MY TESTIMONY OF LEARNING TO LEAD PEOPLE TO CHRIST

MY TESTIMONY OF LEARNING TO LEAD PEOPLE TO CHRIST

MY ENCOUNTER WITH GOD 

Fourteen years ago in August 2011, I encountered the Lord through a supernatural experience at a church I was invited to. Over the next few weeks, I surrendered my life to Christ, was baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, and was delivered from chronic suicidal depression, drug addiction, and hypothyroidism.

I began witnessing to all my friends and family, telling them how I had been transformed. I wanted to lead people to Christ, but I didn’t really know how. Someone told me that I needed to learn the "Romans Road."

A DIVINE ANSWER TO PRAYER

So I prayed and said, “God, I don’t know what the Romans Road is. Can you please teach me?” The very next day, I went out to get the mail, and there was a pamphlet on our porch titled Roman's Road.

It was a tract that talked about Jesus and explained the path to salvation using key scriptures from the book of Romans. Someone evangelizing must have gone through the whole block and placed these pamphlets on our doorsteps just the very next day after my prayer!

UNDERSTANDING THE ROMAN'S ROAD 

I found out the Romans Road was a pathway through the book of Romans that highlighted important scriptures explaining how we have all sinned, are separated from God, and need faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.

I immediately began using these scriptures, and at the end, I would lead people in a prayer of salvation and tell them they were now saved.

DOUBTS BEGIN TO SURFACE 

After many years of attending church, reading my Bible, and going to Bible school, I began to question the Roman's Road and the salvation prayer model. I realized it placed a heavy emphasis on faith but left out several key elements such as being filled with the Holy Spirit, obedience to God, water baptism, and other necessary aspects of following Christ.

But I didn’t know any other way to lead people to Christ, so I continued to use it for years.

BECOMING AN EVANGELIST

In 2019, I left my role as an associate pastor and became a traveling evangelist doing tent revivals and church meetings. I would give altar calls, have people come forward, lead them in a prayer of salvation, and tell them they were saved.

CONVICTION AND TRANSFORMATION

After doing this for a while, I became very convicted. I knew in my heart it was wrong because people weren’t truly being transformed. They would say the prayer and often have emotional experiences like crying & trembling but they remained bound in sin.

So I stopped doing the salvation prayer. The joke became that I was the only evangelist who preached but didn’t lead people to Christ...lol

A CRISIS POINT

I began leaving people hanging at the end of the service because I knew the Romans Road salvation prayer was wrong, but I didn’t know what else to do.

In 2020, I was on a preaching tour in Pakistan. The hosting pastor told me I needed to give people an opportunity to come to Christ because they didn’t know what to do after I finished speaking. Not knowing a better way, I went back to using the salvation prayer.

I felt bad doing it, knowing in my heart it wasn’t the full picture, but I had no better alternative.

A NEW REVELATION

Finally, in the summer of 2020, someone introduced me to a different way of converting people to follow Christ. They pointed me to Acts 2:36–38:

Acts 2:37–38 NLT

“[37] Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’ [38] Peter replied, ‘Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”

They showed me several examples in the book of Acts where, in the early church, people were led to Christ through repentance, water baptism, and receiving the Holy Spirit.

NO BIBLICAL SALVATION PRAYER

They explained that in the Bible, you won’t find a salvation prayer, catechism, confirmation, or church membership as the method to lead someone to Christ. What you do see is a consistent model: repentance, water baptism, and receiving the Holy Spirit, followed by a life of ongoing obedience and faith.

THE JOURNEY OF REVELATION

Many people might have stopped at the Roman's Road pamphlet on the porch, believing that was the end of the story. Of course, that was a sign from God but if we stay humble, God will continue to teach us more & more!

Revelation is a journey. It doesn’t come all at once. It took me 10 years to truly begin learning how to lead people to Christ, and I’m still learning.

I’d be a fool to say I now have the perfect way because I understand that my journey is not finished.

A BALANCED VIEW

I want to be clear, I do not condemn the salvation prayer. God can still use it powerfully because many people don’t know anything else. What matters is the purity of heart and sincerity. God looks at the heart and integrity.

I have close friends who came to Christ through a salvation prayer and had powerful, life-changing experiences. But they also went on to experience true repentance, water baptism, and the infilling of the Holy Spirit later on.

FALSE GOSPEL OR INCOMPLETE GOSPEL?

Some people call the Romans Road a “false gospel” because it leaves out important elements. I dislike how often that term is thrown around. A false gospel leads people away from the true Christ. There’s a big difference between a false gospel and an incomplete gospel. I think in some sense all of us have an incomplete gospel and we're always growing.

That's why it's okay to start where you're at and do what you know and let's all continue to grow together!

THE BOOK OF ROMANS IN CONTEXT

I’ll conclude with a final note about the book of Romans. The salvation prayer is based on Romans 10:9–10. But here’s the problem, any text taken out of context becomes a pretext.

Romans has 16 chapters, not just chapter 10. To understand Romans 10, we need to read everything leading up to it.

Chapters 1–3: Repentance

Chapters 4–5: Faith

Chapters 6–7: Water Baptism

Chapter 8: The Holy Spirit

Chapter 9: The Restoration of Israel and the Kingdom of God

So yes, Romans 10 tells us confession in Christ leads to salvation but what does that confession include? It includes:

Repentance

Faith

Water Baptism

The Holy Spirit

Understanding of Israel and the Kingdom of God

FINAL THOUGHTS

When God speaks, let's not finish His sentence for Him & think He's done talking. Let us use what He gave us to the best of our ability and continue to seek Him for more. We're all still learning, and that’s okay. Let’s keep growing together, staying humble, and pursuing the fullness of the gospel with sincerity and truth.