Introduction:

Evangelism is a Christian movement for emphasizing personal conversion and the authority of the Bible or, by extension, any other form of preaching or proselytizing [ 1 ]. An evangelist may therefore travel from place to place, spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Evangelism, as a concept, has been used in non-religious subtexts especially in IT and Marketing. A notable example is Guy Kawasaki, credited as being one of the first to use evangelistic methods to promote the Apple Macintosh computer platform [ 2, 3 ]. In his book: ‘Selling the Dream’, Guy Kawasaki describes evangelism as the process of convincing people to believe in your product or idea as much as you do [ 4 ] . A significant majority of Technology companies on the US Fortune 100 Best Companies to work for in 2007 has someone employed as an evangelist either to promote a specific product line or to promote the company in general [ 5 ].

I will now attempt to describe the different roles and qualities of an evangelist in a general, non-religious context whilst exploring any religious, psychological and motivational underpinnings.

..

The Biblical Evangelist:

The word evangelist is derived from a Greek word transcribed as “euangelion” which originally meant a reward for good news (later known as gospel) given to the messenger [ 1 ] . The word has been described to mean a “proclaimer of the gospel” [ 6 ] . William W. Combs, in describing the Biblical role of the evangelist, concluded that [ 7 ]:

..the evidence seems to strongly suggest that he (the evangelist) functioned not as an itinerant revivalist preacher but as a missionary church planter. As such, these gifted men were, and still are, truly vital to the NT (New Testament) church. This work of evangelizing the lost and forming them into local NT churches deserves the prayers and support of all members of the body of Christ.

Whilst a revivalist preacher promotes ideas of an earlier time, a church planter seek to establish new churches. This is usually accompanied with help from a denomination, a church planting center, a local church or churches, a network, an association, and/or other church planting resources [ 8 ]. One such support network is the church planter’s paradise which describes the following qualities as integral to becoming a church planter [ 9 ]:

- “The Great Commission matters to me” -

- “I am a leader” -

- “I like starting things” -

- “I enjoy meeting people” -

- “We have never done it that way before is a battle cry to action” -

- “I’m a rebel at heart” -

- “For those who would like to start over” -

- “Fulfill your dreams for ministry in birthing a new church” -

- “Lead the church to what you’ve always dreamed for it to be” -

- “I want to mold a church with a minimum amount of baggage” -

- “I want to lead and pastor from the get-go” -

- “Give me an opportunity to mold the church before it gets moldy” -

- “I want to start a church from scratch. We can help you” -

- “I am tired of struggling with tradition in the church” -

- “I want a new horizon in ministry” -

- “The purpose driven church makes sense to me” -

- “Jesus died on the cross for lost people” -

As I unpack these qualities, it is obvious to me that the fundamental role of the evangelist is to start something new (or novel) and to drive change. To achieve this however, the evangelist needs to have the following:

- A fundamental belief in a cause.

- Very good leadership qualities.

- Very good communication and social skills.

The drivers of an evangelist include the following:

- Fundamental belief in cause.

- Reward or a ‘Great Commission’.

- Desire for change.

“Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” [ 10 ]

Case Studies: The IT Evangelists:

Jeff Sandquist.com - Want to be an Evangelist? Come join my team! [ 11 ]

In attempting to recruit for the post of a Developer tools and Platform Evangelist, Jeff Sandquist requests that applicants need to have the following skills to be successful:

• Excellent oral and written communication, presentation, and analytical skills
• Solid technical background and development experience on the Windows platform
• A blend of curiosity, creativity, persistence, commitment, passion and optimism
• Knowledge of technology trends, industry participants and leaders
• Deep analytical skills enabling comprehension and development of complex business and technical issues, topics and plans
• Methodical and organized; able to manage multiple opportunities, projects, and partners concurrently

Technology Evangelist (TE): A Leadership survey [ 12 ]

The key points of the survey as summarized by Ong Jiin Joo [ 13 ] are as follows:

1. Definition: Ambassador of organizational technologies, interacts with prospects, partners, users, producers etc. Many are not formally assigned the position, typically assumed by company CEO / strategist / pre-sales support / post-sales support.
2. Requires a commitment to the product / service being sold, attached to a cause and embodies a vision, generating positive feelings in people with distinctly different attitude from sales and marketing, such as empathy, trust, openness and loyalty.
3. Some common TE role’s characteristics:
   • Motivator and Creator of a Sense of Urgency, selling rather than telling
   • Relationship Builder and Project Manager, keeping teams together, delegate effectively, rapid reaction to circumstances
   • Communicate large volumes of content, enthusiastic, generous in assistance, informal and extrovert
   • Interested in forging teams to handle technical matters, building relationships, and work on goals instead of plans
4. Four major profiles of a TE:
   1. Typical Experienced TE (excel, successful leaders)
   2. Atypical Experienced TE (forced public interaction)
   3. Typical TE in progress (probably me)
   4. Atypical TE in progress (pre/post sales moving out)

..

