McKay Coppins: Tell me how to do missionary work

As a kid, one of my favorite prayerful requests was, "Please bless the missionaries that they will do good work."I repeated that vague petition in pretty much every one of my personal and family prayers, and, though well-intentioned, I realize now that it was completely misguided. "Missionaries are full-time teachers; you and I are full-time finders," Elder Bednar said in the April 2008 general conference. "And you and I as lifelong missionaries should not be praying for the full-time missionaries to do our work."Every authority on the church's missionary program (up to and including the First Presidency) has said that the burden of spreading the gospel lies primarily on the shoulders of regular members. The only way we will start seeing the kind of success God expects from us, they say, is by referring our friends and family members to the missionaries.This is nothing new. We know this. And yet, members around the world continue to pray that the missionaries will find those seeking the truth. We know we're supposed to be doing our part, but most of us don't even know where to begin. Instead of inviting friends to church, we invite the elders over for dinner so we can say we've done our missionary work for the month.But as Elder Quentin L. Cook so aptly reminded us, "missionary work is not just one of the 88 keys on a piano that is occasionally played; it is a major chord in a compelling melody that needs to be played continuously throughout our lives if we are to remain in harmony with our commitment to Christianity and the gospel of Jesus Christ."Those of us who have served missions used to revel in quotes like the ones I've included here. Every time a general authority would call members to repentance and remind them of their responsibility to preach the gospel, we would exchange high-fives and say, "NOW the members will start helping us!"Of course, once we get home, it's a different story.I know that I left the mission with a somewhat self-righteous vision of baptizing all my friends and being the best member missionary in the world. Now, almost a year later, I am embarrassed to say that missionary work has taken a back seat to a whole lot of other things that are certainly urgent, but probably not as important.I make no excuses for my poorly placed priorities, but I'm ready to repent. And I need your help.In a few weeks, I plan on writing another article on this subject, and I'd like to include your input. What are the best ways to break a bad habit of avoiding missionary work? What are some specific approaches to bringing up the gospel with my nonmember friends? How can I get over my fear of awkwardness or rejection?Send me an e-mail and you'll probably see your response in my next article on this subject.I have no doubt that the missionaries will "do good work." It's the members I'm worried about.