In today's Footsteps, Dr. Marcia Ball, Co-Founder/Executive Director of Kerus, makes this statement: "if we as believers offer something accademically credible with a nonjudgemental heart that wants to buld relationships, we earn the right to speak some truth."  While Marcia is speaking in the context of a Kerus conference with health and education professionals, I really believe her point is applicable to individuals as well.  In a sermon called "I'm Sending You To Open Their Eyes," pastor and author Jonh Piper said, "Be encouraged that simply finding people interesting and caring about them is a beautiful pathway into their heart. Evangelism gets a bad reputation when we are not really interested in people and don’t seem to care about them. People really are interesting. The person you are talking to is an amazing creation of God with a thousand interesting experiences. Very few people are interested in them. If you really find their story interesting, and care about them, they may open up to you and want to hear your story—Christ’s story"(http://www.desiringgod.org/sermons/im-sending-you-to-open-their-eyes).  So, in summary, if we spend time listening to others, showing genuine interest in them, and speaking intelligently with them, then I think we'll have better success when we share the Gospel of Jesus with them.

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(Photo of Dr. Marcia Ball, Co-Founder/Executive Director of Kerus