..

The Roles and Qualities of an Evangelist - The Summary

1. Evangelist must fundamentally agree and believe in the product (or message).
2. Evangelist must be able to inspire others to share in the vision of the product (or message).

The Qualities:

1. Effective Coaching skills
2. Effective Motivational skills
3. Effective Leadership skills
4. Effective Relationship building skills
5. Effective Team working skills
6. Right Attitude
7. Effective Time Management skills
8. Effective Delegation skills

The above qualities are not mutually exclusive. For example: effective delegation skills are important composite of becoming an effective leader etc.

Underpinning theories and models :

This section provide information about different theories and models which may (or may not) be useful in successfully delivering a role as an evangelist. Whichever model or theory is adopted, it must be used under the culture of fairness, empathy, trust, openness and loyalty.

• Know your personality - every change begins with you [ 14, 15, 16, 17]

Design & production: Kosi Gramatikoff (High School project of Christina Gramatikova), for large version of this poster contact User:Kosigrim or kosigrim@yahoo.com - Full Resolution

• Changing people’s beliefs [ 18, 19, 20 ]
• Understanding the different learning styles [ 21, 22, 23 ]
• Motivation theories [24, 25, 26, 27, 28 ]
• Leadership skills [ 24, 29, 30 ]
• Communication skills [ 31 ]
• Team theories [ 32, 33 ]
• Attitude theories [ 34 ]
• Time Management [ 35 ]
• Delegation [ 36, 37 ]

REFERENCES

1 - Evangelism - Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelism

2 - Apple Evangelist - Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_evangelist

3 - The evangelist’s evangelist - ben mcconell & jackie huba web blog - http://www.creatingcustomerevangelists.com/resources/evangelists/guy_kawasaki.asp

4 - Selling the Dream: Sales as Evangelism - Guy Kawasaki - HarperBusiness,U.S.; New Ed edition (Aug 1992) - ISBN-10: 0887306004.

5 - 100 Best Companies to Work For 2007: Full list | FORTUNE - http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2007/full_list/index.html

6 - A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. - W. Bauer, F. W. Danker, W. F. Arndt, and F. W. Gingrich - Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2000 - s.v. “εὐαγγέλιον”,” p. 403.

7 - The Biblical Role of the evangelist - William W. Combs - DBSJ 7 (Fall 2002): 23–48 - http://www.dbts.edu/journals/2002/Combs.pdf

8 - Church Planting - Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_planting

9 - A Church Planter’s Paradise - Hooking up qualified church planters with solid church planting opportunities - http://www.church-planting.org/

10 - Mission as Evangelization - http://www.candler.emory.edu/ABOUT/faculty/DANIEL/globaltexts/Archive/Evangelizationmain.htm

11 - Want to be an Evangelist? Come join my team! - Jeff Sandquist.com - http://www.jeffsandquist.com/PermaLink,guid,f58bbef8-5268-4eb3-b96b-6df232c82513.aspx

12 - Technology Evangelists: A Leadership Survey - http://www.growthresourcesinc.com/TechEvan.pdf [ see also: Technology Evangelist Study - Guy Kawasaki web Blog - How to change the world - a practical blog for impractical people. - http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/01/technology_evan.html ]

13 - Definition of a Technology Evangelist - Ong Jiin Joo web blog - http://wp.jiinjoo.com/?p=109

14 - International Handbook of Personality and Intelligence (Perspectives on Individual Differences) - Donald H. Saklofske, Zeidner, Moshe. - Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers (May 1995).

15 - Personality - Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality

16 - Essentials of 16PF Assessment (Essentials of Psychological Assessment) - Catell H. E., Schuerger J. M. - John Wiley & Sons Inc (7 Oct 2003).

