For almost twenty years, I considered myself a very religious person. I attended Mass regularly, came from a family that prayed the rosary together on our knees, and even served as an altar boy for the priest. During the summer, we attended vacation religious classes, memorized the questions from the catechism, and were active in church services. Open to God but far from Him. Active in religion but spiritually dead. On several occasions I tried to read the family Bible but found it meaningless, just black words printed on a white page.



Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” I was a sinner by birth and by choice, and that meant I was spiritually dead. Now, if you had showed me that verse in those days, I may have agreed with you outwardly. But inwardly I would have felt that I was better than most people because I attended religious services and stayed busy in church activities. For all my busyness, I was spiritually dead. And spiritually dead are incapable of doing anything.
It’s easy to believe that a lost person who doesn’t know Jesus is very much alive. They may even be religious. If so, we can convince ourselves that they just need a little more church, or a little more Bible, or a little more faith. We can convince ourselves that they just need to make Jesus a bigger part of their life. But the fact is, instead of turning over a new leaf, what they really need is a new life. If we agree with Paul’s assessment of our situation in Ephesians 2—“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins”—then we have to accept the remedy he prescribes: “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4–5). The lost don’t need to be rehabilitated. They need to be resurrected.
The people who sit in Chair 1 are not simply nice people who need a little more life; they are spiritually dead people who are incapable of knowing God through their own efforts. The lost in Chair 1 are lying in a spiritual coffin and incapable of coming to life on their own. The Bible has much more to say about people like this, and it is not all that pleasant. According to the Scriptures, they “follow the ways of this world” and belong to the “ruler of the kingdom of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). “By nature” they are “deserving of wrath (Ephesians 2:3). The person in Chair 1 is “hostile to God,” “does not submit to God,” and is completely unable to do so (Romans 8:7). In fact, that person is “an enemy of God” and therefore “cannot please God,” no matter how hard they try (Romans 5:10; 8:8). When they are physically dead, they are destined to eternity apart from God (Luke 16:23; Revelation 20:15; John 3:16).
I wish I didn’t have to make these seemingly harsh statements. But this is the clear teaching of God’s Word. And until we come to terms with how the Bible describes our true condition before we come to Christ, the true condition of those who haven’t been saved by Christ’s sacrifice, we cannot help ourselves or anyone else. Truth can hurt. But it also brings true healing. The journey of becoming a true disciple of Christ begins with an honest appreciation of our life without Christ. We are dead. Lost. Alone. Unable to save ourselves.
The good news is that Christ can reverse this condition. As the late Howard Hendricks explained in one of his last sermons, “The amazing thing, my friend, is not that you die, but the amazing thing is that you live. [We] think we are in the land of the living on the way to the land of dying. My friend, nothing could be further from the biblical truth. You and I are in the land of dying and on our way to the land of the living.”

THE PROCESS MODELED
God is a missionary God. Beginning in the Old Testament, God blessed Abraham to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2–3). Continuing into the New Testament, God sent His Son to be a missionary to us. As that perfect missionary, living a perfect life on mission, Jesus modeled how to make an impact. He modeled what it means to be “sent” and to live life on mission. Jesus demonstrated perfectly the process of finding lost people and challenging them to move forward in the disciple-making process. Let’s begin by looking closely into the process Jesus modeled.
He left the comforts of His heavenly home and entered into our world. God became flesh and dwelt among us in Jesus. Jesus left the comforts of His eternal home and, by adding humanity to His deity, came into our world. He became like us. He identified with our joys and sorrows, our fears and concerns. He did not come as the royalty that He was. Instead He became like us in every way. He did not rent a large synagogue, hold large meetings, and demand that people come to pay tribute to Him. On the contrary, He came to us as a babe in a manger, to serve and not be served. Ultimately He became known as a “friend of sinners.”
