Tim Innes has been involved in evangelism for over twenty years. He’s worked for Billy Graham, Miles McPherson, Luis Palau, and now he is the International Vice-President of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingrim. He is a master at building relationships with people. Today you will hear his story of how God has used him to build the kingdom of God. 

Website: https://livingontheedge.org/about/ 

Key Thoughts:

Ministry does not happen without relationships. 

We do ministry with the people that we love and we trust. It is the same thing when you go global. 

Kingdom is spelled WE. We have to work with others to build the kingdom of God. 

Listen to The Evangelism Coach Daniel King on The Evangelism Podcast

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Tim Innes has been involved in evangelism for over 20 years. He’s worked for Billy Graham, Myles MacPherson, Louis Palau, and now he’s the international vice president of living on the edge with chip Ingram. He is a master at building relationships with people today. You’ll hear his story of how God has used him to build the kingdom of God. Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionary, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I am excited about telling people about Jesus and about coaching evangelists. I have a special guest with me today, brother, Tim Ines. It is so wonderful to have you on the podcast. Thank you for joining me.

Tim Innes (01:19):
Thanks Daniel. It’s great to be with you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:22):
So mr. Tim, I originally met you when you were working with the Louis Palau Association and it was really wonderful getting to know you and, and your heart for evangelism. And I know you have a great heart for telling people about Jesus. Could you just tell us a little bit about your story and how you got saved and then how you got to where you are today?

Tim Innes (01:52):
Thank you, Daniel. It’s wonderful to be with you. And I I have a story that begins and Glasgow, Scotland. I grew up in Scotland for the first 20 years of my journey actually was raised in a Christian home. My, my father was an evangelist and so I, I grew up around the church and around the, the story of the gospel. And it was actually a young age. I was a young boy as a teenager went along to hear an evangelist from Argentina called Luis Palau. And I I went forward at Lewis Palau crusade responded to the good news. And then a couple of years later, another well-known evangelist, Billy Graham came to the United Kingdom. And my my dad took my brother and I along to hear Dr. Billy Graham and ended up volunteering with the ministry for a few weeks in London got exposed to some great relationships and, and God just began to bring forward the, the work of evangelism and the gift of the evangelist in my own journey where I just fell in love with sharing the gospel and seeing lives transformed and changed. And, and I never dreamt when I was starting out that one day, I would have the opportunity to travel the world and, and to support the gift of the evangelist, but that’s that’s really what I ended up doing for the last 24 years.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:37):
So over the last 24 years, you’ve worked with a variety of different ministries. Could you tell me about some of the people you’ve worked for?

Tim Innes (03:46):
Absolutely. I I’ve worked actually now for three evangelists. I worked with the Billy Graham team for a decade. I also worked with Myles McPherson. Who’s the pastor of the rock church of San Diego and supported his work in different places around the world. And then for the last nine years with the Louis Palau Association and, and my role in all three of those areas was primarily supporting the work of crusades and festival evangelism. And so I, I was very much as a crusade director, like a John, the Baptist going in ahead of the time to unite the churches, to work with the pastors and to, to bring the body of Christ together around preparing for a festival.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:44):
The, the work that a crusade director does is so important to doing evangelism and often it is behind the scenes work because people always see the picture of the evangelist on the platform ministering to the crowds of people, but really it is the blood, sweat, and tears of the crusade director often that has worked very hard along with a team of other people in order to, to organize everything. Tell us some of what you’ve learned over the years about organizing evangelistic events.

Tim Innes (05:21):
Wow, well I it’s every, every city, every place is a unique from a standpoint of the leaders and the people, the culture of the communities and the cities, you know, of course you go to somewhere in Africa and then somewhere in Asia, and there are going to be cultural distinctives and relational elements that are different in those places. But the principles involved in uniting leaders, relationally, and bringing leaders together and then inspiring them with a big vision, you know, for their city and encouraging them to believe God for miracles in their space is it’s just been a real joy and a privilege to, to do that. And you’re right. It, you know, the people see the big crowds and they see the pictures of you know, you were just in Tanzania recently and had a massive crowd of people there.

Tim Innes (06:32):
But for months ahead of time, there was a team preparing the way for that to happen. And oftentimes, you know, I would be the first, first person, two, three, four years in advance of when that event would take place landing in a city where I don’t know anyone getting to know the key leaders in that city. And then over time building a a framework and a, and a team that would eventually mobilize the churches and, and bring people forward towards sharing the good news. And, and ultimately you’re, you’re mobilizing the army of God’s people in that city. So you’re, you’re, you’re actively bringing key relationships of influencers and gatekeepers together so that they can exist and operate together in a way that brings, brings the body of Christ together.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:36):
Tim, one of the things I’ve really been impressed about knowing you is you, you place a very high value on relationships, and it seems like everywhere you go, you are working to build relationships and to maintain relationships. Can you talk a little bit about the importance of relationships in building the kingdom of God

Tim Innes (08:02):
Ministry doesn’t happen without relationships. It’s as simple as that. And you know whenever we’re doing ministry, we tend to do ministry with the people that we love and that we trust and, and, and we have friendship with, and that’s no different when you go global. You know, you’re, you’re connecting with leaders, you’re ultimately engaging with leaders. If they don’t have a relationship with you and they don’t trust you there’s going to be more of a hesitation around stepping in together because they just don’t know you, they may be wonderful, but, you know, if you, if they don’t have a relationship with you, then, you know, the there, there could be a hesitancy. And so what I’ve really sought to do in my own, in my own journey, and as I’ve kind of pushed forward is to really pursue at a high level you know connecting building relationships, but always thinking kingdom. So kingdom is, is not spelled kingdom. It’s spelled “W-E” we do it together. It’s a collaboration. And so kingdom is spelt, “W-E”

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:20):
That’s great kingdom is spelt “WE” W-E that’s true. We’re all in this together. And we’re all are all servants of the King of Kings. And tell me what you’re doing now, you’re, you’re now working with a chip Ingram living on the edge, and that’s a little bit of a change from what you’ve done before. Tell, tell us what, what you’re doing now and, and what you’re doing to build the kingdom with a chipping grim,

Tim Innes (09:52):
Thank you, Daniel. Well, I’m, I’m now serving as the vice president for international ministry with living on the edge with pastor chipping grim and living on the edge is a international discipleship ministry where chip is a loved pastor here in the U S has pastored for 38 years, big churches, small churches on radio stations around the country has written a number of books. And the, the heartbeat of the ministry is to help Christians to live like Christians, and to really look at the, the whole counsel of God and the, the mandate that each of us carry as believers, you know, to be salt and light in the dark world that we exist in. And so as I’ve stepped in with pastor chip our, our, our dream is to, to really help the body of Christ around the world to provide resources to the body of Christ around the world, and to be very intentional around helping cities and churches and leaders and nations to be, to be blessed as they you know, as they navigate. And they, they move forward for God.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:16):
Evangelists usually are excited about leading people to Jesus going out and converting the lost. And then it seems like pastors are often very concerned about discipleship and, and following up on the new believers. Can you talk to me about the importance of, of having an evangelistic heart, but then also looking for ways to disciple the people that, that come to Jesus?

Tim Innes (11:44):
Yeah, well for 24 years, and, and really the issue has existed for much, much longer than that. Daniel, I think it’s been around as long as there has been an evangelist, to be honest with you the question of follow up the question of discipleship, what happens to those 13,000 people that just came to Jesus in Tanzania with you and, and how do they, how did they get plugged in? And, and every evangelistic ministry has an answer for that. And normally the answer revolves around, we’ve got a mechanism. We, we, we do a handoff as the evangelists to the local church and to the pastors and, and we work hard to make sure that handoff is as seamless as possible. And, and we give them a gospel of John and we, we get them into a small Bible study to begin with, but that’s normally about as far as the process goes from the side of the evangelist, because the evangelist is now on to the next city and onto the next place.

Tim Innes (12:51):
And and so, you know, one of the areas that we’re praying into and dreaming about with living on the edge is how could we come behind that type of an effort where, you know, we would stand with the churches for a couple of years beyond, you know, beyond the big event and you know, be able to encourage those new believers and really get them plugged in so that they are they’re, they’re, they’re not just you know, getting caught. So this week by the fishermen and, and, and then slipping out the nets, you know, but they’re getting caught. And then they’re getting, you know, connected into the body in a very meaningful way where they’re growing and learning and coming along in their faith journey.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:43):
That’s awesome. Well, I’ve got one final question for you. What advice would you give to someone who feels a calling to be an evangelist, or to be involved in evangelism? You have a lifetime of experience in, in helping evangelists. What advice would you give to someone who, who has that, that sense of calling on their life,

Tim Innes (14:09):
Pursue it, do it, you know, that Nike that Nike tagline just do it. And you know, God gives an anointing and a, a grace to each one of us in different parts of our gifts and how God has gifted us. And if God has given you a gift to be an evangelist, then it’s going to be obvious to you. People, people are going to be coming to Christ around you, and you’re going to be seeing the fruit of your conversations. You’re going to be seeing the fruit of your burden and a lean into that. And if, if, if you’re getting just getting started and you’re seeing happen and look for, look for ways to cultivate that gift and, and relationships that can keep you accountable and help you on that journey and, and find other evangelists and other leaders that have gone down that road before you, and learn from them, you know, get as much wisdom as you can, but the bottom line is just do it.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:16):
Amen. Just do it well, thank you, Mr. Tim, for being on the podcast. It’s an honor to have you on, and it’s an honor to know you.

Tim Innes (15:28):
God bless you, Daniel. It’s a joy to be with you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:31):
Thank you goodbye. For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches, visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

On university campuses across America, there are thousands of students between the ages of 18-25 who need Jesus. What is the best way to reach them? Today we talk to Dr. Leo Lawson who uses apologetics to evangelize on the American campus. 

Websites Mentioned:

https://www.acea-schools.org 

http://www.thinkevangelism.org

https://www.campusevangelists.com/tools

About Dr. Leo Lawson: 

Dr. E. Leo Lawson, Jr., D.I.S. (Fuller) is a certified Missional Consultant to churches and ministries desiring to reach students. He is President of The Alliance of Campus Evangelists in America (ACEA) meeting one day, once-a-year sharing best Spirit-led practices to reach students for Christ. ACEA is a ministry of ICECAP: The Institute of Campus Evangelism, Church-planting, Apologetics and Prayer (ICECAP.info) equips campus missionaries and apologists to plant campus ministries and churches on college campuses and/or college campus communities. ICECAP Director, Dr. E. Leo Lawson, Jr., D.I.S. (Fuller), is a certified professor for the U.S. Center for World Missions course: Perspectives in the World Christian Movement, a course which he has conducted, taught and/or hosted over the decades. Dr. Lawson is adjunct faculty at Grace College of Divinity (NC) where he serves as a MDiv Professor of World Religions and Intercultural Studies as well as Cross-Cultural Apologetics. Through ICECAP he also teaches a series, “Tread on to Maturity,” talks based on the foundational doctrines of Hebrews 6:1-3 (See Dr. Leo Lawson’s YouTube Channel). He also equips campus Evangelists in apologetics using the God Test training in issues on evolution, evil, and evidence for God’s existence and Christ’s deity.

To receive a copy of Dr. Leo’s dissertation e-mail: leolawson@gmail.com 

Listen to Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach, on The Evangelism Podcast

Transcription: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
On university campuses across America. There are thousands of students between the ages of 18 and 25 who need Jesus. What is the best way to reach them today? We talked to dr. Leo Lawson who uses apologetics to evangelize on the American campus. Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King we’re Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies, and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. Today. We have a special guest, Dr. Leo Lawson. He is a campus evangelist and apologist, Dr. Leo, Thank you so much for being on the show with me today,

Dr. Leo Lawson (01:16):
Honor, to be here. Thank you so much, Daniel.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:19):
Your organization is called the Alliance of campus evangelists in America. Can you tell me a little bit about what you do?

Dr. Leo Lawson (01:27):
Yes, sir. We provide resources and opportunities for evangelists, campus evangelists on college campus and high school campuses to interact with the apologist and so that the apologists become more evangelists and the evangelists become more equipped apologetically.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:46):
Now tell me a little bit about why that’s important. Why, why is it important for evangelists to use apologetics and why do apologists need to think of Angela Stickley?

Dr. Leo Lawson (01:59):
Well I think that it’s not just campus evangelists that need to be trained like, but really all Christians need to be trained in apologetics, particularly in this age of skepticism and we’re postmodernism has infiltrated the church and our culture and we’re people don’t believe there’s any absolute truth and that every merit that a narrative needs to be questioned. So we have to have an answer for that. All of us are called to do the work of an evangelist. And when Jesus gave the great commission, it wasn’t to a few, it was to all. And so, yeah, no matter what your calling is, whether it’s marketplace or church place, you need to have an answer for the hope that’s within you is first Peter three 15 says, and you need to be able to give that answer with gentleness and respecting the other person that you need to be clear on your apologetic.

Dr. Leo Lawson (02:52):
Paul told Timothy who was clearly the Epistolic overseer that Paul delegated to oversee the church in Jerusalem are the church in Antioch. And as a result, Paul tells Timothy at the end of his life at the second page, second Timothy chapter four, verse five, he says, Timothy, do the work of an evangelist. Well, Timothy was an apostle, according to first Thessalonians two six, but though he was an apostle Paul’s telling him to do the work of an evangelist and thus fulfill his ministry. So no matter what your ministry is, marketplace or church place, we’re all called to do evangelism. And if we’re going to do evangelism at an age of postmodernism and this church and the church, we have to be equipped apologetically in order to be able to reach,uthe 18 to 30 year olds that are making their final decisions for against Christ.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
Why is it important to be speaking to college aged students?

Dr. Leo Lawson (03:54):
So we know statistically that a 19 out of 20 people who get saved in the U S 95% make their final decision for against Christ before age 25. Now around the world, it’s 90% but in the us by age 25, that 25 year old gets on a train that leaves out into a priceless fraternity and only five people, only 5% ever jump off of that train before it drops off in the abyss. So reaching college students where they get it themselves force and the three to five mile radius and and 60% of the 18 to 25 year olds would take a freshman course on some campus online. We have the opportunity to be able to reach them in person on the campus digitally to do digital evangelism. And we have to be able to answer the questions that they’re asking. The Abraham Lincoln said, the philosophy on the campus in one generation will be the philosophy of government and the next. So my children, grandchildren, your children, grandchildren, the government will be set on the college campuses as we’re seeing right now,

Speaker 3 (05:07):
Dr. Leo, what are some of the trends and beliefs and attitudes that you’re seeing on college campuses in America right now?

Dr. Leo Lawson (05:20):
Well the meta-narrative that has been offered through modernism through the church they absolutism there’s a reaction against that. There’s a retaliation or rebellion postmoderns, believe that you can dialogue your way to the truth. There is no one truth to be had. We actually create the truth. And so I wrote my dissertation,udr. Rice Brooks, and I went to fuller seminary and got our doctorates together, graduated in 2010. And I wrote my dissertation on,uplanting churches on college campuses to reach postmoderns. And so I did a lot of study into the different kinds of postmodernism and ask that question,ustudents that reject a meta-narrative, how do we actually present the truth of the scriptures, the truth of Christ, the truth of the gospel. How do we present that in a dialogical way? Uhow do we,uget the Holy spirit involved with my conversation with them?

Dr. Leo Lawson (06:21):
And so I grew up as a modernist Mo most people my age would have, however, because I studied postmodernism, I’ve learned how to be bicultural. And so many people that want to reach the 18 to 25 year olds, 18 to 30 year olds, the 1330 window, as some people call it, they’re going to need to be equipped apologetically to be able to do apologetics for the post-modern. So the Alliance of campus evangelists and apologists in America we basically meet one time once a year,uwithout COVID,uone time, once a year and every month we have a conference that we attend together called think evangelism.org, dr. Rice Brooks does that conference. And, ho we’re online once a week, once a month on the zoom. And then we’re trying to meet once a year face-to-face to share the best spirit born practices for reaching college students and high school students, and the best resources in order to be equipped apologetically, to address the issues of postmodernism in high school and colleges.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
And you’re talking about modern thought, and then post-modern thinking, could you explain to our listeners, what are some of those differences between the two different ways of thinking the, the modern thinking and, and postmodern thinking?