17 - 360-degree feedback - Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/360-degree_feedback

18 - Neuro-linguistic programming
- Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming

19 - A framework for understanding people and organizations -
The logical levels
- http://www.teamchrysalis.com/AC/V5/AC51_Logical_Levels.htm

20 - Sleight of Mouth
- Robert B. Dilts - Meta Publications,U.S. (7 Jul 1999)

21 - Teaching Smart People How to Learn - Chris Argyris - Harvard Business Review Article (91301) - 1991 -

22 -
Learning-styles-online.com - http://www.learning-styles-online.com/

23 - Handbook of Contemporary Learning Theories
- Robert R. Mowrer (Editor), Stephen B. Klein (Editor) - Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc,US (12 Nov 2000)

24
- Organizational Behavior I: Essential Theories of Motivation and Leadership
- John B. Miner (Author)
- M.E. Sharpe (31 Jan 2005)

25
-
Herzberg’s theory of motivation and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
- Joseph E. Gawel,
The Catholic University of America - Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation - A peer-reviewed electronic journal. ISSN 1531-7714 - http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=5&n=11

26
-
Theory X and Theory Y - Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_theory_Y

27 -
Equity Theory - Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equity_theory

28 -
Motivational Processes - Expectancy Theory - Richard W. Scholl (2002)- http://www.uri.edu/research/lrc/scholl/Notes/Motivation_Expectancy.html

29 - A REVIEW OF LEADERSHIP THEORY AND COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS - Bolden, R., Gosling, J., Marturano, A. and Dennison, P. - Centre for Leadership Studies,
University of Exeter
(2003) - http://www.leadership-studies.com/documents/mgmt_standards.pdf

30 - Leadership and the One Minute Manager

- Kenneth H. Blanchard (Author), Patricia Zigarmi (Author), Drea Zigarmi (Author)
- HarperCollins Business; New Ed edition (31 Mar 2000)

31 - Communication Skills: Stepladders to Success for the Professional (Higher Education)

- Richard Ellis (Author) - Intellect Books; New Ed edition (Jan 2003) - PREVIEW BOOK

32 -
Belbin Team Roles - http://www.belbin.com/

33 - Turning Team Performance Inside Out: Team Types and Temperament for High-impact Results - Susan Nash (Author) - Davies-Black Publishing,U.S. (30 Nov 1999)

34 -
Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research. - Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I.- Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1975
- http://www.people.umass.edu/aizen/f&a1975.html

35 -

36 -
Successful Delegation:
How, When and Why - MindTools - Essential Tools for an excellent career - http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_98.htm

37 - If You Want It Done Right, You Don’t Have to Do It Yourself: The Art of Effective Delegation
- Donna M. Genett (Author) - Quill Driver Books (Sep 2003)

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The thrust of the article published in the American Psychological Association’s Psychological Bulletin [ 2 ] is that procrastination is more a function of confidence and expectancy rather than perfectionism.

The formula predicts procrastination based on a person’s expectation of finishing a task, the task’s importance, the person’s desire to complete the task, and how soon the task needs to be done. [ 1 ].

We are no psychologists but we have decided to embark on a research of what other writers on this topic have written and then come to our own conclusions.

Background

The first thing we thought of when procrastination was mentioned was the religious context. There seem to be a lot of quotations in the religious texts about procrastination.

Elijah went before the people and said, How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him. But the people said nothing. [1 Kings 18:21] - Bible

Tell My Servants that I am indeed the oft-forgiving, most merciful; and that my chastisement will be indeed the most grievous chastisement [ Al-Hijr: 49-50] - Quran.

The common theme in these texts is that individuals must convert to the specific religious teaching now and not tomorrow else face dire consequences. Procrastination, in these texts, is presented as undesirable.

Our starting point was to perform a Google search using the search term: procrastinate. We will then examine in some details the first 10 search results [ 3 ].

Wikipedia defines procrastination as:

the deferment or avoidance of an action or task to a later time and is often linked to perfectionism. For the person procrastinating this may result in stress, a sense of guilt, the loss of productivity, the creation of crisis, and the chagrin of others for not fulfilling one’s responsibilities or commitments. While it is normal for individuals to procrastinate to some degree, it becomes a problem when it impedes normal functioning. Chronic procrastination may be a sign of an underlying psychological or physiological disorder.

From the above definition, and the knowledge of the fact that most people have some kind of religious underpinning, it is not surprising to perceive procrastination (as a concept) as undesirable and unacceptable. We believe however, that there is nothing inherently wrong with the act of procrastinating. The problem lies in the reason(s) why you are procrastinating. Alexander Kjerulf wrote an interesting article on ‘How to Procrastinate Effectively’ [ 4 ] in which he suggests that

procrastination is just another tool I use. A way to recharge and get ideas. The important thing is to procrastinate effectively.

