Month: November 2025

Christmas, Evangelism, Missions, Thanks/Thanksgiving

10 Ways to Share the Gospel During the Holidays

Michelle Lesley

Originally published November 17, 2016

With all the hustle and bustle during November and December, it’s easy for the gospel to get lost in the shuffle. But the Great Commission never takes a vacation, and the holiday season provides some unique opportunities for sharing the gospel that we don’t always have during the rest of the year.

The Great Commission never takes a vacation, and the holiday season provides some unique opportunities for sharing the gospel!

1.

If your family does the “let’s go around the table and say what we’re thankful for” thing at Thanksgiving, briefly express your thanks to Christ for His death, burial, and resurrection, and for saving you.

2.

If you’re hosting Thanksgiving, place a slip of paper with a Bible verse on it about giving thanks at each place setting . Go around the table and let each person read his verse before the meal. Here are a few to get you started, or if you like it artsy, try these. If you’d like some gospel-centered place cards for a Christmas dinner or party, check these out. (And send me a picture of your table setting! I’d love to see it!)

3.

Give God’s Word to those around the world who need to hear the good news of Jesus. Give to HeartCry Missionary Society, or help establish indigenous churches by giving to The Master’s Academy International. And if your church supports a certain missionary or doctrinally sound missions organization, consider showing them a little extra financial love, too!

4.

Invite an unchurched friend to church with you. Lots of people are more open to dropping in on a worship service or attending a special church event (like a potluck Thanksgiving dinner, a Christmas cantata, or a nativity play) during the holidays than they are the rest of the year.

5.

Get a group from church together and go Christmas caroling. Choose songs whose lyrics showcase the gospel (Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Joy to the World, and O Holy Night are good ones!) Take some tracts, Bibles, or small gift baskets (containing tracts or Bibles) with you to leave at each home (and don’t forget to invite them to church!).

6.

Donating to a toy drive? Tuck a tract inside your gift or consider donating a gospel-centered children’s book or Bible. These Bibles and The Biggest Story are great, doctrinally sound choices. Or how about The Mission Ball?

7.

Contact your local college campus ministry and find out how to invite an international student to spend the holidays with your family. International students can be curious about the way Americans celebrate the holidays. Additionally, dorms often close during school breaks leaving students far from home with no place to stay. Take advantage of the time with your student to take him to church with you and share the gospel with him.

8.

If Christmas parades are a thing in your area, put a float together for your church and use some awesome gospel-themed throws like these gospel booklets from Wretched, or some eye catching tracts from Living Waters or One Million Tracts.

9.

Chat with your neighbors, even if you don’t know them well. Shoveling snow together? Exchanging baked goodies? Slow down and take the time to talk (and really listen) with your neighbors. It is amazing how people often open up if someone just takes the time to listen to them. Ask how you can pray for them, and, if the situation is conducive, do it right then. You might even find it turning into a witnessing encounter.

10.

Tuck in a tract (see #8) with your Christmas cards, or print a QR code inside that goes to a gospel presentation like this one or this one. Or, do you send out an annual Christmas newsletter? This year, instead of making it about your family’s accomplishments, how about focusing on what God accomplished through the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Christ? That’s the most important news your family could share.

Bonus!

Check out Unique Ways Christmas Helps us Share the Gospel* at A Word Fitly Spoken for more ideas for sharing the gospel during the holidays!

*In this episode (as well as in previous editions of this article), suggestion #3 was to give to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (International Mission Board). Due to pervasive corruption of various sorts in the SBC, I no longer recommend donating to any SBC entity including the IMB or LMCO.

What’s your favorite way to share the gospel during the holidays?

What’s your favorite way to
share the gospel during the holidays?

Thanks/Thanksgiving, Top 10

Top Ten Bible Verses on Giving Thanks

Michelle Lesley

Originally published November 20, 2015

Next to Easter and Christmas, there’s no better holiday that Christians could celebrate than Thanksgiving. Scripture reminds us over and over that we have a precious Savior and innumerable blessings to thank God for. Here are ten of my favorite Bible verses about giving thanks. Feel free to share them around on social media or print them out to use in your Thanksgiving decor…

  • As place cards at the dinner table.
  • As tags on goody bags
  • Print out two copies of each, scramble them up face down, and let the kids play “Concentration” or “Memory” with them. (Each player takes turns flipping over two at a time until they find two that match.)
  • Have one person read part of his verse and see who can finish it. Or read the whole verse and see who can guess the reference.