Dr. Leo Lawson (07:48):
It’s a pretty big question for such a short time to talk. I have written my written, my dissertation on that. And I listed on one page, the contrast between modernism and postmodernism, dr. Stephen Mansfield looked it over and said, this is the most complete lists that I’ve ever seen. If you’re interested, I’d be glad to send you, but digitally my, my doctoral dissertation,uyou can email the ad leoLawson@gmail.com. And I’ll send that over to you. You can also,uconnect with the Alliance of campus evangelists and apologists by going to campus evangelists.org with an S campus of angeles.org. And,uI’ll be glad to communicate with you in that vein.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
Thank you so much for your generosity with, with sharing that with people. And can you just share a few of the highlights of what the differences between modernism and postmodernism?

Dr. Leo Lawson (08:45):
Well, modernism was basically started some people would trace it back to Decart in 1650 who believed that if you went down underneath each person’s presupposition across the globe, that you would find a common foundation. And so that would be common foundationalism and of course, a lot of scientific method and a lot that emerged from the sciences emerged from foundationalism postmodernism says, no, you’re going to find differences. It focuses on the differences in culture. And there’s no one worldview. There’s no one, meta-narrative no one story that applies to everyone. Um,,nada hired Lael card to, u,fine, to define, u,stmodernism for them. He said it’s, u,credulity, u,ainst meta narrative. And so basically people throw off any meta-narrative of the Bible from Genesis to revelation is a better narrative. It’s a story that applies to all from our vantage point, but not from the postmoderns.

Dr. Leo Lawson (09:53):
In each point, they basically create their own story, their own truth, as they dialogue in their various communities. And they don’t have demonically force their worldview or their story on the next community, every community arrives at their own their own truth. And that’s where we get the what’s called multiculturalism. It started on at Stanford university back in the sixties. So that results in a lot of ethnicity and F F ethnic, hdolatry. Uhe want to call it racism, but I don’t know that that’s a biblical approach, but there’s definitely, hthnicity that is worshiped. And of course that’s been at the root of, of sin ever since Adam fell, heing centered on yourself or on your own culture. So that’s about the briefest that I can say it, ho be able to contrast the two. So the question is, can we plant churches in a postmodern way on college campuses?

Dr. Leo Lawson (10:57):
And that’s what I wrote my dissertation on. I started a graduate school of campus ministry as an extension of fuller seminary. We trained 600 students in seven years. And in that school came J’onn ducks Chan asked me to take Jason Mol into my school, and I trained him and discipled him and sent him to UCLA. He started a movement on the campus that became a church, and he planted eight congregations on the campus in parallel with Chan’s church. So I wrote my dissertation on how a micro church can be planted in a postmodern way in parallel with a modernistic church that J’onn ran. And so that’s what my dissertation is on when I presented it to J’onn he said, well, go do it again. And then he and Peter Wagner laid hands on me, and we went to USC to plant a church in parallel with Sharon’s church for a season this time. And that was the third church that I planted. My first one was in Michigan state where I was the young single men’s with Angeles, met the young single women’s evangelists. We married was there for 12 years, planted another church, university of Houston, and then planted the London university of Southern California in the process of planting again.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
That’s absolutely amazing. Dr. Leah, let’s go back to the beginning of the story. How did you become a believer?

Dr. Leo Lawson (12:22):
Well, my mom was Catholic. My dad was Baptist. I grew up Catholic. I always knew there was something more than what the Catholics were telling me. And so I ended up my grandfather was a Baptist deacon. He just sent me on his knee, read the Bible to me when I was 14. I started reading Bible for myself. And however, I got distracted when my parents got divorced at 15. And so at 17, I was dating a girl, took me to a Baptist church. We broke up, but I continued to go. And the preacher there was preaching on Jesus every Sunday. And I fell in love with Jesus and who he was. And I remember in December saying, God, if you exist, I used to think that you did, but if you do exist and you convince me of yourself, Olubayi you. And within three weeks, he’d revealed his love to me, who he was, who I was apart from Christ and who I could be in Christ in January 7th, 1973, that preachers preaching on new year’s resolutions.

Dr. Leo Lawson (13:17):
He said, what you need is not a new year’s resolution. What you need is a new year’s rebel. It shouldn’t where the revolutionary person that Jesus comes into your life. And you become a new creation in Christ. Jesus, the old things pass away. And the new things come in. I knew that it had never happened to me when I went through the first communion and confirmation and walking out 14 years old in a Baptist church, I’d never become a new creation, but that day I walked out and he said, so do you want to rededicate your life? I said, no, I want to become a new creation. That was the day I got born. Again, had a wonderful honeymoon with Jesus throughout the next eight months, and then ended up in campus crusade for Christ crude. And my freshman year in college learned Vangelis and started leading people to the Lord, went through the Institute of creation, research, learned apologetics or at the beginning and filling the need for discipleship a year and a half later, I got involved with the navigators during which time not through the navigators, but I got baptized in the Holy spirit, sent into the middle of by Baptist church.

Dr. Leo Lawson (14:16):
I said, Jesus, I believe you’re the baptizer in the Holy spirit. And I’m going to ask you to baptize me and the Holy spirit right here in my Baptist church. And he did, and I spoke in tongues, not loudly or productively, but I ended up speaking in tongues and shaking the hand of the pastor on the way out. And I said, do you know, I got baptized in the Holy spirit today and spoken to as we sit back tonight. So the navigators didn’t know much what to do with me, but that pastors still continue to take me on lay, witness missions trips. And,uI ended up being recommended to be a Southern Baptist chief minister baptized in the Holy spirit and took the little youth group from seven to 70 and 10 weeks. And they asked me to stay. And so I finished my college career,udoing much ministry on the college campus with the UK Christian council, which I was the founder of. And,uthen also driving three hours North to this church and,uto grow this youth group. And then I attended Asbury seminary started there and then planned it my first church at 24 years old at Michigan state university, where I met my Brad.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
That is so tremendous. You know, acts chapter one verse eight says you shall receive power when the Holy spirit comes upon you and you shall be my witnesses. And so it’s the Holy spirit that actually gives us the power, the ability to be effective evangelists. Talk to me about the intersection of apologetics evangelism and the Holy spirit and why the Holy spirit is so essential to the process of evangelism.

Dr. Leo Lawson (15:54):
Well, with apologetics, we speak to the head long enough to get to the heart. And when we get to that heart level in our discussion and dialogue with the person, that’s when we really begin to see the Holy spirit, provide words of knowledge, words of wisdom, gifts of healing to persuade the heart. Jesus said, I’m going to send the Holy spirit and he will give conviction concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. So it’s the Holy spirit that really persuades the heart. We can speak to the mind and lower the hurdles, but it’s really the Holy spirit. That’s going to convert the heart and bring someone to a place of faith. Once the Holy spirit gives conviction and eviction, Hebrews 11, one says faith is the conviction of things. Not saying people can only get saved by spirit born conviction. So we as apologists and evangelists much must work alongside of the Holy spirit and what the Holy spirit is doing in that person’s life.

Dr. Leo Lawson (16:50):
In that moment, we may not get to lead them to the Lord that day, but we may be an average person has seven gospel presentations before they actually get saved. We may be number one, we need to be number seven. We may be number 14. So let’s lead them to the Lord as the Holy spirit brings him to say,uso the Holy spirit has to get involved in the dialogue, whether it’s in a large group and a Bible discussion, or it’s just, one-to-one the Holy spirit is the Weaver of the story. He’s the one who designs in that. Person’s heart. The story that will bring them to faith and that faith will bring them to Christ in righteousness, by faith. I will say one more thing and acts one eight. Jesus tells his disciples, resurrection. Sunday night, he breathes his Holy spirit into them.

Dr. Leo Lawson (17:37):
They get born again and open. He opens their minds to understand everything written about him in the law and the prophets and the songs. And yet here, they have fully engaged with Christ for three and a half, three years and four months. And now they understand everything written about him along the profits and the songs. If there was anybody qualified to go out and preach the gospel. At that point, it would have been these guys on resurrection Sunday night. However, Jesus tells them to wait in Jerusalem until they’re in dude with power from on high. And so G he gives them two, two commands go, but wait. And so there’s a lot of people who want to do the dual evangelism, but, hf we go before the Holy spirit is empowering us to go, we will be our witness. We will represent ourselves. We won’t represent him.

Dr. Leo Lawson (18:27):
He says in acts one eight, you shall receive power to be my witness in Jerusalem, Judea Sumeria. Now, if you’re going to be Jesus witness, you have to have the power they said in acts one eight, you have to be baptized in the Holy spirit. According to acts one four, Jesus says you shall receive what the father promised. You heard from me. Heard it from me. You shall be baptized with the Holy spirit, not many days from now. So Jesus gives two commands. Go do the work of in the band. Just go and make disciples. But wait, you cannot be my witness unless you have my power to represent me to do what I would do. If I was there. The word witness is what is used in a court of law. If I’m your witness in a court of law, I get up on the witness stand and say what you would say if you were there, understand, well, if I’m Christ witness, that means I’m going to say what he would say, do what he would do.

Dr. Leo Lawson (19:19):
You can only do that if you’re empowered by the Holy spirit. So you have the command to go, but you also have the command to wait until you’re a dude with power from on how to be his witness and that power. The Holy spirit gives you the ability to represent Jesus and what he would say and do even unto death, the actual Greek word or witness. The actual Greek word for witness is March Rio, where we get the word martyr. And Jesus says, you shall receive the power of the Holy spirit to do what I would do. Say what I would say, walk the way out of the walk, talk the way I would talk and do it even unto death. And every one of the disciples went through a martyrdom. UJohn was raised from the dead, our bowling, Oh, but Peter was crucified upside down. But he did that because we had the power of the Holy spirit with 3000 people every year, being martyred for their faith for Christian faith here in a minute, here around in the world, we need the power of the Holy spirit to preach what Jesus would preach even unto death.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
So before your field, don’t go after your field, don’t stay, take the power of the Holy spirit to reach people for Jesus. Let’s talk a little bit more about reaching post-modern thinkers with the gospel. So some of the things about postmoderns is that postmoderns value experience over knowledge, they value feelings over facts. So rather than just preaching truth to them, it’s, I think it’s important to include them, to draw them in, to give them an opportunity to experience God in, in, in that sense spirit field Christianity is really effective at giving an experience of, of, of touching God. And then postmoderns also don’t want anyone in authority over them. They don’t trust the authorities. And so I think that instead of drawing lines of separation, in order to reach postmoderns, we have to draw circles of inclusion, to include a place for people to be involved with what God is doing, even if they haven’t fully come to a full knowledge of the truth. What, what, what else would you say to people who are ministering to post-modern?

Dr. Leo Lawson (21:47):
Well, the best apologetic for postmoderns is an encounter with God. So if you’re, if you’re dealing with a post-modern, at some point, you’ve got to get past their mental hurdles in order to be able to get them to encounter God encounter the Holy spirit encounter a revelation of who Jesus is. Jesus says in Matthew 16, Peter flesh and blood didn’t reveal to you that I’m the son of God, but my father did. And every person that becomes a part of jesus’ church has to have a revelation from the father of the son, by the spirit or else. They can’t be a part of Jesus church. So we have to lead people from their head to their heart, to the spirit. They’re a human spirit where the Holy spirit will communicate. Jesus said to the disciples in John 14, he said, the Holy spirit who is with you will be in you.

Dr. Leo Lawson (22:35):
Well for three years, the Holy spirit was with them. That’s how they were doing the miracles and et cetera. For three years, the Holy spirit was with them, revealing to Peter that Jesus was the Christ, the Holy Spirit’s with people. And we need to walk alongside of what the Holy spirit student in a person’s life. So bringing them into an encounter with the Holy spirit, that that will be bringing a revelation to them. And it may be a healing, a word of knowledge, a word of wisdom. You know, the Lord uses those things to reveal who he is. His love has been missed, and to bring those people into an encounter, which will persuade the heart. So it’s, we don’t use apologetics to persuade the heart. We use apologetics to persuade the head. We work alongside of the Holy spirit to persuade the heart.

Dr. Leo Lawson (23:27):
And he’s the one who brings revelation in and encounters with God. So yes, I would say that the most effective apologetic proposed moderates, his encounter with God. Well, I’ll give a, again, my email is Leo Lawson, gmail.com. If someone wants to email me, they, we can follow up. And if they’re interested as evangelists to be involved in the think evangelism conference with dr, or with dr. Rice Brooks,ugo to think of vandalism.org and,udr. Rice Brooks developed,ua dialogical tool to do evangelism with the God test. And if you look you’ll find training to be able to use that much. Like the two question tests a long time. This is 10 questions that you die. Logically enter into a discussion that atheists or you enter into a discussion with an agnostic. And if you enter into a Thea, the discussion with the theist, there are 10 questions on the other side that you engage them on both of them with the goal of leading them to Christ,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:36):
What a tremendous tool. Well, thank you, dr. Leo for being on the program. It’s great to have you on the evangelism podcast for more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches, visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

 

John Smithwick has carried God’s healing power to over 35 nations. He began taking teams on mission trips in 2002. SInce then, over 2,400 short-term missionaries have gone on their trips and witnessed over 2.3 million souls come to Christ through mass crusade evangelism. Today you will hear about his ministry, Global Ventures. 

Show Notes: 

Why are you taking people on mission trips? 

What type of ministry does your team do on the mission field? 

Key Quote: People are falling off the cliffs into the flames of hell.  – Lester Sumrall 

Listen to Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach, on The Evangelism Podcast

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King and I’m super excited about telling people about Jesus today. I have a special guest, John Smithwick from Global Ventures. Thank you so much for being with me,

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (00:16):

Just a delight, Dr. Daniel, such a privilege. So glad to be here.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:19):

You have such a tremendous evangelistic ministry. You’ve been doing evangelism over 20 years. Now, your ministry has gone to 35 different nations. You’ve been taking a lot of people on short-term missions trips. You’ve had over 2,400 short term missionaries that have joined you all over the world. Can you tell me how did it all get started?

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (00:44):

You know what? It got started as a 12 year old boy riding down the road. And my dad put in a tape of a well-known minister and listened. And as I listened, it was dr. Lester Sumrall that shared that vision. He had years previously of seeing the whole world in his day, the beautiful cultures walk the road of life. And at the end of that road was a cliff and all the other side of the cliff was eternity. And unfortunately what he saw is they were falling off that cliff into the flames of hell because they had never heard the gospel. And when I heard that as a young boy, it was like, God just stamped it on my heart, seared it all my spirit, that, that was what he had designed me for, was to go around this globe to the far four corners of the earth and share Jesus with people.

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (01:34):

So then pursuing it ever since started preaching in nursing homes, right after that. And by my senior year of high school in a rural community was invited to be a voluntary youth pastor and did that, and then came on to oral Roberts university probably eight or so years in the making training was what led up to my very first mission trip going in at age 20 to the people’s Republic of China, undercover as a teacher. And as I taught a marketing class to English majors began to witness outside of the class. As students sought me out and was able to lead one young man to Christ little did I know that one young man coming to Christ was like a seed there in such a prolific area of Asia, large largest population nation, definitely at the time. And still, I believe that to this day, the largest in the globe, but the reaping that we’ve seen across Asia since then has, haunched into ministry and, hid crusades in the early days to Peru and then from Peru, hed teams during that time prude time, that first year of ministry led teams with teen mania, kind of a premiere missions, ministry that would take groups and teams predominantly teenagers, but that was all God’s set up for us, heally doing what we’re doing today.

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (02:56):

Not only doing mass evangelism projects, crusades festivals, but the opportunity of getting others involved. And we do that with our large team trip. Operations is exposing others to the opportunity of preaching from streets, markets, Plaza, schools, all the way up to the crusade stage so that we can replicate the impact in the nations.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:19):

So after you started the ministry, you’ve started to keep track of all the people that have been saved. Approximately how many people have you been able to lead to Jesus?

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (03:30):

It’s it is a little over 2.3 million decisions for Christ in these years. And about 43 churches that we’ve been able to plant predominantly and 10/ 40 region areas India, Thailand, those kind of countries in the world. But no, it’s, it’s been a delight to see so many born again.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:52):

One of the stories I love about our relationship is the time that we met in the middle of India. We’re actually both live here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, we’re both evangelists. And so we knew of one another. I always heard about what you were doing and the trips that you were taken and people would tell me, Oh, you have, you met brother Smithwick. And I said, no, I haven’t had a chance. So we were trying to set up a time to get coffee together. And it was a little bit tough to find the right time because you’re busy traveling. I’m busy traveling. I think it was like a year we had been trying to meet. And I was in the middle of India, getting on an airplane, walked into the airport and I saw one white guy there in the middle of everyone. And it was you. And we ended up sitting next to each other. So even though we weren’t able to meet for coffee and Tulsa, God put us together on a plane in the middle of India.

