What the Bible Really Teaches About Evangelism | Guest: Matt Schmidt, Engage 360 Ministries
Many Christians assume evangelism is for the “gifted few” — the outgoing personality, the trained apologist, the person who can strike up a spiritual conversation with a stranger at the grocery store. In this episode of the Great Commission Today podcast, host Daniel Vos talks with Matt Schmidt, founder of Engage 360 Ministries, about why that assumption is wrong — and what a truly biblical approach to evangelism actually looks like.
Matt makes the case that Scripture itself, especially the contrast between Acts 2 and Acts 17, shows a model of evangelism that starts with the other person — not with a memorized script. That single shift changes everything about how churches can equip ordinary believers to have gospel conversations in everyday life.
About Matt Schmidt & Engage 360 Ministries
Matt Schmidt is a husband, father of six, and elder at his local church near Charlotte, North Carolina. He holds a master’s degree in philosophy with an emphasis in theology, Bible, and apologetics from Southern Evangelical Seminary. After years in campus ministry and evangelistic outreach, Matt founded Engage 360 Ministries to help local churches move evangelism out of the “special event” category and into the rhythm of daily life — training every believer, regardless of personality or gifting, to have meaningful spiritual conversations.
Key Topics Covered
- Why “one-size-fits-all” evangelism scripts stop working in a post-Christian culture
- What Acts 2 and Acts 17 reveal about tailoring the gospel message to your audience
- Why most Christians disqualify themselves from evangelism — and how to change that
- The difference between programmatic outreach events and everyday gospel conversations
- The G.O.S.P.E.L. framework: a repeatable, biblical structure for gospel conversations
- How the “professional evangelist” myth misreads Ephesians 4
- How Engage 360 is building an ongoing online training community for churches
The G.O.S.P.E.L. Framework
One of the most practical takeaways from the conversation is Engage 360’s G.O.S.P.E.L. acronym, a framework for real, natural gospel conversations:
- G – Gauging your audience
- O – Offering common ground
- S – Shifting to Christianity and the gospel
- P – Providing evidence that’s meaningful to that specific person
- E – Explaining the gospel clearly
- L – Leaving with a clear next step
Rather than a rigid script, this framework helps believers meet people where they actually are spiritually — building from shared ground toward a clear presentation of who Jesus is and why He matters.
Full Episode Timestamps
- 0:00 – Welcome & intro
- 3:16 – Meet Matt Schmidt: family, seminary, and eldership
- 7:44 – How Engage 360 Ministries started (and survived COVID)
- 11:13 – Acts 2 vs. Acts 17: the biblical case for audience-first evangelism
- 17:38 – Why “traditional” evangelism methods feel stuck today
- 22:38 – Why most Christians don’t think of themselves as evangelists
- 27:26 – The problem with confrontational, script-based outreach
- 35:13 – A free resource: the Outreach Discovery Call from Five More Talents
- 39:10 – Busting the “professional evangelist” myth (Ephesians 4)
- 48:31 – The G.O.S.P.E.L. framework for gospel conversations
- 53:34 – Engage 360’s new online training community
- 55:15 – How to connect with Engage 360