APEST Series #3 | The Evangelist Among Us: Discipling the Leader Who Can’t Stop Talking About Jesus
Why Your "Most Annoying" Leader Might Be The Key to Kingdom Advance
Front Note #1: Thank you to my mentor, Greg Getz, for contributing to this tool! Greg has been a long-term mentor and friend and an invaluable source of wisdom in catalyzing disciple-making networks.
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Front Note #3: ✔︎ Click HERE for a high-level overview of the GREAT TEAM!
The GREAT TEAM Series | The Evangelist
This is the third article in a series on the GREAT Ephesians 4:11 Team. Each article uses the same format and language to describe each of the gifts from the perspective of disciple-making. Enjoy the series!
Click HERE for Article #1 - The Prophet
Click HERE for Article #2 - The Apostle
The Evangelist
Let me ask you something that might hit close to home. When was the last time someone in your discipling community was SO excited about a person they’d just met, a neighbor, a coworker, a stranger at the gas station, that they couldn’t stop talking about how close THIS ONE is to coming to faith?
And then, they moved on to the next person. And the next. And the next.
Yeah. You know exactly who I’m talking about.
Here’s the deal! Ephesians 4:11 gives us five leadership gifts that multiply the Kingdom Church: Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd, and Teacher. You know the Shepherd and Teacher, they’re running most of our churches. You’ve probably identified the Apostle (the missionary, the entrepreneur). And the Prophet? That’s the one making everyone 😬 squirm in meetings.
But the Evangelist?
That’s the one running ahead of everyone else, leaving a trail of gospel seeds scattered everywhere, often without sticking around to see what grows. Sometimes they seem flaky or overly radical. They may even embarrass you by their boldness in public. Maybe they even lead someone to the cross and then leave them in the dust!
😵💫 Is that irresponsible?
🎯 OR IS IT BY DESIGN?
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What Is an Evangelist? (And No, They’re Not Just Street Preachers)
Let’s clear up the confusion right now.
An Evangelist is an infectious RECRUITER for the Gospel who is more comfortable among non-Christians and fosters a sense of urgency to share with and win the lost, grow the Kingdom through conversions, and train others to do so.
Here’s what that actually looks like.
✅ Driven, almost compelled, to share the gospel (1 Cor. 9:16-18)
✅ Often more comfortable with the lost than the found (1 Cor. 9:19-23)
✅ Makes opportunities happen and they don’t wait for them (Col. 4:5-6; Acts 8:40)
✅ Listens closely to the promptings of God (Acts 8:26, 29)
✅ Calls for a personal response to Christ
✅ Naturally connects people to the cause
✅ A storyteller who communicates the Good News in everyday language
✅ Sees every person as a potential brother or sister in Christ
For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach.
Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
1 Corinthians 9:16-18
The Problem: Undiscipled Evangelists Are Dangerous
Here’s what happens when an Evangelist doesn’t have accountability and discipleship:
❌ They become hit-and-run gospel sharers, planting seeds but never watering them
❌ They neglect believers they’ve already won because the next one is more exciting
❌ They burn out from constant rejection
❌ They lose synergy with the rest of the Ephesians 4:11 team
❌ They can make the gospel feel like a sales pitch instead of an invitation
An undiscipled Evangelist is like a farmer who plants seeds everywhere but never nurtures seedlings; there’s a lot of activity, but the harvest never comes in.
Discipling the Evangelist: Four Critical Areas
1. Their Uniqueness
The Reality:
Evangelists see the world differently from most Christians. Where you see the barista making your coffee, they see an dark soul who needs Jesus. Where you see an awkward silence, they see an open door for a spiritual conversation.
They have an almost supernatural ability to build rapport quickly. They’re the ones who know everyone’s name at the gym, the coffee shop, the kids’ soccer practice. They collect relationships like some people collect stamps.
And here’s the thing that might surprise you:
💥 They often feel out of place in church 💥
Why? Because church is full of found people. The Evangelist’s heart beats for the lost.
Your Action as a Discipler:
Acknowledge, appreciate, and bless their uniqueness.
Don’t try to turn them into a Shepherd or Teacher. Don’t make them feel guilty for being more excited about the person they met at Walmart than the Bible study on Tuesday night. God wired them this way for a reason.
Tell them: “Your urgency for the lost is a gift from God. The Church needs your fire.”
2. Their Presence
The Reality:
Evangelists can come across as pushy, aggressive, or even insensitive. They might not always read the room well because they’re so focused on the eternal destination that they miss the present moment.
But here’s the truth: They don’t love people less, but they feel the urgency of eternity MORE.
They hear the clock ticking. They know that every person they meet is one step closer to or farther from Jesus. That urgency can feel overwhelming, to them AND to the people around them.
Your Action as a Discipler:
Help them understand this:
✔︎ “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Evangelists need to learn that relationship is the bridge the gospel walks across. You can’t just drop 💣 truth bombs 💣 and walk away. The gospel is most powerful when it’s delivered through a genuine relationship.
Think about it in Three-Thirds terms: They need to balance the LOOK BACK (relationship and care), LOOK UP (the gospel message), and LOOK FORWARD (next steps in discipleship). Evangelists default to LOOK UP and LOOK FORWARD. Your job is to help them see the power of LOOK BACK.
