Lessons On Evangelism From The Success Of “The Crocodile Hunter”I have always had an interest in snakes and other reptiles. I have a python in my office, my son has a corn snake in his bedroom, and my eight-year-old daughter loves to play with her little ball python who dwells in her room. My wife has no reptiles, but she does possess a great amount of patience! I am most proud of my newest addition, a five-foot-long, black-throated monitor lizard named Goliath. We like to take him for walks on a leash — he does draw a crowd! I often quip that as an evangelism prof who likes herps (that is, reptiles), I actually teach soul winning and snake handling. Don’t worry, we do not handle serpents in church!

With this in mind, you might guess my favorite television show — you got it — The Crocodile Hunter. It has been a long time since I was as excited about a television show as I am about The Crocodile Hunter, or the shorter Croc Files for kids.

Whenever I speak to young people, I ask how many of them know who the Crocodile Hunter is. The response is telling. Nearly every one of them knows who he is, although his primary show, The Crocodile Hunter, appears on the cable network Animal Planet. The show’s star, Steve Irwin, has jumped from “just another host” of a little known program on this smaller market cablenetwork, to the host of primetime specials on network television and an occasional appearance on movies and commercials.

Steve Irwin’s incredible rise in popularity can teach us some things. The enthusiasm of young people from age 5 to 25 for the show is obvious. They know his sayings: “She’s a beauty!” (I have to admit even a snake lover like me has a hard time calling a salt water crocodile beautiful!) If a particular python attempts to bite him, you will hear him say, “Oh, you’re being grumpy, mate!” “Danger! Danger! Danger!” is another of his popular sayings.

Believe it or not, I think Steve Irwin’s rise — from a man running a zoo in Australia to internationally known figure — can teach us some things about how to make an impact on this culture.

First, he is passionate. Have you ever seen anyone so incredibly zealous for a bunch of lizards and snakes? On several occasions he has said, “I would give my life to save this crocodile!” Now that is passion! Oh, that we as believers would have such a passion for Jesus, who is of infinitely greater value than a reptile! Our lost culture desperately needs people who will live for Jesus with a passion. Great movements of God in history, from the First Great Awakening to the Jesus Movement, have been led by people ablaze with a passion for God.

Second, he is real. His videography is inferior to what you see in National Geographic specials, but no one cares! We live in a society today where reality is in, and synthetic is out. Look at the popularity of shows like Survivor, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and The Weakest Link, all of which feature everyday people rather than phony Hollywood actors. The primary way The Crocodile Hunter has grown to reach the masses is not through marketing. Rather, it has toucheda chord in the lives of many in the culture, especially the coming generation of young people, who are sick and tired of slick approaches to push a product.1 That is why the fastest growing soft drink among the youth population is Sprite, with its “Obey Your Thirst” reality message. This culture wants real, not slick.

The best way to witness in this postmodern, increasingly radically unchurched culture is to be just like the early believers. They did not make an impression by their background, or their position, but by their genuine, obvious, and deep love for Jesus. Acts 4:13 gives one of many examples of this: Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant, they marveled; and they realized that they had been with Jesus. The most remarkable aspect of the early believers was that they were unremarkable. That, and they were real.

Third, Steve Irwin takes risks. No, that is inaccurate. He loves risks. He is crazy! His first show that put him on the map concerned his adventure to capture the ten most venomous serpents in the world with his bare hands. It seems he spends his life trying to get as close to being a crocodile dinner as possible. He would not be happy unless he were chasing down a wild pig by foot, or grabbing a cobra with his bare hands, or jumping in a river on the back of an alligator. He will make sacrifices to save an animal. Oh that we would make sacrifices for the salvation of the lost! Could God even use a Crocodile Hunter to spur us to take risks to reach the unchurched at any cost?

I teach at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, a school known for its doctrinal convictions and evangelistic passion. We are uncompromising theologically, but we have some unusual people — besides me, I mean. Our president is a big game hunter, his office filled with trophies. One of the members of our prestigious Board of Visitors, Richard Headrick, sports a long ponytail and loves to wear shirts with logos like “Hellfighter” on them. I like to tell people that our theology is black and white, but our approach to ministry is in living color. In other words, while we must consistently contend for the faith once delivered, we must live in a way that demonstrates the radical, passionate, total abandonment of our lives to Jesus.

Examine yourself: what are you doing for the sake of the Kingdom of God that could compare to the zeal shown by Steve Irwin for the sake of a pile of snakes?

