Rev. Dr. Stephanie Moore Hand discusses authentic evangelism, Wesleyan identity, justice, and the role of AI in spiritual outreach.
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Is sharing your faith intimidating? Does the word “evangelism” bring up more anxiety than hope? Compass dives into the big “E” word—evangelism. Together with Reverend Dr. Stephanie Moore Hand, conference evangelist for the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, we challenge and expand our ideas of what it means to share faith. Rather than pushing formulas, pressure, or awkward encounters, Stephanie Moore Hand paints a picture where evangelism is rooted in authentic relationships, everyday interactions, and showing up with love and presence—whether that’s in a grocery aisle, a park, or even online.
About our guest:
Rev. Dr. Stephanie Moore Hand is the Conference Evangelist for the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, a former Fortune 500 executive, nonprofit leader, clergy, consultant, and co-author of Doing Justice Together. Her “Evangelism 8.0” work equips communities to claim their spiritual identity while responding with love and justice in an ever-changing society.
Episode Notes:
Want to check out "8 Reasons I Don't Share My Faith" and all it's 1990's glory?
In this episode:
(00:00) Talking about Evangelism
(04:14) Rev. Dr. Stephanie Moore Hand, Conference Evangelist
(05:43) Evangelism 8.0
(07:05) An updated definition of evangelism
(10:07) Our fear of evangelism
(12:33) What is a disciple?
(15:15) Feeling unequipped to share faith
(19:38) Justice work as evangelism
(28:18) AI-assisted evangelism
(31:28) Opening the door to evangelism
Related Episodes:
- Why justice, equity and inclusion are spiritual issues [169]
- AI, ethics and your spiritual journey [172]
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This episode posted on February 4, 2026
Episode Transcript:
Ryan Dunn [00:00:00]:
How do you feel about sharing your faith? We're going to talk about the big E word, evangelism on this episode of Compass. Welcome back to Compass. Finding Spirituality in the Everyday. I'm Reverend Ryan Dunn, host and producer for Compass. In the early 2000s, there was a video that I often shared with the youth groups who I worked with. It was called 8 Reasons I Don't Share My Faith. It's a silly video. I still go back and watch it, though, every now and then, really, just to get a chuckle both from the comedic content of the video and from reviewing my own past behaviors and thinking that this was a valuable teaching tool.
Ryan Dunn [00:00:44]:
The video makes a presumption about evangelism in that it talks about evangelism as really just a conversation where a person of faith calls another person to make a decision about following Jesus. And I think that's actually a presumption many of us still make when it comes to evangelism. Well, we're going to unpack a broader understanding of evangelism in this episode. Despite that presumption, though, the video shines light. Or rather, it makes fun of several fears about sharing faith, many of which I think we might relate to things like getting laughed at or being seen as judgmental or thinking that we're oppressed, poor representation of faith because sometimes we do bad things or simply not knowing enough about theology. Any of those feel relevant for you? I'm linking the video in the show notes. It's worth a watch, even just as a historical artifact of like what youth ministry looked like circa 1999 or 2000. For this episode of Compass Back here In the year 2026, I sat down with guest Reverend Dr.
Ryan Dunn [00:01:53]:
Stephanie Moore Hand. We discussed an evol understanding of evangelism emphasizing the importance of personal faith, relationships and justice, and she highlights the need for authentic engagement with communities and the role of technology, particularly AI, in modern evangelistic efforts. If you appreciate the value that our show brings your day, we'd be incredibly grateful if you could take a moment to leave us a rating and or review. Your feedback not only helps improve the show, but also makes a huge difference in helping more listeners like you find us. Here's how you can leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You open the Apple Podcast app on your phone or computer, search for Compass finding Spirituality in the Everyday, then scroll down to Ratings and Reviews section and tap the stars. You know, maybe all five of them to rate the podcast. And then if you have a moment, write a few words about what you enjoy about the show in the review section on Spotify.
