Mr. Petersen draws attention to two aspects of evangelism, which he terms proclamation and affirmation. Proclamation is probably best described as traditional evangelism and most people are familiar with it. This is basically the verbal delivery of the Gospel, and Petersen presents it as biblical, essential, and effective. Affirmation would then be living the Gospel, or perhaps the visible delivery of the Gospel.
He marries these two aspects in the simple statement that the messenger affirms the message. The idea here is that while simply proclaiming the Gospel is useful and required, we are also called as Christians to be a light unto the world. As we live a life that affirms our faith in Christ, our verbal presentation of the Gospel is exponentially strengthened and empowered by our living out the Gospel. In essence, where the world would rightly say, Listen to what I say, not what I do! Mr. Petersen calls the Christian to say, See how what I do rightly reflects what I say!

Once he has firmly presented these two ideas and then brings them together to present the whole, he moves on to provide some practical advice in how to go about bringing this to a reality in the readers life. In doing this, he is quite adamant that methods, that is the way we approach the art of evangelism, are secondary to mindset, that is the way we think as we approach the art of evangelism. After making this point, he proceeds to provide a number of things that we can do as we approach evangelism in an effort to back up our proclamation of the truth with our lives.

This book brings together two other books that Petersen had originally authored, Evangelism as a Lifestyle and Evangelism for our Generation. This book was created at the behest of the Christian Businessmen's Committee (CBMC) so that they could use it as the basis for a video seminar. NavPress published the book in 1989 and it has sense been used by a multitude of organizations in order to equip people for evangelism. The truths stated in this book are no less true today than they were when the book was first published.

Personal Evaluation
Perhaps I am not seeing it rightly, and I' certain that if I split hairs low enough I could relate some part of this book as being personally helpful, and thus I could tell you how I intend to use that knowledge in my life. But quite frankly I am not aware of anything that stands out as having changed or even really challenged me.

I believe that Mr. Petersen is one hundred percent correct in his presentation of how to go about the business of evangelism. I think that he did an excellent job in arranging the material and providing it in a solid, logical progression of thesis. Additionally, I would contend that it is much needed in the church today, and I am thankful that there is a resource like this available to point people towards.

Yet, after saying all of that, I didn't find within it a significant thought that I do not feel I already had. I found the reading somewhat mundane, and on a number of levels I felt as though Petersen was stating truths so simple that any Christian would already be aware of them. Additionally, I found his style of writing somewhat dry and clinical. I never really got hooked into reading the book, and it was a matter of discipline that kept me at it.

I would suppose, that after committing my thoughts on this to writing I would deduce that the most significant thing that I did learn was the fact that there are people who do not see things in the same light and need to have it presented to them in such a way as it makes an impact on their understanding in regards to how they go about the task of evangelism.

Additionally, I would add that as a book that encourages one to see past the methods of evangelism and get to the heart of living the Gospel, I would suggest that the book could use more life! It seemed to me quite humdrum where I would expect more excitement. I mean, this is a book about living for God, and if that isn't exciting I don't know what is.

He did quite well to back up a number of his observations with relating experiences that he had in presenting the Gospel, yet after the first two or three they all seemed to be nothing more than a carbon copy of the first; and as anyone who has worked with multiple carbon copies knows, the closer you get to the back of the work the less impression is left.

I think that more experiences with varying locales would be a great addition to the book. Additionally, a few more experiences that might be viewed as failures but that had significant lessons to be learned within them might even be more appropriate. I am not sure what else might be added, but it seemed to me that a little more spice without removing the meat would go a long way.

Summary
Now, having said all of that from a personal perspective, I would certainly recommend this book to a number of people. Any Christian that is struggling with personal evangelism and attempting to search out how to go about it would do well to read this book, study its principles, and put them into practice.

Since this book aptly puts into writing my own personal opinions in regards to how personal evangelism should take place, I would certainly encourage any and all to read it and accept its principles. Additionally, it is the only book I am aware of that succinctly presents the arguments for this type of evangelism and so I have no other options to present. I will continue to look for what I might consider a more engaging book, as I doubt that people will read a book that they do not find engaging about a topic that they are not comfortable with.