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (04:44):

Absolutely. And we were out there. I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever come through that little airport and all these years and I’ve goodness done probably about 20 or so crusades taken part in about 20 or so evangelistic crusades in India and never gone back through that one little airport that we wound up being,uon the same flight from, I was a golfer.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:08):

One of the really neat things about your ministry is that you are taking young people out to the mission field and introducing them to missions for the first time, giving them the opportunity to preach the gospel and actually participate in, in reaching people for Jesus. Why do you think it’s so important for American Christians to go out on the mission field?

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (05:31):

I believe Daniel, just a state of our younger generation in America dictates if we don’t do missions exposure trips, we’re going to lose a whole generation and not just to world missions. I think that is definitely a goal. Getting them involved and realizing how big the world is, and hopefully down the pathway to doing more with, with world world evangelization. But I think there’s an unfortunate possibility of losing them and their following of Christ. There’s so many distractions today and there’s so much that they’re being inundated with. And there’s so many benefits pleasures of living in one of the most developed nations, one of the most blessed nations on the planet here in the United States of America, Canada. I think if we don’t offer them the opportunity, they’re going to have a very narrow, I’d even say skewed view worldview, and they’re not going to realize how needed they are to a world that’s in such dire state and dire need.

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (06:42):

And so though we take the whole spectrum, we have senior pastors come out, we have pastors bring their lead teams out. It’s amazing. The spectrum everyday common working folks come out on our mission trips, but we design at least one to two of our trips every year as a family trip where all the way down seven, eight years of age can come out with their legal guardian, their parents and experience world missions. And not just world missions because we know not all missions are the same, but true evangelism in all those different facets, because there’s nothing that will change a young person’s heart and further unveil a destiny design that God has on their life and the purpose he has for them. Then going out and winning souls in various parts around the world where people haven’t had the privilege to hear like what we have.

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (07:35):

And so we cherish those moments. We started our own boys, right around six, seven years of age, going on the global ventures, Nicaragua trip and having them out and seeing miracles and leading people and the different parts sections of the gospel that we train our team members and then actually seeing them lead people to Jesus. And they love it. It’s a highlight of their year coming out in the summertimes with us now. And they’re right in there with us and doing it with other team members and just part of our young leadership outlay. But we’ve seen many others. It’s not, well, that’s the evangelist kid. And that’s why they’re so in love with this. No, we see everyday people from all walks of life.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:16):

Well, talk to me about some of the opportunities that people have when they go with you on a missions trip, what type of ministry are they involved in?

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (08:24):

You know, they do everything from humanitarian aid projects where we’re giving water filters to a village in need or school systems that have need of clean water all the way. At times we might have other humanitarian based projects. So they, they get to see some of those natural ways of helping people. But the bulk of everything, we do ties back into sharing Jesus with everyone, anyone, everyone. So they are part of going out in the streets on a team of about six to eight people doing a drama presentation of the gospel of Jesus, just unveiling the story of who he is and the miracles he has done and his death and resurrection. And then we divided up into sections where it’s about five to six parts. So it makes it bite-size and easy for kids all the way up to adults to learn the different segments of sharing, whether it’s in a street or in a school, we have a highly evolved school kind of cultural change presentation that they also team members are involved with.

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (09:35):

And we train them how to do it underneath a very skilled, experienced team leader. That’s done it many, many times, but they go in and do this presentation and exchange, but right in the heart of that exchange is the unveiling. If we’re sharing about our culture, Christianity in Jesus, God is such just a prolific part of American culture and our history. So we share the gospel and we’ll see whole student bodies stand on their feet and pray to receive Christ as their Lord. We’ve seen teachers, administrative principals healed at times and all at the hands of team members. Many times they, you know, are Brown knew or only out on their second, third, fourth trip, but they’re the ones doing this with the tools that we put in their hand because it’s, it’s not hard and doing these things, it’s just, huickly learning that they can do it, grabbing the tools and then stepping out and beginning to do it.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:29):

Another significant part of your ministry is your core internship program. And I’ve actually had the privilege today of coming and teaching some of your, your core interns. But can you tell me some of the vision of Cora in what God is doing through that

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (10:47):

Absolutely years ago? The Lord started my heart that just doing short-term mission trips alone, wouldn’t fully, fully disciple and equip those that felt a long-term assignment. Like it was part of their destiny purpose in God to go consistently to the unreached and the lost around the globe. People that really want to learn how to be effective leaders in reaching the masses. And that’s kind of the slogan of core raising up effective building effective leaders to reach the masses. And so we launched that a one to three-year program that would delve off in all the nuts and bolts from the practical standpoint of raising up a missions ministry and how to effectively go in to other lands and cross-culturally present the gospel and connect and work with people and do anything and everything along the lines of frontline, evangelism, frontier, ministry, evangelism, and missions ministry. We’ve got folks that want to also live overseas and plant churches.

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (11:49):

And so there’s that element of things. So it really is designed from a to three year period of time to build these things in how to, how to connect, how to build a partner base, how to influence folks from your, your Homeland and so that they can take part in the great commission as you go out around the world or the young people that study with us go out around the world. And so we’re, we’re grateful our Alma mater you’re in my Alma mater a little over a year ago, granted through an articulation agreement that folks coming through our program can earn up to about a year and a half worth of credit at oral Roberts university and transfer in without if they cover all the bases it’s potential for that. And so we just, couldn’t be more thrilled to be able to pour into the next generation of harvesters evangelists mass crusaders.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:39):

That’s awesome. Tell me some about the trips that you have coming up in the next few months.

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (12:44):

We are so excited, more 10 40 window countries that were taking teams in than any other single year, really it’s within a six month period, any other section of time that we’ve led teams and almost 20 years of facilitating things a little over 18 years, we’ve been in existence 20 years altogether. So in Indonesia, first time ever going in and taking teams and

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:09):

Indonesia is actually the second largest Muslim nation in the world. Yeah. It might be the largest.

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (13:16):

I can’t remember. I know they say back and forth between it, that in Pakistan. Yeah. Yeah. And so thrilled about that. I’ve wanted to do this for years growing the team to Srilanka for the first time ever Albania. One of those areas of the world that just unfortunate the level of human trafficking that can STEM out of there. And so going in with the gospel, aiming to change and transform these regions that God has coupled our hearts with local leaders on the ground, we work heavily. So that up can be done effectively after the short-term trips over and everything from even pre stages of planning, go into how to effectively connect all the fruit that is born with, with long-term workers on the ground. But those areas going into Thailand, going to have a very powerful trip that will produce it looks like probably another 10 or so church plants.

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (14:10):

So really excited about the fruit there and then as well, going to be going into B and more in the near days ahead. So just couldn’t be more thrilled of course, Peru and Ecuador going to be phenomenal trips as well. And if folks are like, I want to take my kids, I encourage, if you are weighing, Hey, should we do a, you know, a theme park vacation or a destination vacation look no more or wonder no more sign up and bring your family out on a mission trip because it will not only cause you to bond at a deeper level, I’ve done all the other vacations I’ve named as well. They’re fun and they’re wonderful, but there’ll be a spiritual depth of what you experience memories that will not only be cherished for a lifetime, but he turned cities that are forever changed as a result of you taking your family on trips like this Ecuador and Peru would be the top two, I would say are family trips.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:05):

So if someone was interested in coming with you on one of your mission trips, how could they find out more information,

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (15:12):

Just global ventures.tv, jump on the website or download the app. The global ventures app is on all platforms. You can download it, jump on there. It’s got the trips that I just mentioned. They can sign up and we have a whole system. If you’re, if you don’t even have your passport or you don’t know really, how am I going to raise the funds? Where am I going to do this? We for years and years have fine tuned. The whole process, our team here at global ventures, we’ll walk you through everything from getting your passport, how to put your first letter together. They’ll cover the top 10 to 20 fundraisers that have worked historically for people 2,500 or so that have come out with us through the years. And so avail yourself to all those tools from the app to the website, to calling a person, a coach, one of our permanent team members to help walk you through. And we just can’t wait to see you on the field with us. We’d love to have you.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:09):

Well, thank you so much for being on the evangelism podcast with me, brother. Smithwick the Lord. Bless you.

 

Evangelist John Smithwick (16:15):

Dr. King, such a privileged co-laboring with people like you in this great mission of the commission and harvest of souls. Thank you for all that you’ve done through the years.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:25):

Amen.

Christianity and Islam are both Abrahamic faiths and they both claim many followers around the globe. In some ways, these two religions are similar, but in several key areas they are very different. Today, we ask Kamran Karimi who was born in Iran, to tell us the differences between the followers of Mohammad and the followers of Christ. 

Website: http://www.thevof.org/

Book: In Allah They Trust: https://amzn.to/2RVwjBC 

Recently a prominent Muslim activist was quoted saying that it is their goal is to someday see the Islamic flag flown over the White House.  What role are Christians and the Church to play in stemming the tide of Islam in America?

Show Notes: 

One of the big differences between Islam and Christianity is the basis of their religion.

In the Koran, the holy book of the Muslim religion, there are stories about Jesus. 

Six Facts Muslims know about Jesus. 

1. Jesus was born of a virgin.
2. Jesus was a prophet.  
3. Jesus performed miracles. 
4. Jesus lived a sinless life. 
5. Jesus is coming again. 
6. Jesus will judge every person. 

According to the Koran: 

Jesus was virgin born (Surah 3:47). 

Jesus is the Messiah (Surah 3:45).  

Jesus is nearest to God (Surah 3:45). 

Jesus was strengthened by the Holy Spirit (Surah 2:253). 

Jesus heals the blind, lepers, raises the dead (Shrah 3:49). 

God did raise Jesus up to Himself (Surah 4:158). 

Jesus was God’s word (Surah 4:171). 

Jesus is identified with God’s Spirit and proceeds from God (Surah 4:171). 

Jesus confirmed the Torah (Surah 5:49). 

The Gospel contains guidance and light (Surah 5:49). 

Jesus prophesied his death and resurrection (Surah 19:15, 33). 

Jesus is called a “holy son” (Surah 19:19). 

Jesus called his disciples (apostles) (Surah 61:14). 

The Lord’s return is prophesied (Surah 43:61, 89:22). 

The idea of “ransom” for another’s sins is in the Quran (Surah 37:107). 

Mary’s son was a “sign” for all people (Surah 21:91).  

But, there are some truths Muslims do not acknowledge. 

Five Facts Muslims DO NOT Believe About Jesus

1. Jesus is the Son of God. 
2. Jesus died on the cross. 
3. Jesus rose from the dead. 
4. Jesus is the Savior of the World. 
5. Jesus is alive today and will forgive sins. 

Listen to Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach, on The Evangelism Podcast

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (00:00):

Christianity and Islam are both Abrahamic faiths, and they both claim many followers around the globe. In some ways, these two religions are similar, but in several key areas, they’re very different. Today. We ask Cameron Karimi who was born in Iran to explain to us the differences between the followers of Muhammad and the followers of Jesus Christ.

 

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:25):

Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host missionary, innovative analyst, Daniel King. Alright, I’m here

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (01:06):

With Cameron, Kara, me, and he was born a Muslim, but now he is serving Jesus Christ. And so on this episode, we’re going to talk about the differences between Islam and Christianity. And so both Christianity and Islam are from Abraham, their Abrahamic faiths. They both claim many followers around the globe. And in some ways the two religions are very similar. People in both religions are very devout, but in several key areas, they’re very different. And so brother, what do you think are some of the differences between the followers of Jesus and the followers of Muhammad?

 

Kamran Karimi (01:48):

Well, it’s very easy. The followers of Jesus follow love and the followers of Mohammed, they follow hate. You know, now they’re not going to come and say that we follow hate, but their behavior and their their approach is fear and control really it’s by force. I like to say it this way. It’s law 2.0, if you will, you know, share your law, we’re talking about it is forcing down people’s throat. A God, instead of given a choice, because I really believe this. When I say in Christianity, the foundation of our faith is love. As far as that goes, assist, because love gives you a choice. I always like to say this way, the essence of love is choice. Okay? So in Christianity or in true relationship with God, the true living God has given humanity, the freedom of choice you can choose. I say this man, you can choose to send yourself to hell. If you want it, and God will back you now, he doesn’t want you to go there, but he’s not going to and override your choice. You’re your wheel. If you will. He’s given us freedom of will freedom of choice. So that’s the major difference where in Islam it’s forced. Whereas in Christianity, it is a choice that’s given to us to, are we willing to follow Jesus and his word? Or are we still going to follow our own way?

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (03:22):

And so you’re able to say that because you were actually born a Muslim, your, your father was a devout Muslim. And so you were raised in that religion. So, so you have insight to how they think, and you actually wrote a book called in Allah. They trust in, in this book, you say that recently prominent Muslim activists was quoted saying that their goal is someday to see the Islamic flag fly over the white house here in the United States of America. And then you ask the question, what role are Christians in the church to play in stemming the tide, the tide of Islam here in America. Right? So, so tell me some about this book and, and well

 

Kamran Karimi (04:05):

Book is really about informing and empowering and equipping the body of Christ, the church, to know how to confront the force of Islam. And I’ll just say it this way. We have to most important that if you want to reach Muslims for Christ, if we’re going to see the church, do what we are called to do, you have to separate between the Muslims, the people and what are called the spirit of Islam. Okay? The principality Islam is a principality as the Bible talks about. We fight not against flesh and blood, but against principalities.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (04:43):

And so I love Muslims and Muslims love me. When I go to Muslim nations, I love preaching to Muslims. I find that they are very excited to hear about God, hear about Jesus. And then, and so I have great love for Muslims, me too. But I agree with you, the, the, the principality behind Islam has enslaved many people.

 

Kamran Karimi (05:07):

Yeah. And you know, most, most Muslims. I like to say this by majority would say 80%. That’s a safe number to say, 80% of Muslims are nominal Muslims. They are not fully practicing as long as it threatened in their book. As far as that goes, okay, the other 20% are more fundamentalists. And even some militant, as far as that goes. So the coat you made out of my book, that’s more referring to those. Now, when Muslims say we serve the same God Muslim. So yeah, we all serve the same guy. We don’t, that’s a very clear cut distinction. There’s a clear-cut distinction. Now. They mean, what they’re saying is there is one God, and that is true. There is one God, there is one God, there’s only one. God. And the God that they’re serving is not the God that we’re serving because God is not schizophrenia.

 

Kamran Karimi (05:59):

He’s not going to come in. Crushed in the Bible, represent himself as love as Jesus came in and fulfilled the law in the new Testament I’m talking about. And then, you know, 1600 years later, or so actually 600 years later started not 6,900, 600 years later show up and represent himself as his tyrannical. God, that is, you know, going to kill you. If you don’t follow it’s decrees and call you infidel, as far as that goes. So we’re talking about two different gods. Now, when the people say we serve the same, God, they believe that they are serving the same God and they want to serve our God. That’s why the responsibility comes to us of knowing how to actually bridge the gap and actually touched her heart with the power of the Holy spirit, with the love of God and give them enough. I should say, draw them enough into the, in a way that they want to receive Christ and see Jesus as who he really is because in Islam, they believe he’s a prophet. They don’t believe Jesus is the son of God. They don’t believe that he was raised from the dead. And those are all the basic foundations of our Christian

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (07:12):

Faith. So let’s, let’s talk about that a little bit. So I read through the Quran, the Holy book of Islam, and I found there were actually lots of stories of Jesus. Jesus has mentioned many times. And so there, there are several things that Muslims do know about Jesus. First. They know that Jesus was born of a Virgin. They know that he is a prophet. And so they respect him as a prophet. They know that Jesus performed miracles, that Jesus lived a sinless life, correct. That Jesus is coming again. And that Jesus will judge every person when he comes back in. So all those things are absolutely true. And it’s actually wonderful that Muslims know that I know some churches here in America that have gone so far liberal, that they don’t even believe in the Virgin birth anymore, or believe in miracles. And so foundation of our faith, that’s the foundation of our faith.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (08:06):

So it’s wonderful that they, they believe those things, but some of the things that Muslims do not believe about Jesus, they do not believe that Jesus is the son of God. And so actually the, you get very upset. If you say, Jesus is the son of Gus and they do not believe that Jesus died on the cross, correct? They do not believe that Jesus Rose from the dead. Yes, they do not believe that Jesus is the savior of the world. Correct. And they do not believe that he’s alive today and that he can forgive sins. Right? And so that is one of the big differences between Islam and Christianity is that we believe that Jesus is God, that he is the son of God that he came from heaven, correct down to earth, was born to the Virgin Mary. It was, it was not something that happened through sexual intercourse, but it was a divine miracle where the Holy spirit impregnated Mary. Correct. And Jesus came here as God to show us how to get,

 

Kamran Karimi (09:10):

Yeah. I always say this to Muslim specifically when we say Jesus is a son of God that he is Lord, we’re not saying, man became God. We’re saying God became man. There’s a huge difference into two. Okay. So when you get the right perspective on this situation, then you have,uyou know, you’re, you got to openness. If you will, there’s an, there’s a crack, therefore for the truth to actually enter your heart. I really emphasize that. And also one thing else I want to emphasize on some of these Mohammad himself in the Koran said concerning Jesus, that he is a savior. Okay. That he was sinless. Okay. And I need it. Well, Hamad says, I need a savior. That’s another sewer in there. Okay. So Muhammad knew that he was a sinner and he knew that he needed a savior. Okay. Now he doesn’t come and say in the Bible or in the Koran, it doesn’t say that Jesus was the savior of the world, but he said, I need a savior. So, you know, another thing I always like to say about the Koran and you know, where we have to have someone

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (10:20):

Because all of us need a savior. All of us have sinned. And it’s really interesting. Even the Koran says that Jesus, the prophet never sinned, but every single one of us, the rest of us, we’ve all sinned. And we need a savior.

