Looking for the Other Person

nobody@vox.com(Phil) — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 17:49:08 -0800

One business commentator I like, Dale Dauten, aka the Corporate Curmudgeon, wrote in his column this past week of the art and science of conversations.

The Conversation

Lately he has been listening to some great conversations with executives (not always the easiest people to have conversations with) hosted by public radio personality Kai Ryssdal of the PRI radio program "Marketplace," available as podcasts here.

What is Ryssdal's advice on how to have a great conversation? Stay away from "yes" or "no" questions and be persistent in keeping the conversation going.

Dauten at this point recalls a line from a 1974 movie, The Conversation, in which Gene Hackman plays a surveillance expert whose job it is to listen in on conversations. I've not seen the film, but I like this quote.

"At one point," Dauten writes, "Harrison Ford's character tells him: 'I'm not following you, I'm looking for you. There's a big difference.'"

By analogy, I think, in evangelism, God calls us to not simply follow someone in a conversation. We need to know "Who is this person, how has God made them? What makes them tick?"

I believe this is the secret for relationship building and for finding opportunities to enter into people's spiritual lives to point them to Jesus. You must LOOK for the other person. When you find him or her, you're in a good position to show and tell them the good news.

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Looking for the Other Person