God's Grace Gives Motivation to 'Gospel Walker'
by Allie Martin
June 19, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A 72-year-old North Carolina evangelist has begun his fourth walk across the United States in an effort to challenge churches to do a better job of reaching out to people who are hurting. For nearly 30 years, Ted Stone has shared his testimony of how Christ delivered him from a life of drug abuse and destruction. This past weekend, Stone began another of his walks, this one from Chicago to Florida. Along the way he plans to stop at churches, sharing his testimony and exhorting congregations to demonstrate Christ's grace to those with drug, alcohol, or other addictions.
Stone says legalism -- that is, a strict, insensitive conformity to religious doctrine -- is often a major threat when it comes to reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. "I believe it's very difficult to reach out to broken people when you practice legalism because it closes doors -- it shackles people," he shares.
Instead, he suggests reaching out to the hurting include "a good measure of truth and grace" in dealing with broken people. "Truth originates from God," he says, "and legalism originates from man."
Himself a beneficiary of God's truth, Stone testifies to the life-transforming power of Christ. "Certainly in my own life I've found God's grace [to be] more than sufficient to cover up any past sins," he says. "I don't want us to be in the position to try to make second-class citizens out of people because of sins they've committed in the past. With God it's who we are today that counts, not who we used to be."
The evangelist cites the Apostle Paul as a classic example of someone who had a sinful past, but was used by God nonetheless.
Stone, whose current walk ends in nine weeks in Pensacola, Florida, expects to have several people joining him along the way. He was interviewed while attending the Southern Baptist Convention's Annual Meeting last week in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
