Mustard Seed Faith in Church Planting and Evangelism

Gary Morris

• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781098079314
• eBook ISBN: 9781098079321
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

The cover picture and the title go hand in hand. The person who goes out and casts seed has in him the hope that the kingdom of God will be expanded. He possesses at minimum, faith the size of a mustard seed.

He believes that the all-powerful God whom he serves will release His power in what the picture portrays. The servant of God cast the seed, not knowing but believing that the purposes of God will become evident. Why? Because faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11: 1).

So in his labors, some seed finds residence in a hard and dark heart of stone. God is working His miracle of regeneration or drawing that hard-hearted individual to Himself. The seed of the eternal Word is cracking and breaking up the hard heart.

Sometimes, the person of faith observes something happening. He witnesses what was once a hard and depraved heart is now being softened toward God. If he is involved in up-close evangelism, he is blessed to witness the spiritual miracle of salvation as depicted in the picture as becoming a heart of flesh. That once-hard-hearted person is now able to move in God's direction rather than continuing in his own depraved way.

The eternal seed that has been implanted in the heart by God now begins to sprout out with life, demonstrating the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, growing and producing spiritual fruit unto his King; this is his reasonable service.

Chapter 2

Preparation Part 1

When I look at this title, I do not want anyone to think that this was God’s will of what I am about to write. Some who may read this section might say, “How can a kid who was raised in a solid denomination and a strong Evangelical congregation with Christian parents get involved or stray into sin like this?” There are many answers to this question, but the blanket answer for me is found in Jeremiah 17:9–10.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reigns, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

When I get to my words about evangelism, I can say without reservation that a lot of my effectiveness was attributed to walking in the shoes of those I came in contact with on the street and those people behind thousands of doors I have knocked on over the years. That does not say that those who evangelize must walk in the filth of this world, but what it does say is that what I have experienced is that identification with an individual of what they are going through, and that assisted me greatly in the ministry of evangelism.

When I look back on my life, I see that many times, I was placed in leadership positions. Having two older brothers, I was very competitive. I played point guard in basketball, quarterback in football, a sprinter in track, a senior Marine Science Technician on the USCGC Dallas and a senior trauma X-ray technician at several hospitals. I was also considered to be a guy who enjoyed in-your-face contact, which landed me in a few fights along the way; not proud of that, but that is how I was wired and raised in North Dayton. I am quite sure that those who have studied the subject of temperaments would label me as being a choleric and sanguine kind of fellow.

I looked up to some of my buddies, and some looked up to me. I was a leader, but I was also one who enjoyed being liked. So the idea of being a leader and a follower was a part of my soul. So much so that when a bunch of us guys at fifteen found an older guy to buy us beer, I was right there to be accepted in the crowd, and I knew it was wrong. How I wished over the years that I would have said those words, “Jesus, I love you,” louder so that my dad may have seen that his son was ripe for the harvest.

Even the playing of sports didn’t keep me from breaking the rules with my buddies. If you were caught doing the things I did, you were off the team. It wasn’t until my senior year that five of us guys got into some trouble, and I was restricted from playing two sports that I loved: basketball and football. There were many times during my evangelistic work that I would come across individuals who had made bad choices and suffered the consequences. It was in those meetings that I could identify with them.

After high school, I enlisted into the United States Coast Guard for a four-year active duty term from 1969 to 1973, serving on two cutters. It did not take very long for the next phase of my downfall to begin. The craze back in the late sixties and early seventies was the debase hippy generation. And several of my sailor buddies on those cutters were part of that craze. The first time that I ever saw marijuana was on a Coast Guard Cutter; I was eighteen. And those people that I knew in the guard who smoked grass were committed to serving our great country.

The beginning of my psychological and physical addiction to grass—and eventually, hashish—began in 1969, and it only deepened as the years went by until the mighty deliverer, Jesus Christ, rescued me on June 15, 1975. In fact, my addiction got worse over the years to the point where I found myself dealing the junk, not only in the Coast Guard, but also in Dayton after I got out of the service in 1973.

There are many different levels of drug addiction when people get hooked on this junk. Some can discipline themselves to use it casually, and then there are some who allow marijuana to lead to deeper and more debase activity. Whatever the level of drug involvement, it can impede an individual from being their normal self.

It was about two weeks before Jesus saved me that I found myself in a house where several people were skin-popping heroin. I had absolutely no desire to get involved, but as I look back, I realize how close I got to following in the path of many who had moved in the direction of no return.

When I became a believer, I was startled when I discovered in a teaching that the Greek word in the English Bible for witchcraft and sorcery was pharmakia. This word literally means “drugs” and is associated with individuals who use or dispense drugs for evil practices. In our English language, it is where we get our word “pharmacy” or “pharmaceutical.” This word is used in Galatians 5:20; Revelation 9:21, 18:23, 21:8, 22:15.