1.
Psalm 100:4

2.
1 Corinthians 15:57

3.
1 Chronicles 16:8

4.
Ephesians 5:20

5.
Psalm 69:30

6.
Colossians 3:17

7.
Psalm 79:13

8.
1 Thessalonians 5:18

9.
Psalm 86:12

10.
Revelation 7:12

What’s your favorite Bible verse about giving thanks?

Thanks/Thanksgiving

The Mailbag: When Negative Nellie Comes to Thanksgiving Dinner

Michelle Lesley

Originally published November 11, 2019

What are some ways we can remain thankful when dealing with a family member that is quite often a “negative nelly”?

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and for most of us, that means spending time with family members. Family members who sometimes rub us the wrong way. How to maintain an attitude of gratitude while Negative Nellie natters on? Try this:

1. Remember that God created Nellie in His image just like He created you, and keep that thought pinned to the front of your brain whenever you’re engaged in conversation with her. This is someone God loves, and He desires for her to know Him, despite all her faults and foibles, the very same way God loves you and desires for you to know Him.

2. And right next to that first thought at the front of your brain, pin this one up too:

And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
Luke 6:31

It’s the Golden Rule we’ve been hearing since childhood: “Treat other people the way you would want to be treated.” Although I frequently fail at carrying out this command, one thing that helps me is to remember that for every person who gets on my nerves, there are probably ten people whose nerves I’m getting on. How would I want those people to treat me?

3. The more people I talk to, the more I’m convinced that the longing of many folks’ hearts is just to be heard. We don’t take a lot of time to simply sit and listen to others any more. That leaves many people feeling lonely and invisible. Sometimes the best way we can show someone she is loved is just to hear her out.

Additionally, taking the time to listen to someone benefits you in a couple of ways.

First, you might gain some insight into why Nellie is constantly complaining or pessimistic. Maybe she’s lonely, or in a lot of pain from an illness, or there are problems in her marriage. If you get a better grip on what the underlying problems are, maybe there’s a way you could serve her, help her, counsel her, or pray for her.

Second, when you invest time in listening to someone, she’s much more likely to listen to you when you speak to her. (Which, of course, should not be your main motivation for listening to her.) And that means you’ll hopefully have a much more receptive audience with her when you…

4. Share the gospel with Nellie. If she’s lost, that’s one of the reasons she’s being negative. She’s burdened down with sin and its consequences and she doesn’t have the hope, joy, and peace that only Christ can give. Be kind, compassionate, and understanding, and steer the conversation toward the cross.

5. Pray three ways:

•If you know you’re going to be seeing Nellie at Thanksgiving dinner, start praying for her, the needs in her life, and how you can minister to her, now. It will prepare your heart for interacting with her, it will change your heart attitude toward her, and it will help you to continue being thankful instead of getting bogged down in Nellie’s negativity.

•Stay thankful by offering a silent prayer of gratitude to God whenever Nellie starts nay-saying. Thank Him for giving you the opportunity to minister to her, thank Him for protecting you from whatever circumstances she’s complaining about, thank Him for her.

•If Nellie has been going on in a negative vein for a while, take a moment when she pauses to offer a few genuine words of kindness and compassion and then ask if you can pray for her about the situation, right there, right then. Don’t do this often enough to be annoying, but do it more than once, if the opportunity presents itself. She will either be touched by your compassion and reminded to be thankful instead of grousing, or she may be averse to the idea and stop complaining to you so you won’t keep asking to pray for her. Either way, win-win. (And, of course, you can still pray for her in your heart.)

