In this encouraging conversation, Mike Triem talks with author David J. Decker about his book How to Go to the Super Bowl for Free and the deeper purpose behind it. While the title may sound sports-centered, Decker explains that the book is really a practical tool for evangelism, using the Super Bowl as a natural conversation starter to help believers open the door to sharing their faith. Drawing from years of personal experience in outreach, he emphasizes that one of the hardest parts of evangelism is simply breaking the ice, and he encourages listeners to begin with ordinary conversations
00:00:00 Introducing the book and its evangelism focus
Well, it’s Mike Treen with Crawford Media Group. We’re joined by our friend David J. Decker again. Dave, thank you for the time with us. And we want to get into a little bit about your book, too.
SPEAKER 01 :
You bet, Mike. It’s so great to be back. Thank you for having me on again.
SPEAKER 02 :
So, Dave, you wrote a book about the Super Bowl. But in a lot of ways, it wasn’t really about the Super Bowl. It was about getting people’s eyes open and getting them in the book. Tell us about that.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, Mike. I mean, the Super Bowl was just a couple of weeks ago now, wasn’t it? And how can the Super Bowl have anything to do with evangelism? You wouldn’t think those two together go together like mom and apple pie. But in this case, they do. Because here’s really where I was going with the whole thing, Mike. I was involved. and door-to-door evangelism for 12 years. And so I know from practical experience just how hard it can be to get that conversation started. In fact, when I was teaching classes in evangelism, and Mike, I got an evangelism outreach effort going at one of the churches I was in. I’ve taught classes in evangelism, and really my emphasis wasn’t necessarily on the scriptures. But are the scriptures important? Of course they are. And We need to memorize the scriptures, and thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. So, of course, we want to memorize the scriptures. But if you know John 3.16, you have enough scriptural mastery to go out and evangelize. So I wanted to emphasize in my classes when I was teaching people that probably breaking the ice and making a friend is one of the most difficult parts of the process. And often sometimes it’s not so much making a friend because we’re already talking to our boss, our associate at work or our next door neighbor. But sometimes the more we know someone, the more difficult and the more awkward it can be. So I wanted that icebreaker. I wanted that door opener. And so that’s what this book is all about because outside of Christmas, Mike, The Super Bowl is the one culturally shared experience that we all have. And so this is something that even if you’re not a football fan, and my goodness, I can’t relate to that. I’m a terrible football fan, and I think you are too. But outside of Christmas, this is the one culturally shared experience that all of us have. Most people are football fans. They certainly are familiar with the Super Bowl, even if they’re not a football fan. So It’s something that spikes people’s curiosity. And this book was really intended for people that aren’t going to go to church, that they’re not going to consider spiritual things. So how do you start that conversation? And so this is a way to do that. And I want to be a blessing to our listeners today, Mike, even so that they would be equipped at the end of this broadcast to be ready to go out and share the gospel. So here’s a little secret. A conversation about the gospel, Mike, starts out like any other conversation. It’s talking about the weather or the Super Bowl or the Denver Broncos or how we’re doing in baseball or, boy, isn’t that some kind of outfit you’ve got on? And we’ve talked about it before, Mike, that particularly the ladies can comment on the different shoes that somebody is wearing or their jewelry, or all these different things. So a conversation about the gospel starts out like any other conversation. And here’s another secret that, you know, I’ve encouraged people, but boy, you know, you live next door to somebody for years, and maybe just when you’re putting some hamburgers on the grill, you could invite them over. And of course, we were inviting them over. We’d like to get to the gospel, but you don’t have to force it. It’s not that you have to have every interaction be about about the gospel. We need to get used to just interacting with the people around us, be it our neighbors, our colleagues, drawing them into personal conversations that reflect our care and concern for who they are as people and who they are as a possessor of an eternal soul. So a lot of the gospel is just about caring about folks. And I want our listeners to know, Mike, that everything your mother told you about not talking to strangers, that only applied for when you were little. Not now. That’s right. Especially about Jesus. Right? Exactly. Now that you’re all grown up, You can start talking to people about anything, and some of those conversations will lead to the gospel. Not all of them, but I’m almost preaching to myself, Mike, because I’m more the shy, introverted kind of person. I’m not as likely to, if I’m standing in line at the cash register waiting to run my items through the scanner— I’m not the one that’s likely to strike up a conversation, but I’ve got to come out of my shell because those are the kinds of opportunities that can come up. And it’s our neighbors and our colleagues and coworkers, the people that we routinely see. I want our listeners to understand that the reason why you live, the where you live, the reason why you have the job that you have, is to reach those folks with the gospel. Remember, only about 40% of people are attending church on a regular basis. And Mike, we have to be honest with ourselves. I’m not throwing a dart at anybody’s church, but not every church is presenting the gospel clearly. So we’ve only got a minority folks who are being exposed to the gospel on a regular basis. And as we consider Mike, the chaos of the world around us, the war that’s going on now, all the political controversies that are happening, all of the issues with abortion and transgender. We need to remember that all of these issues are at their heart a Jesus problem. So there’s a very important lesson in all this is that when we’re talking about the gospel, the admonition from the Lord is to go into all the world and share the gospel. and preach the gospel. And it’s not to go into all the world and convince anybody about abortion or creation versus evolution or some of these controversial things of our time. These are not the things that we’re called upon to evangelize about. We are to share the gospel. And so we don’t want to get pulled away from the heart of the matter, which is the gospel, And we don’t want to get caught up in some of these other issues that really cannot be resolved when we haven’t gotten an agreement on who the king is and who the authority is. Because once we agree that Jesus is the authority, then we can start to solve all these problems. But until then, we’re as much as wasting our breath. So, Mike, now, as I understand it, we’re going to have a call-in opportunity to get a free copy of that book, aren’t we?