In order to establish why we truly procrastinate, we needed to first establish in your mind that procrastination need not be a bad thing and the reasons why you procrastinate is more critical.

So why do we truly procrastinate?

A number of texts have identified a number of reasons why we procrastinate. We have analyzed these texts and distilled the reasons why people procrastinate into five distinct areas [5, 6, 7, 8 ]:

• Lack of organization
• Lack of commitment
• Fear and Anxiety
• Perfectionism
• Personal Circumstances

Lack of organization

Poor organization has been identified as a reason why people procrastinate. Included in this categorization is Poor Time management and Inability to assign appropriate priorities to tasks.

Lack of commitment

You are likely to procrastinate if there is clear lack of commitment to the task at hand. It has been suggested that if you have no task buy-in you will procrastinate on the task. Simply put, you consider the task a waste of time, or the question of what is in it for me has not be appropriately answered.

Fear and Anxiety

The fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of finishing and even fear of success have all been attributed to the reason why people procrastinate. These fears will result in task avoidance and are usually the most difficult ones to admit to.

Perfectionism

Perfectionism has been described as:

The persistence of will in obtaining the optimal present and future quality of spiritual, mental, physical, and material being - Wikipedia

Perfectionism is a form of rigidity or inflexibility that is marked by three major characteristics: (1) The intense desire to jump in and do things yourself because others just can’t do it right; (2) the insistent attitude that you wouldn’t even start on something if you can’t do it well; and (3) the profound need for closure, indicated by agitation or discomfort should something be left “hanging” [ 5 ]

The pursuance of perfection invariable lead to burnout and procrastination. It has been suggested that the pursuant of perfectionism is totally unhealthy and represents a ‘duel with oneself, the ultimate “no win” situation’ [ 7 ].

Personal Circumstances

We identify changing personal circumstances as a reason why people might procrastinate. If the personal circumstance changes, then what was important yesterday might not be so important today. Difficulty to concentrate is another personal circumstance which may contribute to procrastination.

Conclusion

Majority of the articles we reviewed tended to approach the subject matter on the premise that procrastination is an undesirable phenomenon. As a result most of the articles offer a solution somewhat for coping with this problem.

We observe this to be justified because 4 of the 5 reasons identified as why people procrastinate are undesirable in a business environment where you want to achieve the best productivity outcomes from everyone. However, if personal circumstances change (and it does happen), effective procrastination is to be encouraged.

Effective procrastination is not a synonym for laziness but a mechanism for understanding what you are best at and channeling all your energies towards it. This is the highest state of effectiveness. To arrive at the state however, you must have passed the following tests:

• Are you 100% committed?
• Are you organized 99% of the time?
• Are you flexible?
• Do you understand your personal hindrances and have strategies in place to cope with these?

If your answer is yes to all of these..then welcome to the world of effective procrastination.

——————–

Books on Procrastination

Click here to view other books on the subject of procrastination.

References

1 - Why we procrastinate - Researchers Creates Formula to Predict procrastination - reported by
Miranda Hitti of WebMD
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/131/118024?src=RSS_PUBLIC

2 - The Nature of Procrastination: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review of
Quintessential Self-Regulatory Failure. By Steel, Piers.
Psychological Bulletin. 2007 Jan Vol 133(1) 65-94

3 - Google Search [Search term: procrastination; Search performed on 22nd April 2007]

4 - How to Procrastinate Effectively - Alexander Kjerulf. Chief Happiness Officer webBlog
29th November 2006
http://positivesharing.com/2006/11/how-to-procrastinate-effectively/

5 - The problem of procrastination - Dr. T. Quek
http://webhome.idirect.com/%7Ereadon/procrast.html

6 - Time Management: Five Reasons why we procrastinate and Five Strategies to Put Off Putting Off - BusinessTown.com
http://www.businesstown.com/time/time-5reasons.asp

7 - Perfectionism - a double edged sword - The University of Texas at Austin, Counseling and Mental Health Center. 2004
http://www.utexas.edu/student/cmhc/booklets/perfection/perfect.html

8 - Procrastination - University of Cambridge Counseling Services http://www.counselling.cam.ac.uk/procras.html

-88Jwd

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