By Tom Shanklin

If you have a desire to preach the Gospel, don’t sit around waiting for someone to invite you to come preach in a big church or a stadium. Get busy proclaiming God’s Word right where you are. There are places like nursing homes, assisted living facilities, jails, prisons, detention centers and numerous other places that would gladly open the doors to your ministry if you treat the people right and handle yourself with wisdom.

Yesterday, I ministered at the Oaklawn Health Care Center here in Mankato. I am a part of a rotation of local ministers (mostly pastors) who minister in the various nursing homes in our town.

I always use the opportunity to preach an evangelistic message to the people in attendance for several reasons.

• One, because many of the people do not have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
• Two, because some of them will be leaving planet earth shortly to meet their eternal destiny.
• Three, because God loves those people and want them to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

The activities assistant was my piano player. She asked me to keep the hymn selection to simple songs that she might know, which I was happy to do. We sang “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” “Amazing Grace,” and then after my message, we sang “Blessed Assurance.”

I preached on the Prodigal Son. I was led to emphasize the verse where the Prodigal’s father said, “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.” Luke 15:24, KJV. I talked about how we are all in spiritual death as a result of sin, but we have an opportunity to receive new life by receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. About a dozen people raised their hands to indicate that they wanted to come to the Father through Jesus Christ. Then I led the entire group in a confession of Jesus as Lord based on Romans 10:9-10.

I always feels like I’m in a revival atmosphere when I preach at nursing homes, because you can literally see the people come alive as they hear the good news and experience the love of God. Many staff members also heard the message, as the meeting was held in an open area in the facility.

So I encourage you, if you have a desire to minister, go to a nursing home, jail, somewhere where people need to hear about Jesus. If you sing, bring your instrument and share music, and talk about the love of God through Jesus Christ. Or just go and visit someone. According to the Bible, pure religion is visiting the widows and the fatherless. So Go! You will find a great blessing in it.