He prepared Himself, learning the context and culture in which He was sent. Jesus spent thirty years in preparation. He learned obedience, studied the Scriptures, and prepared Himself through what He learned as He went about His everyday life. Most of His life was spent in obscurity. We call these the silent years. Yet for Jesus it was a life of learning to cope with the challenges of everyday living. He lived as a child, a friend, a son, a provider, and a businessman much longer than He lived in the limelight as the controversial Messiah. He came into our context and modeled life as God intended it to be lived. The first challenge he extended to the initial disciples, to “come and see,” was a challenge simply to observe how He lived as the perfect human, the second Adam. To come and see the simple patterns of His balanced lifestyle, perfected in the context of the world in which He had been called.
He made Himself available and intentionally developed relationships. Imagine the day, after thirty years of relative obscurity, that the Father tells Jesus, “Today is the day. Go and be baptized by Your cousin John.” Imagine the thoughts that occupied Him as He made the eighty-mile trek to Bethany. Did He know what was ahead? Did He know His life as a businessman was over? Did He anticipate the Holy Spirit’s anointing at His baptism? This we know for sure: Jesus made Himself available. He lived a perfectly dependent lifestyle. When the Father said, “Go!” Jesus responded in obedience.
At His baptism, the Spirit came upon Him, and after forty days of fasting and prayer, Jesus returned to where His cousin John was baptizing and made Himself available to be used by His heavenly Father. He began to participate in the ministry John had prepared. Jesus began identifying those whom the Father was drawing to Him. Called to disciple-making, He now spent hours with Andrew and John, Philip and Nathaneal (John 1:39, 43). He made a trip to Cana with His disciples, where He performed His first miracle (John 2:1). He then spent a few days in Capernaum, with His disciples and family members, no doubt answering questions about this miracle (John 2:12). After the Passover in Jerusalem, He met Nicodemus late at night to answer his questions (John 3). He spent several days traveling through Samaria, addressing the spiritual questions of seeking people (John 4). In short, He made Himself fully available to invest in seekers who were looking for answers.
He responded to those who showed interest. When Jesus began His ministry, He simply responded to those who were seeking by asking them, “What do you want?” (John 1:38). Jesus knew no one could come to Him “unless the Father draws him,” so He kept His eyes open for those who showed signs of being drawn to the Father. When He saw interest, he made Himself available to their needs and questions. Throughout His ministry, Jesus built a multitude of relationships and watched for those who showed interest, knowing that the Father was drawing people to Himself. In this way, Jesus worked in partnership with the Holy Spirit, because He knew the Holy Spirit was doing His job of convicting the world of guilt … and sin (John 16:8, 9). Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost, and He did this by partnering with the Holy Spirit and responding to those who showed interest.
Jesus challenged seekers to repent and believe. Like John the Baptist before Him, Jesus preached a simple message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2; 4:17). He knew His listeners were dead in their sin and that unless one is born again he will never be able to “see” or “enter” the Kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5). Dead people cannot see or walk. They need the life that comes from above. That life comes through repentance. Jesus boldly proclaimed that message of repentance and belief.

THE NEEDS OF SEEKERS
The person in Chair 1, the person without Christ, has many needs. The pattern of Christ’s life clearly models the best way to meet these needs.
First and foremost, Chair 1 people need Christ-followers in their lives who are willing to enter into their world relationally. This is what Jesus did for us. He left the comfort and glory of heaven and became like us in every way. He went where His people were so He could identify with them and so they in turn could get to know Him. Moved with Great Commandment love, Jesus so loved the world that He laid down His life for us.
Who has God placed right around you? Are you entering into their world? Would people identify you as a “friend of sinners,” as Jesus was? Are you willing to leave the comfort of your home or church to enter into the world of those without Christ? For years I had taught that we need to “walk as Jesus walked” and to “do what Jesus did” (1 John 2:6; John 14:12). Then one day I asked myself, in an exercise of personal reflection, how many non-Christians would call me their best friend. And to be honest, I couldn’t name any! I had become so consumed with Christians that I no longer had friendships with non-Christians. Oh, I knew some unbelievers, and I even waved to them on the way to church. But good friendships—I didn’t have any. I was no longer walking as Jesus walked.
This had to change! It was on that day that I began a fifteen-year journey of praying for my neighbors, reaching out to them, building redemptive relationships, and making them my priority. God honored that intentionality, as yearly we saw some of our neighbors trust Christ.
