NATE BARBOUR · THE STORY BEHIND THE BOOK
It started with seven days. It changed the way I lived.
Before Shockwave was a book, it was a challenge I needed to take myself. This is the story of learning to share Jesus beyond the platform—and right in the middle of everyday life.
Through the ministry of Good News Church in Augusta, Georgia, I had the opportunity to lead students and adults in street outreach. In an organized ministry setting, sharing the Gospel came naturally. I could stand on a platform and preach to a crowd. But afterward, at lunch, I might not even start a spiritual conversation with the person serving our table.
That gap bothered me. How could I urge our students to share their faith while passing up opportunities in my own daily life? I did not need another sermon about why evangelism mattered. I needed to put into practice what I already believed.
Something had to change. I had to change.
At Camp Overflow in 2011, my brother-in-law, Philip Forrester, taught a message called The Explosion Within. He asked a question that stayed with me: How big is your boom? What kind of impact was our life in Christ making on the world around us?
The idea of a shockwave gave me a picture of what I wanted to see: what God was doing inside believers reaching people outside the walls of a church. Not just a powerful experience we kept to ourselves, but good news we actually shared.
One Sunday, following a Shockwave event in our student ministry, I preached about evangelism and challenged the congregation to share the Gospel with at least one person a day for the next week.
Almost as soon as the words left my mouth, the realization hit me: I had just signed myself up, too. I could not ask everyone else to do something I was unwilling to do myself.
So I took the challenge. One week became a month, then two months. During that season, I began recording the conversations, the missed opportunities, and the lessons I was learning. What started as a challenge to the church was changing me.
In college, I heard a minister describe praying with a group of men on a basketball court. I remember thinking I could never do something like that.
Years later, during my own Shockwave journey, I went to the park across from our church and met eight guys about to play basketball. I invited them to church, talked with them about eternity, and shared the Gospel. Seven prayed with me to receive Christ.
Their excitement afterward reminded me of a team celebrating an NBA championship. But the moment also brought that old college memory back to me. The very thing I had once dismissed as impossible for me had just happened in an ordinary park, in an ordinary conversation.
This was not a season in which I suddenly stopped feeling afraid. During one grocery trip, a couple started a lighthearted conversation with me. It was an opening, and I knew it. But I let the moment pass. I left disappointed that fear and my shopping list had gotten more of my attention than the people in front of me.
A few days later, on a different trip to pick up dessert, I noticed a man choosing ice cream. This time I stepped over, invited him to church, and offered to pray. Our conversation turned to the Gospel, and he prayed with me right there in the frozen-food section.
Those two encounters belonged in the same story. One showed me an opportunity I had missed. The other reminded me that a missed opportunity did not have to determine what I did next. I kept returning to prayer and God’s Word, learning to act even when I felt afraid.
The journey became part of the material behind Shockwave: Explosive Evangelism. The book grew out of real experiences: learning to notice people, overcoming hesitation, depending on the Holy Spirit, and opening my mouth to share Jesus.
That is still the heart of the invitation. You do not have to become someone else’s version of an evangelist. You can begin by paying attention to the people God has placed in your life and taking a faithful next step.
It is also part of the heartbeat behind Lifegivers: helping ordinary believers receive the life of Jesus, give that life away, and help others follow Him.
Share the Gospel with at least one person each day for the next seven days.
Start with prayer. Ask God to help you notice people and give you courage. Listen to their story, share the good news of Jesus clearly, and invite a response without pressure. Respect their time and their choice. When someone wants to keep talking or begin following Jesus, make room for follow-up.
Keep a simple journal of what happened and what you learned. This is an invitation to practice faithful obedience, not a promise that every conversation will end the same way.
Looking for the One Gospel Challenge? That is Lifegivers’ separate social-media initiative: share your testimony and the Gospel online, then invite other believers to do the same. Explore the One Gospel Challenge.
Story adapted from Nate Barbour’s book, Shockwave: Explosive Evangelism. The encounters above describe that original season of ministry.