If you were to look at the Old Testament, the Hebrew word is kashaph, which is primarily translated witchcraft, witch, and sorcerers, who used drugs in their satanic realm of work. This word is used in Exodus 7:11, 22:18; Deuteronomy 18:10; 2 Chronicles 33:6; Daniel 2:2; Malachi 3:5. These practices were strongly forbidden by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And for those who did put into practice this described evil, there were very serious consequences.

I can’t begin to tell you of how many people I shared Jesus with who were using or addicted to drugs. I knew where they were in life and possibly heading to and what path they may have taken to get to where they were. Many brothers and sisters in our work in Hawaii came from that kind of bondage. I could not only sympathize but also empathize with their dilemma because I had gone down the same destructive path.

How I thank the Lord that I was not only allowed to plant the seed of His Word but also water His seed and the wonderful blessing of watching Him harvest many people from this kind of bondage for His unending glory. It was several of these brothers and sisters who joined me in rubbing shoulders with those held in bondage by satan. I will explain more about this when I share about the ministry of evangelism.

Chapter 3

Encounters

I do not want you to think that this writing is all about me because it is all about Him. Yes, it is a bit of a history about my life, or should I say “His story” about my life. But my desire is that if one person can use a thought or an action of my history to lead some precious person to the Savior, these hours of thinking and typing has been very well worth it!

After spending four years in the Coast Guard I began studying to become an X-ray technician in Dayton, Ohio, and that was in 1973. It was about two months before my spiritual birthday, June 15, 1975, that spiritual things began to happen in my life. It was that wonderful drawing power and love of God Scripture so beautifully declares.

A dear friend and brother, Dr. Jim, a radiologist, asked me to come into his office. If you can picture this, Dr. Jim having short red hair, a conservative Baptist, speaking to a long haired street guy about a subject that was to haunt me for several weeks. Dr. Jim looked me right in the eyes and asked me this question: “Gary, do you fear hell?”

That question was like getting sucker punched, it totally caught me off guard. Having been raised in an evangelical congregation, I knew what hell kind of was—not a place to end up when you breathe your last breath on planet earth.

When you’re living a life far away from God and thinking that you are okay when you are not, a question like this begins to put things into perspective. Yes, I knew about hell and knew also that the way I was living that I was heading there. Jim’s words challenged, and to be honest, they jolted me. I can’t begin to tell you how many times on the street or the hundreds of people I met behind the doors that I had knocked on who needed a jolt concerning the most important question they are faced with, that being their eternal destiny.

Please keep in mind that people go throughout the day or the month or the year without thinking of the claims of the most important person who ever graced this planet. I have asked this question before to a person who goes throughout their day thinking only about their day.

Question: Write down on a piece of paper the names of all the religious leaders, political leaders, military leaders, or anyone for that matter. Then write down the name of Jesus. Out of all of these individuals, who is and has been the most influential of all? There is absolutely no comparison that remotely comes close to the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

I remember well when John Lennon made that repulsive statement that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ. I hope that he did not take that belief into eternity!

How shall they hear without someone speaking to them about spiritual things? They don’t; most just go on their merry way, all the way to their last breath on earth. I am so very grateful to the Lord for His servant Dr. Jim’s having the courage to speak those words of truth to a person like me. A lost and despicable sinner, thinking all is well, but in reality, a split second from eternal damnation.

Well, it was not just Dr. Jim who had an influence in my life. Lowell, who was my next-door neighbor and a bigger user of drugs than I was, began to witness to me about the Lord. He was sharing with me things that brought back memories of growing up in the CM&A. He challenged me as he found peace and deliverance from drugs by the power of God. You see, Lowell and I did some drugs together. I remember when Lowell had an appendectomy, and his wife told me that the doctor told her that when they pulled the trach tube out after the surgery, that it was covered with resin from all the dope he smoked. Now that’s a lot of dope smoking! But that’s whom Jesus came for, lost sinners, and that’s all of us! What a change in Lowell’s life by God’s matchless grace.

So his life haunted me also. So now I had Dr. Jim at the local hospital, where I was doing my radiology practicum, and Lowell, my neighbor, challenging me to give my life over to the master. I hope you can see how God works in the hearts of sinners? No man or woman comes to the Father unless the Father draws him or her. He was doing a marvelous work through His called-out ones, His ekklesia, His church, and I know it right well.

So now, if Dr. Jim and Lowell were not enough, an old friend, whom I knew from kindergarten, would stop by to do drugs and dabble in witchcraft by drawing caricatures on my round yellow floor table surrounded by several sit down pillows. You know those hippy types, of which I was, with their Joe Cocker and Santana music playing, incense burning, and with the light organ blinking to the sound of the music.

There was one time ...

Table of contents

• Background
• Preparation Part 1
• Encounters
• Preparation, Part 2
• Purpose and Focus
• Growing Pains
• The Hawaii Plant
• Praise and Worship
• Church Leadership
• Wrapping It Up