the restaurant patron turns to the young Hispanic woman who had just delivered
the ordered food to his table.
The restaurant patron turns to the young Hispanic woman who had just delivered
the ordered food to his table.
“Im about to pray and bless the food,” he says. “Is there
any need in your life I could pray for?”
That patron is not an evangelist or pastor but an ordinary man with a passion
for sharing the gospel with anyone, anywhere, anytime – Ron Cogburn, president
of a consulting firm in Dallas, husband and father and a member at First Baptist
Church of Colleyville, Texas.
Cogburn sends out a weekly e-mail called “The Soul Winners Diary”
in which he shares his own stories and those of others that demonstrate the
power of the gospel to change lives. In his entry for July 17, 2003, he wrote
about his soul-winning adventure from that same day in an electronics store.
“The gentleman that helped me was very courteous and proactive in anticipating
my questions and concerns,” he notes. “During the entire process,
I was looking for the right opportunity to ask him if he was a Christian.
“As we concluded the purchase, he placed the (purchased) computer and
accessories in a cart and said, Lets take this up front to the cashier
and check you out.
“Well, that was my opportunity,” Cogburn continues. “I started
off by complimenting him on his professionalism and courtesy and incredible
help that he had been to me. I said, Robert, I have to ask you, are you
a Christian? Do you know Jesus as your personal savior?
“He smiled and told me how he was a Christian and had been raised in a
Christian home. He and his family had just moved to (the area). I asked him
where he went to church, and he said he did not have a new church home yet.
“Well, I invited him to come to First Colleyville and try it out,”
Cogburn notes. “By this time, we were standing in front of the checkout
counter. I took out one of my tracts, Jesus is Coming, Are You Ready?
and told him that the church number was on the back. He looked at the tract,
smiled and said, This is really neat.
“I want one of those cards or tracts, a voice piped in from
my right. I glanced to see who had said that and saw the cashier and five trainees
looking at me like a calf looking at a new gate.
“I turned and said, Ill do you one better, I will give everyone
a tract. I placed the one tract on the counter before the watchful group.
They stared at it as if it were alive. I read it to them and asked the question.
The original voice and face chimed in – Im not ready, and I
would like to be.
“WOW,” Cogburn writes. “Jesus was at work. “HE had the
plan. One lady, … said she would like to pray to receive Christ.
“It is all about HIM!”
Cogburn always has not been so zealous for the gospel – either living
it or sharing it. He says he believes God went to some extraordinary lengths
to rescue him from a destructive path in order to use him as a soul-winner for
the kingdom.
Cogburn grew up in a strict Christian home and went through a very rebellious
time as a teenager.
But while in college, Cogburn became reacquainted with the church and active
in the faith groups. As a sophomore, he met Kim, whom he would marry the following
year. They have been married for 27 years.
After his graduation from college in 1978, Cogburn entered the business world.
He says he developed strong ambitions to become the wealthy, dynamic businessman
that the world would call successful. He aspired to become exactly like his
boss who was the life of the party, wealthy and powerful. But he admits he also
was unfaithful to his spouse and a heavy user of alcohol, with financial success
as his only priority.
“I remember telling other people, I am going to be him (the boss),”
Cogburn says. “During that time, I wanted everything that men get tempted
by.”
In 1995, Kim Cogburn met the man her husband wanted to emulate. When they got
home, she told him, “He is an evil man.”
Cogburn did not listen and continued striving to be just like his boss. “I
couldnt see it, but all the time I was getting farther and farther away
from God, until I was about as far away from him as anyone can get,” he
recalls. “It was just all about me. I almost lost my marriage and my family.”
However, Kim Cogburn had been praying. “It was as if God had allowed me
to see us on down the road,” she says. “I started praying, God,
just do whatever it takes to get Ron back.”
She says she prayed faithfully for more than a year before things began to
happen.
God first got Cogburns attention in January 1996 when his boss was diagnosed
with lymphatic cancer and died four months later.
Although Cogburn and his wife had some frank discussions during that time,
his focus was on getting his boss job.
Months later, the company told Cogburn he was to receive the Jeep Grand Cherokee
that had been his boss company car. But just prior to traveling to get
the Jeep, he received another call telling him not to come – the vehicle
had been destroyed in a fire.
Cogburn says he knew the vehicles incineration was too coincidental.
Whether he was ready to effect a change or not, he contends Gods hand
was working in his life. Later that year, Cogburn went dove hunting with a good
friend. While they waited for birds that never appeared, the friend spent the
hours sharing with Cogburn about how Christ had changed his life.
Shortly thereafter, Cogburn joined a Bible study in Colleyville. He says he
started hearing God speak to him in a personal way.
“He became more concerned about doing Gods will and thinking Gods
way instead of being so world-oriented and selfish,” Kim Cogburn recounts.
In 1998, the couple moved their church membership to First Baptist Church of
Colleyville, where Kim Cogburn says her husbands heart was turned back
to the Lord.
Subsequently, events in 2001 ignited his heart for evangelism.
On Fathers Day 2001, his daughters 15-year-old boyfriend was struck
by a drunk driver and was not expected to survive. Ron and Kim Cogburn spent
the weeks praying and supporting their daughter and the boys family through
their trial.
The teenage boy lived.
Meanwhile, Cogburn says he had been supernaturally led to sign up for a summer
mission trip to Zambia. In Zambia, he had his first witnessing experiences and
was able to lead about 75 persons to Christ.
After the trip, a Colleyville evangelist mentored Cogburn in evangelism. Even
so, Cogburn admits he was scared the first time he went out witnessing with
his mentor. “Sharing the gospel with strangers in a foreign country is
one thing. But doing it in your own country is something else.”
Still, in a Starbucks coffee shop, the evangelist encouraged Cogburn to share
the gospel with the young man behind the counter – and the man prayed to
receive Christ.
Since that time, Cogburns focus has been sharing the gospel. “Its
what we are created to do, …” he says.
“Anybody can share their faith. You dont have to do it perfectly,
because it isnt you. … The gospel has power.”
Cogburn says he tries to direct every meaningful contact he has with people
to find out where they are spiritually and to expose them to the gospel if they
have not already received it.
Such is the case at the restaurant, where the Hispanic food server initially
says she did not have any prayer needs.
Then, she adds: “Well, my boyfriend – my husband. I want to go ahead
and get married, but he wants to wait.”
Cogburn tells the woman he will pray for her and her husband and her marriage.
He takes her hand and prays: “God, bless this young lady. God, work in
her life to give her the marriage that she wants, and guide her and her husband
to you.”
However, Cogburn is not finished. Before he leaves the restaurant, two more
people also have learned how to have a personal relationship with Christ.(BP)
(To receive Ron Cogburns periodic e-mail, “The Soul Winners
Diary,” send a request to RCCogburn@aol.com)