My wife, Char, and I recently moved to Louisville, Kentucky. Our new neighborhood prides itself on being independent, and many of our neighbors seem uninterested in developing new friendships. I knew right away this would make it a challenge to reach them with the Gospel. I found myself asking, “How would Jesus respond?”
Neil was the exception. Neil seemed open to talking, as long as we talked about what he loved. And he loved guns. He had several dozen guns in his home and belonged to several gun clubs and shooting ranges. I had grown up with guns on our farm in South Dakota. But after living in a suburb of Chicago for more than thirty years, I had almost forgotten what a gun looked like. So I decided to enter into Neil’s world. Would he teach me what he knew? Would he show me how to shoot again? Would he take me to the shooting range?
Neil welcomed the challenge and I entered into his world. Through our newfound hobby, Neil and I have become good friends. He recently attended an activity at our church. It was one of just a few times he had been to church in the last thirty years. Our friendship is growing.
Chair 1 people need friends who will enter into their world.
Second, Chair 1 people need Christ-followers who have prepared themselves. Jesus understood the culture and context in which He ministered because He lived among the people for thirty years. He was prepared for the questions, because He became a student of His culture. He was prepared with answers to the issues facing the people of His day. What are the unique questions seekers are asking in your neighborhood and workplace? How has the Father prepared you to answer those questions? God has helped you endure challenges in your life. You did not face these challenges by coincidence. Perhaps God wants to use you to help others who face similar problems. What needs are your neighbors facing that no one is addressing?
I will never forget Scott. He was one of the most interesting seekers I have ever met. Scott was a scientist. When he first came to my Bible study, he asked few questions, but I saw him taking a lot of notes. One day he asked if he could meet with me alone. When Scott showed up, he had a yellow pad filled with more than fifty questions about God and the Bible. He had questions from Genesis to Revelation. One by one, I tried to answer them. If I could answer a question satisfactorily, he’d check it off. If I didn’t know the answer, I told him I’d try to get back to him. This continued for four meetings, each with dozens of questions on a yellow pad.
At our fifth meeting, Scott simply folded up his yellow pad and said, “I’m ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“I’m ready to trust Christ for His salvation. You’ve answered my questions, so now I’m ready.”
I questioned him, and it was clear he fully understood his decision. I asked him if he wanted me to lead him in a prayer of faith. “No,” he said. “My wife has been praying for me, and I want to accept Christ with her. It will mean a lot to her.”
I smiled and told him to drive carefully on the way home. He understood what I meant! Later that day he called to tell me how thankful he was that I took time to answer his questions. God had uniquely prepared me for Scott and Scott for me. It was my joy. Chair 1 people need Christ-followers who have prepared themselves as well as they can and are willing to answer difficult questions.
Third, Chair 1 people need Christ followers who make themselves available and will invest in friendships. Jesus made Himself available—when the Father said, “go and be baptized” and when Andrew asked, “Where are You staying?” Jesus was never in a rush; He lived fully on mission. He saw people’s interruptions as opportunities for ministry.
A couple of weeks ago, my neighbor, Neil, asked if I would ride with him out of town to look at a gun shop with him. The drive was two and a half hours one way. My schedule was packed, but this was a great opportunity to spend some time with him. I knew it meant at least five hours in a car talking, so I made myself available.
On the way home, Neil dropped a surprise in my lap. In the course of our conversation, I thanked him for spending time with me, teaching me what he knew about guns. “You ask good questions,” he said, “and you listen well. I have enjoyed it.” Then he continued, “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“No of course not,” I responded.
“Do you know what a born-again Christian is?” he asked. “My best friend who lives out of state told me he has become one, and I’m wondering what that means.”
We spent over an hour talking about what a born-again Christian is. I’m sure Neil’s friend has been praying for him. I’m glad I made myself available that day. I’m excited to see what God is going to do in that friendship. Chair 1 people need Christian friends who will make themselves available and invest time with them.
Finally, Chair 1 people need someone to present the Gospel clearly to them. I remember the very first time I heard and understood the good news of the salvation Christ offers. I quickly embraced it and was eager to tell others this good news. For years I wondered why no one had told me sooner. What could my life have been like if I had made this decision earlier?