 

Kamran Karimi (10:37):

We need someone to, to, to pay the price for us to remit us from that from the send that’s in our heart. And the only person that can do that in our life is someone that has never said, that’s why Jesus was the redemption of mankind. He was the price that got paid for our freedom from sin and healing and other things, as far as that goes. But you know, that’s the major thing. So the key is this, as far as as far as, you know, communicating this, I really believe that. Do you know date? The, I like to say this, when people ask me, how do you, how do you preach the gospel to the Muslims? I always say you better be able to manifest the miracles of Jesus because Muslims do believe in miracles of Jesus.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (11:25):

Yeah. And, and actually when we go to Muslim nations, we invite people to come and we pray in the name of Jesus and Jesus performs great miracles, even among the Muslims in the crowd. Correct. Sometimes we see more miracles among the Muslims than we do even among the Christian population, because they’re, they’re looking to Jesus and they put their faith in him and Jesus does these Muslims. And so Muslims will come up on the platform and, and say, Jesus healed me.

 

Kamran Karimi (11:56):

You know, what that is is because Muslims believe Jesus is a healer. He’s a miracle worker, not only a great prophet, but they do believe that Jesus was a miracle worker. He did miracles. Okay. They do believe that therefore, whatever you believe you’ll invite into your life, you know, you invite the miracles into your life when you are basically when you, you know, when you’re believing that Jesus is the heater, that’s why you see miracles and supernatural event and things take place in the meetings that and I see it in my, you know, in my meetings that I do when I go overseas and having past two years because of the COVID and all that stuff. But the bottom line to it is this, that,uas I had done all these meetings and everything like that, they are so open and receptive to the gospel, to the miracle working power. And I like to say this, like, can I take in used to say that miracles are the dinner, dinner belt for the centers. So once they see a miracle, now they’re open to hear the gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ, not only they can do miracle in their life, but they can hear, can also forgive them of their sense.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (13:07):

That’s wonderful. So on your, your television program, which is called the voice of freedom, you are preaching every day to 60 to Farsi speaking Muslims all over the world, but especially in the nation of Iran. And you’ve been here.

 

Kamran Karimi (13:25):

I understand. And Tajikistan, those are the most populated. I mean, they, they

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (13:29):

Farsi speaking. Yeah. That’s wonderful. And so tell me about some of the testimonies that you’ve heard of Muslims encountering Jesus,

 

Kamran Karimi (13:38):

The, the most consistent statement you hear from Muslims specifically in Iran is they they’re asking each other. This is amazing. They’re asking each other, have you seen a man in a white robe in your dreams lately? They asked that Jesus is appearing to, to Muslims around the world, particularly in the middle East, I’m talking about and revealing himself as who he really is. You know, I recall one particular testimony that this is actually a really interesting that a M w I got this email, a letter from,uthe crew, an email to, to me that this man was in charge of confiscating Bibles or any material that had to do with Christianity and Judaism in Iran. This is actually a city of Meshack. Okay. Which is North, Northeast, Northwest who’s me. And,uso what happened was, and he walks into this storage place that they’re confiscating everything.

 

Kamran Karimi (14:39):

They gather everything, and then they ship everything to tear on the capital city. He’s he’s emailed told me, he says, I walked into this place with few of our people. And he says there was one particular book that just keep highlighting me with just jumping off. Almost like it was like, there was a light on this book he says, and I went and grabbed it and stuffed it in my pocket. Johnny, hide it from his friends around him. Okay. He says, and when I got home, it was a little pocket Bible, new Testament. This is when I opened it. And I read my, I fell on the scripture that peace came all over me. One sentence, one, one verse that he read the peace of God just flooded his life. He says, I knew something was happening inside of me. He says, then what happens is that same night I’m sitting there wondering what’s happened to me. I turned the TV on and your programs. That’s why he’s emailing me. He says, your program came on and you recording the exact same scripture. Talk about how

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (15:44):

Amazing God was orchestrating straightening.

 

Kamran Karimi (15:46):

And these orchestrations are called a supernatural illustrations of God are happening consistently. How do you do that? I mean, we pro we record our programs two months ahead, and then how God strategizes and puts that in there.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (15:59):

So he reads in the new Testament and then watches you quoting that same scripture

 

Kamran Karimi (16:04):

Gives his heart to the Lord that night. And then as a result of that begins, I mean, just change, receive such, I mean, such a radical change in his life to the point that he begins to tell his other two brothers that were also done. These guys are part of the Iranian intelligence in Iranian intelligence for gap. Like I said, they were, their job was to gather materials that had to do anything against Islam. That’s we’re not against as long, we’re just sharing gospel. Okay. So material books, anything okay. That they would confiscate it. So he says that the next thing you know, I began to share that and his brothers were in a higher rank in the intelligence and in the military of Iranian regime, as far as that goes, he began to share that with his brothers and the brothers turned on him and throw him in prison. Wow. Okay. He says, I was good at this. I was in the prison for 52 days in solitary confinement. This is an ease in his email. Okay. And he says, and Jesus would come into my solitary confinement and comfort me

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (17:11):

When you have Jesus. You’re not alone.

 

Kamran Karimi (17:14):

No, exactly. Jesus would come. And he says, the first storm, this bright light entered into his cell and began to talk to him. And he says, I am Jesus. And I’m, you know, and I will get you outta here on the 52nd, the day before he gets out, Jesus shows up. He says, you’re getting out. And the Lord got him out supernaturally. He shares that. And then he says, just keep your mouth shut. I’ll get you out of here. And then he’s obviously sending me email recently. I got another email from him. He says, I don’t know if you remember me, but I say recently in the past, he says, I don’t know if you remember me. I am such and such. I knew exactly the moment. He told me in Canada, his story, I knew exactly who he’s talking about. So God has done amazing things in his life. He says, I’m still in Iran. And I’m sharing my faith, Shane with Jesus that done. I’m still following Jesus. I’m still walking with Jesus. I am under surveillance, but I’m still sharing my faith with people that I come in contact with. It’s awesome. And God is doing something that’s one example. And I could tell you is encounter after encounter of these supernatural things that are happening in people’s lives.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (18:24):

How many people over the years have sent you emails or called you and said that they’ve been impacted by Jesus? Like I said, in the last episode that we did,

 

Kamran Karimi (18:36):

Did you know, I was getting an average, a thousand phone calls and emails all combined on average about when we first started broadcasting. Okay. When the government got wind of this, they began to monitor and just really began to increase persecution in Iran, which actually backfired on them. And now the church is growing persecution is the, you know, it’s the precursor to revival an increase as far as that goes in the Bible. So, so I would say, you know what I mean, on average, I mean, we’ve seen thousands upon thousands gives, give their life to the Lord. It’s really hard to monetize a monitor because you really, it’s not like in America where you can actually, when you broadcast, it can actually tell how many people are watching, but it’s in the thousands and thousands. You know, I really believe, you know, based on, you know, I give you an example when in 2016, two different networks will TBN, which,umy programs on that right now, it’s six days a week as well, a CBN, which has got a network there.

 

Kamran Karimi (19:35):

And I used to be on that as well. And I just felt like, you know, just bringing all the focus on one network, as far as that goes, but CBN had done some extensive research in the beginning stage of the launch. You know, both networks came on the scene within three months, I’ll be chart each other in 2006. And I was on them daily on both of them. Okay. What happened was CBN reported that in 18 months, 864,000 Iranians had given their hearts to Christ. Wow. In from, from September in 18 months, 2006 to 2008, 864. Now these are reported, you know, testimonies, you know, people that contact our ministry, that we would report to them and other ministries that are also we’re working on that network, these networks. So they were reporting the salvation, the miracles and the context that 867, 64,000 souls coming to Christ in 18 months time. I really believe because of what they, they, the, the oppression because of the government’s involvement is trying to crush the church as much as it’s tried. Lot of people are not necessarily coming public with their faith necessarily, but they are born again. They say there’s anywhere from one, one to one and a half million Iranians that have given their heart to the Lord since the beginning of the revolution. Wow. I really believe it is far more than that. I believe it’s between 10 to 12 million. Wow. I really believe that.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (21:07):

Well, I believe that there will come a time where the walls of Islam will fall in. Iran will open up. And so when that happens, I want to go and do gospel festivals in Iran. Let’s go do it together because because the day will come and then many people will, will come to Jesus. I know you do crusades. And what have you, Islam, Islamic countries, we call them festivals because it’s the most, you say, maybe it has a little bit of a negative context, but, but festivals. Yeah.

 

Kamran Karimi (21:38):

Yeah. But I actually have seen this, you know, in the first couple years when I came to Christ, Daniel, I kept seeing having these dreams. And I just would say, my son, that’s crazy. How can I, how could that even happen? I could not even see envisioned the Lord was showing me things down the road, but I could not just see haka has that going to happen in Iran as far as that. But I began to see these crusades in major cities, in Iran.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (22:05):

Amen. That’s a vision that comes from God.

 

Kamran Karimi (22:08):

It is a vision from God. I’ve got a vision board that I carry around with me, my phone and everything like that. And there is a stadium in Iran, which is the largest stadium soccer stadium in Iran. It’s called the freedom station, freedom, freedom stadium, you know, and I’ve seen the stadium packed out with a hundred thousand plus people. Wow. Worshiping God worshiping Jesus. And we’re going to do that.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (22:34):

Let’s do it together. I will. You know what together?

 

Kamran Karimi (22:37):

Yeah. It’s on my heart. I’ve seen it. And I’ve been, I’ve been keep confessing it. I’m saying the day’s coming. And I believe we are upon it. I really believe that within the next year or two, we could be right upon it. And we’re going to see when the regime falls in on all that. In fact, you know, I like to say this way, but 12 years ago, when that green movement was taking place in Iran, the green movement was when they, they rigged the election of Amadine Asia to put him back in

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (23:06):

And there were protests. And then the protest was put down.

 

Kamran Karimi (23:09):

I went to the Lord about that protest and asked the Lord, Lord, is this the time that this government will fall? And I was shocked as the, at the Lord’s response to me, I would never thought that kind of a response he said to me, no, because the church in Iran is not ready. And I thought, what does the church in Iran being ready? I’ve been to new with the government falling and all of that. So I kept pondering on that. And then a couple of weeks later, the Lord continue to speak to me about that. He says under 40th year, I’ll begin to deal with them as well. 40Th year was a year and a half. And what’s amazing is I began to prophetically speak in my programs about dare, that they’d been cut to the, their, their route has been cut. You know?

 

Kamran Karimi (23:55):

And I give this illustration that if you have a green tree and you go break off a branch of that tree, the branch is still green, but it’s dead. It has no life in it. And before long it’ll dry up and it’ll basically wither, okay. That’s exactly what’s happened since the 40th year. And they’re gasping for their last breath right now. This regime in Iran. And I believe there’s one I’m going to say within a year or two, we’re going to, I see myself in Iran, boots on the ground. We have boots on the ground by me going into Iran, preaching the gospel of grace.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (24:29):

There are protection and guardian angels surrounding. Exactly.

 

Kamran Karimi (24:33):

And I believe I can, I can believe it. Now, if you will, where it was really difficult for me to believe in those early days when I kept seeing those in the dream three nights in a row at the same dream, you know, back in the 1993, 92, 93 is three nights in a row at the same dream, seeing myself standing on a platform, any Iran preaching the gospel to masses

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (24:56):

Of Iranians, and

 

Kamran Karimi (24:58):

It will come to pass and I believe we were upon it. So we are going to go together.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (25:02):

Hey man, well, let’s finish with a prayer for the people of Iran that they wouldn’t meet. Jesus, go ahead, brother.

 

Kamran Karimi (25:09):

Father, in the name of Jesus, I lift up every Farsi speaking Muslim Lord, before you right now in the name of Jesus. And I thank you, Lord, that you are putting out your spirit of wisdom and revelation of who you really are, who Jesus really is. I thank you that they are seeing you and they are receiving you as their Lord and savior that they’re coming into contact with their divine purpose and destiny Lord through Jesus Christ. I thank you, father God, that our outpouring of your spirit for you said Lord, in the latter days, you pour out your spirit upon all flesh. And I thank you that you’re pouring out your spirit upon the Muslim world upon the far sweet speaking Muslims in Iran, in Afghanistan and Tajikistan and father. I thank you that you’re turning on the light. You’re switching on the light, inside their hearts, that they would see clearly who Jesus is truly, and that he is their Lord and that the he’s their savior.

 

Kamran Karimi (26:08):

And I thank you that you drawing them into the kingdom. As you have ordained at the Jesus name, Lord, I thank you right now for the salvation of this hundred and 10 million Farsi speaking miles jumps around the world. I thank you, father God for the honor and the privilege that you have given me and others that are preaching the gospel into the Farsi speaking world. And I pray father God, that not one word will return to you void, but it will prosper and accomplish and bring the harvest of salvation that your word produces in Jesus. And we give you praise. I plead the blood of Jesus over every soul that hears the message of the gospel. And I thank you, father God, that Satan’s grip and Islams grip is broken off their hearts and souls and minds in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you for being on the podcast. My brother love you, man.

 

Evangelism Podcast Host (27:05):

For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches, visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

 

Daniel Kolenda from Christ for All Nations, hosts an Evangelism Bootcamp to train evangelists to preach the Gospel. I had the privilege of being one of the teachers at the school. Today we talk about how the students from the Evangelism Bootcamp led 165,000 people to Jesus over a three week period in Tanzania. 

Website: https://cfan.org/news/2021-evangelism-bootcamp

Show Notes: 

Today we talk to Academic Dean Levi Stewart about the impact of the Evangelism Bootcamp. 

Daniel King had the privilege of being one of the teachers at the Evangelism Bootcamp. 

Fifty-two students graduated. 

When twenty of the students put what they learned into action in Tanzania, they led over 165,000 people to Jesus over a three week period. 

Listen to Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach, on The Evangelism Podcast

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

Daniel Kolenda from Christ for all nations hosts and evangelism bootcamp to train evangelists, to preach the gospel. I had the privilege of being one of the teachers at the school. Today. We talk about how the students from the evangelism bootcamp led 165,000 people to Jesus over a three week period in Tanzania,

 

Evangelism Podcast Announcer  (00:24):

Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King we’re Danial interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:00):

I am excited about telling people about Jesus and today I’m with a very special guest Levi Stewart. He is the academic Dean for the evangelism bootcamp at Christ for all nations in Orlando, Florida. Levi, thanks so much for being on the pod

 

Levi Stewart (01:18):

Cast a thank you Daniel. It’s a, it’s an honor for me to be here. Thank you for having me.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:24):

The evangelism bootcamp was started by evangelist Daniel Kolenda here at Christ for all nations, and he has a heart for training evangelists to go out into the harvest fields of the world. And so this last year you graduated your first set of boot camp students. Tell me a little bit about what God is doing in the bootcamp.

