Two life-changing readings took place in my life in the fall of 1955. The first was my second reading of The Dynamic of Service. The book is a series of lectures on personal evangelism given by A. Paget Wilkes to fellow missionaries from several missions at Karuizawa, Japan, in 1920. It is the best book I have read on the subject. It is currently available on the CCM website, on Amazon, and on Audible. I encourage you to read it.

The second was reading and studying Acts 8, 9 and 10. This was brought to my attention by a missionary in Japan. The following is a piece of the teaching:

In chapter 8, take the time to see how God led Philip to the Ethiopian and the Ethiopian to Philip. In chapter 9, God led Saul of Tarsus to Ananias and Ananias to Saul. Chapter 10 tells us how God led Cornelius to Peter and Peter to Cornelius. In each of these stories the unbeliever was saved. God knew that each of them was ripe for the harvest. God led them to the harvester and the harvester to the ripe harvest. From a human point of view each of them were unlikely candidates for immediate salvation. After you study these three chapters consider the possibility that there is a ripe harvest near you. Please ask God to lead the harvest to you and you to the harvest. Do not be surprised when God answers your prayer.

“Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field'” (Matthew 9:37-38).