Ryan Dunn [00:02:57]:
You launch your Spotify app on your mobile device, you head to our podcast page. Below the podcast title, you'll see a rating section represented by Stars Tap to Rate us. Although Spotify doesn't support written reviews yet, you can leave comments on particular episodes and that helps on YouTube. Head over to YouTube and find our channel Compass Finding Spirituality in the Everyday. After watching the episode, hit the like button. Show your support and leave a comment and tell us and other viewers what you thought was valuable. Your comments help increase our visibility on YouTube and it grows the community. And don't forget to subscribe.
Ryan Dunn [00:03:34]:
Click the Bell icon so you never miss our content. Okay, Back on On topic Evangelism with Stephanie Moorhand I met Stephanie a couple of years ago. I was inspired by her infectious energy, and I think that you will be too. She draws from experiences as a Fortune 500 executive, as a nonprofit leader in politics, as a Methodist clergy and consultant. She currently serves as evangelist for the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church and is co author of the book Doing Justice Together. So let's get talking about the Big E Evangelism on Compass. We are with the Reverend doctor Stephanie Moorhand. Stephanie, how goes it with your soul today?
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:04:21]:
You know, my soul is full today to be able to hang out with you today, Ryan, and all the snow that we have in North Carolina, nobody but God could create snow from 80 degrees to 30 degrees. So I'm excited today.
Ryan Dunn [00:04:36]:
Well, in North Carolina, can you give us kind of the snapshot or elevator speech of the kind of ministerial work that you're up to there?
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:04:44]:
So in North Carolina, I am presently the conference evangelist, Western North Carolina Conference evangelist, and my role is to illuminate evangelism throughout Western North Carolina and our districts that we have. And in doing so throughout the nation, really, evangelism is an interesting language in the life of the church. And so my theme is Evangelism 8.0, and that is to claim our evangelistic identity as well as reimagine evangelism in this present age. So that's the work that I'm doing, equipping local context and working actually outside of the United Methodist Church as well, not United Methodist, but outside of the Western North Carolina Conference as well. Other people are starting to hear about this work, evangelism, and they're like, we need help to could you walk alongside of us to help us to live fully into this work? So that's what I'm doing. President, thank you for asking.
Ryan Dunn [00:05:43]:
Yeah, you said evangelism 8.0. Okay.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:05:48]:
8.0 is new beginnings. We're in a season of the world. From my perspective in America, our local context at. As you know, Ryan Methodist was the fastest growing Protestant denomination throughout America in its inception. So I think at this point in history, it's not about being number one, but it is about impact. I think we have a tremendous opportunity to transform our communities in this season. In the midst of chaos and confusion, confusion and division. That's when I think God uses the church and God's people.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:06:23]:
The greatest things are in chaos. Church can be the infinity light in communities. And I believe today's the day, now is the season.
Ryan Dunn [00:06:33]:
Well, you're passionate about evangelism. It definitely comes across in the, in the way that you talk. I don't know if a lot of people are, are that comfortable or excited about evangelism. In fact, in my experience, there's oftentimes a lot of fear around evangelism. I think when people toss out that term, maybe there are some negative experiences that they think of or, or they kind of go into stereotypes of thinking about like knocking on doors and going door to door, standing out in like the college green and yelling at people. So when you're talking about evangelism, can you give us a, a shape of what that looks like?
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:07:12]:
You know, I was a student athlete growing up in high school and in college. For me, I look at the interaction of people. It is everyday interaction. My teammates, everybody weren't Christians. I was a Christian. And we found ourselves because of relationship building, just talking about a merit of things. And inevitably we came back to talk about in this present age. I, I, I equate it when you're in the grocery store, at the mall or out to dinner, if we raise our heads up and look people in their eyes and just greet them, good morning, how you doing today? And, and, and sometimes I say how you doing today? And I don't really mean how you doing today? I'm just being courteous.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:08:02]:
Right. But if, if you step back and, and you say, how are you today? You should expect a response. And so in the grocery store, I love that if we were down the aisle looking for some cereal, there's somebody down the aisle with you. Just greet them. And if it's an assignment, I call it assignment from God, the Holy Spirit, that that person will say something to you, a conversation won't be had. And somehow somewhere you might land on talking about what they're going, what really they're going through in life. And then you will have a Convers conversation with them. And this is not about pressure, but this is just about human interaction.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:08:46]:
We just so happen to be Christians. And you know what? The people that you're interacting with might be Christians, might not be Christians, might be a strange. But it's not about. But it is about God calls us into relationship, one with another. So if I can see you and you can see me, I think that's the beginning of this evangelistic moment that is presented right before each and every one of us. And it's about love. I mean, do we love our neighbor? Do we really like our neighbor? Do we love our neighbor? Do we see our neighbors? And I think that's a part of the formula of it I've discovered now in my life. It's simple.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:09:31]:
It's about relationships. And so if we can get out of some of the things that we see in the present square or we've heard about out. But if we could see people for people and then interact with them, God will do the transforming. That's not our job. Our job is to be present. So that's how I equate it. All right.
