BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Now, the final part in our series on America's Evangelicals. Today, "Evangelicals and Evangelism." Despite their many differences, evangelicals share a common commitment to spread their faith. In our national survey, conducted with U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, 73 percent of all evangelicals told us they have tried to convince someone to accept Jesus. Tens of thousands do that through traditional career missionary efforts overseas, but the vast majority of evangelicals say they do it in their everyday lives. Kim Lawton has our report.

KIM LAWTON: Just over the border from Brownsville, Texas, steady Gulf winds blow across Matamoros, Mexico. In this "colonia" or neighborhood, there's no running water or electricity, and few have jobs. Mexican Protestants have established a tiny church here: Mision Peniel. A team of evangelicals from Crossroads Community Church in Greenville, South Carolina, has come to help support Mision Peniel and bring in new members. They're on what's known as a short-term missions trip -- this one only five days long.

In Greenville, Jim Frady designs tires for Michelin. Here, he sees himself as an ambassador for Jesus.

JIM FRADY (Volunteer, Adventure in Missions): I think that God calls us in his word to be his hands and his feet. I feel honored to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ and just serving these people. I'm just going to be Christ as best as I can represent him.

LAWTON: Rather than making a career missionary commitment, more and more evangelicals are going on short-term trips, from a few days up to a year. This team is working on a variety of projects in the colonia, but they are all motivated by a desire to spread their faith in Jesus. They believe accepting Christ is the only way to salvation.

SHAWN LABELLE (Volunteer, Adventures in Missions): If we really believe that there is a literal heaven and a literal hell, then we believe that we need to at least share that with people and give them the option to know clearly.

LAWTON: In the New Testament Book of Matthew, Jesus tells his followers to go into every nation making disciples and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christians call it the Great Commission. And evangelicals take that very seriously.

The word "evangelical" comes from the Greek word for "gospel" or "good news." Evangelicals believe the central message of the gospel is that Jesus came to save people from their sins. In our survey, an overwhelming 84 percent of America's evangelicals said they believe the only hope for salvation is through a personal faith in Jesus Christ, and they want everyone to accept that salvation for themselves.

LUIS PALAU (Evangelist): We should be very happy and we should want everyone to hear it and to accept it, because it's beautiful, marvelous, life-changing, direction-changing, life-enhancing -- it's the best news in the world. So that's why evangelicals feel compelled to pass it on.

LAWTON: Today, evangelicals are passing their message on through a vast missionary effort both overseas and at home. Evangelism has become a many-faceted, multibillion-dollar enterprise that uses technology and innovation to reach as many people as possible. Three quarters of America's evangelicals say they've given time or money to help spread the gospel either in the U.S. or overseas. And 63 percent say they talk to others about their belief in Jesus at least once a week.

But it's an enterprise that is also increasingly controversial in a pluralistic world.

Randall Balmer teaches religious history at Columbia University's Barnard College and has written widely about evangelicals.

Dr. RANDALL BALMER (Professor, Barnard College, Columbia University): We're living in a multicultural, religiously pluralistic context, and I think we all have to figure out how to operate within that context. What is right, what is the appropriate form of discourse with someone else? How can I disagree with someone without being disagreeable myself?

LAWTON: For example, is it appropriate to evangelize people who are already baptized Catholics?

Dr. ROSANN CATALANO (Roman Catholic Scholar, Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies): You know, people are free to do as they want, but if the reason for their outreach to other Christians has to do with the fact that they see Christianity in binary terms -- either you're an evangelical Christian or you're not really a Christian -- I would find that offensive.

LAWTON: RosAnn Catalano is a Roman Catholic scholar with the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies in Baltimore. She works with people of other faiths and disputes the core evangelical teaching that Jesus is the only way to salvation.

Dr. CATALANO: God speaks to people across our world and across time in a variety of ways, and it seems to me an enormous act of hubris on my part, or pride on my part, to say, "I know the mind of God, and God wants us to come to God only through the path that Jesus provides."

LAWTON: But the evangelicals on this team are unapologetic in their belief.

Mr. FRADY: The Scripture says, "There's only one way to come to the Father." It's what I believe to be the truth. And so, all I can do is try to express that and tell people that. I don't want to force it down them. I want them to choose, just like I did. I chose.

LAWTON: They say what's important is accepting Jesus as one's personal savior, not church affiliation.

Mr. LABELLE: I think that you can be Catholic and not have a relationship with God. You can be focused more on the hoops to jump through, if you will. I think you can be Baptist or you can be nondenominational and not have a relationship with God.

LAWTON: Professor Balmer says evangelicals have a long history of adjusting their methods to fit the times.

Dr. BALMER: Evangelism's always changing, and I think that's the genius of evangelicalism throughout American history, is the way in which evangelicals have adapted to the cultural idiom.

LAWTON: In the 18th century, popular evangelist George Whitefield and his dynamic preaching led America to what was called the Great Awakening. In the 19th century, circuit-riding ministers took the message across the country with western settlers. In the 20th century, preachers such as Billy Sunday and later Billy Graham led mass urban revivals, and many evangelists turned to radio and TV. Now, it's the Internet.

Bishop T. D. JAKES (The Potter's House): We didn't change our message to fit the continuity of technology, but we continued our message through that medium. And it's exciting to see a whole new genre, a whole new market of people we can reach through this medium.

LAWTON: One of America's most prominent evangelists, Luis Palau, has adapted his own ministry to better fit contemporary society. The Argentine-born preacher once translated at Billy Graham crusades and then began holding his own crusades. Now he's changing his format.

Mr. PALAU: We've switched from the method that worked during World War II and after World War II, you know, the concept of the campaign, or as Dr. Billy Graham used to call it, a crusade. It was acceptable in those days. We now have what we call festivals. We try to understand the culture.

LAWTON: In spring break 2003, some 200,000 people showed up for Palau's evangelistic beach festival in Fort Lauderdale. There was lots of contemporary music and dancing -- and in the midst of it all, a gospel message.

Mr. PALAU (Preaching at Beachfest): Jesus says to you tonight, "Man, let me come into your heart." And he wants to do it right now. Right now, right now.

LAWTON: Palau's ministry has teamed with actor Stephen Baldwin to produce an evangelistic DVD called LIVIN' IT, which features skateboarding and extreme biking.