Barney Wiget suggests that our efforts to influence people toward Jesus should be as natural as inviting them into a cool river on a sweltering summer day. His is a grace-filled, friendship-making approach to "gospeling" that distills down to the friends of God joining him on his quest for more friends. "Ours is the matchmaker's mantra: 'I've got a Friend I'd like you to meet...'" He concedes that the story of Rahab's rescue in the book of Joshua is not exactly your stock story from which to draw inspiration for sharing faith with not-yet-believers. He points out that the well-known miracle of crumbling walls and the conquest of Jericho, though remarkable, is only part of the story. The greater story is that of a pagan prostitute and her family's rescue, redemption, and eventual inclusion in Jesus' family line."Rahabs," he says, "are broken women and men in our own spheres of influence who may or may not make their living from other people's brokenness, and yet they have something inside that points them in the general direction of the Repairer of the Broken." He makes a novel connection between this narrative and what he calls "God's passionate pursuit of people," and then submits that we are all invited to join him in the pursuit. His inquiry into Rahab's "conversion" provides us with a fresh notion of shattered souls and a keen expectation of bringing them into friendship with their Maker. The Personal Reflection, Group Discussion, and Taking Action section in the back of the book suggests a number of accessible on-ramps to the adventure of reaching many Rahabs with and for Jesus.
Barney Wiget became a Christian in Northern California during the Jesus Movement in the 1970s. He planted and pastored three churches on the California coast for over thirty years, and now lives in San Francisco as a self-proclaimed "vagabond preacher." He makes disciples, serves the marginalized, teaches in churches, podcasts, writes for his blog, and authored a book called The Other End of the Dark: A Memoir About Divorce, Cancer, and Things God Does Anyway.
