Making Evangelism Accessible Again (w/ Jim Murphy)
Jim Murphy didn’t grow up in a home where faith and life touched. Church was for Sundays. God was a concept. Until slowly—through friendships, small conversations, and eventually a stadium full of men worshiping Jesus—something shifted.
This is the story of a man who found Jesus through a web of personal evangelism, and has spent the last 25 years making that same web visible for others. Jim is now a pastor, church planter, and evangelist who has helped shape churches from Florida to New York to rural Iowa. But his passion has remained laser-focused: helping ordinary people share Jesus in ways that are real, relational, and repeatable.
Why Evangelism Feels Out of Reach (and What to Do About It)
In today’s Western church, evangelism often feels like something for someone else. The gifted. The extroverted. The confident.
Jim challenges that head-on.
What if evangelism isn’t a spiritual gift for a few, but a Spirit-empowered calling for all?
What if our churches stopped building outreach around events and started building it into the culture?
What if the primary job of the evangelist isn’t to “go” but to equip the whole church to live sent?
This episode offers a deeply practical and deeply hopeful reframe for how we think about evangelism—not as a script, but as a spiritual operating system wired into the life of the church.
The Five Rhythms of Everyday Mission
Jim shares the framework that has reshaped how hundreds of believers step into gospel conversations—not with pressure, but with clarity:
Embrace God’s mission personally
Identify your “MyCircle”—the real people in your life who don’t yet know Jesus
Pray for them daily (and pray for boldness in you)
Engage weekly in real-life relationship
Share monthly in honest, hope-filled ways
For some, that will mean open gospel conversations. For others, it starts with showing up, staying curious, and creating space.
“Evangelism doesn’t have to be flashy to be faithful,” Jim says. “God honors the slow burn.”
The Church Needs Evangelists—But Not the Kind You Think
Jim also names a tension many feel but few articulate: evangelistically wired people often feel like they don’t fit in the local church.
They’re passionate. They move fast. They see the lost everywhere. And when no one else seems to share that urgency, frustration grows.
But instead of walking away, Jim has chosen to stay—and equip.
“We don’t need more evangelists who go rogue. We need evangelists who are committed to the church, to shepherding people toward mission with patience, love, and conviction.”
If you’ve ever felt like you didn’t belong because of your burden for the lost, this conversation will put language to your ache—and offer a new way forward.
For the 86-Year-Old and the 18-Year-Old
One of the most powerful moments in this episode comes through an unexpected story: Jim’s friend’s 86-year-old father, who recently started praying and sharing the gospel with his neighbors—boldly, intentionally, and with childlike joy.
Evangelism isn’t just for the young, the trained, or the platformed.
It’s for the willing.
Resources + Tools
📘 Alone at the Top by Dwight Smith
A book that shaped Jim’s philosophy of equipping leaders for the long haul.
📘 God Dwells Among Us by G.K. Beale & Mitchell Kim
A compelling look at God’s redemptive presence throughout Scripture.
🔗 Explore the MyCircle framework
mycircletraining.com | learn.doleadcma.org/product/mycircle
One Last Word
If you feel unsure of how to share your faith…
If you’re tired of evangelism feeling like a performance…
If you want to be part of a church that sees the mission as everyone’s job…
This episode is for you.
And Jim’s reminder rings clear: It’s all worth it.