 

Levi Stewart (01:49):

Well you know, it’s funny because whenever Evangelist Kolenda shared with me about a year and a half ago, his vision for this evangelism bootcamp, the first thing that he said was, I don’t want to start another Bible school. And, and I know that there’s of course, no shortage of places where people can go and learn theology and Bible, and even learn about evangelism, but really what evangelists Colendo wanted to create with this bootcamp. And what we’ve just seen as, as you know, I’ve just recently returned from Africa for our on-field initiation trip with our first set of graduates is what he has called a fast track to the mission field. And so really what the bootcamp is, is it’s a a six month or at least our first class was a six month program in which we taught not only the theology of evangelism.

 

Levi Stewart (02:39):

And really that was just sort of a foundational a couple of weeks at the beginning of the, of the course, but really what it was, was a hands-on, how can I get ready for the field in a short amount of time, and then actually go to the field and put into practice the things that you’ve learned over the course of six months and and then see how it works in the real world. So over the we started in January of this year and over that six month period, we were teaching students about organizing crusades about building and constructing sermons about how to work with an interpreter, how to preach in the specific context of Africa. On top of that, you know, they were doing outreaches on a weekly basis with their teams here within the city. They were meeting with coaches on a weekly basis.

 

Levi Stewart (03:30):

And also we gave you an opportunity to get their hands dirty a little bit here in the office at C fan. And so they, they kind of served as interns for us. So they got an idea of kind of what happens behind the scenes. Ubut really what, what is most exciting to me is the work that they got to do in the field. And as I said, I just returned from Africa. And so we did three weeks with our evangelism graduates in Tanzania, and it was just amazing, some of the things that God did.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:56):

And so how many students graduated from the bootcamp?

 

Levi Stewart (04:01):

So we had a 52 students that came through that actually finished. We started with a few more than that. But just the, kind of the intensity of the bootcamp was designed so that the cream would sort of rise to the top. But we graduated 52 and and then of course with some of the things that have been going on in the world with this pandemic, not all of them were able to go with us to Africa. But we did take a large number. And like I said,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:31):

It was just how many went to Africa. So the,

 

Levi Stewart (04:34):

The first round, which just ended last week, there were, there were 20 that went with us and then

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:40):

The 20 that were in Africa, they were there for three weeks and they got to go out on the streets and preach in the marketplaces and, and, and, and visit schools in those three weeks. What results did they see in Tanzania? Yeah,

 

Levi Stewart (04:57):

It was remarkable. Daniel, I’d tell you what it was the first time that I have actually been on the field in this kind of a hands-on ministry context and what we saw over the course of three weeks, like you said, there was only 20 that actually went with us. We have about 20 more grads that are coming later, and they’re doing a little bit of a different initiation, but of the 20 that were with us in the three weeks, we did over 450 outreaches in the schools, villages and the marketplaces. And as a result of those outreaches, over 165,000 people came to know the Lord as their, as their savior. And and, and many people were, were healed, were delivered. I mean, it was it was such a, a thing where it was as if you could just tell there was like a shift in the atmosphere of that country. And it was just a remarkable thing to witness and be a part of

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:52):

That is such a tremendous testimony. You know, I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and we have a lot of different Bible schools in Tulsa. So we’ve got oral Roberts university, we’ve got Rayma, we got victory Bible college, we’ve got several other training places in Tulsa. And sometimes people come, they get trained and they don’t go anywhere. They don’t do anything. And so for the bootcamp to take students to Africa and produce such tremendous results, 165,000 people that they’re able to lead to the Lord in three weeks, that may be one of the most successful trainings that’s ever been done in the history of Christianity.

 

Levi Stewart (06:38):

You know, it’s, it’s remarkable to think that that really the way that we look at this is that three weeks is just the beginning. I mean, it’s, it’s really just the, we call it the initiation process for our students. And I mean, we believe that over the, over the coming months and years, that, I mean, that’s just going to exponentially multiply. And, and one of the things I think that makes it unique is that w the, the trainers that we had that were in our teaching in our school, a number of them actually went with us. The teachers, the coaches went with us to Africa. And so they were able to guide our students along the way and give them on the job training as they went out and did evangelism, I don’t know of any other program. Uyou know, you mentioned there’s a number of great Bible schools,uand you just, didn’t also alone of course, here in the United States.

 

Levi Stewart (07:29):

And I think that one of the things that makes this evangelism bootcamp unique is not just that it’s a fast track to the field and not just,uthe fact that it’s outcomes-based because like you said, at the end of this program, the goal was not just to get a certificate or to get a degree or to,uyou know, be able to have some sort of card or certification. But the idea is that you’re actually able to go out into the field, you have a platform to do ministry. And so evangelists Kolenda is continuing to work with these students who have graduated beyond just a three-week trip. And as I mentioned, we only took about 20 with us on this first round, later in the year, we’ve got about 20 more that are coming, and they’re actually helping us to organize a flagship C fan crusade.

 

Levi Stewart (08:15):

It’s actually five crusades, as you know, that we’re planning to do back to back to back to back to back in Tanzania at the end of this year. And those 20 students are serving as crusade organizers. They’re serving as promotional leaders, as well as doing outreach as leading up to the, the large crusades. And so it’s one of those things where the training is not just academic, but the training is to go to the field. The teachers are going with you, helping you along the way. And what you’re preparing for is not some kind of test or trial, but it’s real evangelism

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:54):

Evangelists, Kalinda asked to come and participate in one of those events in the city of Oklahoma. And so I’m excited and just a few weeks I’m going to be going, and I’m expecting God to move. And for many people to be saved and healed and for it to change the nation of Tanzania. And so it’s just so tremendous to see the students go and get their hands dirty on the field, because so much of, of doing the work of an evangelist is doing work, and it’s not just preaching on the platform, but it’s doing all the organization and all the preparation. And so tell me some of the things that the evangelists learned in their time at the bootcamp.

 

Levi Stewart (09:42):

Yeah. Well, it’s such a good point. I mean, I think what people think of whenever they think of an evangelist, or I think of evangelism as they think of a, you know, a man on a stage with a huge crowd and he’s preaching a passionate gospel message. And of course that is a huge component of this. And we did do a lot of training in the bootcamp on how to preach a gospel message. I mean, we talked a lot about how to prepare a message, how to how to tell stories, how to use illustrations. Like I said, working with an interpreter and all this kind of stuff is so important, but it’s maybe 10% of what really goes on in a large evangelistic campaign. And so a good amount of time that we spent in the bootcamp was crusade organizing. And what I mean by that is it’s not just getting a bunch of people on a crusade field, but a lot of it really is working with local churches, working with pastors in the cities that you’re going to developing crusade committees.

 

Levi Stewart (10:35):

You know, I don’t want to give too much of it away as far as the nitty gritty, but so much of it is working with people it’s organizing, it’s promoting, you know, it’s knowing how to promote where you’re going. It’s getting people on board to buy into the vision and then also to help support what you’re doing, because you may be on a platform or on a stage for, for a couple of hours total, even when you’re doing a, you know, a week long crusade or something like that, but the hundreds of hours, I mean, the months of work that go in ahead of time is, is some of the stuff that we worked with the students on while they were here. I mean, there’s, there are components of this where you’re doing so much more than preaching even on the ministry side. I mean, you know, there’s, there’s prayer for the sick, which is a huge part of your promotion, right? I mean, you have a couple of miracles, some signs and wonders that people experience, and then they’re drawn to that crusade field the next night. So there’s prep work on the front end, and then there’s so much that happens even afterwards on the back end with follow-up and, and with prayer after you preach that gospel message,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:45):

It was really a privilege for me to be able to come and to teach several weeks during school. And I was just so impressed with the students. They’re on fire for God, excited about evangelism, passionate for reaching the lost. They really seem to be the best of the best, and it’s not easy to get into the school because more people apply than are able to be accepted. So what criteria are you looking for in the students who come to the evangelism bootcamp?

 

Levi Stewart (12:19):

Well, I think there’s, there’s really two main things. And thank you for mentioning that, you know, we’re really proud of our first group of graduates and I, and I really do think that they’re world-class. And one of the things that we really emphasize, and this may sound obvious, but I just really can’t stress this enough, is that in order to be a part of the evangelism boot camp, you need to know that you’re called to be an evangelist. And I’m not just, I’m not just an evangelist, you know, somebody that wants to share their faith. Umut someone who is called to get in front of a crowd with a microphone to preach the gospel, to pray for the sick, give an altar call, mhe believing God for signs and wonders for the Holy spirit to fall. And the reason that I say that is there are of course, different kinds of evangelists and we celebrate and partner with and understand the body of Christ needs of Angeles in all forms of the definitions and forms of the term.

 

Levi Stewart (13:13):

But what we do at Christ for all nations is crusade evangelism. You know, it’s it’s is evangelism for the masses, Reinhardt Bunky, you know, from the very beginning it was getting so many people, as many people as possible, even exposed to the gospel and to accept Jesus as Lord and savior at one time. And so what that means is that,uyou’ve gotta be ready to preach. You’ve got to have that passion, that evangelistic spark, that fire inside of you to preach the gospel. You’ve got to be able to communicate it with passion, with animation. You gotta be able to stand in front of a crowd and hold their attention. And,ujust, just communicate the power of the gospel. So that’s one thing you gotta be called to be an evangelist,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:55):

But really there are good people

 

Levi Stewart (13:58):

Features out there that wouldn’t make it on the field, especially in places like Africa with sea fan. Because you’ve also got to have the intangibles. I actually just had a meeting with the Vangelis Kalinda yesterday, where we were kind of talking about how each one of our students did in the field. And he said, Levi, I want you to tell me how they did with ministry. And we talked about that for a few minutes. He said, but I also need to know how did they do with the intangibles and what he means by that is look, do they have a good attitude? Were they on time? Were they dependable? Were they humble? Were they reliable? Were they teachable flexible? So much of this crusade work that happens in places like Africa just requires you to come in with a spirit of humility, be willing to be used by God to understand that it’s not about you or your ministry, but it’s about a bigger vision and it’s about the harvest. And so really, I would say we need evangelists and we need humble evangelists. People that are willing to go low people that are willing to work hard, get their hands dirty and to do the work of the ministry.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:02):

Amen. Those are the types of evangelists that God can use. That’s awesome. And, and on the mission field, you never know what’s going to happen. So you have to be flexible. You have to be ready. Sometimes you have one plan and then the plan completely changes, but the best are ready for whatever is coming. So you’re going to do another school, another,uubootcamp for evangelists coming up. Uand you’re, you’re doubling the size of the class. Tell me some of what is going to happen in this next coming year.

 

Levi Stewart (15:41):

So when we started this thing evangelist Glenda said, we need to find out and make sure that we know what we’re doing first. And so we started with a small class of about 50 evangelists. And so we worked with them for six months. We kind of figured out what we needed to teach. We figured out what was necessary, the theology and the academic stuff, as well as the practical hands-on and how much time and work did we actually need. And then how much how many students could we actually train in this amount of time? So we figured out some things in this first class. And so, as you mentioned in January of next year, 2021, we will be having our second class of evangelism boot camp. And we are, you know, intrusive fan fashion, doubling, and actually even going a little bit beyond that with our second class.

 

Levi Stewart (16:26):

And so evangelists Kolenda, it wants 120 students for this January, but what we’ve been able to do. And I think this is really remarkable and just speaks to evangelists. Glenda’s innovation is that we’ve been able to actually make this fast track to the field even faster. And so, as you know, as a part of our of our teaching faculty for the first class we did a lot of teaching in the classroom on on components of the crusade, organizing the crusade, preaching the followup, the working with local churches. We also brought in a number of speakers. They kind of just came in and did more of like an inspirational motivational, shared their heart and share their testimony type of thing. And I’m talking about world-class evangelists, you know yourself, Todd white, Michael kuleana. We had a number of people, Ben Fitzgerald that came in and really shared from their experience.

 

Levi Stewart (17:21):

And what we found was that there was so much value in that. But what we’ve looked at for this year is kind of putting all of those motivational speakers, those inspirational speakers, we’ve put them all kind of in the first week of the bootcamp. And so in order, and because we’ve done that, we’ve actually been able to shorten the overall program to three months. So what this is going to look like is beginning in January, beginning 26th, running through April 16th, we’re going to have 120 students here in Orlando. The primary instructor is going to be evangelist Daniel Kolenda. We will bring in some other world-class high quality evangelists, and those will kind of all be condensed into the first week of training. They’re going to share from their experience. They’re going to lay hands on you. There’s going to be fire. It’s going to be amazing. But then for the rest of that three month period, Daniel Kolenda is really going to give you a streamlined version of the evangelism bootcamp content. And then in three months, that class will also be ready to take another three week trip to the field. And we’re going to be we’re going to be more than doubling the number of evangelists that are out there hitting the ground and getting people saved.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:36):

I think this is such a tremendous idea because this program could significantly accelerate the ministry of someone who’s called to be an evangelist. There there’s many different things that you need to perfect in order to, to be in evangelist, to be an effective evangelist. And it could take you five years, 10 years, 20 years to learn some of those things. But yet in three months you could cut an entire decade off of someone’s ministry, learning curve and release them out into the field, ready to preach, ready to launch out into ministry. And that’s what it’s going to take in order to bring in a harvest of souls that is going to be on precedented in history. I think there’s going to be more people that will get saved in the next few years than we’ve seen in the past 2000 years of Christianity. It’s harvest time. Jesus is coming soon and we need to make every single second count for God. And so that the evangelism bootcamp is going to be such a significant part of releasing evangelists out into the field. And when I look into the future and see the vision, I think that the students that you’re training here are going to lead, not just hundreds or thousands, but literally millions of people into the kingdom of God. Yeah.

 

Levi Stewart (20:06):

Amen. I mean, you know, one of the things that is unique about this is you said in three months, you’re probably able to knock off decades of just learning from what you would in a, another,ugoing about it another way. And part of that is Daniel, as you know, is evangelist. Kolenda has been leading Christ all nations for about 12 years. But before that, he was a part of this team of evangelists, Ryan, her bunkie. I mean, Steve fan has been doing this for almost 50 years. And,uwe’ve learned a few things along the way. I mean, you know, when, when evangelists bonky started, he didn’t have the huge crowds of hundreds of thousands in Africa. He started, he learned from a lot of mistakes. He built the, he built the team up in a lot of different ways. We tried things. He was, he was innovative and evangelist Glenn has been the same way he’s he came under and learned from evangelists bunkie for a number of years has been leading the ministry now from 12 years.

 

Levi Stewart (21:05):

And so there’s just a lot of things that that C fan has done and has learned over the years. And the thing is, as an evangelist, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You don’t have to start from nothing, a blank slate to go out there and do the work. What I personally think I’ve experienced a little bit in this is getting to know some of these evangelism students is that sometimes evangelists, of course, they’re, they’re men and women of action. And so they want to, they want to go and they want to go yesterday and, and get, and get on the field and do the work. And as important as that is. And as you said, it’s harvest time. We need to be busy about doing the work. I just feel that a few strategic months of, of, to me, invaluable training can save you years of learning hard lessons in the field. And I believe that is really what the evangelism bootcamp is designed for.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:00):

So you’ve just returned from Tanzania leading this team of students from last year who, who went and were initiated into evangelism. Can we finish with one of the best stories or testimonies of what the team experienced there in Tanzania?

 

Levi Stewart (22:16):

Yeah. You know, so, so I think that one of the things that was just remarkable for me, that I’ve never experienced before, as you mentioned, is that we, we were doing a lot of ministry in the schools. And to think, you know, as an American, the idea of going into a school and preaching the gospel with a bunch of children, giving them a chance to respond to Jesus and to be saved, you would just, it’s just such a foreign concept. I think to us, even as Westerners, you know, Americans, it’s like, you would just think, well, that’s a closed area. What the thing is in many places in the world is not just Africa. It’s not closed. One of the things that I have learned. And, hnd I think this is just being around ambitious, bold evangelists is the power of the ask is requesting.

 

Levi Stewart (23:05):

And so we’ve got some members on our team that sort of, that came to find out about the fact that these schools were open to the gospel and they found that out by asking. And so sometimes it’s just a simple request that can yield so much fruit. And so by just finding out the the availability of doing ministry in schools, as well as places like marketplaces. And there’s an ask there as well, talking to County commissioners and talking to city officials and that sort of thing, but what I’ve just seen is, is remarkable. And one of the things that really sticks out to me in terms of a testimony going into a lot of these schools and seeing,uso many Muslim students and you would go in, and some of these schools are predominantly Muslim. Some of them are almost, I would say a hundred percent Islamic and just their heart and openness for the gospel.

