He's also the author of 12 books, including "APE: How to Publish a Book" and "Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions."

In his latest book, "The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users," Kawasaki explains what it takes to create posts that will deliver value to followers, build brands and share an organization's story.

His in-depth knowledge of the high-tech industry combined with his years of management experience enables him to address a wide range of audiences. His particular strength is the ability to quickly understand diverse industries and incorporate his pre-existing knowledge into a highly relevant and customized speech. His speaking audiences have included companies as diverse as Google, Nike, Sprint, Forbes and the Calgary Flames hockey team.

Old Dominion University's decades-long commitment to entrepreneurship was given an incredible boost in 2014 from an $11-million gift from the Strome Family Foundation, led by Mark and Tammy Strome. Mark Strome, a 1978 ODU graduate in civil engineering, is chief investment officer for the Strome Group and Strome Investment Management, L.P., based in Santa Monica, Calif.

The gift has helped with the creation of a multi-disciplinary entrepreneurial ecosystem that stretches campus-wide, encouraging and supporting student entrepreneurs as they create opportunities for themselves and help grow the economy. The centerpiece of ODU's initiative supporting business start-ups is the Strome Entrepreneurial Center, which opened its doors in September, 2014.

ODU's President's Lecture Series serves as a marketplace for ideas, featuring fascinating personalities who share their knowledge, experience, opinions and accomplishments. Presenting discussion of timely topics, the series puts diversity first, offering an international lineup of authors and educators, business innovators and political figures.

Established in 2001, the Landmark Executive-in-Residence program is funded by an endowment from a group of former Landmark Communications executives in honor of the late Frank Batten Sr., former chairman of the executive committee of the Landmark board and the first rector of the ODU Board of Visitors. Its purpose is to enrich students' entrepreneurial spirit, their awareness of the success that can be built through their academic experiences, and their understanding of the importance of leading with integrity.

The Economics Club of Hampton Roads is a community service activity of the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University. The Club hosts monthly luncheons with speakers on a wide array of topics in order to foster a dialog on issues of regional, national, and international importance. Membership is open to the public, new members are welcome.

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There is nothing like eating your own dog food. At the recent AoEC Trusted Executive training day, I completed my own self-assessment exercise based on the nine habits of trust. It was a revealing experience which I then had the opportunity to de-brief with another coach in the AoEC team. I expected we would focus exclusively upon my weaker habits of being open and being kind, but, to my pleasant surprise, we also worked on a hidden strength - the habit of evangelising. As a result of the coaching, I committed to being more open to share my personal stories of being a successful evangelist. So, in writing this blog, I hope I am exercising two habits for the price of one!

Evangelism in business is about 'spreading the good news'. As author Guy Kawasaki says in the 'The Art of Evangelism' - 'In the social age, evangelism is everyone's job'. If we do not take the time to spread the good news then we will drown in the sea of negativity and cynicism that is spun around us 24 hours a day. We need great evangelists if we are to keep the faith and if we are to keep the trust.

So how have I fared against these behaviours on my own evangelistic journey? Let's focus on the example of writing books. That journey started with a vision. Back in 1997, I pulled into York station on a commuter train. I looked out of the window and saw a woman reading a leadership book on the station platform. At that point, I heard a voice in my head say, 'wouldn't it be cool if you pulled into a station one day, looked out of the window and saw someone reading a leadership book that you had written?' I was hooked.

Fast forward to 2008, my business partner, Ian Day, and I attended a book-writing event at Warwick University. Driving back home afterwards, Ian turned to me and said, 'Shall we write a book?'. 'Why not?' I replied. And so the vision took another step forward. In 2009, we self-published 'Where were all the coaches when the banks went down?' It was terrifying but not quite as terrifying as having a book published by a mainstream publisher. That happened in 2012 when 'Challenging Coaching' was published by Nicholas Brealey.

Despite all the highs of achieving the dream, there were many lows on the writing journey. Maybe the biggest disappointment was when Ian and I hosted a challenging coaching conference in London shortly after its publication. In the audience were some trusted ex-colleagues of mine who took the opportunity to criticise the thinking in the book on a public stage. It hurt me. Not the criticism itself but the motivation behind it. Writing involves 'getting naked'; showing vulnerability and putting your neck on the line. When others take opportunity to exploit that vulnerability it is tempting to crawl back into your shell and shut up the shop, but that is not what evangelists do. Evangelists bounce back. Hence, I ploughed on and 'The Trusted Executive' was published last year by Kogan Page and later shortlisted as the CMI management book of the year.

How about the final behaviour? Is it obvious to others that I love writing? Fellow author, coach and master evangelist, John Whitmore, once asked me 'How do you feel when you write?'. It was an intriguing question. After a long pause, I replied 'I feel loved'. It is true. I love writing because when I get into that place where I commune with the muse in me I feel loved. In that sense, writing has been great therapy. It has connected me with a cause bigger than myself. In that sense, I love what I do.

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