Complimentary Story
January 2026Sixteen-year-old Neal Simpson and his “Basketball Buddies” sing in a gospel quartet at Highland Baptist Church. While practicing last month, Neal had an idea: “Why not invite Coach Bud Farley, Highland High’s basketball guru, to come hear the quartet sing at Highland Baptist?”
Acting quickly, Neal dropped by the athletic office and personally invited Coach Farley to come to Highland Baptist next Sunday at 10 am for the opening music. Coach acknowledged the invite with a quick “Thanks Neal,” and then swiftly changed subjects to Neal’s abysmal 65 percent free throw percentage, “Gotta move up toward 80 percent kid,” he complained. Neal agreed and shuffled off, thinking he had not gotten through to Coach with his invitation.
The following Sunday, 9:55 am, Neal and “the Buddies” were checking sound on stage at Highland Church when Coach Farley, his wife and two kids found their seats into the back row pew. Neal was not ready for the whole family, but he flashed a big smile at them. Coach Farley smiled back as the Buddies belted out the opening lines of “In Christ Alone.” The invitation had worked!
We don’t know if Coach Farley heard the salvation message through either the Buddies’ songs or the pastor’s sermon invitation. Maybe it happened a few Sundays later as Coach and his family kept coming to Highland Baptist, digging into the Pastor’s sermons and even signing up for a baptism class to begin next month. But Neal Simpson’s invitation was the beginning of abundant life for Coach Bud Farley and his family.
The truth is simple. Personal invitations work! And the key word is “personal” – Neal (a real student, singer and believer) invited Bud Farley (a real coach, husband and father) to church. It was not a mass mailing or robo-call. It was a person-to-person, verbal invitation. It was also leader-to-leader: Neal, as leader of the Basketball Buddies and Coach Farley, as leader of Highland’s hoopsters. Coach Farley is also leader of his family – meaning four people attended church and came to Jesus.
Invitations have always worked!
In June 1930, 11-year-old John Meyer invited his 10-year-old friend, Bobby Johnson, to try Vacation Bible School at Chicago’s Riis Park Baptist Church. Bobby came to VBS along with 15 other new neighborhood kids who all said “Yes” to Pastor John Cross’s invitation to repent of sins and follow Jesus into eternal life. I know all the varieties of this powerful story because Bobby was my father and June Helgesen, another 10 year-old convert, was my mother. Both Bobby and June lived close to Jesus because they both said “Yes” when invited nearly 100 years ago. The invitation worked again!
Move with me to October 2002. Leo Granato coached basketball in a Chicago church gym on Belden Avenue. Church trustee, Bob Ebersol, invited Leo to join him in attending Sunday morning services. Leo said “Yes,” and realized church was for him, … and also for his wife and family. Within three months, 19 of Leo’s immediate and extended family were attending gospel services on Belden Avenue. God not only added to his church, He also multiplied the fruit of Bob’s personal witness.
So what is the big deal of a personal witness? As you read these paragraphs, I am persuading you of the Gospel in a very personal way. I am stating convictions about Jesus’ mission that I have personally allowed to change my own life. I, as well, responded to the Gospel as taught to me by a personal witness, Les Wilkinson, while I was an 8-year-old at the River Grove Bible Church on March 8, 1959. I heard Jesus’ promise of salvation through Les’ personal invitation to a group of elementary students, and I responded with the best “Yes” of my lifetime.
Personal invitations keep working! Eleven-year-old Kevin Treavan heard my own invitation to follow Jesus in our cabin at Camp Sonshine of Niles, Michigan, in August of 1972. Kevin responded with a “Yes” and has personally known abundant life in Jesus ever since.
“Personal” brings an element of truth and believability to the matter. Your personal invitation is real and life-changing. It’s individual-directed and comes from an actual person who has been born again and has, in fact, seen his life converted. That invitation is directed toward a very real person whom God has put on His own agenda. You bet it’s personal!
Each convert is a very real human being: body, soul and spirit. He will be compelled (by the Holy Spirit) to say “Yes,” to Jesus. The invitation is not a paid commercial, nor someone’s good story. The invitation is propelled by love and personally received as good news.
Why is an Invitation Important? An invitation to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord is particularly important in our time when we are assaulted with rumors, and commands to spend, talk, vote, or take any number of actions to please an advertiser. By contrast, the salvation invitation is initiated by God, who prompts a believer to deliver that invitation as a personal Christian witness. The individual witness lends a huge credibility to God’s invitation.
Few people know how to hear and then respond to God’s calling them (think Moses and the burning bush, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” Exodus 3:6). But people do know how to respond to a human invitation directed their way.
We are honored that an invitation is directed to us. We are interested in what we are called to consider. We are then obligated to respond to a personal invitation, rather than automatically deleting an email. We are the human channel for communicating Jesus’ original invitation (“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” Revelation 3:20), and we bring a power to the news that Jesus is still knocking at each unbeliever’s heart. Claim that power, God’s power, as you deliver your invitation to a friend, neighbor, or relative.
As a boy, I remember seeing and believing the burnt-in engraving on my new baseball glove – “genuine leather.” The glove was not made of plastic. It started as cowhide and remained real leather through all the tanning and stitching process. And that fielder’s glove remains as genuine leather for a long, long time!
In the same way, genuine invitations have staying power. They are true and they remain true for lifetimes to come. Repentance is the human key to receiving forgiveness of sins through the blood of Jesus. And as a sinner repents, his spiritual identity is changed from sinner to follower of Jesus, the son of the true and living God.
As a believer in Jesus, you and I have received a high command and calling. Matthew 28:19-20 tells us to, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” If you and I cannot go to every nation in the world, then certainly we must be responsible to Jesus by witnessing to our own family, our own town, and our own circle of friends.
Roger Johnson is an evangelist, writer and teacher from Kenosha. He served for nearly 40 years as an urban evangelist in Chicago. A graduate of Wheaton College and North Park Seminary, he completed the M.A. in Evangelism & Leadership at Wheaton Grad School in 2012.
