Not Seeing Conversions? | Dr. Steve Lawson 

Currently in college. While I understand that the statement may be knowingly incredibly generalized, I think that by saying college students are the most fertile soil, there is a fundamental disconnect or overestimation of the current state of todays youth. Hearts are beyond hardened so-to-speak. Age is having less and less to do with fertility as we approach the final days. Visit a random STEM university outside of the south right now and see that times have changed. Since I’ve been in college, my almost 40 year old uncle has grown closer to Christ than the 19-23 year olds that I’m surrounded by. They hate God and have yet to blessed with suffering. In my opinion, this topic is far too nuanced from case to case to speak so generally anymore.

I think it comes down to the time and age that we live in. It also comes down to whether God is people or not. You can look at the ministry of Jeremiah in the Old Testament. He did not have one conversion. He longed to see his country saved from destruction, and they would not repent. God brought the preaching of Jeremiah, Noah, to bring judgment upon a wicked people. Right now we’re living in America, who seems to be under the judgment of God. We do not give up fishing and proclaiming the good news, but we trust the results to Jesus Christ and him alone!

I am a huge fan of Dr Lawson but his response greatly disturbed me. I came to Christ 10 years ago at the age of 43. I certainly wasn’t on my death bed. My ex husband later made a profession of faith in his 50s. Again, not on his death bed. A lady in my small group married a pastor and after 30 years of marriage, realized at the age of 52 that she wasn’t saved. I have met many people who came to Christ “late in the game.” Don’t give up on the grey haired folks just because of their age. I would venture to guess that there are many in our pews who think they are saved because they’ve done and said all the right things. If a pastor isn’t seeing conversions, he might well be catering to the goats and starving the sheep. It’s also important to note that “seeing conversions” may not be as important as seeing spiritual growth in the sheep you’ve been given.

Very insightful. Thank you 🙏

I will respectfully disagree with Dr. Lawson who is 10 times the theologian or preacher that I will ever be. If someone gets converted during a service that I preach, it is the Holy Spirit that drew them(John 6:44), not my preaching. I'm just the message boy or the sower who got the honor to also share in the harvest.

I see the disappointment within the comments. I, too, was very surprised with the response 😅. But I think we have to look at the context within which he is speaking. Knowing that he believes in the doctrines of grace, election and all that. I think even within ministry there is a place for self examination and asking God if truly there is something you may just not get yet or are not doing right. If you notice he acknowledges William Carry, and then goes on to mention statistics about the age. We can’t throw statistics out the door because they give us a general picture. Case by case things could be different, but the statistics give us a general picture. So I think he is calling for self examination within the preacher, yes it could be the will of God that you preach and there are no conversions in your case, but probably generally, if you find yourself in college ministry and that is not happening you can keep self examining. This is my personal view on the video.

What about those of us who aren’t pastors and we’re not seeing conversions? What should we do?

Do we believe in the power of The HOLY SPIRIT or not? GOD can do anything. People will come to CHRIST at any age because salvation is of The LORD. What I find is that Calvinism sometimes pushes people away, and that is why they don't convert. Because they don't feel welcome.

Joel Olsteen probably gets 50 false conversions every service.

I was disappointed by this. Seemed very judgemental. It's the condition of the soil that determines whether people are converted or not, not by the person who sows the seed.

While I have respect for Spurgeon and Lawson, 1 Timothy and Titus mention this qualification NO WHERE in the Pastoral Epistles! Take MacArthur’s advice, preach the Word and go to sleep.