 

Levi Stewart (23:54):

And you would just think, and some people may even would even say, Oh, you’re just wasting your time going to the, Oh, that’s a Muslim city. That’s a Muslim school, that’s a Muslim area. Why would you even go in there with the gospel? And I tell you what though, what we’ve found is really that sometimes the light shines brightest in the darkness, literally thousands of Muslims. We’re a part of that, 165,000, probably tens of thousands of Muslims that were saved as a result, really of just the boldness to go and ask if they’re willing and open to hear the gospel, seeing kids raise their hands and sing a praise and worship song at the end of our gospel presentation saying that that Jesus is the way that Jesus is the truth. And then to get, to hear them give the opportunity. We saw Muslim, we saw Muslim women take off their burkas in response to the gospel.

 

Levi Stewart (24:45):

We saw Muslim people healed. We saw Muslims delivered demons cast out because of the, the boldness that our, that our students, our graduates had to approach them with the gospel. Even when I think others would have been, would have been shy or even too afraid to do so. Jesus loves Muslims. And so do I, Levi, thank you so much for being on the podcast. It’s great to have you on. Thank you so much, Daniel. It’s amazing. And let me tell you what, if you want to find out more about the evangelism bootcamp for January, 2021, let me encourage you. You can visit see fan bootcamp.org. That’s C F a N bootcamp.org. You can learn more. Uyou can,uyou can apply and,uwe’d love to hear from you. Thank you so much, Daniel. It’s been an honor to be your guest. Bless you

 

Evangelism Podcast Announcer  (25:32):

For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit Kingministries.com. Again, that’s Kingministries.com.

Fort Scott, Kansas is small town America. Why is investing in children’s ministry one of the best ways for a church to have a big impact in a small town? Today we talk to Matthew Wells, the children’s education director at Faith Church about how he is reaching children and families for Jesus. 

Website: https://faithchurchks.org 

Show Notes: 

How did you get started doing children’s ministry? 

Why is investing in the children’s ministry one of the best ways for a church to reach their community with the Gospel? 

Fort Scott has about 7,000 people. How can a church evangelize in small town America? 

Quotes: 

86% of Christians that are Christians today were saved before the age of 15. 

10% are saved between the age of 15 and 30. 

A scant 4% of Christians are saved after the age of 30. 

So where should be the focus of a church’s outreach? 

Listen to Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach, on The Evangelism Podcast

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

Fort Scott, Kansas is small town. America. Why is investing in children’s ministry? One of the best ways for a church to have a big impact in a small town. Today, we talked to Matthew Wells, the children’s education director at faith church about how he is reaching children and families for Jesus. Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King where Daniel interviews full-time evangelists, pastors, missionary, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host missionary and evangelist Daniel King. I love reaching people for Jesus. 86

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:02):

Of the Christians that are Christians today were saved before the age of 15, 10% were saved between the age of 15 and 25 and a scant 3% are saved after the age of 25. So one of the most important areas of evangelism is children’s ministry. And today we have a special guest, my good friend, Matt Wells with us who is a children’s pastor and education director at faith church and Fort Scott, Kansas. Matt, thanks for being on the podcast.

 

Matthew Wells (01:35):

My pleasure, Daniel, thank you for having me. So tell me

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:38):

A little bit about how you got started doing children’s ministry.

 

Matthew Wells (01:42):

I’ve always had a great love for children and I was offered the ability to become an assistant originally and then to take over the ministry full time back when pastor Tim was in charge of the church since then, I’ve kind of taken it in my own direction and been doing it for about 10 years now. I always wanted a lot of kids. We have three kids ourselves, but I always tell everyone I have hundreds of kids at church because I consider them all my children.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:12):

I think the children’s ministry is one of the most important parts of a church. When a family goes to buy a vehicle, they look for a vehicle that is safe for their children. You know, if it’s a single guy he’s going to go out and buy a fast Corvette or something, something that goes really fast. But once a guy has a family, he’s got a three-year-old and an eight year old, he wants them to be safe and protected while they drive. So what’s the family going to drive. They’re not going to drive a fast car. They’re going to get a nice minivan with safety standards. And the same thing is true. When families are looking for churches, they look for a church that is good at taking care of the kids. And so if you’re evangelizing in a community, if trying to bring families to Jesus, having a good children’s ministry is one of the most important things that a church can do. And so tell me some of what your church does to make your church welcoming and friendly to the kids that come.

 

Matthew Wells (03:15):

We do. One of three different things that I would focus on while talking with you. One would be that one of our main tenants is that we create a place for people to belong. And that doesn’t matter if you’re an infant or if you’re someone 80 years old, we want to make sure that the environment is inviting and that we can reach you with Jesus on your level. And I would say that’s one of the driving passions in what we do. We want to reach children in particular with Jesus on their level, so that they have a clear understanding of who he is in their lives and how impactful he is to who they can become for him. Later on. Another thing that we do is we’re very secure in our areas. We don’t allow children to come and go. We have a check-in system that we’ve established so that when parents bring their kids in the first thing they do is check them into the different ministry areas.

 

Matthew Wells (04:09):

There they’ll get a name tag that identifies them list any special situations with them, and then allows us to know which person is allowed to come pick them up. So they’ll have a check-in and a check-out ticket. This creates an overall safe environment that we have found to be very pleasing to the parents. The last thing is that we reach children in a way that they want to come back. And that’s one of my driving passions. I want children to not only be impacted with the stories of Jesus Christ, but I want them to be the one waking their parents up the next Sunday morning and saying, let’s go to church. And every time that that happens, I call it a huge win for our service team. We had a situation just a couple of weeks ago, where a boy who had come to church a couple of times didn’t feel like children’s ministry was something that he would benefit from after two weeks, he finally came up to check us out. He had such a great time that the next Sunday he got up early, made his own breakfast, got dressed, and then went in at 6:00 AM to wake his parents up and asked them when they could leave for church. And when I hear a story like that, it Wells up inside of me, just how awesome God is and what he is able to do through each one of us.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:33):

It’s better to reach children today than to wait until they become teenagers or adults to reach them with the gospel. The illustration that I like to use is, is that of a tree, you know, a young sapling that is just come up out of the ground. If you, if you tie a stick to it, the sapling will up straight and tall. But if you have an old Oak tree with a big branch and that branch is twisted, it basically would take a miracle to get that Oak tree back straight again. And so sometimes if you’re talking about reaching adults with a gospel, it takes a miracle. God does miracles. Thank God that God does miracles, but it literally takes a miracle to get a 60 year old adult who is an alcoholic. And, and to, to get him back on the straight and narrow, but for a kid it’s really easy to, in that steak that we plant into the ground next to the, the child is the stake of God’s word. And we’re tying them to God’s word. So to help them to grow up straight into it. And so tell me some of what you’re doing in your children’s ministry to give children a love for God’s word.

 

Matthew Wells (06:56):

Kind of our motto in the children’s ministry is to inspire imagination and to activate faith. Both of those, I believe are extremely important. Drivers to children, children have a great imagination. Anyway, they have an ability to see the things in the old Testament and the stories that are told as truthful, the way they are in the Bible. And that’s something that you run into with adults. They have trouble wrapping their minds around how some of these things could have taken place, but it child has that childlike imagination that allows them to fully comprehend and to bring them in to how awesome God is. So I feel it’s extremely important to let children know that the power that is in Jesus Christ is the same power that is inside of them. Well up inside of the children, the knowledge that they have that same access to Jesus, that the adults do, that there is no separation between that simply because of age.

 

Matthew Wells (07:57):

I also like to instill in the children and understanding that they are responsible for their own relationship with Jesus Christ. It’s not the parent’s responsibility, it’s not the grandparent’s responsibility, but I want them to know that they have a right each and every day to talk to God, just like he’s their best friend, because he should be and to grow and nurture that inside of them, to where they are praying on their own, where they are talking to God, where they’re reaching out to God, where they’re praying for people where they’re the ones praying their lunchrooms at school, where they’re the kids telling their friends about how awesome it is to be impacted by the love of Jesus Christ and then bringing their friends to church. So that then through those, we can reach an whole nother family by impacting the next kid after that.

 

Matthew Wells (08:47):

And in our areas, I focused on raising up leaders who take care of small groups. I heard a gentleman explained once that between the time a child is born and by the time they’re 18, you have 936 weekends. That’s it. We’re dealing with an even smaller window of about 156 weekends where we have them in children’s ministry. And that’s if they come to church every single Sunday, which sometimes they don’t that small window is our opportunity to reach into these children’s lives and change them forever. So we have small groups based upon each grade level and a small group leader. Who’s the same each and every week, this allows the children to develop a relationship with that adult, someone other than their parents, who they can talk to and who they can see has a relationship with Jesus Christ as well. That makes it more real to the kids that it’s not just their parents and what their parents are telling them. But it’s also this, this person I know at church who is now my friend, and we pray with them. We keep them in those small groups and we continue to nurture them as we grow them up through our small group systems.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:00):

I love how you’re thinking about that systematically, what you want to implant in the kids and the weekends that you, you have to be able to do that. And you’re competing with so many other voices. You’re competing with programs on television. You’re competing with their, their screens, small screens. They’re watching stuff on, on their mom’s iPhone. You’re competing with television, you’re competing with what they’re taught in school. And so you just have a small window of time to, to impact kids. I’ve heard it said that it’s better to go fishing with your son today than to go fishing for him tomorrow. In other words, it’s better to reach your kids and tell them about Jesus now than it is to wait until they’re 18, 19 and have lots of curiosity about life. It’s better to, to, to reach them while they’re young. And so what are you doing to, to reach out evangelistically? This is the evangelism podcast. And so what are you doing to attract kids to come to the church? What type of special events would you do over the course of a year to, to attract kids, even new families to come to the,

 

Matthew Wells (11:19):

Over the years, we have done a backpack giveaway every year. This is an opportunity for families to come to church, get a new backpack to go to school with as well as the school supplies. We have been so blessed at our church that the last two years we’ve been able to buy the supplies for every child that goes to both elementary schools in our city. So how many kids would that be? I believe that’s a little over 300 kids came out to about $20,000 in school that we were able to provide for all of the kids. And we just did a blanket coverage for every single one of them. And let them know that this was just one way that we could honor and to love them because we feel kids are so important. Wow. What a tremendous blessing I tell you, God is amazing in what he can do when you just get out of the way and allow him to take care of it.

 

Matthew Wells (12:17):

And our church is so faithful in sowing into those ministries and giving of themselves in financial gifts, that we are truly blessed to be able to do that. We also feel it’s extremely important to empower our children, to reach out to their friends and invite them. So we continue to offer different systems of points that can be gathered by children. They can gather these points in several different ways. The main point gathers are bringing a friend to church, bringing your Bible, memorizing the memory verse and knowing the main point. Then we allow the kids to spend those points in what we call our connect store, because we call our small groups connect groups, because it’s connecting them with Jesus Christ. Then they spend those points on different items that they would like to get. So it encourages them also to reach out to their friends.

 

Matthew Wells (13:13):

Also, we engage our small group leaders in going out to where those children are. So if you have a child that’s in your small group, we encourage our small group leaders to go to their school, to watch them perform, or to go to one of their sporting events and watch them participate with their friends. Then to go out and actively talk with that child who’s in their small group. This is, we have shown to encourage the other children around, to ask who that person is and why they would give up their time when they’re not a parent or relative to come in to watch it. Then the kid gets to tell them this encourages those kids, because they want to have a friend like that too. Those are just a few of the things that we do right now to try to reach out and evangelize the children around us to come in. We’ve also had a game room that we make available. We let the kids know about that. It’s available before and after service, where we have a place for kids together play different games and just an overall great environment that’s associated with the church.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:16):

How big is Fort Scott, Kansas

 

Matthew Wells (14:19):

In the city of Fort Scott, we have approximately seven to 8,000 people in the area that we’re trying to reach around us in bourbon County. We’ve estimated that there’s around 15,000

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:31):

People and in normal times pre COVID how many people, how many kids would typically be there on a Sunday?

 

Matthew Wells (14:42):

This is where we just feel like God has done amazing work through us. When we first started the children’s ministry, we had about 26 coming every Sunday, the last Sunday before COVID we had 125 kids come to church that Sunday.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:02):

Now you’re not doing all the ministry all by yourself. You have a whole team. How many people are involved in ministering to the kids in normal times,

 

Matthew Wells (15:10):

I’ve been extremely blessed. I have a team right now of about 26 individuals. A couple of these are room leaders. Then I have the small group leaders. I also have some children who have graduated from kids church who come up and help us with the audio visual and the technical aspects of what we’re doing. This allows them to engage and to have an opportunity to give back as well. But about 26 is the main group that I’m working with. And we split that up over to services pre COVID.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:42):

That’s awesome. Well, things are going to bounce back very quickly. I believe where things will be back to normal. I think for the size of Fort Scott and the area that you’re reaching, you basically have a mega ministry ministering to those kids, because if there’s 300 kids in the elementary schools around there and you have 120 of them in your church on a Sunday morning, that is extremely impressive.

 

Matthew Wells (16:07):

That’s amazing. God is, God is so good. We’ve said, we say that over and over again, but I am. I’m amazed at how he has taken it up a notch from what I even thought was possible. I remember before when I thought having 60 some kids up there was almost too much. And then we have those Sundays where we would have 120 kids and things are going so well simply because we tried to follow a pathway of scalability, where before we were in a mindset of focusing on certain areas. Now I like to look at everything as if it’s scalable. So now we have 120 kids. So we need to be planning for when God takes us to 240 kids. And then we need to be planning for when he takes us to 480 kids and continue to plan on where we’re going to grow a pastor. Craig Rochelle says something that I always love. He’s like, he says that if you’re not thinking about growing, then you’re going to be dying.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:07):

I really love your pastor. Pastor Matt hunt. Yes, sir. Matthew Hunt, which he’s been a friend for many years, a tremendous man of God. What is some of his vision for the future in the kid’s ministry,

 

Matthew Wells (17:22):

He wants to see us continue to grow and then to split the area out, even more to focus on more individual ministries. Right now we have a infant and toddler area, a preschool ministry, and then the children’s ministry, which envelops everyone from kindergarten to fifth grade. Eventually what we’d like to do is split that even further, where we have one area that focuses on first through third graders, one area that focuses on fourth and fifth graders, and then an additional area that we’ll focus on six, seventh and eighth graders, so that we can just continue to sow into their lives on their level.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:02):

What are some of the principles that you’re trying to impart into the children that you minister to? What are some of the important things that you want them to get out of spending time with you?

 

Matthew Wells (18:15):

I’ll tell you the greatest thing that I hope that they take away is that one thought that they’re responsible for their personal relationship with Jesus.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:23):

Yeah, it’s been said that God doesn’t have any grandkids. He only has children. And so you’re not saved just because your mom and dad are saved. Every person has to make an individual commitment to follow.

 

Matthew Wells (18:34):

And that he, Jesus is so much more than, than the picture that you saw on the wall. Or as I like to refer to him when I was younger, the flannel board, Jesus. Now a lot of people don’t know about flannel boards, but they were around when I was growing up

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:48):

Back before they had screens.

 

Matthew Wells (18:51):

I want children to realize how real Jesus is and that they have that opportunity to continue to reach out to him, to talk to him, to spend time with him, that they can read their Bibles now that their children, that they can be the one engaging their parents to read the Bible if they don’t. And that’s one of the things that I try to drive into my small group leaders is how important it is to let these kids know that their relationship personally, with Jesus is of the utmost importance and that they can do anything with the power of Christ Jesus inside of them. They can lay hands on people and pray for miracles. God does not care how old or how young you are. He just wants to use you. And I want these kids to realize that even at this age, God can use them to be an evangelist in their school. God can use them to lay hands on people and to pray for miracles and see those miracles come to pass. And that has a huge impact to empower these children, to take control of their own lives and their relationship with God.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:03):

And I love that so much. You’re actually teaching the children to be evangelists, to even evangelize their own parents. Maybe the kids start coming and get saved before the parents even get saved. And because of the work that God’s doing in the kids’ lives, then the parents start getting connected to the church. And then the kids

 

Matthew Wells (20:23):

I’m so blessed right now. I actually have two of my leaders that started coming because their kid came as a friend and then he wanted to come back. And for two weeks they dropped him off to go to church with his friend, but he kept telling them how much fun he was having at church. So they came and tried it. Now they’re members of the church and they are served team members, two of my most

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:48):

Room leaders and their ability to reach kids is awesome. All because we were able to reach one kid and it snowballed throughout the entire family. I think that if a church wants to reach more people, one of the first places they should make an investment is in the children’s ministry. We see this so many times in, in churches, overseas, where they almost think kids are in annoyance sometimes. And they, they shoo them out of the church and say, go, go outside and play, get out, you know, be quiet where we’re listening to the preacher, where they should be inviting the kids to come in and, and teaching them and training them in the things of God. Because if you wait until later to evangelize them, it’s too late. I have a saying that I like to use with my small group leaders, that pastor Matthew is babysitting the adults so that we can do the real work of the ministry. That’s wonderful. Well, Matt, thank you so much for being on the podcast. Appreciate you talking about reaching children for Jesus. It’s been my pleasure, Daniel. Thank you for having me. Thank you

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:54):

For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

 

Why are evangelists needed? Why doesn’t God just send angels down to earth to announce His existence? Today, Joshua Wagner, an evangelist and a theologian, discusses why God made evangelists essential to His plans for humanity. 