Ryan Dunn [00:09:53]:
That certainly takes off a lot of the pressure of feeling like you have to know a certain amount before you're able to engage in evangelism. Sorry, I did some air quotes there for our listeners at home. And that takes a lot of the fear out. Do you, in the training work that you do, do you hear some people pushing back or expressing their reservations about evangelism? And what are some of the, I guess, fears that they express?
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:10:20]:
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. And the thing that is interesting is some people have said, why don't you change the name? But if you change the name and made it mission, maybe more people would want to engage with it. And I said, there's power in the name of Jesus. So do we change the name of Jesus because people are uncomfortable with that name because they might be another faith background that does not think Jesus is. And that's okay. But the thing is, there's power in the name, and we're called to be.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:10:54]:
Acts 1:8 reminds us that when the Holy Spirit comes, that you will. It didn't say, hey, if you really don't want to, you don't have to. And I'm going to say the grounding piece of this is my friend Ryan, is this. We have to be disciples first. We have to have been poured into. We have to understand what the scriptural mandates are. We have to understand because we're Wesleyan as well. What did John Wesley say about it? What did the theologians say about this thing? And then as we are formed ourselves inside the walls of the church, then we're able to go and be present for other people.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:11:36]:
And so for me, it is challenging because people are afraid of the word evangelism. In our present environment, it's hard to decipher what's true evangelism and what's not. And so some people would rather say, can we just call it something else because it's controversial? Well, I like to say my name is Stephanie, and my mother named me that, and they thought about it, and I don't go with nicknames. And so I think we reclaim our evangelistic identity as Wesleyan, and we live fully into this thing so that we. We reclaim it and we show the world that it's a positive thing and that each of us can do it and not let other sects kind of own it and use it and we try to relegate it to other language. No, let's own it. Let's own it. We're United Methodists.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:12:31]:
This is who we are.
Ryan Dunn [00:12:33]:
I wonder if some of the tension there is the idea that, well, you tossed around the word disciple, and what does it really mean to be a disciple? Does disciple mean having all the right beliefs, or does it mean doing the right things? Is it some combination of both? So in your eyes, is evangelism inviting people into right belief, or is it inviting people into right practice? Or is it all mixed up? Is there a overlapping Venn diagram, so to speak?
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:13:04]:
That's a great question, Ryan. I would say right relationship in right relationship because at the end of the day, nobody knows everything and nobody. We're walking this by faith. And so studying scripture is so important. Even studying scripture can be dissected and dependent upon who's teaching into things. But there' this thing, this is this element called the Holy Spirit. And we talked about that. So it's important to know God.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:13:36]:
It's important to study who Jesus was. It's important to study Bible, which helps a lot. And then there's this, this. This element of who God was, Jesus, and the comfort that's going to be with us, and that's the Holy Spirit. We are as believers, led by the Holy Spirit. And that means if we have a prayer life and if we're studying scripture and that we're trying to align ourselves, we understand that means then we walk into it. We walk into it. None of us.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:14:09]:
None of us. We're going to make. We're going to have ideology that we think Is right. And then when we discover, it's like, is that really aligning with God? Are we really listening to the Holy Spirit? And that's the litmus test for me. That's for me that I have discovered that if I do that, then I can align myself with what I believe that God is calling me to do in that study, and that is bathing myself in the movement of the Holy Spirit. And prayerfully, that I will be saying the right things at the right times. But here. Here.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:14:44]:
Here's the grace of all of it. I fail miserably every single day, but God's grace picks it up, turns it around, fixes it so that people might encounter God in spite of me or maybe something that I said. But it's not about me, but my job. And our job is to be present, be present in the moment with an authentic heart and will. That it ain't me changing people's lives. It's the Holy Spirit. But God calls us to be present.
