6 Reasons Chefs Make The Best Evangelists

Have you ever had dinner in the home of a chef? Chances are when you enter their humble abode you are greeted with an amazing aroma that dazzles the senses. You think for a moment that this dinner may be putting your host out a bit, but you discover that it's a very simple meal that costs little to nothing. You think to yourself, "How did he even find the time to make this magnificent meal with his schedule?" Yet it probably was no trouble at all for the chef. He was able to manage his time and his resources and make the best of what he had at hand.

The church needs more people like that, not because potlucks could be taken to the next level, but because the Christian culture might have a chance at sparking a revival in our generation. Too bad most of them are stuck working Sunday mornings because of all the church people who go out to eat afterward. That, however, is not at all the point I'm trying to make. The point I'm trying to make is that chefs hold the key to waking up the sleeping church in the free world.

What the church needs is more people who are willing to lay it out on the line to share the Gospel with the unsaved. Evangelists are the reason why the unsaved hear the Gospel. There are 6 reasons I've come up with why chefs have the potential to make the best evangelists.

Chefs are passionate: Have you ever had a food conversation with a chef? Passion spreads like wildfire, just visit a culinary school anywhere in the world, the air is electric with culinary excitement! Chefs are known to be so passionate that being around them is just infectious for getting excited about food. Imagine if we all could get people that excited about sharing our faith? If Christians could be this excited about the Gospel, the world will know who God is.
Chefs are hard workers: Because of a chef's passion, they are willing to work long hours in terrible conditions for little to no pay at all. Because they're willing, they're capable of handling large workloads even on no sleep. Evangelism can be hard sometimes, and there's no promise of a payout that we can see. It takes someone with physical and mental endurance to labor for the harvest.
Chefs are thick-skinned: Despite what you see on Food Network, chefs are not as sensitive as they are portrayed on TV. Chefs start out as cooks, who spend the first several years of their career being criticized by everyone around them. Therefore, a good chef can handle criticism with grace and tact. Christians need to learn how to handle rejection from the world with grace and tact. That can only come through a thorough discipline of prayer and studying the Word of God.
Chefs are creative: A chef can take a boring old dish and resurrect it into something that people will line up for miles to sink their teeth into. Here's the thing: they don't usually do anything to it that takes away its identity. Generally what chefs do to make their food amazing is through a mastery of basic cooking fundamentals. The basic fundamentals of our Christian faith are what will bring about revival in this world. Theological dissertations are fine and dandy, we need them, but a mastery over the basics will always out-perform fancy teaching.
Chefs are resourceful: A chef is not only someone who can cook, but someone who can cook something 10 different ways depending on what equipment is available. If I had a dollar for every time I needed to cook something without the proper equipment I would be living in a mansion in Florida. What do you do when you're serving a turkey tonight and you just pulled it out of the freezer? Ask a chef, and after he teases you about it he'll give you a solution to pull it off. Christians, though the Gospel is perfect, we will never be able to present it perfectly. Even if we could, the world isn't able to receive it perfectly. Therefore, we need to be resourceful in our approach to the world. The fact is that churches are dwindling because nobody is going out on a limb to reach people. We're stuck in our traditional ways and we like it. We need people who know how to make situations work to the benefit of the Gospel.
Lastly, chefs are excellent at time management: It's been well said that if you need something done, hand it to the busiest person you know and it'll get done. Chefs are notorious for working 100 hours/week, yet the talented ones somehow find time to live a full life. How? Time management! From timing out dishes to serve to customers to prepping out items that may take days or eve weeks to finish, chefs make the best use out of their time. One of the biggest excuses out there for Christians not sharing their faith is they believe they're too busy. Well, let me encourage you to take inventory of your timetable and I'm sure you'll find more free time than you thought. All of my evangelist friends are ridiculously busy people, yet they find time regularly to go out evangelizing. Why? How? They WANT to do it! If you WANT to watch a football game, you'll find the time right? If you WANT to spend an hour on facebook every night mindlessly scrolling through the newsfeed, you'll find the time to do so. The point is, if chefs can find the time to do what they love to do, you can too.

In conclusion: the Christian church needs more chefs. Maybe not actual chefs, but chef-minded people. Pretty much anyone who fits the above description can make an excellent evangelist. I believe that God put me into cooking to teach me these skills not only so I can have a trade, but to make my life more fit to share the Gospel. Maybe you can train yourself in these disciplines, all you need to do is find a Christian who is able/willing to come alongside and teach you. This is one of the many things it will take to reach the world to glorify God.