Teach them to ask questions before they give answers.
🤯 Help them see that listening IS evangelism. 🤯
3. Their Role
The Reality:
We’ve all been in that meeting. The team is discussing how to deepen community, how to care for existing members, how to improve the worship experience. And then that one person says, “But what about the people who don’t know Jesus yet? Why are we so focused on ourselves?”
Everyone shifts uncomfortably. The momentum changes. Someone mumbles, “We’ll get to outreach later.”
😩 The Evangelist feels dismissed. Again❗️
But here’s what you need to understand.
The Evangelist isn’t being disruptive, they’re being faithful to their call.
👉 They’re reminding us that the Church exists for those who aren’t in it yet.
The Hard Truth:
🤷🏼 Contemporary Evangelists are often sidelined 🤷🏼
They’re sent to the “outreach committee” while the “real” ministry happens somewhere else. 🔥 They’re tolerated but not integrated. Their urgency makes the comfortable uncomfortable.
Your Action as a Discipler:
You have TWO jobs:
Help the Evangelist stay connected to the body by showing them how their gift complements (not competes with) the other gifts. The Shepherd will nurture the people they bring in. The Teacher will ground them in truth. The Prophet will keep them accountable. The Apostle will help them multiply.
Disciple the group to embrace the Evangelist’s urgency. Challenge the comfortable. Ask the hard question: “When’s the last time we did something specifically to reach someone who doesn’t know Jesus?”
Key Principle:
➠ When the Evangelist goes silent, the mission has drifted inward
When they speak, they’re calling us back to why we exist.
Don’t silence the missionary ❤️🔥 heartbeat.
Listen to it.
4. Their Recruitment
The Reality:
Evangelists are often exhausted. They’ve been carrying the weight of the Great Commission on their shoulders while everyone else seems content to huddle inside the church walls.
They’ve been told they’re “too much,” “too aggressive,” “too focused on numbers.”
They might not even know they’re an Evangelist. They just know they can’t stop thinking about people who don’t know Jesus. They feel guilty for not caring more about the potluck. They wonder why Sunday morning feels less exciting than the conversation they had with their neighbor on Saturday.
😥 They’re often running on fumes, feeling alone in their burden.
Your Action as a Discipler:
Discipling the Evangelist begins BEFORE they join the team.
Here’s what to look for through prayer, Holy Spirit whispers, and spiritual discernment:
🔍 They naturally build relationships with non-believers
🔍 They find ways to bring up faith in everyday conversations
🔍 They get more excited about stories of conversion than stories of church programs
🔍 They feel a burden, almost a restlessness, for people who don’t know Jesus
🔍 They ask, “What about the lost?” when everyone else is asking, “What about the Body?”
When you find this person:
✅ Come alongside them
✅ Recognize and affirm how God has gifted them
✅ Give them permission to be who God made them to be
✅ Connect them to the larger mission—show them they’re not alone
✅ Share with them their Ephesians 4:11 role and their Uniqueness, Presence, and Function
✔︎ And here’s the critical one: Teach them to disciple the people they lead to Christ.
The Evangelist’s greatest weakness is moving on too quickly. Help them see that evangelism isn’t complete until the person is connected to community and growing in faith.
🌱 Plant AND 💦 water.
How This Fits the DMC Pathway
In the Disciple-Making Collective, we’re committed to the Jesus pattern of disciple-making. That pattern includes all five Ephesians 4:11 roles working in alignment.
Here’s where this hits our tools:
In your X-Groups: Are you creating space for outward-focused conversation, or have you become an inward-focused holy huddle?
In your Discipling Communities: Are you recognizing and deploying the evangelistic gift, or are you frustrated that “those people” always want to talk about the lost?
In your House Churches: Are you practicing the 9 Behaviors of Church in a way that keeps the mission central, or have you become a comfortable club for the already-convinced?
In IOI (Iron-on-Iron) coaching: Are you asking the hard question: “Who on your team is the Evangelist, and are you giving them room to run?”
Your Next Step
Here’s what I want you to do:
1. Identify the Evangelist in your sphere.
Who’s the person who always brings up their coworker, neighbor, or random person they met? Who’s frustrated that “we never do anything for people outside the church”? Who lights up when they talk about conversations with non-believers?
2. Pray for them.
Ask God to give you wisdom to disciple them well and to protect them from burnout and discouragement.
3. Release them.
Reach out this week. Tell them you see their gift. Tell them you want to help them run with it. Tell them the Church needs their fire.
4. Connect their gift to the mission.
In your next Three-Thirds meeting, ask them: “Who has God put on your heart? How can we help you reach them AND disciple them?”
✏️ Drop a comment below:
Do you have an Evangelist in your discipling community? How are you stewarding their gift? Or are you the Evangelist who feels sidelined? Let’s talk about it.
The body of Christ needs all five roles. Don’t bench the Evangelist. Deploy them.
For more on building healthy discipling communities that include all the Ephesians 4:11 roles, check out the tools at disciplemakingcollective.com
This is very helpful. I’m part of a men’s movement that was founded by and led by an evangelist. I struggle to find balance in the group {I’m a Teacher (47), Prophet (45), Shepherd (43)} as there is very little interest amongst leadership either in discipling or in Shepherding.
This gives me some strategy.