By Caleb Otey
In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus tells his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (NIV). All disciples of Christ, even those with full-time jobs, are called by God to teach the gospel wherever they go. However, few Christians have fully dedicated their personal and professional lives to evangelism like Faulkner alumnus Matt Wallin.
Nearly 20 years ago, Wallin completed a double major in Business and Vocational Ministry at Faulkner University. After graduating, he took on a management role at a furniture company. Though he was doing well at the company and would have likely received a promotion, Wallin felt unfulfilled. “I just don’t think this can be the culmination of my life,” Wallin thought.
Soon afterward, one of Wallin’s friends, a missionary in China, invited Wallin to come live with him. While observing the evangelism-focused Christians in China, Wallin fell in love with ministry.
“I wasn’t really seeing people converted (at home). I know the Bible says to do it and that the gospel works and won’t return to God void, but that is what I had seen: a lack of taking it and a lack of response. Even though I had gone to Faulkner and seen baptisms and conversions, it still wasn’t like I thought it should be or could be,” Wallin recalls.
“When I went to China and saw people literally every second of every day thinking about evangelism. ‘How can we make contact? How can we share the Bible? How can we love people and serve people?’ I was only there for a few months, but it really changed me because I saw people do that, and I was like, I’ve been looking for this my whole life!”
During his stay in China, Wallin searched for work on Faulkner’s website until he stumbled across a job listing by House to House, Heart to Heart, which he successfully applied to. Today, he serves as the program’s Director of Promotions.
House to House, Heart to Heart is a church of Christ-run program that serves as a powerful evangelistic tool for the church, publishing Christian magazine articles and journals, sending out evangelistic newsletters, hosting evangelism seminars, and recording Christian podcasts. House to House has sent 325 million magazines to date, and its July 2024 issue of the magazine was sent to 2.2 million homes.
“We are averaging four baptisms a day right now with House to House, and that’s just in our little area of the world in this country, not including the international efforts,” Wallin says. “There are at least five guys who first heard about the church of Christ by getting information in their mailbox that preach full time now.”
Though he could have chosen to work at a secular job and focused his evangelism efforts there, Wallin says that House to House’s work is unique. “I am evangelistic wherever I go, but it would be hard to replicate these results in a secular job.”
Wallin is not calling all Christians to leave their jobs and become full-time, salaried ministers, but he does encourage all Christians to be seriously involved in ministry. “You don’t need to be on staff to be a minister,” he says. “Ephesians 4:11-12 says that one of the roles of leaders is to get the saints equipped for the work of ministry, so that tells me that everyone should be involved in ministry. The word Christian is synonymous with minister in the Bible. You just have to find out what your ministry is.”
Some Christians think evangelism is futile and never share the gospel with others. To these Christians, Wallin claims that in-person evangelism can be incredibly effective and tells a story to illustrate his point:
“We went door-knocking maybe four years ago. There was a lady we had met who was a church member who had fallen away, and we had sent her cards for at least six months. After a period of time with no response, we gave up and decided to leave our past efforts with her, but she started coming two years after we knocked on her door and was restored recently.
“My youngest daughter, who is six now, was really taken with this lady. This lady loves her so much that she brings her bags of candy and coloring books. It’s just because she’s so thankful and feels so loved.
“I like to share this one because some people say that door-knocking doesn’t work, but these people also say ‘fill-in-the-blank doesn’t work’ and have about ten answers. Then you’re left with, ‘What does work?’ My point is that everything works if you work it, and the only thing that doesn’t work is not working.”
While in-person evangelism can prove incredibly effective, Wallin also urges Christians who produce Christ-centered content on social media to share it with their friends and family. Wallin recalls interacting with a friend who competed in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as a sharpshooter.
“I have a friend who’s in the Olympics in Tokyo. He’s seen some of the lessons I’ve been posting online, and he asked if I could make them available for him to download. So, he’s listening to them the whole way to the Olympics and while he’s there. That’s just because I had just posted, ‘Here are some lessons I’ve been doing’ online. I would like to share this story because some people feel like there’s no point in sharing what they’ve produced with their loved ones, but that’s not true.”
Wallin encourages Faulkner students interested in becoming more evangelistic to seek a strong Christian mentor who can help them. “You’re not going to be a great soul-winner if you don’t know any,” Wallin says. “If you want to be a drunk, you hang out with the town drunk. If you want to be rich, you hang out with rich people. If you want to be evangelistic, you hang out with people who are evangelistic. So, if you’re on campus and want to be evangelistic, and you’re not, you need to start asking people, ‘Who is the most evangelistic person you know?’
“Go and find them, and ask them to be your mentor, which just looks like regularly spending time with them. If you’re a current Faulkner student, get to know Colt Mahana and Jeremy Smith. Those guys are always involved in Bible studies. Your best bet is to get somebody to show you how it’s done instead of figuring it out on your own.”
Today, Wallin hosts a summer internship program with House to House, inviting university students to participate in the evangelistic work he began twenty years ago. Interested students can email him at matt@housetohouse.com or check out the website here.