All around us, people are searching for this good news. God’s Spirit is drawing people to Himself. The Holy Spirit is doing His job. God Word is true, “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37). We must do our job, too, and with boldness and clarity, like Jesus and John the Baptist, proclaim clearly that “the Kingdom is near” and that repentance is the key that unlocks the door to a relationship with Christ. If we don’t tell our friends, who will?
Emir had attended my executive study for several months. Clearly one morning, while I was praying for my study, the Lord impressed upon my heart that I needed to clearly present the Gospel to Emir. I was nervous. I wasn’t sure if I would do it well.
I met Emir for breakfast, and I pulled out a “Knowing God Personally” tract, and asked Emir if I could share it with him. After walking through it, Emir thanked me, and we finished our breakfast. I felt like a failure and sensed that I hadn’t presented the Gospel very well.
On the way to work that morning, Emir pulled off to the side of the road and prayed to trust Christ. He called me later that day and thanked me. The Holy Spirit had succeeded where I felt I was unclear. God delights in using even the most lowly among us to share His good news. Emir is now walking with God and has seen His family respond to God’s good news also. Chair 1 people need Christ-followers who will clearly present to them the good news of God’s saving grace.

PRINCIPLES FOR MINISTRY TO PEOPLE IN CHAIR 1
Countless books have been written about evangelism to the lost. Here are a few principles I find helpful for reaching out to those in Chair 1.
1) The challenge to “come and see” is a simple challenge. It doesn’t demand a lot from either the person giving the challenge or the one receiving it. It is a beginning step, and it’s easy to reproduce. Jesus invited His disciples to “come and see” (John 1:46). After Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, she ran back to her village and called her neighbors to “come and see” (John 4:29). What does this challenge look like in practical terms? “Come and see” can mean a simple invitation to dinner in your home. It can be a simple invitation to attend an outreach event or church service, or a simple golf outing to deepen a relationship. “Come and see” invites people into our lives to go deeper in friendship.
2) Outreach is a process. Many Chair 1 people will need to hear the good news several times before they are ready to receive it. Few respond to the Gospel the first time it is shared. Isaiah 28:23–29 visualizes this in a natural, organic way. I call this process “Spiritual CPR,” a helpful shorthand for the process of outreach. Physical CPR is the resuscitation of physical life, but spiritual CPR is bringing people to real, spiritual life.
“C” stands for Cultivation. Cultivation is breaking up hard ground so that it can receive the seed. Isaiah visualizes this by asking the rhetorical question, “When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?” (28:24). Breaking up the hardened ground is the hardest part of the process. Farmers fully understand this. It is when the farm tractor works the hardest. The ground needs to be plowed, disked, and then cultivated; all to break up the hardened ground to make it ready to receive the seed.
Often the hardest part of evangelism is this process of building friendships with the lost so they will be receptive to the seed of the Gospel (see John 4:38). If we fail to do this hard part, most of our seed-sowing will fall on hard soil and be unproductive (see Mark 4:15). This is the crucial first step, but Isaiah reminds us it is only a preliminary step.
Next comes planting. The “P” in CPR stands for Planting. Planting is sowing the seed at the right time, the right depth, and in the right way (Isaiah 28:25–26). Earlier in Isaiah, the prophet identifies five different types of plants, and the seeds of each plant must be planted in a different way at a different time and a different depth. In the same way, planting in a relationship means sowing the seed into the friendship with a lost person. There is no magic formula for how best to do this. Fortunately “God instructs us and teaches him the right way” (Isaiah 28:26).
“R” stands for Reaping, harvesting the crop at the right time. Spiritual harvest requires sharing the Good News, clearly and concisely, and calling for a response. It is bringing in the harvest.
Every farmer knows that you don’t plant before you cultivate, and you don’t expect to reap before you sow. Outreach is a process. And not all of us participate in the same step in the process. Some sow and some reap. Regardless of our role with a particular person, we rejoice together as God uses different people for different parts of His CPR process.
