Fly the Airplane!

I started flying airplanes about the same time that I started driving cars. I probably had the most extensive preflight checklist that had ever been designed. We checked everything! It seemed to me that my checklist was a book.

But I will always remember that my father had only one checklist item when it came to the “emergency checklist”. The one checklist item was “fly the airplane.” It was a very simple, straightforward and basic statement.

You see, when an emergency happens in the cockpit, it is easy for the pilot to get distracted. A lot of airplane accidents happen when a distracted pilot flies a perfectly good airplane into the ground because his attention is momentarily drawn somewhere else. Hence, the first emergency checklist item reminds you of the very basics. First, make sure that you fly the airplane. Go back to the basics. Once you have the airplane under control, then you work the problem.

When you come to the subject of evangelism, it is difficult to know where to start. After all, there are so many different strategies that are out there. When is it a more relational strategy? When is it appropriate to be more aggressive? Should we argue evidences for the faith? The various approaches to evangelism can be like the distractions in the cockpit.
~The 7 Principles of an Evangelistic Life