by Jack Hyles
13. ONLY ONE DO THE TALKING
I wish I could stress this more. When two go together and both want to talk, it is often because of trying to argue people into becoming Christians. You can’t do that. The best thing to do is ask the dear Lord to help and lead and open doors, then with a kindly, gracious, Christian spirit, go into the homes and present the plan of God to the people, giving them a chance to accept or reject.
Only one do the talking. The one who has the inroad should do the talking. Suppose Dr. Rice, that you and I are going soul winning and we meet a fellow who is mowing his yard. I walk up and start talking to him. “Hey, neighbor! You’ve got you yard looking mighty nice.”
He says, “Well, thank you.”
I say, “What kind of mower is that?”
“Oh, it’s a Jacobson,” he replies.
“This is a good lawn mower,” I say.
He says to himself, “This is a nice fellow.”
Suppose we meet a man who is working on his car. “Hello, how are you?” I ask, putting forth my hand.
“Oh, my hand is greasy,” he says.
“I don’t care. I have shaken greasy hands before.”
He thinks, “That sure is a nice fellow.”
Be folksy and get his attention. Then the person who has the inroad can do the talking.
For example, Dr. Rice has written some books. If the fellow says he is an author, then I say, “Dr. Rice here has written scores of books.” Immediately he becomes interested in Dr. Rice. Then I had better go water the beans; Dr. Rice is going to talk to him. So, I’m going to keep my mouth shut. The best thing for me to do is to be quiet, prayerful and helpful, then if he fails, I may try. Again I say, only one do the talking.
I went soul winning with a man one time, a wonderful Christian and a great fellow, but he didn’t know a thing about soul winning. We went to a lady’s house. She came to the door. I said, “How do you do. How are you today? Nice baby. Beautiful day. You have a nice home,” etc. We talked awhile, then I asked, “Lady, have you ever become a Christian?”
“Well, I was baptized down in Henderson, Texas.” “Oh,” he interrupted, “Henderson, Texas? I had a meeting down there. Do you know Zeb Peabody who runs the feed store there?”
I said, “Now lady, have you ever received the Lord and been converted?”
She said, “Well, one time I thought I did down in Jacksonville.” “Jacksonville?” he interrupted, “I had four meetings in Jacksonville. Well, I’ll declare! Jacksonville!”
Well, I had to send him home. He just couldn’t be quiet. You just let one person do the talking. The one who gets the inroad should follow right on through and present the plan while the other on keeps the way clear.
by Jack Hyles from the book Let’s Go Soulwinning