Show Notes: 

Joshua Wagner is the son of Kevin and Nicole Wagner. He began ministering at the age of 14 by leading his own Teen Conferences around the world. At the age of 18 he began conducting his own leadership conferences and evangelistic crusades around the world, ministering to crowds up to 50,000 people at a time. He graduated from Victory College and from Oral Roberts University with a Master of Divinity degree. 

Why is the evangelist needed? 

Why Doesn’t God Send Angels to Announce His Existence?

Website: http://www.wagnerministries.org 

Read Josh’s Book “Go”: https://amzn.to/2RslerE 

Key Quote: Evangelism is a job you can only do on earth. You cannot witness to lost people in heaven because there are no lost people in heaven. 

 

Listen to Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach, on The Evangelism Podcast

Transcription  

Daniel King (00:00):

Welcome back. Once again, we are with my friend, Joshua Wagner, and he has written an excellent book called go. His last words are first priority. Josh, can you explain to me what the title of your book is all about?

 

Josh Wagner (00:17):

It is taken from the great commission of Jesus Christ. Of course, the first word in Jesus, his great commission is go and preach the gospel. So it is a book on evangelism and outreach. It deals with both the practical and theological aspects of evangelism and the subtitle there is emphasizing that the last words of Jesus that he spoke to his disciples before he ascended to heaven to go and preach the gospel must become our first priority

 

Daniel King (00:44):

In today’s podcast. AWe’re going to look at one of the questions that you address in the book. And this is a really important question for me because I’m called by God to be an evangelist. And so the question is why is the evangelist needed? Why doesn’t God send angels to announce his existence or just show up in a vision to people. So people know that he’s real. Why has God called evangelists to preach the gospel

 

Josh Wagner (01:15):

Question? You know it should be noted that God in his sovereignty could have set up the system in any way that he chose. And yet he chose to do it this way. The way that God has chosen for the communication of the gospel to go forth is through the mouths of believers. It is to go and preach the gospel. Now, certainly he could have sent angels to just appear to everybody and tell them about Jesus. He could have made sure that everybody gets a dream or a vision of Jesus, but he didn’t do that. He instead made a decision that for the gospel to go forth, it would be communicated by believers like you and me and all of the others who are in our world, who know Jesus to go and tell others

 

Daniel King (02:02):

About Jesus. So it is our task as believers to share the gospel. Also our privilege, absolutely to obey the commission from our King.

 

Josh Wagner (02:13):

And, and there is for those of you who are listening, and if you’ve ever led somebody to Jesus, you also know there’s no greater satisfaction in the world than being able to do that. So yes, it is a great privilege. It is a reward to be able to do that, that we are privileged to do that at the same time, there is a great responsibility and sometimes people maybe they’ve thought through it and maybe they haven’t, but I think there’s in the back of their mind, this idea. Well, if I don’t tell them somebody else will, and, and maybe even if I don’t get there, then God will send an angel to tell them, or they’ll, he’ll show up in a dream or in a vision. And we hear these fantastic stories of people, particularly in the Muslim world who are having dreams and visions of Jesus. I don’t deny those things. But when we talk about truly people who have no relationship with God, no, nothing about Jesus. We cannot expect angels or visions or dreams to do the work that God has called us to do. And when we suggest that that’s possible, it really takes away from us, the urgency and the responsibility to do

 

Daniel King (03:13):

TLR Osborne. He always said that there’s two prayers that God will not answer. The first prayer is when we ask God to do something that he’s already done. And the second prayer is when we ask God to do something he told us to do. Wow. And so sometimes people pray, God, I pray for the world to be saved. I pray for, for China to be saved. And God’s actually done everything he needs to do in order for China’s to be saved. God gave his only son, his very best Jesus died on the cross. He shed his blood. He provided for the salvation of all mankind for every person in China. And then we’re, we’re praying for China to be saved. And yet God told us go. Yeah. And so when will China be saved? When we obey that word, that’s Jesus that we’re asking God to do something that he actually told us to do.

 

Josh Wagner (04:14):

Exactly. And you know, it doesn’t mean that God can’t use these supernatural things like angels and visions and dreams too

 

Daniel King (04:22):

Help the gospel gospel.

 

Josh Wagner (04:24):

But when it comes to the communication of the gospel, God has uniquely determined that we are the ones to do it. I’m going to give you an example of this in acts chapter 16, Paul, who is a missionary going into unreached places, the places that he is visiting. These are places that have never heard about Jesus. Why? Well, Jesus had just shown up and he wasn’t in these places that Paul was going to. And so how does Paul know where to go? Well, this is a fantastic story. Where in Martin acts 16, verse six, it says Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and glacier. Having been kept by the Holy spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. Now, when they came to the border of my Mesia, they tried to enter Bethania, but the spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So this is now twice. God has said, no, don’t go this way and don’t go this way. It’s it’s this GPS that’s occurring here with Paul.

 

Daniel King (05:15):

Do you know how I know you’re a good preacher, John? How’s that? Because you can actually pronounce the names of all these places. Well, that’s a good sign. That you’re a good preacher,

 

Josh Wagner (05:24):

The compliment. And then in verse eight, it says, so they pass by my CA and went down a trow as, and during the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him come over to Macedonia and help us. After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So notice God uses a vision here, but he doesn’t send this vision to the people in Macedonia. Instead he sends the vision to Paul and says, Paul, there people in Macedonia who are probably crying out to the one, true God, Hey, whoever you are out there, we know you’re real, but we need someone to tell us the truth and what does God do? Send a vision to them. He doesn’t send an angel to them. He doesn’t give them a dream.

 

Josh Wagner (06:12):

Instead, he uses a vision to tell Paul, Paul, you go, you’re a real person who has the gospel message. And you are now called to go and preach this message to the Macedonians. And that’s what Paul and his companions do. They go there. They lead Lydia to the Lord. They lead. This starts as great church in Philippi that he would one day write the letter to the Philippians, to this great ministry that occurs. But it only happens because Paul was obedient to and preach the gospel. So again, God sent an angel to the Macedonians. He could have sent a vision or a dream, but he didn’t. He sent the vision to Paul so that Paul a human could go and preach the gospel. And that is the same method over and over again, that is used in the book of acts. Think about the Philippian or the European UNIC in acts chapter eight.

 

Josh Wagner (06:59):

Here’s a man that by all means he even had a Bible. He had this Bible, but he still needed a human to come and communicate the gospel to him to tell him what he was, reading, how it connected him to Jesus,

 

Daniel King (07:12):

Understand what he was reading, right?

 

New Speaker (07:14):

So it’s not enough for us to just give somebody a Bible in another country. We need to be there with them to tell them what the Bible means to tell them about the one, true God. Some people think, well, it’s just enough to, you know, dropped Bibles in the middle of the jungle. That’s not enough. It wasn’t enough for the Ethiopian eunuch. Why should it be enough for people in our day to day? Even the apostle Paul, where his conversion on the road to Damascus a vision of Jesus, Jesus knocked him off the horse. He saw the bright light and he went blind.

 

Josh Wagner (07:45):

And people oftentimes say that Paul was saved on the road to Damascus, but that’s not true. Paul had an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. As you just referenced a vision, this huge noise. And this huge lightning knocked him off his horse and he became, but he was told to go into, to Damascus where he was be told next, what to do. It was at the same time that God showed up and a vision to a man, a Christian man named Anna. Nice. And when he showed up to Anna Niaz, he said, I need you to go down to straight street to Judas his house. And you’re going to minister to a man named Saul and, and last thought, God, you, you messed up. This saw he’s not good news for us, Christians. He wants to arrest us. He wants to kill us.

 

Josh Wagner (08:25):

But the vision that Anna nice received sent him to Saul’s house or to Judas to Salesforce. It was, and it was there when Anna Niask came and taught to saw that then saw was saying saved. You see, up until that moment, he was not saved. In fact, we know this because when Saul was retelling this, the story of his conversion, it’s actually recounted to other times in verse, in acts 22. And in acts 26, he says this in acts 26. When referencing that story, he says I’m. And, and I, I, he’s a saw, I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. And I am sending you to them to open their eyes, to turn them from their darkness to light. He’s telling them about how God had called Saul to be his ambassador. But look at what it says in Acts 22.

 

Josh Wagner (09:21):

When Paul recounts this, he says in Acts 22:12, a man named on an ISE came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, brother, Saul, receive your sight. And at that moment, I was able to see him. Then he said, the God of our ancestors has chosen to know his will. And to see the righteous one, to hear the words from his mouth, you will be as witness and all of all people of what you’ve seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away. Calling on his name, see Saul at this moment. When analyze came was still in a sense, he was still an unbeliever, but he needed Anna. Niaz a human to come and to share the gospel with him. And it was only then that he was able to receive the gospel and to have his sins washed

 

Daniel King (10:04):

Away. Wow. I love it. And then later on in Romans 10, Paul quotes this saying everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And so he’s saying that out of his own conversion experience, where Anna Niaz here is saying, you must call on his name. And

 

Josh Wagner (10:26):

When Paul says that in Romans 10, he follows that statement with these rhetorical questions he says, but how can they call him the one in whom they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one in whom they have not heard? And how can they hear, unless someone preaches to them, someone preaches to them and how can they preach unless they’re sent. And that the point that Paul is making there is unless someone, a person, not some angel, not some dream, not some vision, but some, one preaches to the unbeliever. They cannot be saved. Why does Paul know that? Because it was true for his own life. Even a vision of Jesus was insufficient to save Saul. It was only when an ISA came and explained the gospel to him in a way that he can understand that that vision fully made sense. And he was able to receive the,

 

Daniel King (11:13):

And another example would be that of Cornelius. W what do you think about his story? His story is probably the most

 

Josh Wagner (11:21):

Obvious when it comes to teaching on this subject. Here’s a man Cornelius, that the Bible says was a really devout man. He was a religious man. In fact, in acts chapter 10, when we’re introduced to him, this description sounds like a Christian. It says he and his family were devout. And God fearing. He gave generously to those in need. And he prayed to God regularly. That sounds like a lot of Christians, or even maybe people who aren’t Christians, but they, they want to be Christians. You know, this is the type of description of what Christians should be, devout God fear and giving to in need, praying to God regularly, but he was not saved. And what does God do? God sends an angel to him. Now, does the angel preach the gospel to him? No. The angel gives him a direction, go call for Simon, Peter in Joppa.

 

Josh Wagner (12:07):

And so the angel does do a work in the gospel, but not the work of, in the gospel. He instead says, send for that human send for Peter. Peter comes, he shares the gospel with Cornelius and his family, and they become saved. Now, some people who read chapter 10, they think all while he was Cornelius, his family, they were already saved. Peter was just coming to tell them about the baptism of the Holy spirit or to encourage them in some way. Well, if all we had was chapter 10, perhaps you could make that deduction. But thankfully we don’t. We also have chapter 11 where Peter retells the story of Cornelius. And in retelling that story, look what he says here about that event. He says in verse 15 of acts, 11, as I began to speak the Holy, sorry, back in verse 13, he says, he told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, send a Joppa for Simon who was called Peter for, he will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.

 

Josh Wagner (13:02):

This shows us that when that angel appeared to Cornelius, him in his household were not saved. They needed a human to come. So yes, theoretically God could have set up the system. So that angels and visions and dreams brought the gospel to unlock, to lost people. But that’s not how he did it. He gave that gospel message to you, to me, to every Christian, the great commission to go and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, because angels cannot do that. Job dreams and visions can not do that job. It is only when one person tells another person about the good news of the gospel that salvation has made.

 

Daniel King (13:36):

Wow, I’m so delighted to hear you say that Josh, because it means that my job is secure until Jesus comes back. My calling as an evangelist will last that it won’t suddenly go away. We are needed, thank God that we’re needed. And

 

Josh Wagner (13:54):

That’s a job you can only do on earth. You know, we have all of eternity to praise Jesus, to worship Jesus, to read the Bible, to do all these things, but you know what you can’t do in heaven, you can’t evangelize, you can’t witness to lost people because there are no lost people in heaven. So we might as well make hay while there is still time here on earth. Like Jesus says in John three work while it is light for night is coming when no man can work.

 

Daniel King (14:17):

Wow. Such great wisdom. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.

Chris Overstreet wants to turn God’s compassion into action. He does this by preaching the Gospel in one of the toughest mission fields in the world – Portland, Oregon. He wants to take Christ’s love around the United States using a truck that turns into a platform for preaching the Gospel.  

Website: https://compassiontoaction.com 

Show Notes: 

Questions for Chris Overstreet

Your name is Compassion To Action. What does that mean? 

What is it like living and ministering in Portland, Oregon with all the chaos that is going on there? 

You are connected to Bethel in Redding California. Tell me what you have learned from Bill Johnson. 

You have a great heart for taking the Gospel to America. Do you think America is on the verge of a revival? 

What will it take for revival to breakout in this nation? 

Tell me about your Gospel Truck that turns into a platform. 

Part of the calling of the evangelist is to equip believers for evangelism. How do you do that? 

Key Quote: 95% of the being in the ministry has to do with the heart and only 5% has to do with the person’s gifting. – Bill Johnson 

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

Chris Overstreet wants to turn God’s compassion into action. He does this by preaching the gospel in one of the toughest mission fields in the world, Portland, Oregon. He wants to take God’s love around the United States. Using a truck that turns into a platform for preaching. The gospel. Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King we’re Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Hey, welcome to the evangelism podcast today. I’m Daniel King and I’m excited about leading people to Jesus. Give me just a minute. I’m going to get Chris Overstreet on Skype. Here we go.

 

Chris Overstreet (01:17):

Hi, this is Chris Overstreet with compassion to action. I want to tell you that Jesus loves you so very much and has incredible plan for your life. He looks into the future as he hung on a bloody cross and he saw you and he says, I love you. I love you. I love you for the Bible says for God. So loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God bless you. I’ll hope to talk to you soon. Bye-Bye at the tone, please record your message. When you’ve finished recording, you may hang up or press one for more options.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:52):

Hey Chris, this is Daniel King. I love your message that you leave on your voicemail. What a great way to witness to people. I’m trying to reach you to invite you to be on my podcast. Look forward to talking goodbye. Well, it looks like Chris, didn’t answer my phone. Let me try him one more time and see if he answers. Hey Chris, this is Daniel King. You are on the evangelism podcast. How are you doing?

 

Chris Overstreet (02:25):

Doing amazing, man. Thanks for calling.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:27):

Absolutely. Chris, let’s jump right into this. I love evangelism. And I know that you do to your ministry name is called compassion to action. Can you tell me what does that mean?

 

Chris Overstreet (02:42):

Yeah. Well, for us it would mean three things that we represent the heart of God to reach the loss, make disciples input, compassion into action. The heart of Jesus was moved with compassion and that’s what motivates us is to be moved, compassion, to be able to reach to it.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:02):

That’s awesome. And tell me some of how you do that.

 

Chris Overstreet (03:06):

So some of the practical things that we’re doing Daniel right now is of course, every Saturday that we have teams that are out in the community, we train and equip people and we’re reaching people in the Portland area you know, just on the street level. So in the midst of everything that’s been going on in Portland, we’ve had teams out there just reaching people and people about Jesus, making disciples, seeing people get sides and that tubs and just making disciples that will make disciples. And then of course, you know, we do open air campaigns as well. The preaching, the gospel, reaching people and destroying, destroying the works of the devil through preaching the gospel.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:47):

Yeah. I wanted to ask you about living and ministering in Portland, Oregon. It has been in the news a lot lately with riots and Antifa. The federal government sent agents there and people were starting fires and buildings throwing Molotov cocktails. They were tearing down statues. They even burned up a statue of an elk. I don’t know what the elk ever did to offend anybody. You know, there’s smashing windows, looting businesses. And so that’s the, what a lot of people have been seeing on the news when it comes to Portland, what’s it like actually living and ministering there?

