Ever since being given the Great Commission, the church has made evangelism a priority. Peter preached to street crowds; Paul reasoned with philosophers; Barnabas cozied up to the synagogue crowd of the Diaspora. Carey went to India, and Moody started a Sunday school, and Bright devised four laws. The methods have been as diverse as the personalities, but in every age, God's people have spread God's story.

The coming of a new decade occasions a look at what is happening in evangelism in this age. What's working? What's not? How can the gospel penetrate the decade of compact disks and cocooning?

To investigate this subject, the LEADERSHIP editors brought together three pastors and an evangelist who have considered these questions in their ministries and have devised effective means to carry out the Great Commission:

-Ed Dobson, pastor of Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and former associate of Jerry Falwell in Lynchburg, Virginia;

-Les Magee, a former missionary to Portugal and Brazil, ...