6. Set an example of thankfulness. Before Nellie even has a chance to open her mouth in negativity, you start – and set the tone for – the conversation. Tell her the latest in your life and remark on what you were thankful for in that circumstance. When someone else, or even Nellie, is telling her story, gently “bring out the blessing” in her tale: “Wow, God was so good to heal you from that cold!” “How wonderful that your son took the time out of his busy schedule to come visit you!” “I know how annoying it is when your cat runs away, but it’s so awesome that your neighbor found her and brought her back to you!”.

7. If Nellie is a Believer, it might be time for a gentle, biblical rebuke and encouragement to thankfulness. You’ll have to be extra vigilant to use godly wisdom in doing this at a family gathering (and you may want to just wait until after the holidays), choosing just the right moment, being careful to speak to Nellie privately and to cloak your words in kindness and understanding (see #2). (Also, keep in mind that sometimes the things we do are so habitual we don’t even realize we’re doing them. She might be totally clueless that she’s constantly complaining or looking at every glass as half-empty.) A great way to start a conversation like this is with a few questions. You might say something like this:

Nellie, I was just wondering, are you doing OK?

Of course. Why do you ask?

Well, from the things you’ve been telling me (cite an example or two) – maybe you don’t even realize this – but it sounds like you might be struggling a little with joy and thankfulness. Is there anything I can do to help? Any way I can pray for you? As your sister in Christ, I love you and I want to be an encouragement to you. I’m concerned that you might be experiencing some bitterness or discontent in your heart, and I just wanted to step in, offer you some love, help, and encouragement, and hopefully help you keep that bitterness from taking root. I want that joy and peace for you that are ours in Christ Jesus. I want you to be able to give thanks in all circumstances. Is there any way I could be helpful to you with that?

It can be difficult, depressing, and frustrating to be around someone who always sees the black cloud behind the silver lining. But if we keep in mind that, as Believers, it’s really not about our feelings of discomfort, it’s about God presenting us with an opportunity to show love and minister the gospel to someone, we can face those negative nellies in our lives with a whole new Christ-centered perspective. Happy Thanksgiving!

If you have a question about: a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.

Christmas, Holidays (Other), Thanks/Thanksgiving

Bloggy Holidays!

Michelle Lesley

Happy holidays! The three big ones – Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s – are right around the corner, and it’s time to celebrate- even here on the blog! So just to give you a heads up, here’s what that’s going to look like as I trade my regular blog schedule for a holiday schedule…

🦃 Starting next week and continuing through Thanksgiving, I’ll mainly be featuring articles to help you get into an attitude of gratitude. God has been so gracious to us. How can we limit the giving of thanks to Him to one day?

🕯 Looking for Advent devotionals and resources? Keep an eye out over the next couple of weeks for Have Yourself an Awesome Little Advent, my annual curation of awesome Advent activities, adornments, and adoration accessories, many of which are free!

🛍 If you’re a Black Friday shopper, stop by the blog on Thanksgiving evening (27th) before you hit the stores and check out my annual article, Holy Holidays: Christian-Owned Businesses to Support while You Christmas Shop. Last year I listed 142 businesses to shop. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be busily updating and adding even more shopping options for 2025! Why fight the lines and the traffic when you can curl up by the fire, shop online, and support your brothers and sisters in Christ?

If you know of a doctrinally sound Christian-owned business (they don’t have to sell Christian-themed items) you’d like to suggest for the list, please let me know (no MLMs like essential oils, Avon, Pampered Chef, etc., please). The business must have an online presence, and shoppers must be able to purchase gift items from the business’ site. If you were on the list last year, you’ll remain on this year’s list, so there’s no need to resubmit.

🎄December 1-24 – Merry Christmas!* I have so much to share with you that we’ll be going back to a 5 day per week blog schedule during the Christmas season! I’ll be featuring Christmas-themed articles – some old, some new, and, hopefully, some from you!

*I know there are a few of you who don’t like Christmas and don’t celebrate it for a variety of reasons. That is absolutely fine. You have the Christian liberty to do that and I’m not going to allow anyone on any of my platforms to judge you or cast aspersions on you for your choice… Please click here.

Got a Christmas-related question for The Mailbag? Comment below, or drop me a message on social media or via e-mail.

