HARRISON, Ark. (BP) — Patricia Zimmerman, a 71-year-old widow in Arkansas, has led nearly 300 strangers to Christ. But the retired registered nurse and substitute teacher never had to leave her home in the heart of the Ozarks to do so.

Zimmerman is among 3,900 “telephone encouragers” for the North American Mission Board’s Evangelism Response Center (ERC) who answer phones and share the gospel from the convenience of their homes.

Using the ERC’s high-tech “virtual” telephone network, volunteers remotely answer calls to (888) Jesus2008 (toll-free) 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The ERC also has “Internet encouragers” who use computers to share the gospel with users who link to the ERC website, www.thegoodnews.org.

While Zimmerman sets her schedule to take calls on Tuesday and Sunday evenings, she actually “logs on” whenever she has a chance, much more frequently than the ERC’s monthly minimum of two and a half hours. It doesn’t take a computer to log on, just a touch-tone phone.

Modest by nature, she doesn’t keep up with the number of souls she’s helped lead to Christ.

“My biggest job is to reach people for Jesus,” she says. “The people who call are like ripe fruit. Others have usually witnessed to them and prepared their hearts. All I have to do is pick the fruit.”

Zimmerman, who has answered ERC calls for eight years, has a sense of urgency about non-Christians.

“I’m adamant about reaching people for Jesus because I know heaven and hell are real.”

For leading 300 people to Christ during her ERC “career,” Zimmerman, a member of Countyline Baptist Church in Compton, Ark., was named “Telephone Encourager of the Year” for 2007 during the state convention’s evangelism conference.

After completing two hours of training, ERC telephone volunteers like Zimmerman receive a password. When they are ready to answer calls, they simply dial the ERC phone number, input a PIN (personal identification number) and their password, and type in the phone number where they can be reached. The ERC system then automatically forwards calls to that number. Calls are handled in either English or Spanish.

N.S.R.K. Ravi, ERC coordinator at NAMB’s Alpharetta headquarters, said the center exists to advance the intentional presentation of the gospel.

“We respond and pray with persons who contact us through various media, and refer them to local Southern Baptist Convention churches where they can obtain further ministry and spiritual growth opportunities,” Ravi said.

The ERC fielded some 75,000 calls during 2006-07, an average of 3,100 per month. More than 2,200 callers made first-time salvation decisions over the two-year period, Ravi reported.

Ravi said the ERC is looking for relationships with 6,000-8,000 SBC “covenant” churches nationwide – four or five in each local association – who commit to follow up on callers in their areas within three days.

“About one in four people calling the ERC makes some kind of decision – a commitment to ministry, to volunteer or a decision for Christ,” Ravi said.

Telephone encouragers such as Zimmerman are carefully trained and certified by one of 43 regional facilitators or NAMB staff on how to field calls and share the gospel. They can choose the time they want to handle calls – evenings, late nights or weekends – based on their schedules.

Zimmerman, who has fielded calls from all 50 states and Canada, has shared her faith over the phone with Jews and Muslims, along with truckers on America’s highways who saw the toll-free number on a billboard. She’s even shared with those who couldn’t read.

“You have to feel your way through each call, and each call is different. Bottom line, you make them realize they’re sinners [and] need a Savior ....”