Christian music artist Austin French says he makes a point when he’s performing a set at big productions like Winter Jam to share the gospel with his audience.
“It was super important for me not to get up there and say, ‘Bang, bang, bang, there’s the songs you want; good night,'” French says. “It was, How do I put the gospel message into this? … [The music is] gonna fade; people are gonna forget. … But the thing that’s gonna go home with them is the gospel. That’s the thing that can change your life.
“So I’ll take my 60 minutes at a festival and like, play five, six songs and then just halt, and I’m like, ‘Everybody sit down.’ I get my Bible out and I’m like, ‘All right, I’ve got a 15-minute message. Here we go.’ And I just share the gospel and I’ll get looks of—when I get off stage, from behind stage—like, ‘Can we do that? Is that OK?’ I’m like, ‘Absolutely; that’s why we’re writing this music.'”
French says he was actually very nervous to share the gospel with his neighbor, whom he sees regularly but whose lifestyle is very different from his. What helped him build the courage to go speak to this neighbor about Jesus was an accountability group on an app on his smartphone. The group could stay updated on when French prayed for and talked to this neighbor, he says on the Gospelize podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network.
“So we started this group on the app, and now we get to kind of track with each other,” French says. “That’s like, who they’re sharing the gospel with, if they’re sharing the gospel. They need encouragement. Like I can call my piano players, like, ‘Bro, you’re procrastinating. I haven’t seen an update.’ I need that in my own life.”
To listen to the entire episode about evangelism and accountability, click here.