SPEAKER 02 :
So it’ll give us a chance to let listeners know if they call 303-481-1800. So if you hear this interview, call 303-481-1800. Do it during business hours when we’re here, if you would, Monday through Friday. And Charlene, we’ll get your name and number, get it to David and I, and we’ll make sure you get a copy of the book. So that’s 303-481-1800. Oh, that is so exciting.
SPEAKER 01 :
That is so exciting. Well, I hope that people will get the book because I think that the secret is, you know, you can read the book and you can find out how some joker got to the Super Bowl for free. You’ll also find the book has scripture all throughout it. It has the gospel clearly presented, and the book is meant to be entertaining and engaging. So I think you’ll find it to be all those things. It’s a natural conversation starter like we were talking about. So I’m hoping that people will get the book. And they’ll become very systematic about this. They’ll start sharing that book at two-week intervals. Doing that, you could evangelize 26 people a year. And here’s the fun part, that you talk to your 26, and then when somebody gets saved, give them a copy of the book for them to share with their 26. You go get another one. You continue with the next 26. And this is how we begin to build a population of believers. It’s how we, dare I say it, it’s how we get revival. Revival, Mike, has always been at hand. But think about who’s going to lead the revival, Mike, because it’s not going to be the pastors or the missionaries or the evangelists, because they’re not saying that they aren’t doing a good job, because they are doing a good job. They’re doing all that they can, and look, still no revival. So it is up to the everyday believer to carry the mantle of the gospel forward. And we’ve talked about it before, Mike. Look what’s happened today. In recent days, we’ve seen generational voices snuffed out like Charlie Kirk and Votie Bauckham and John MacArthur. These are irreplaceable voices and we look at ourselves and say, my goodness, what will we do losing this type of authoritative voice? And the answer is Your voice has more authority than anyone else with your neighbor, with your coworker. That’s our mission field. That’s our harvest field. So we want our listeners to be equipped and ready to move forward. And here’s my challenge to all of our listeners. I want our listeners to be deliberate about preparation. So you can get a book like mine, and that can be helpful. But the secret is, you don’t have to get my book to share your faith. My goodness, you could get some tracks. You could get them from your church or order them online. Or you could just get polished up on a few Bible verses so they roll off your tongue like you’ve known them your whole life. But what I want to challenge our listeners to do is not because I said so. but because God said so, go into all the world and preach the gospel. That is our admonition from the Lord himself. And really the question for us today is, not should we go, just but merely, are we going to obey?
SPEAKER 02 :
We’re speaking with David J. Decker. David is the author of the book, How to Get to the Super Bowl for Free and Other Secrets from the Playbook. And David, Even if it’s not the Super Bowl, could we not say the Final Four, the Masters, this summer, you know, or in a couple of years, the Olympics?
SPEAKER 01 :
Why could we not say the same thing?
SPEAKER 02 :
This is all about evangelizing more than it is. What event did you get to for free?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, you know, I mean, the Super Bowl was wonderful, I can say, because I really was there. I really was at the Super Bowl. It really was free. It was wonderful. It was also just one day, and it didn’t change my life. You know, and I know, Mike, that the gospel is a life-changing catalyst. And that’s often a very effective tool in our witness that you can share with others how Jesus has changed your life, because that’s nothing more convicting to say, hey, before I became saved, it was this way. And now that I’m born again, it’s another way. So that can be very convicting. It can be very powerful. And each one of us has our own story. And it’s so important and so impactful. Each one of us has their own story.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, Dave, you’ve graciously given us copies of the book that we can bless KLTT listeners with. All you have to do is call 303-481-1800, 303-481-1800 during business hours, Monday through Friday. Talk to Charlene. She will answer the phone. She’ll get your information. And if you’re the first 10 people to let us know that you’d like a copy of the book, we’ll make sure you get one.
SPEAKER 01 :
Amen. Mike, I want to continue to challenge our listeners. As you share the gospel, an important thing to do is let the scriptures do the talking. Where you can, we were talking about memorizing John 3.16. Memorize as many as you can. Let the scripture do the talking. The gospel is controversial. There could be disagreement. Let their disagreement be with God. Their disagreement is with God if you’re using the scriptures. And it gives a chance for the Holy Spirit to work. If we’re just using our intellectual arguments, then their disagreement can be with us. And that’s just no good. We don’t want to make enemies with anyone. In fact, there’s nothing more loving that you can do for someone than to share Christ with them. But the most powerful way to do it is to rely on the scriptures and the wisdom of God. Because after all, how can our intellectual arguments compare to the wisdom of God and the power of the scriptures? So we need to rely on those scriptures. You’ll see them all throughout my book. But even so, you know, there’s a tendency, and I did it too when I was earlier on in evangelism, we want to rely on our intellectual arguments because those are readily accessible to us versus the little bit harder work of memorizing those scriptures. But I encourage our listeners, memorize those scriptures, use the Word of God. If there be any conflict, let it be between the prospect or the listener. and the scriptures and God, not a matter of our intellectual arguments.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, David J. Decker, thank you for the time, Dave, with us. And real quick before we go, how do people get a hold of you if they’d like to reach out?
SPEAKER 01 :
Oh, absolutely. You can reach me at my email address, which is saved at davidjdecker.com. You can access the book on my website or wherever books are sold at davidjdecker.com. Easy to find, Mike. The telemarketers are getting through.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, they are. Me too. All right, Dave. Thank you so much for your time. We’re going to evangelize and remember some of these words of wisdom you’ve given us.