Ryan Dunn [00:15:15]:
All right, well, Stephanie, you just hit on another. One of the fears that I've experienced in my own life, I've heard other people express and that, you know, sometimes I don't feel equipped for evangelism because I feel like I'm missing the mark in my own life, or there. There's something that I'm ashamed that I've done, and I just don't feel up to evangelism. Can you. Can you speak to that fear a little bit? Like you've admitted that there are points in your own life where it's like, I. That thing I did was not evangelistic, and yet I'm still pursuing to. To kind of share witness with other people. Can you talk about that? A little attention?
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:15:53]:
Yeah. You know, we're all saved by grace every single day. We're not perfect people, but we serve a perfect God. And, you know, the church is the church only when it exists for others. That's. That's Dietrich Bonhoeffer's quote. And the thing is, we're not here to be perfect. We're here to just be personal, to be real, to be authentic, our authentic selves.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:16:17]:
And unfortunately, I don't know if you can do it unless you have a foundation. Right? A foundation through discipleship. What does the Bible require? What does the Bible say that God requires of us? And so reading our Bible, having Bible study, that equips us to be sent out. But I think it's important that we're equipped, that we understand what we're talking about, that we understand as much as we possibly can humanly. Who is God to us personally? So that's the personal holiness. And I love Wesley. So personal holy. What am I doing? What do I believe? How am I conducting my life? What do I understand? And when you can get that and listen, I'm still trying to understand all that now and I'm not perfect with it, then we're sent, we're called to be sent out, right? And it's not.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:17:03]:
It's hard. It's hard because people will ask you hard questions and here you go. If you don't know the answer. You know what? That's a great question.
Ryan Dunn [00:17:14]:
Hmm.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:17:15]:
Let's walk together to discover the answer. Because just because we have Rev or Dr. In front of our names, we are not experts. We. I strive, let me see. I strive to know God so deeply on a day to day basis. But I miss the mark. And I am not perfect, but I do believe in a perfect God and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:17:41]:
So you know, when you're out and about, even if it's intentional, in small groups at a restaurant or a bar, or as a friend of mine, Michael Beck, in the, in the tattoo parlor, wherever you are in life, grocery store, there will be opportunity for you to see another human being as another human being. Whether they love you like you or don't, there's opportunity to spread the good news. Because at the end of the day, we are all want to be loved and we all believe in something. Even if you don't believe in nothing that you say you do believe in something. And so that's the hard work of this. It's not for us to be perfect, but it's for us to serve a perfect God and be led by the Holy Spirit. And I have seen occasions where I didn't have utterance to. I didn't know what to say.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:18:33]:
And God gave nuggets just through the conversation. And actually the individual came up with their own, oh, this is. And it had nothing to do with me. It was just me asking follow up questions. And in those follow up questions, they then came to a place where they were like, okay, I think I'm going to work on that and move on. Or they would say, you don't know what you're talking about. I don't like Christianity because of A, B, C, D, E, F, G. I then pray God, give us another encounter.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:19:03]:
I just want them to know that they're loved. I just want them to know that somebody cares. And that for me is a starting place. And it's a Relationship. Sometimes it's two, three months a year, two, three, four years. But if you're in it, you have to stay in it. And you might run in those circles again with that person. You might not.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:19:26]:
But that's not. We don't need to be concerned about that. I think it's important to be concerned about showing up, showing love, grace, and mercy, seeing people, and let God do the transforming.
Ryan Dunn [00:19:38]:
Hmm. You know, showing up, showing love, grace and mercy. You started with this idea of personal piety, and yet it becomes this recipe for social holiness. And so this. We have this public witness before us or this public display of what we believe, which to me, starts to bleed over into justice work. Do you see justice work as part of evangelism?