3) Jesus Christ is the only means by which a person can be restored in his or her relationship to God. Jesus is not the best way. He is the only way! There is no other way to have our sins forgiven. No other way to find eternal life. Only Jesus conquered death and rose from the grave. And only Jesus can give the life our friends so desperately need. This truth alone should transform us as we begin, like Jesus, to see people without Him as eternally lost.
4) Evangelism is most effective when we are motivated by love. For the apostle Paul, as for Jesus, love for God and for people was the motivation for his evangelism. Paul said he was “constrained by the love of God.” Our love for God is deepened as we understand what great things God has done for us (Mark 5:19a). God has made us “children of God” (John 1:12), granted us eternal life (John 3:16), made us each a “new creation” (Galatians 2:20), and delivered us “from the dominion of darkness” and has forgiven us completely of our sins (Colossians 1:13–14). In light of all this, we should be overwhelmed by God’s goodness toward us, “overflowing with thankfulness,” as Paul says (Colossians 2:7b). The more we grasp all that God has done for us, the more our love of God compels us to share the Good News with others.
Furthermore, love is developed as we understand how the Lord has shown mercy to us (Mark 5:19b). Seven times in Scripture Jesus looks upon the people and is “moved with compassion.” Christ’s compassion stemmed from a clear understanding of the reality of hell. Luke 16 clearly portrays the consequence of humankind apart from Christ. Those consequences are eternal and agonizing. Love compels us to share with the lost the truth about Christ.
5) Evangelism is a byproduct of a healthy body. Healthy things reproduce. As individual Christians live holy lives, they reach people for Christ. “Create in me a clean heart, Oh God; and renew a right spirit within me,” David prayed. “Then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee” (Psalm 51:10, 13 KJV, italics added). Similarly, churches that are healthy—that are made up of individual Christians living holy lives—tend to be communities that draw people to Christ. When God draws people to Himself, He often draws them into churches that are healthy enough to care for new spiritual babies. In other words, internal health tends to produce external multiplication. Acts tells us that the very first Christian community constantly devoted themselves “to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer,” and as a result, “the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42, 47).
6) Evangelism is best achieved through relationships. Tom was a neighbor who became a good friend. When our neighborhood organized a softball team and played in a league together, it provided a great opportunity for me to connect with non-Christian neighbors and initiate new friendships. Tom was one of those friends. As our friendship developed, I had a chance to share my story of faith. When I asked Tom if he wanted to learn more about my faith, he pulled back. He wasn’t ready and a wall went up between us immediately. I backed off, but I kept praying for Tom. Our friendship continued, but I could tell Tom had put up a protective wall.
Several months went by and I didn’t hear from Tom. Then late one night the doorbell rang. Who could this be at such a late hour? I wondered. When I opened the door, there was Tom.
“Can we talk?” His face was full of concern. “My wife just served me divorce papers,” he said. “I had no idea this was coming.”
After a couple of gut-wrenching hours of conversation, I had another chance to share with Tom my story and God’s Story. Tom was receptive this time and put his faith in Christ. His wife still divorced him, but Tom is growing in the Lord and has told me on a number of occasions how grateful he is that I shared the Gospel with him. I am so grateful I had built that friendship with Tom. I’ve often wondered where Tom would be today, if we didn’t have that friendship.
7) We reap in proportion to what we sow. God’s job is to prepare people’s hearts and to draw them to Himself (John 6). The Holy Spirit’s role is to convict the world of sin (John 16:8). Our job is to find those people God has already prepared and to proclaim the truth to them. Our job is to cultivate, plant, and pray for the harvest. Our reaping will be proportional to our sowing. Those who plant abundantly will reap abundantly, but those who plant little will reap little.
The goal of our mission to those in Chair 1 is to help them move to Chair 2. Join me in the next chapter to learn about this next step in the process of disciple-making.




 8. What aspect of Chair 1 discipling is the easiest for you to wrap your arms around?





 9. What aspect of Chair 1 discipling do you find the most intimidating?





 10. Take a few minutes to identify people in your life who dwell in Chair 1. What steps can you take to deepen your friendships with them and help them know personally the good news of Jesus Christ?






Dann Spader, 4 Chair Discipling: Growing a Movement of Disciple-Makers (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014).