FREE Illustration of the Month (August Edition)

This month's FREE illustration comes to you compliments of Pastor Larry Stockstill and a book he wrote in the early 90's, 25 Lines Around. Technically, it is a long quote, but I have used it numerous times as an opening illustration when speaking about evangelism. Here is the quote:

"The 3.5 billion unreached people on earth would form a single file line that would stretch around the equator 25 times! Can you picture 25 lines of Christless people, trampling endlessly toward hell? Let that vision stay with you day and night." - Pastor Larry Stockstill

Typically, when I deliver this illustration as an opener, I invite ten or twenty students on stage to stand in a line. Then, I begin explaining the population of planet earth and how many self-proclaimed Christians there are versus those who don't know Jesus Christ. In detail, I begin to describe how this line of people (illustrated by the students on stage) extends out of the room and around the world over and over.

Take your time when delivering this as a message opener... Don't rush it. You want the students to picture their friends who don't know Christ in the line. Finally, don't be afraid to challenge the students to examine themselves as to whether or not they are in the line themselves.