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Let Me Out
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Give’em Heaven In 2011 – Let Me Out
By Cheryle M. Touchton
The Pocket Full of Quarters Lady
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Ps 119:103 NIV
“I thought there was no way to reach this community,” the pastor excitedly told his outreach committee members. I’d just finished giving them an evangelism training class. The pastor and the chair of their outreach committee had spent three hours following me through the park and past the sidewalk cafés and shops that surround his church building. “I couldn’t believe how eager people were to hear about Jesus. Only one person got annoyed. Even the Jewish people did not seem to mind talking with us. I feel like I’ve been let out of a cage. I’m going to commit to doing this two hours every week.”
“I’ll go with you,” the outreach chair offered. “Cheryle just speaks scripture and invites people to Jesus. I can’t believe how simple it was. She didn't push us or make us uncomfortable. She just let us watch.”
I wanted to cheer. The pastor had started out dubious about walking around so close to the church. He was well known and respected in his beloved tight knit community and didn’t want people uncomfortable. To his astonishment, almost everyone welcomed the conversation and six people eagerly prayed to receive Jesus. That pastor was starved for what he’d witnessed the Holy Spirit do that afternoon.
“One woman burst into years when Cheryle introduced herself and then said that we were the reason she’d driven 15 miles to take her children to this park,” the pastor said. “She prayed to receive Jesus. 16-year-old Kyle goes to our local high school. We talked to him a while and then he followed to ask more questions. We need to get him plugged into our youth group. Three junior high school girls prayed to receive Jesus. We saw them later a couple of hours later. They were still beaming. We met a man named Jim and when he realized what church I was from, he said my name like I was a rock star. He’d walked by our church every day and read my name and the quotes on our marquis. He was longing for someone to invite him in. Two men wanted to challenge us about God being real. I want our church to offer something where they can come in and feel free to discuss those kinds of things.”
I’m starved for that light to go on for other Christians. I look at Christians struggling to maintain the joy of their salvation. I know that if they would share their faith, it would accelerate their spiritual growth in a way that nothing else would. I look at churches discouraged and struggling and know that if their members would give the good news of Christ to the people they meet on the streets, it would transform the culture of that church in a way that nothing else could. I long to help others share their faith because of what it does for individual Christians, the church, and the lost. It is like a funnel. The Holy Spirit fills us up but if we don’t let Him flow through us and into the world, the funnel gets stopped up.
Are you in a cage about sharing your faith? Are fears of offending or saying the wrong thing, excuses about not having the gift of evangelism, or false beliefs like ‘people don’t want to hear it’ your jailers? Regardless of your spiritual gifts, sharing your faith with others will set you free. Churches that share their faith soar out of their cages as if on eagle’s wings. It is so easy to share our faith. We just speak the words of the Bible and invite people to the party. The true words of the Bible are sweeter than honey and it draws people to it like Humming Birds are drawn to sweet nectar.
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Cheryle M. Touchton is the Director of Pocket Full of Change Ministries. This ministry exists because people like you are called to help fund the work of the kingdom. To help keep the Pocket Full of Quarters Lady on the road leading people to Christ, you can donate at
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