1 See Alvin L. Reid, Light the Fire: Raising Up a Generation of Students to Live Radically for Jesus (Emunclaw, WA: Winepress Publishing, 2001), for more information on this generation of youth.

Reproduced with permission

As an evangelism professor, I like to ask my students how many of them have heard a sermon on the home over the past few years. Nearly every student raises a hand—and that’s good. The home is a premier subject for preachers. But when I ask a follow-up question, almost without exception no students raise a hand.

The question: “How many of you have heard a message explaining either how to share Christ with a child, or how to teach your children to share their faith?”

Both elements of this question are vital. As a young pastor, I taught the parents of elementary age children how to use a marked New Testament to witness to their own children. I included several do’s and don’ts, as well as simple counsel on how to lead a child to Jesus Christ. Over the next year several parents had the wonderful joy of helping their own child come to Christ!

With the church’s assistance, shouldn’t those parents immediately begin to teach their children to give away their faith? I think we spend so much time trying to protect our children that we overlook the need to prepare them to make a positive impact through the Gospel. If children can understand salvation, they can also understand how to share the Good News.

My son, Josh, who turns 13 this summer, led his little sister to Jesus Christ when he was 10. He was equipped to be a witness for the Lord because he had seen me lead him to faith in Christ and because our children’s minister at church had helped him to know what to say.

Now that Josh is going into the youth group, one of the first things he wants to do is to take the Youth Evangelism Explosion classes our church offers. This past year our daughter, Hannah, asked every single child in her public school classroom if they knew Jesus in a personal way. She also made invitations for all her classmates to come and witness her baptism, and this was her idea!

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 summarizes the heart of our faith: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Furthermore, we are to teach our children this as well. Part of that training includes talking about the things of God “when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (verse 7). Our love for God should be obvious, written on the door frames of our houses and tied symbolically to our bodies!

In other words, our faith should be a very public matter.

A couple of years ago Josh was with me at the bank. I spoke with the teller about the Lord, discovering she loved and followed Jesus. As we left, Josh said, “Dad, she is a Christian, isn’t she?”

“She sure is,” I replied.

Impressed that the teller spoke so openly about Jesus, Josh said, “Wow, Dad, no one talks about Jesus like that in public—well, no one except you.

While I was glad Josh saw a positive example of consistent witnessing in my life, I was struck by his recognition that witnessing was not the normal part of the everyday life of most believers.

Let me cut to the chase: The reason most of us don’t talk to lost people about Jesus is that we don’t talk with saved people about Him! When speaking of Jesus begins to pervade our lives, teaching our children to proclaim Him will not be so difficult.

How can the church, including ministers and parents, teach our children to witness?

Believe in your children. We need to raise the bar of Christianity in America, starting with our homes! Richard Baxter, the great Puritan pastor who witnessed a mighty movement of God in his day, said we will never see God move in a general way unless He first moves in our homes. I don’t want my kids simply to survive in the culture today; I want them to make an impact to the glory of God!

Model witnessing—it is caught more than taught. Our children will do less of what we say and more of what we do. Are you modeling a witnessing lifestyle? Take the kids with you when you witness—door-to-door, in parks, at car washes, and so on.

Use a simple tool. I love Gospel tracts, so my kids use them when we go out witnessing.

Teach children to witness according to their strengths. This is critical for all believers, but especially for children. Josh, my oldest child, is cautious, less spontaneous, and thus far more comfortable witnessing when he knows the framework. If I tell him we’re going door to door from 1:00 to 2:30, for example, he thrives. Hannah, on the other hand, will talk to anyone, anytime, about virtually anything. Learn your children’s strengths and encourage them.

Make it fun! We do a lot of servant evangelism, including free car washes, handing out sodas in the park, and giving away popcorn with tracts. This opens the door to witness in a winsome manner. Teach children that success is in sharing, not winning.

A pastor friend of mine once had to pull his husky son off a scrawny little boy at a playground. “Dad, I tried to tell him about Jesus,” the boy explained, “but he just wouldn’t listen!”

That’s not what we want our kids to do. But if we can help them discover that knowing Jesus is the most important thing in the world, they’ll soon conclude that the most important thing they can do is to tell others.

1. See Alvin Reid, Introduction to Evangelism (Broadman and Holman, 1998), chapter 14 for further information on witnessing to children.

2. See Alvin Reid, Light the Fire: Raising Up a Generation to Live Radically for Jesus (Winepress Publishers, 2000). For more information on this book, visit www.alvinreid.com