After retiring from a life time of preaching, a pastor soon realized that all his friends were those who go to church. The more he thought about it, the more aware he became of the fact that his circle of friends were the churched.

He thought and prayed about how he could reach out to people who would not attend church and as a former preacher, he knew it would not be easy for him to befriend everyday people. What did he have in common with them?

He decided to start playing golf, took some much needed lessons and quickly realized he was already making friends with the un-churched in golf class.

He joined a golf club, became active in the club’s activities and joined the board. Soon all his relationships were with the un-churched and he also noticed he was enjoying the game, although he was not very good at it.

One of his golf buddies was a businessman who gave him a box of golf balls with his company logo on them. A while later the preacher was asked how he liked the golf balls. The preacher replied that he was a really good advertiser for the company whose logo was on the golf balls, as the balls ended up all over the place and never made it back into his golf bag.

Sometime later he was having a round of golf with a leader of the community who casually asked the preacher what he did before retiring. Just as casually he replied that he had been a preacher. His golfing buddy shrugged, lined up for a shot and said, “So basically you talked about a dead man all your life.”

The preacher stopped in his tracks and said, “A dead man! This is a bit confusing as just this morning before the golf game I was talking with him.” His golfing buddy was not impressed but asked the preacher to prove to him that Jesus is alive. 
Well, this was the preacher’s area of expertise, and it did not take long for the man to also learn that Jesus is indeed very much alive.

Why am I sharing this story?

A man who loved preaching and teaching the Bible all his life, enjoyed church growth through his career, baptized hundreds, built new church buildings, and was known for his inspiring preaching, had the vision to go back to the basics of making disciples.

He walked away from most of the things he knew, and took on something he knew little about – he stepped out of his comfort zone even though he still had many invitations to come and preach. And God is using him to bring the un-reached in his community to salvation.

Not all can go overseas as tentmakers but if you have a Kingdom mindset you might realize there are un-reached people right in your neighborhood.

For those intending to go as tentmakers, perhaps you can follow in the retired preacher’s footsteps before you leave. Perhaps the next article will help you.