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:20:05]:
So. So I love. I love that question. Thank you for asking that question. Evangelism is justice Vange. Because we're called to be sent to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the world. We're called to go out to see where the greatest needs of our communities are. We're called as faith believers of the church.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:20:31]:
Our witness, and that is social holiness, is that our actions speak for who we are in Christ. And so that's why we cannot stay in the walls of the church. I believe we're called to go beyond the walls of the church. Biblical text reminds us in three to four, to five, to six, seven, ten places, we're called to go. And so when we do go, that's what we're called to do. And so that's the hard work. It's not. And I think sometimes as I'm, you know, going deeper into this, we want that justice, justice.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:21:06]:
So this is an evangeloistic moment, and justice is a pillar of that evangelistic moment. We're called to look into our communities to see what the greatest needs are. And when we discover together, not by ourselves, but in a. In a collaboration with other people, we have to solve those greatest solutions in our communities that we just can't acknowledge that there's a problem. We have to be a part of the solutions to the problem in a collaborative, meaning with other faith communities, with our. We're connectional church, with the civic organizations, with the governmental organizations, to get to the bottom and the root of something. And it's like this metaphor of when there's pollution in the water, we have to identify there's pollution in the water, our drinking water, but we also have to look at where the source of the problem, of the pollution is coming. So when we uproot that, then the water is clean for all of us to drink.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:22:06]:
And so that's what we're called to do, to figure out the greatest problems in our communities and solve them.
Ryan Dunn [00:22:13]:
Do you see some congregations in your area engaged in that kind of work?
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:22:17]:
Absolutely. In present America with ice. And some people say that's political. And it may be, it may not be. But one thing about the church, we're called to be at the center of things brokenness in our communities and in our nation and in our world. And so, yes, we're called to engage. Yes, we're called to engage peacefully. We're called to engage with love, not with hatred, but with love.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:22:43]:
And we're called to engage to speak truth to power. And that's what Moses did to Pharaoh. He didn't. He didn't. He didn't cuss Pharaoh. He didn't spit on Pharaoh. He just went back, just as the Spirit led him to go back and just said, this is what God is calling us to say and to do. Let my people go.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:23:01]:
And I think in this season, as the church, we have a credible witness that the world is looking at, that America is looking at. And I think, my friend, this is the greatest time in history for Christendom, for us to really be the bones, the skin, the blood, the flesh of Jesus incarnate in the world. Because we. We can talk about Jesus all day long, but we're supposed to represent Jesus in the world. And that's where people who have been estranged from church, they don't want to hear your words, they want to see your actions. And then maybe they'll listen to what we have to say. It's what we do. It's what we do that leads into a deeper conversation.
Ryan Dunn [00:23:48]:
I think sometimes we conflate an invitation to faith with an invitation to the institution. What you're leaning more towards, it sounds like, is the idea of, well, let's just inform about faith and let's let God do. Inviting to whatever expression it is that comes out of that. Would you agree with that assessment that evangelism is kind of just engaging in people with a display of what a faithful life looks like?
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:24:18]:
So go back. I don't. It's not about membership. This. This work in which we do as Christians. It's not about membership. I think I do believe the church, the building has a place, a major place, because that's where discipleship is formed. However, discipleship is also formed outside the walls of the church.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:24:45]:
So it's both. And it's not about membership. It's about making Disciples for the transformation of the world. And so that's the challenging piece of. What your question is, is that I believe it's both and, and one of my. I'm working with on evangelism using AI, so technology. Right. And my, my thematic theme is reclaiming our evangelistic identity and reimagining evangelism beyond the walls of the church.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:25:17]:
For example, on Sunday, we do sermons. Yes, we're making disciples. We're making disciples inside the walls of the church. And then at the conclusion of the benediction on Sunday, we have to go Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday outside the walls of the church, living into the message that the preacher preached, the songs that the choirs have sung, the conversations that we had with our siblings that are sitting in the pews right to left. And if we don't do anything with it when we leave the walls of the church, because guess what? Jesus was with the people more than Jesus was in the synagogue. And so we're called to go and not make our faith. Community buildings, the end all, be all. Because there will be people who are not going to come to our buildings.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:26:04]:
So we have to go to the people to create worship, to create discipleship, to create justice, to create evangelism beyond the walls of the ch. And maybe they'll come to our churches. And according to Barna and Pew, probably not will come to our churches. So what does that mean? We have to create spaces in places that they are comfortable with, can grow in faith with. And if they come to our building, praise God. And if they don't come to our building, but they're doing mission and they're teaching other people about Jesus Christ, praise God, outside the walls of the church.
