Kevin Roose, “What would Jesus do on spring break?,” Salon.com. 18Mar2009.

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OVERVIEW

In this excerpt from his popular book, The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University, author Kevin Roose humorously recounts his participation in an evangelistic mission trip to Daytona Beach during Spring Break.  It is necessary to know that Roose is neither an evangelical nor a Christian at all, but is a student at Brown University completing a semester “undercover” at Liberty University posing as an evangelical Christian.  Roose describes himself as a man with a “secular liberal upbringing” who considers himself “pretty ambivalent about God,” and remarks that he is “not even close” to being evangelical.

 

Roose begins his article by describing a typical Spring Break scene in Daytona: loud music, alcohol, and a half-naked, gyrating “nubile blonde” dancing to “Girls, Girls, Girls” on a bar.  What is rather atypical in this scene is that Roose and his fellow Liberty students are not there to stare at the scantily clad young woman, but to evangelize to those who are staring.  In fact, the entire purpose of the week-long trip to Daytona Beach is not to experience Spring Break, but to participate in “battleground evangelism” on beaches, on the streets and in the bars.

 

Scott, the 58-year-old leader of the mission trip, is described by Roose as the “LeBron James of evangelism,” who never seems to grow tired of looking at people and thinking “Are they saved?”.  Roose paints a caricature of Scott by quoting him throughout the article.  A couple examples: 

• “Every person is a person for whom Christ died, whether they’re wearing a lot of clothes or no clothes at all.”

• “It’s safe to assume that almost everyone coming to Daytona for Spring Break is unsaved.”

• “This is going to be 24/7 spiritual warfare.  We’re talking about Satan’s home turf here.”

• “Decisions or not, we’re planting seeds the Lord will water in time!”

• “Man, it’s just such a thrill to introduce people to Christ!”

Roose is not a big fan of Scott, though he does admire his unwavering positive view of evangelism, even in the face of rejection.

 

The group is using a particular evangelistic method called the “Way of the Master” developed by Ray Comfort and marketed by Kirk Cameron.  This method involves approaching strangers and engaging in a carefully crafted conversation that follows these four questions:

 

1. Would you consider yourself to be a good person?

2. Do you think you’ve kept the Ten Commandments?

3. If God judged you by the Ten Commandments, would you be innocent or guilty?

4. If you’re guilty, where to you think you will spend eternity:  Heaven or Hell?

 

Once the stranger admits that they are going to Hell, they will be more likely to consider salvation through belief in Jesus.  As Scott describes this method to the mission group, he is met with “14 skeptical faces” staring back at him, according to Roose. 

 

As Roose reports the story, it seems as if this skepticism is founded as he goes on to explain the efficacy of the “Way of the Master” on reaching beach bums and partiers.  Roose gives a series of accounts of evangelism, including his own, all of which result in embarrassment, rejection or offense.  Describing his own try at evangelism, Roose recounts that after he asked a group of Jewish girls if they knew Jesus as their savior, they called him a “creep” as he walked away.  The other members of the group apparently did not experience a much better reaction, prompting one girl to pray that God would “let [the strangers] be nicer to us tonight” as they prepared to visit a nightclub to evangelize. 

 

His description of the evening evangelism is certainly not flattering either.  There are other Christian groups that are using food and a fake party complete with paid models to lure would be converts.  The most conversational stranger is drunk.  But this is where Roose brings up what may be his most insightful critique of the mission trip.  The drunk decides not to be “born again” because he will probably backslide the next day.  This response prompts Roose to wonder why there is no attempt to follow up with converts.  Had the drunk converted the evangelist “would have let him now he was saved, perhaps given him some Bible verses to read, and they would never have seen each other again”.  Roose remarks that this lack of follow-up is perhaps “part of the appeal” for Christians to do this type of evangelism, and goes on to examine statistics showing that the vast majority of converts in this type of setting are “false conversions” that result in backsliding. 

 

Though much of this article reads as a scathing critique of evangelism, at least this form of evangelism, Roose does take a few lines to examine a positive motivation for evangelism.  He notes that his fellow students “are convinced that their actions are compassionate and altruistic” and that for them “the risk of being loathed and humiliated by strangers is far outweighed by the possibility that even one person will see the light and be saved”.  He then describes a scene in which a member of the team sits with tearful eyes in the pouring rain with her arm around a homeless veteran, thinking about a world in desperate need of hope. 

 

Yet in the end, Roose (and perhaps another team member) seems to be convinced that the trip was a failure and a waste of time and money.  There were two people that responded positively to the evangelization.  At the same time, Roose sees that the trip could be more important for the evangelists, as it prepares them for a life of rejection in our culture.  Even with this positive effect, Roose would clearly answer his own question, “What would Jesus do on spring break?” by saying “Not what I did”.

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DICUSSION

1. What do you think of Roose’s critique of the evangelists?

2. Have you experienced this type of evangelism?  As an evangelist or the evangelized?

3. Would you be comfortable approaching strangers with the “Way of the Master”?

4. Is evangelism a necessary part of religious experience?

5. Are there “better” ways to share faith?

IMPLICATIONS

 

1. In a world of increasing pluralism, religious groups that evangelize are coming under greater scrutiny.

2. It is important to listen to voices outside of your tradition to understand how your tradition is perceived.

3. Christians and other evangelizing groups need to examine their own motives in evangelism.

4.  

1. It is possible that certain forms of evangelism have a negative effect on certain cultures that outweigh the positive effects. 

Kristopher Loper cCYS

 

 

Link to article:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/excerpt/2009/03/18/unlikely_disciple/index.html?source=rss&aim=/mwt/excerpt