2026 Olney Gospel Push — Part One: From Hearing to Sharing

From August 13–16, we had several mission teams join us here in Olney for the 2026 Gospel Push.

We had a team come from Michigan, one guy from Maryland, and several people from right here in Olney, Illinois.

There are a lot of stories from those four days. More than I could fit into one post.

So this will be Part One.

One Year and Four Months Later

We are now about one year and four months into using simple Gospel Conversation tools to help people share the gospel and make disciples.

The first night of the Gospel Push, Mike, Ryland, and I went to McDonald’s.

I had just met Ryland that day, so I was spending some time with him and getting to know him.

Earlier that day, Ryland had shared some of his story with me.

He told me that he had been baptized when he was a young boy, but as he got older, he never truly pursued the Lord. The things of the world quickly began to overshadow everything else, and he found himself pursuing sinful things instead of pursuing Christ.

That conversation stayed with me as we headed into McDonald’s that evening.

While we were there, I shared my 15 Second Testimony with him and then walked him through the Three Circles.

That conversation turned into something much bigger.

Ryland made the decision to follow Jesus.

He had a lot of questions.

He didn’t fully understand what it meant to follow Jesus or what it meant to make Jesus Lord over his life.

And that was okay.

I reassured him that he didn’t have to understand everything in that moment. That is part of discipleship. We would continue walking with him, helping him learn what it means to know Jesus, obey Him, and follow Him.

Before we left McDonald’s, we went through a simple discipleship tool about his new identity from 2 Corinthians 5:17–21.

He was a new creation.

His old life did not define him anymore.

He had been reconciled to God through Christ, and now he was called to become an ambassador for Christ.

We had no idea how quickly he would get an opportunity to begin living that out.

Thirty Minutes Later

About thirty minutes later, we headed to Burger King.

Out of all the places around Olney where I have shared the gospel, Burger King was actually one place I had never really felt led to go.

Until that night.

When we walked inside, there was one man sitting in the lobby.

His name was Brooke.

He was a middle aged guy, covered in tattoos, sitting there by himself.

So we went over and started a conversation.

We shared the 15 Second Testimony and Three Circles with him.

And Brooke turned to Christ.

Then I looked at Ryland.

Earlier that same day, he had been telling me how the things of the world had overshadowed his pursuit of the Lord.

Just a short time before, he had been the one hearing the gospel and deciding that he wanted to truly follow Jesus.

Now I asked him to explain to Brooke what it meant to be a new creation in Christ.

And he did.

How cool is that?

Just a short time earlier, Ryland was the one hearing the gospel.

Now he was sharing with someone else what Jesus had just done in his own life.

That is one of the things I love about discipleship.

We do not have to wait until someone knows everything before they can begin obeying Jesus and sharing what He has done.

Ryland had just learned what it meant to be a new creation, and within about thirty minutes he was helping someone else understand the same truth.

And the Story Wasn’t Finished

Sunday morning, we gathered at the lake for baptisms as part of the Gospel Push.

Brooke was there.

He took his next step of obedience and was baptized.

Brooke shared that Jesus had really changed his life in a powerful way.

Just a few days earlier, he had been sitting in Burger King when two guys walked through the door and started a conversation with him.

Now he was standing in the water, publicly identifying himself with Jesus.

And somewhere in the middle of that story was Ryland.

A young man who had been baptized as a boy, had spent years pursuing the things of the world, and had just made the decision to truly pursue Christ.

Within minutes, he was already helping someone else do the same.

That is what continues to stand out to me about that night.

The gospel was not meant to stop with Ryland.

And it was not meant to stop with Brooke.

Jesus changes us, and then He sends us.

We behold the King.

We follow the King.

And then we help others do the same.

Sometimes the person hearing the gospel today may be the person sharing it tomorrow.

In Ryland’s case, it only took about thirty minutes.