Ryan Dunn [00:26:46]:
So what have been some of those spaces that you've seen arise so recently?
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:26:53]:
Our daughter Ashley, she is a graduate of college, and she has a group of young ladies that she started in college. They live in the city that we live in, and they do Bible study at parks, at restaurants, and they have deep conversations. They bring their Bibles. Some of them have bless the door of a church, but they believe in Jesus Christ. They want a personal relationship, but they've been hurt by the church. And so I think that is a prime example of us as developers, the Disciples, we're called to go into the places and spaces where people gather. The church used to be the third place of gathering. It is no longer the third place of gathering.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:27:45]:
The ballparks are third places. The basketball courts, the parks, people staying at home. Wherever people are gathering, there are more people gathering outside the walls of the church than inside. So we as disciples of Jesus, must go where the people are gathering now to be an illuminating light to solve the greatest problems of our community. Show love, grace and mercy. But then tell somebody about someone who is greater than any of us, that loves us just the way we are and loves us so much that God wants to make us even greater and better people.
Ryan Dunn [00:28:18]:
I'm nerdily excited about this program that you're working through with AI we recently talked with Nathan Webb on the episode on this podcast and he was here to talk about artificial intelligence and how the church should cautiously embrace some artificial intelligence. I don't need you to kind of spill all the details of your presentation, but what are some of the ways that AI might help us entertain an evangelistic lifestyle or advance the cause of evangelism?
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:28:52]:
So it is my belief, Ryan, now in this season that I was just. I have a metaphor here is that when people were writing books, it was on parchment paper. They would take the oil pen and dip it and write. And so we have historical archives of this beautiful penmanship on this beautiful paper. And then it went to pens and books, and then it went to typewriters, right? And that first typewriter that came out, so they shipped it from that beautiful pen and now we have the, the phone Imadness, Samsung, I don't care what it is. But all, all the information we need is on inner palm of our hands. So the world transforms generation to generation. And so I do believe that through artificial intelligence that it's going to help us reach a community, the world, faster than anything else through our sermons on Sundays.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:29:57]:
Because what you can do is take that sermon and turn it into a devotion. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, you can take that sermon and have a buzzword that you send to your congregation and encourage your congregation to send to their friends. That's a word of the day that you can create all that people can actually have it on their phone, invite their friends to their home and just gather to talk about their faith in the things in which they're going to. So I believe AI can be used for good. You know why? Because if God can be anywhere through the power of the Holy Spirit, then I believe that God can even work through the technology in which someone created to forward the kingdom work that's at hand. I do believe that. Now there's some. You gotta have some guardrails around it a little bit.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:30:50]:
But this is my position on the ethical implications of this. If you're going to cheat with AI, you've already been cheating with the commentaries in which you read to write your sermons. If you're going to cheat on something over here, it's already in you to cheat. And so for me, the ethical piece is a personal holiness piece. You've got to make sure that you document what you're doing properly. And if you're going to do it now, you've been doing it all along.
Ryan Dunn [00:31:19]:
Well, for someone who's listening but maybe doesn't feel really equipped or confident, what are some small everyday ways that they might be able to, I guess, open their personal door to evangelism? You talked about just kind of looking for opportunities to say hi to people or are there some other ways?
