You don't have to leave home to hand out tracts

DigiTracts.Com gives you the ability to send email tracts to your online friends. But it strikes me the same as handing out tracts anywhere does -- as not something Jesus would have done. He made friends. He preached to people who wanted to hear him. He was personal. He was engaging. He spent time with people.

Sure tracts have brought a few people to Christ, but everything has an exception and that doesn't alway mean we should keep it. I saw a Christian T-Shirt (not always my favorite thing) at the Mattoon pool Saturday that said, "They will know we are Christian by our T-shirts." I liked that one for some reason. The kid said it maintained his sarcasm, which of course I appreciated. The other one I've liked is one Nikki Greer wheres which says, "I apologize that you had to read this T-shirt to know that I am a Christian." That one puts the pressure on you not on the reader.

We still think that if we give people just the right argument in just the right package and where the right T-shirt, the light bulb will come on and they will become exactly who we want them to be, but the truth is that the gospel is offensive -- we have to admit we are sinners and that we need help and that all of our justifications for selfishness are hollow and empty. That requires trust, respect, and time, not an e-mail tract.