Barry Meguiar
Barry Meguiar has a challenge for today’s Christian: get in the game. “Christians today—solid Christians—are enjoying being edified every week, loving their pastors, and giving sacrificially,” Meguiar says, “but they’re standing on the sidelines, and they have no joy.”
So Meguiar beckons us—yes, us, the Love Worth Finding faithful—to fasten our helmets and take the field.
Why should we listen?
1) Meguiar is a qualified coach.
2) Exercise is good for us.
3) We’re in the last quarter of a high stakes game with no overtime.
Coaching Resume
Meguiar is not qualified to coach because he ran the family company, Meguiars Inc., that created and marketed a global brand of car care products. He’s not qualified because he’s good friends with James Dobson, was named Layman of the Year by the General Council of the Assemblies of God and was dubbed Alumnus of the Year by Pt. Loma Nazarene University. Nor does the fact that he has been a faithful LWF listener since about 1980 and considers Adrian Rogers one of the greatest players in the game to give Meguiar play-calling credentials.
But when a man who shared his faith daily for forty years and always considered his business his pulpit is lying at death’s door (with his staff preparing his obituary) and makes an immediate and dramatic recovery, stating that God has given him a mandate to start a new ministry, it makes one sit up and take notice.
“One of the things that Adrian Rogers taught me is that ‘faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted,’” Meguiar recalls. “I remember thinking, ‘I haven’t been tested.’ Oh my goodness what’s happened since then!” In 2010 Meguiar contracted a rare virus while filming his “Car Crazy” television show. He spent 17 days in critical care in an induced coma and was expected to die when the illness subsided as quickly as it had spread. Soon after recovery, Meguiar founded Revival Outside the Walls (ROTW), a lay-led ministry that, like LWF, seeks to equip the saints to spread the Gospel and reach the lost. More specifically, Meguiar says he wants to help all Christians see themselves as being in full-time ministry and “bring purpose and excitement to the followers of Jesus Christ.”
For Our Good
“Most Christians are bored,” Meguiar observes. “They’re on their way to Heaven, but they’re not having fun. They get beat up in the world all week long, and they come to church and fall asleep in the pews. Isaiah 43:10 says, ‘I’ve appointed you as my witnesses so that YOU will believe.’ Being God’s witness is for the lost, but it’s also for YOU. Sharing your faith is fun. Who knew?”
For Meguiar, each day in the game involves one simple play: move everyone, every day, closer to Jesus. “There are people who are going to Hell that you’re going to be around today; find people to share your faith with. Watch for an opening. Enter the conversations rather than interrupting them. Move people closer to Jesus.”
The strategy is like strength conditioning. Prayer without ceasing becomes automatic. Abundant joy becomes a reality. Spiritual muscle is increased. “If you hold onto your faith and don’t use it, your spiritual muscles atrophy. You don’t feel qualified. You’ve been going to church every Sunday for 15 years, but you forget how to say, ‘You’re a sinner, and God forgives you even though you’re a rascal.’”
The Final Quarter
The most important reason to get in the game, of course, is that God will blow the final whistle; we haven’t a moment to lose.
“I totally believe there is going to be an outpouring, a revival in these last days,” Meguiar says, even though church attendance is shrinking and looks like the farthest thing from revival. Where the game will get interesting, Meguiar says, is outside the church walls.
That’s exactly why ministries such as ROTW and LWF are working through broadcast and online channels to reach the lost with the Gospel of Jesus Christ…to help others develop a strong faith that can be both trusted and tested.
“The unchurched know the world’s out of control,” Meguiar says. They think, ‘I wish there was a God who could make sense of all this.’ The thing is, 83% of the unchurched already have a Christian in their lives they would listen to, but only 1% of us share our faith.”
Because we are near the end of the game, perhaps in the last minutes, we may be in position for the greatest, last-second touchdown pass of all time, one that may be caught by a multitude.
“Everybody’s hurting. Everybody needs love. We have the answer,” Meguiar concludes.
If only we’ll throw the ball.
Have a story about how God has worked through LWF in your life? Go to LWF.org/mylwfstory. We’d love to hear from you.