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:31:37]:
So you know, I really believe this because everybody's not an extrovert and I'm not really an extrovert. I'm in the middle and I know it's hard to believe, don't look at me like that. But I am. But I think for I can just say what has worked for me is in this work is that prayer in the morning. The first thing that I do, I try to do. I don't do it all the time, but I try very hard to do it. 5am in the morning is that I pull scripture out and I read it and I pray and I try to listen to God. I'm in this season where I'm like, I want to be in the center of God.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:32:10]:
I don't want to go ahead of God, beside God and behind him, but in the center. I think prayer is important self, the personal holiness, the personal peace of my relationship with Jesus Christ. And then I asked this question, God, what is my assignment today? Whatever it is, help me to pay attention to it and help me to see it and not miss it. And then when I go out into the world, into our communities, into something that I'm at, opportunity presents itself. And it's not about beating people, opening your Bible and quoting Bibles, but it is about relationship building. Jesus built relationships first, even though the disciples were condoning some people whom Jesus was hanging out with. It's about relationships and it's not about beating the Bible over people's heads. And our actions.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:32:55]:
Our actions will, I think, open questions or conversations from the persons and who we encounter. We can preach Jesus all day long, teach Jesus all day long, but if our actions aren't aligned with those things, we don't have a credible witness on a day to day basis, we fail. But when we strive to have a credible witness and Have a foundation. I believe the Holy Spirit will interact us, intertwine us one with another. And we can ask questions to people, do follow up questions and not have the answers, but the answers will come between the two people or three people or four people. I do believe that this is hard work. It's not easy and there is not a subscription or prescription for this. But there is a God that loves us and has called us to do this work and God will provide.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:33:48]:
I also believe the equipping piece is important and that's the baseline of what the church can do. And that's the work that I do is. And formulating now is that how to help people feel comfortable and be equipped to go out and actually see and be sensitive to the greatest challenges in our society. Homelessness, people who need affordable housing, people that just need food, children to attach them to those civic organizations. Schools need tutors to come into the school. So it's the everyday life things that when we show up, I can speak for me, we discover. We discover how can I do more in this particular situation? And I think God makes provision for those things. The Holy Spirit connects you to another person and another person, another person.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:34:46]:
After a while there's a movement and so we don't have to come in there with all the answers because we don't know all the answers. But I think when we show up with the attitude that God here am I, what's my assignment today? God will show you the assignment and then you will be able to get the resources to live into those things. And that's the scary part, the hard part, but the rewarding part as well.
Ryan Dunn [00:35:12]:
Well, thank you so much for sharing your stories with us, for sharing your passion with us. Stephanie, as a next step for anybody that's listening, is there a book you might Recommend, a website, YouTube video or a way to reach out to you you might want to leave with us?
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:35:30]:
Yes, I will definitely leave my contact information and you can put it on the. But I'll say it out loud as well if you have more questions or your church wants to go deeper in evangelism or even AI. The Evangelism advantage, the AI advantage that is actually launching next week. Be more than happy to give you the information. Be more than happy to talk to your leadership of your churches to see where you are. Because I don't go in with a prescription. I go in with the idea that I want to examine what you're doing, what your community needs are, and then invoke the spirit to say, okay, how can this faith community help and meet the needs of abcdefg and that's how we discover it is not a cookie cutter. This is actually unique to your communities into unique to your faith communities.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:36:26]:
But at the end of the day, what I love Ryan, we are connectional church and so how can we do this together and not by ourselves? And so my email of course will you want me to give it to them loud or you want me to. You're going to just put it into the packet. What you want me to do?
Ryan Dunn [00:36:41]:
Both.
Stephanie Moore Hand [00:36:42]:
All right. So my email. No, I love it. S M as in mary hand h a n d299gmail.com and so you can reach me via email. I would love to have a conversation schedule a conversation with you to explore and discover what it is that you're desiring to do. And also you can get the information on the upcoming event. It's a three week event that I'm having for churches in cohort format to learn more about the tactical tools to help us reach beyond the walls of the church, the AI Advantage Cohort. So I hope that you'll join us or reach out to me.
Ryan Dunn [00:37:22]:
All right friend, thank you for being part of our Compass community. We look forward to continuing to explore spirituality in the everyday alongside you. You might want to listen to another episode of Compass. I always recommend it and if you like this episode then I recommend episode 169, why Justice, Equity and Inclusion are Spiritual with Bishop Julius Trimble. Or you can do a deeper dive into artificial intelligence. That was with our last episode, number 172, AI Ethics and the Spiritual Journey with Reverend Nathan Webb. And again, while you're listening, leave a review Rating and or review The Compass Podcast is brought to you by United Methodist Communications. And that's all for this week.
Ryan Dunn [00:38:05]:
We'll be back with the new episode in two weeks time. I'll chat at you then. Peace.
