Nathaniel -- who may or may not be the same person as Bartholomew (one of the twelve) -- appears only in John's gospel. We learn he lives in the small town of Cana. This is significant, for it means he is automatically caught up in the petty rivalry that abounded among the small villages of Galilee. Nazareth was one of those nearby villages. "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?", he sneers when hearing reports that the Messiah grew up there.

My roots are in Dover, Ohio, a small town. So I know both the fun and the futility of these small-town rivalries. Our next-door rival was New Philadelphia (New Philly, for short). To this day I believe anyone who goes to New Philly High looks uglier and has a lower IQ than anyone from Dover High! When Nathaniel from Cana scoffs at Jesus from Nazareth, I can almost understand what's going on.

So there's a problem here. Nathaniel's natural disdain for Nazareth makes him an unlikely candidate for conversion to Jesus. Here is a difficult case of evangelism -- a next-to-impossible challenge. Yet the challenge is met. Nathaniel is won. He's still in the picture at the end of John's gospel. And we ask, "How on earth did anybody win Nathaniel to Christ?"

Let's look at the remarkable series of events that led to Nathaniel's conversion. I call it Fig Tree Evangelism. You'll figure out why in a moment.

The drama begins with John the Baptist, who was a wild-eyed, rough-hewn apocalyptic prophet intent on baptizing Jews in the Jordan River, out in the wilderness. When John sees Jesus, he declares Him to be the "Lamb of God," the Spirit-filled "Son of God." And straightway John's disciples begin to defect to Jesus, apparently with John's permission.

Two of John's disciples start following Jesus around and Jesus asks them what they are doing. They don't answer, but instead invite themselves to stay overnight with Jesus. They want to check out this guy from Nazareth, for they, too, are from another nearby rival village called Bethsaida. But by the end of the next day, one of the two -- Andrew -- is already announcing that Jesus is the Messiah, the longed-for Savior of Israel. If you're keeping score, note that Andrew emerges as the first believer -- unless you count, somehow, John the Baptist.

What does Andrew do with this stunning discovery? Sit on his hands? Deliberate? Go off somewhere to pray? No! The very first thing he does is run right off to grab his brother Simon. As it says in the text, "He brought him to Jesus." That's evangelism first-century style. That's evangelism now. Action-filled. Direct. It's going to people, where they are. It's bringing people to Jesus, where He is.

One of the most remarkable persons I know is an eighty-year-old man named Tubby who works with the athletic staff of a small college in Pennsylvania. Having graduated from the college in the 1930's, Tubby maintained a relationship with his alma mater all through the years. He loves athletics and, even more so, athletes. But above all, he loves the Lord.