What is "the Gospel"?

So why did Jesus come?

Was it to save souls, or save lives?

John 10:10 - He came to bring life.

1 John 3:8 - He came to destroy the work of the evil one.

Sinner's Prayer

Deriving somewhat from a "fire escape" or "insurance policy" mentality. It is often presented to people as the minimum that needs to be done to guarantee their place in heaven. It leads to us thinking in terms of "saving souls" and forgetting they need to live redeemed lives after that point. The "sinner's prayer" is a great starting point / checklist, to be applied more specifically by people.

Am I a sinner? What do I need to repent of? Is restitution needed? Where does baptism fit into the picture? Do I need to specifically confess certain sins?

A walk

Salvation is a walk along the "narrow way", not an event. It has a definite starting point (past tense), we work our salvation with fear and trembling (present continuous tense) and look forward to the return of Jesus, when we'll be perfected and our salvation completed (future tense). Repentance begins when we come to faith but should increase as our walk with God draws us closer to Him and reveals more of ourselves. In theory, there should be more repentance after conversion than in the process of conversion!

It's one thing to walk through the narrow gate. Its quite another to continue walking once there.