Were you saved at Christmas time or at a Christmas event? Did God answer a prayer, do something amazing in your life, or teach you something unforgettable during the Christmas season? How about writing it up for By the Word of Their Testimony? Drop me an e-mail and let’s chat about it.

Want to write a Christmas-related guest post? It would need to center on the Scriptures dealing with Jesus’ birth or discuss a “Christian living” type topic that has something to do with Christmas. (No anti-Christmas articles, please.) Drop me an e-mail and let’s chat about it.

(December is fast approaching, so keep in mind you’ll need to be able to write quickly.)

🎉 If Bible reading plans are your thing, ring in the New Year with my annual round up list! It’ll publish shortly after Christmas to give you plenty of time to consider your options and choose the plan that’s best for you so you can jump right in on January 1.

🎉 Between Christmas and New Year’s I’ll have some articles for you that look ahead to the new year. Then, depending on any holiday travel plans I might make, we should be back to a regular blog schedule sometime in early January.

Happy holidays – all of them!

Complementarianism, Movies, Southern Baptist/SBC

Movie Time: Battle for the Minds

Michelle Lesley

Originally published May 21, 2019

Ladies- have you read my Mailbag article, Counter Arguments to Egalitarianism? If not, I would encourage you to read it before watching today’s movie. And if you’re new to the complementarian vs. egalitarian kerfuffle, I would encourage you to read, not only that article, but all of the articles in the “Additional Resources” section of that article as well.

Why?

Because today’s movie, Battle for the Minds, approaches the issue from the egalitarian perspective, and you need to be sure you’re firmly grounded in the biblical perspective so that “no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”

Also, today’s movie is kind of like a homework assignment. How would you apply the complementarian apologetics you learned in the Mailbag article as well as your knowledge of Scripture to the egalitarian arguments and pronouncements being made in this movie?

Battle for the Minds was released on PBS in 1997. It presents the egalitarian viewpoint on the stage of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s transition from theological liberalism to biblical theological conservatism under the then-new leadership of Dr. Albert Mohler, and delves into a bit of the Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention around that time as well. (As an aside, I am not familiar with any of the people in the film presented as being on the egalitarian side except for Anne Graham Lotz. I’m only familiar with a few of those on the complementarian side: Albert Mohler, David Miller, and Paige Patterson.)

If you are Southern Baptist, I strongly encourage you to watch and carefully consider these events from our history in light of the battle we are now facing in the SBC concerning the role of women in the church and in the Convention. Because what Nancy Ammerman says at the 37:04 mark is correct. Since all SBC churches are autonomous, many Southern Baptists only concern themselves with their own churches and don’t trouble themselves to worry about what’s going on at the national level. But when you do this, you fail to take into consideration that what’s going on at the national level trickles down to your local church in the form of what’s being taught to your next pastor or staff member at our seminaries; the authors, musicians, and other content creators being sold (and not being sold) at LifeWay; the theology in the Sunday School and VBS curriculum your church uses, etc. It also affects the theology and ecclesiology our IMB and NAMB missionaries and church planters use and teach. And finally, the leadership and issues at the national level are the face the Southern Baptist Convention presents to the world.

But even if you’re not Southern Baptist, you will probably still find this movie informative to the way your own church or denomination is responding to the issue of the biblical role of women in the church.

A couple of things to be on the lookout for, and give consideration to, as you watch Battle for the Minds:

•Notice the amount of Scripture presented in the movie. Is any Scripture presented that backs up the egalitarian view? Is egalitarianism vs. complementarianism presented as a biblical and spiritual issue or an “our position vs. their position” issue?

•Note the sex of each person on the egalitarian side and the sex of each person on the complementarian side. Are any complementarian women presented? Do you think there were absolutely no women on the complementarian side of the issue when these events were transpiring? Do you see how the exclusion of complementarian women in this film gives the subtle illusion that a) all women are egalitarian, and b) the reason men are complementarian is because they’re sexist and trying to protect their power and position – the same argument people like Beth Moore are attempting to make today?* Do you think it was sexist to exclude women from the complementarian side?

*(Screenshot 1, 2)