Let's Go Fishing for Men

by Homer Hailey

Hailey prepared this volume with a twofold intent: to inspire Christians toward personal evangelism and to offer practical and helpful suggestions to that end. He writes: “The material has been arranged for class study as well as individual use. It is arranged to be covered in twelve lessons, or there is sufficient material in some of the lessons to enable the teacher to extend the study beyond that” (vii). In addition, study outlines are included after the text of the book, offering material for some of the classes the evangelist will teach.

Overall, Let’s Go Fishing for Men is a good book on the subject of personal evangelism. Its content is very practical, and included some preparatory matters (i.e., plans to make/things to think about before the first visit) I hadn’t thought of and should be very helpful to the evangelist. His views clearly fall in line with the “conservative churches of Christ,” but it is apparent that they are such not because of a sectarian devotion to churches of Christ, but because those conclusions are where his honest Bible study has led him.

My biggest complaint with this book is the same one I have with most modern personal evangelism: it is based on multiplicity of lessons and meetings. While there are certainly some people who will need more study than others, and Biblical example of evangelists studying with people more than just once (cf. Acts 17:2), it should not be a universal method. Many can be converted in one sitting—“the same hour of the night,” as it were. Any method that completely ignores this (Hailey doesn’t completely ignore it, but it receives very little attention, if that) is a method that is flawed. My belief is that our evangelism should begin with the hope of converting someone in one session, and only if that fails should we seek to extend the study.

I’m not sure if this volume is in print anymore or not, though I’d imagine you can find a copy fairly easily through the Internet. It will be worth your cost and time for the material it offers on preparing yourself before the first meeting alone. Anything beyond that you receive from the book—and there are certainly other things to get from it—will be an added bonus.

The Editors do not advocate everything taught by the authors of the books we review. Like us, these authors are fallible humans and those who choose to read these books should measure them by the bible, the one true standard.