 

Chris Overstreet (04:28):

Well, I say that, you know, we’re center down to much more so as an evangelist, it has great opportunities for us to get out there to preach Jesus. Yes, it’s, it’s right in our face. We’ve seen it on the news but when we’ve seen teams going out and just a couple of weeks ago, there was a rally and we had teams out there and we were literally seeing people at protests breakdown, weeping, crying, and just recognizing their need for Jesus. So yes, it’s right in our face, Daniel, but it’s an incredible opportunity for us to get out and reach people for Jesus.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:06):

That’s awesome. Now, before you were in Portland, you lived in Redding, California, and you were connected to Bethel down there. I wanted to ask you, what have you learned from bill Johnson?

 

Chris Overstreet (05:20):

Well, I, I was the outreach director for 15 years at Buffalo church. And the number one thing that I learned from bill is,uto watch over your heart, you know, he says this phrase in one of those series, reading from the heart is 95% of the Christian life has to do with the heart and 5% has to do with giftings. And so of course I, I’ve learned many things about the kingdom of God that God wants to use the everyday person to openly display the raw power of God. But you know, what I gleaned for bill the most is the importance of the heart that everything flows from the heart. Talk

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:58):

To me a little bit about that. What does that mean? That 90% of, of being in ministry has to do with the heart or 95% and only 5% has to do with, with your gifting. How do you see that operate in people’s lives?

 

Chris Overstreet (06:13):

Well, get things that are a really big deal. I mean, but that’s not what defines a Christian. What defines a Christian is their heart that is yielded to the Lord, Jesus Christ, their heart. That is the desire to obey him at any cost that he is Lord. And this comes from that understanding of what he’s done for us as, as believers that he has cleansed us, he has given us a new heart, a new life that is only found through Jesus Christ and that it is his grace that empowers us to move forward and walk in him and represent him well to this generation. And so that phrase, and I, I think when bill saying this, there was a lot of people that are gifted, but the gifts is not what defines a person. It is the heart that is yielded to Jesus Christ.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:06):

Amen. That’s awesome. I’ve seen on your website that you have a really big heart for taking the gospel to America. Do you think the nation of America is on the verge of the Bible?

 

Chris Overstreet (07:22):

I think that our nation is at a tipping point right now. We can see it. We can feel it. We need Jesus. And so the only hope for America is Jesus Christ. And I believe that hope is alive in hearts. I believe that there’s attorney right now. I believe that people are realizing that Jesus is the answer for America. And I believe that right now, more than ever, there is an awakening and the church, I’m not talking about a building, Daniel, I’m talking about the church to be able to say, we’ve got to take a stand for Jesus Christ and we’ve got to be bold with the gospel. I believe it we’re on a tipping point. Daniel, I believe it. I believe that America is at a tipping point for the greatest revival that we have ever seen in the Merrick and America’s history.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:09):

What do you think it will take for revival to break out in America?

 

Chris Overstreet (08:14):

I believe it’s already breaking out. I believe it’s breaking out in hearts and lives, but the it’s the yieldedness and it’s a spirit of repentance. And it’s an understanding of Jesus is the only solution for America that we need him more than ever before. So it’s that yieldedness and it’s the preaching of the simple gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe that God is speaking right now and saying it is time for the church to get out of the harvesting mentality for souls and that as the church awakens and realizes that they’ve been created in the image of God and it’s time to preach the gospel, I believe that there is a move of, that’s going to spring forth.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:58):

Part of your vision for reaching America includes building a truck that turns into a platform. Can you tell me about that project and in what you envision this truck becoming?

 

Chris Overstreet (09:15):

Yeah. Thank you, Daniel. A few about a year and a half ago, the Lord began to speak to me and I would just have these visions of open air gospel campaigns all over America. So I contacted my brother, Tim, who works with us and I said, Tim, would you do some research? Let’s find out some of the best vehicles that we could get that, that folds out to a stage. I could truck the full.to the stage. And so he, he, he shared with me about stage line that’s based out of Canada. And and this is incredible Daniel. It’s like a transformer that folds out to a stage that you can take it anywhere. And, and you could roll up in a park. You could roll up on a university, you could roll up on a high school, you could roll up in an open field and it literally folds down like a strands, a transformer stage. So you can just openly preach the gospel. And so we’re so excited Daniel, we just got the States, we just got the funding for the stage, and now we’re moving onto our, our truck that will pull it. So there’ll be pulled by a three 50 truck and that we’re going to put a sound system in there that we’re going to, we’re going to literally preach the gospel all over the place in America.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:27):

Wow. That that’s outstanding. So, so you still need the truck have you purchased a sound system for the stage yet?

 

Chris Overstreet (10:35):

So we haven’t got the sound system nor have we got the truck. But that is the next phase of, to the, to the vision is we need to get a truck that’s going to pull it. And then the sound system and a trailer as well. Well, I want to pull the sound system.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:50):

I want to encourage all my listeners to go to your website right now, go to a compassion, to action.com, compassion to action.com and, and give a gift to help make this truck a reality. Because I think we do need revival here in America, and it’s going to take going out and preaching the gospel all over the place. Now, once you, you get all the funding you need to, to purchase the sound system and the, the truck to, to, to pull the, the platform and everything. What, what do you plan to, to start doing with this?

 

Chris Overstreet (11:30):

So our hopes is that we’re going to help other ministries out and we’re going to partner with other ministries and we’re going to take it all over America. So our first place that we’re going to hit, we’re going to call them tours. Gospel tours is we’re going to hit the West coast. I’m on the West coast in Portland. We’re going to go down to California where there was some sun because it is raining here. And so we’re going to go down to California in January, and we’re going to partner with another ministry, Shaun flight. And hopefully the plan is that we’re going to be able to help Sean do a gathering on January 1st on Azusa street on the actual Azusa street. That’s our first location.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:09):

Holy spirit broke out.

 

Chris Overstreet (12:12):

Exactly Daniel, exactly over a little bit, just over a hundred years ago. And so we’re believing for revival and this is a significant location. So we’re going to take the stage out there, or we’re going to partner with Sean and let him use the vehicle and and see the power of God manifested in that location.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:32):

I love the ministry of Sean Foy. And I’ve been seeing, he’s been doing events all over America, bringing people together to worship during this time, have you been involved in some of those outreaches?

 

Chris Overstreet (12:46):

Yeah, I’ve been in a handful of them and Shawn reached out to me for Portland. So we hosted him out here and it was incredible that we saw thousands of people impacted. And and then, you know, we saw, you know, many individuals baptized in the river and I’ll tell you one story really quickly, Daniel. I just came back from DC. UI was,uI was wishing showing up there in DC of that large gathering. And on the flight back, I was sitting with Lou Ingle and the airport, and there was a young lady that came up to us and she shared on a house. She was baptized in Portland and she came to one of the events in Portland. I was preaching the gospel there and she got a shade and baptized in the river in Portland. And so we’ve just seen incredible fruits coming out from Shawn flakes ministry and these worship gatherings. And we want to partner with people like this.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:43):

That’s awesome. Praise God for that. What a tremendous testimony that is revival taking place when someone gets saved and then gets baptized right in the river. So

 

Chris Overstreet (13:53):

The greatest miracle

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:57):

Chris part of the, the calling of the evangelist is to equip believers for evangelism. How do you go about equipping believers to share their faith?

 

Chris Overstreet (14:09):

That’s so great. Yeah. I started equipping the saints to be able to share their faith. And 2002, as a student, you know, I was a second year student at the school of ministry and I just found myself, you know what? This is the call of God, it’s on my life. So I just began to gather other students and just begin to model it and begin to train it, equip them and let them go out on the streets with me. And they began to grow. I came on staff and I just began to train and equip students that this is a lifestyle that we can all do this. And so practically speaking, just sharing with them, just some core values of sharing the faith and stepping out and seeing people get saved through their own. And that just begins to multiply. So I, it, it is the multiplication of not only as an evangelist doing it, but seeing other people do it as well, the body of Christ. And, and I think as an evangelist, the end of that, that’s where we, I think the green light comes on with us. We just love seeing other people enter into the harvest as well. And, and not just us doing it.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:14):

At what point did you know that you were called to be an evangelist?

 

Chris Overstreet (15:20):

You know, I that’s a great question, Daniel. I think it’s evolved. I remember in 1999, I was at Y web and and Chico, California. And I had somewhat prophesied over me that at the end of the Angeles and that God would use me. And it really began to solidify and confirm what God spoke to me when I was 21 years old, under a tent where I was fully surrendering to the Lord and st. Louis, Missouri, where God spoke to me, he said, I’ve called you to be an evangelist. And, and in that moment, I was wrestling with fear. Have you ever wrestled with fear January? I know that I did. And, and in that moment, God was saying, I’m calling you. And, and a year later, or a few months later when that prophetic word came, it really solidify what God spoke to me. And and it’s just been evolving by one step of obedience at a time.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:27):

That’s awesome. What a tremendous story. Well, the body of Christ needs more great evangelists like you. I love what you’re doing, Chris. I love your, your ministry. Compassion to action. Thank you so much for preaching the gospel. Thank you for your heart for America. And for reaching people in this nation, we need a revival in America, and I believe that God has called you to be a big part of that. So would you just finish by praying and anointed, Holy spirit prayer for those who are listening, that God would use them to bring many people to Jesus.

 

Chris Overstreet (17:01):

Yes, I will. Father, we just thank you for every listener right now. Holy spirit. We know that you’re the greatest evangelists. You’re the one that brings conviction of sin. You’re the one that points people to Jesus. As we preach the gospel father, I pray right now for every listener, God that you would demystify evangelism or father. I prayed for the burning in their hearts, the conviction that Jesus, you, the only way, and God, I pray that individuals, as they began to speak your word, that they would become fluid and the gospel, they would become incredible articulators of the simple gospel of Jesus Christ. God, I pray for a fire that would burn in their heart Lord that they would begin to say right now today, Lord, I want to see someone to get saved. Lord, I pray God for that. I pray Lord for the everyday person in the marketplace so that you would utilize them or to reach their neighbors or to reach their realm of influence. God. I pray for that. And I pray that people would get saved Lord baptize in the Holy spirit. So with the presence of God, Lord, and the disciples will be made, that would make disciples. That would make disciples. What I pray for that and the mighty of Jesus just crashed.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:14):

Amen. Well, Chris, thank you so much for being on the evangelism podcast. It’s great having you as a guest.

Chris Overstreet (18:23):

Thank you Daniel so much for having me on. I love what you’re doing, man.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:26):

God bless you. Get back. Thank you for more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

 

Can you imagine the entire continent of Africa being impacted by the Gospel in only one day? That’s the mission of today’s guest on the Evangelism Podcast. Siegfried Tomazsewsk worked with Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke for eighteen years. He has a heart for Africa and he is working to lead people to Jesus across the entire continent. 

Website: https://callingministry.org 

Show Notes: 

What is the mission of One God One Day One Africa? 

This is the largest Gospel net that has ever been cast across an entire continent. 

Testimonies from One God One Day One Africa:

1. All the offices in the body of Christ are coming together. 
2. It is not about stage evangelism, but about many individual evangelists. 

What is the strategy for reaching into the closed nations in Africa? 

Learn about the Day of Prayer for Africa – November 6 

Key Quote: It is not about denomination, it is about salvation. 

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

Can you imagine the entire continent of Africa being impacted by the gospel in only one day, that’s the mission of today’s guest on the evangelism

 

Evangelism Podcast Announcer (00:10):

Podcast. Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist, Daniel King,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:48):

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Man, I am with a good friend, evangelist, Siegfried, DOMA, Jeff ski. Did I say that right? You are wonderful. And he is an evangelist who was trained up under the ministry of Reinhard Bonnke. And for the last year, he has been focused on one of the biggest evangelistic efforts in history. It’s called one God, one day, one Africa in effort to proclaim the gospel to all of Africa at one time. So brother Siegfried, how’s that going?

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (01:29):

Well? I mean, I’m excited about it because what we see I believe is historic. When the evangelist, Jennifer wild, whom I did not know by the bar of soap called me one day and she said, I’m evangelist Jennifer Wilde. UGod gave me a vision some 36 years ago. And I want to see the whole continent of Africa being reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I said, wonderful. She says, yes. At the same weekend I hung up and she calls again. She said, we got disconnected. I said, no, we didn’t get disconnected. I hung up. She said, why would you do that? I said, you know, I get so many real curls calls. I don’t have time for that. She said, no, no, listen to me. I said, okay, I’ll listen. What do you want? She says, I want you to help me to reach every country of Africa simultaneously with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (02:19):

I said, this is not possible. She said, well, this may be, but with God, all things are possible. I said yes with God, but not with me. Thank you. And she’s said, but please listen to me. I said, now you listen for one moment with evangelists Bonnke we had crusades five, six crusade, six, seven crusades a year. And then Reinhard Bonnke said, let’s do 10 crusades. Every year. We did that for two years in a row. And then we said, pastor, Bonnke, we cannot continue. It’s killing us. Now. You’re not talking about 10 crusades a year. You’re not talking about 10 crusades at the same weekend. You’re talking about 40, 45, 50 crusades at the same weekend. I said, forget it. And she said, well, why don’t you pray? And then she had me. So I prayed and God gave me what I call a blueprint.

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (03:06):

And I realized, and I said, Jennifer, is it about you? She said, no. If it’s not about you, if it’s about reaching the lost of Africa, I believe God can give us, has given us a plan. And the plan is there are so many ministries in Africa operating, preaching the gospel. But at that time, until that time, I know many did not know what the other ministry was doing. They were preaching. They were sharing. They were going to the same cities after couple of weeks. As a matter of fact, just after that a ministry, a friend of mine called me and he said, we just came back from our Ruan Uganda. We had a wonderful crusade. I said, praise God, couple of weeks later, another friend calls me. He said, can you pray? We are going to a city called Aruba Uganda. I said, wonderful.

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (03:48):

But why don’t you guys go to the same city? Don’t you talk to one another? No, we didn’t know. Well, you know, the people love it because it’s, it’s, it’s hype it’s it brings people to the church and so on. But there’s tons of cities. They have never been reached with the gospel. So I said, why don’t we orchestrate that for once I cannot do it. We cannot do it as individuals, but together we can reach the continent of Africa. Why don’t we just orchestrated and say, every ministry is taking responsibility for one nation at the same weekend, they are in Africa anyway. And within shortest period of time, we had many ministries that joined. They said, we are going to that city in that country today we are covering, I would say casting the largest gospel net over a whole continent with prayer and with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:43):

This is so beautiful to see. I believe that the greatest harvest of souls in history will happen right before Jesus comes back. And so when we see great events like this happening, it’s a sign that Jesus is going to return soon. And we’re going to see thousands of people come to Jesus because of this. What are some of the testimonies that you’ve already experienced from all this effort?

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (05:08):

Well, there are three things. I think it’s a testimony worth sharing. Number one, I have never, ever in my life seen not only the evangelists coming together, but how the different offices are coming together. I see prayer ministries coming on our site. I see the ministry of discipleship makers coming on our side because Jesus never said go into all the world and counter raised hands. He said, make disciples. And I see how all these different ministries are joining for one purpose. How can we reach the continent of Africa? There is no jealousy there. It’s not about our, our logo. It’s not about our ego. It’s not about denomination. It’s about salvation. And that’s the biggest miracle already to me. That’s happening right in front of my own eyes. I see how different denominations are coming together. This is not something that the Pentecostal have. Evented evangelism has never been even invented by the Pentecostals.

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (06:17):

Even. I love to speak about Pentecostalism, but I see my brothers yesterday. I was on a, on a call with the leadership of Nigeria, the spiritual leadership of Nigeria. That was the leader of the Pentecostal. There was the Archbishop, there was the Pentecostal leader. We all were together, praying together, sharing together. How can we reach the nation of Nigeria? So this is already wonderful. And then I see how young evangelists suddenly they, they get hope. They get joy because they can join under the wings of the big ministry as the big evangelist and go out. And suddenly I see, it’s not only about stage evangelism. We see at individual evangelists, I see evangelistic churches. They go out and reach and preach. And even before we have even started, I received phone calls and testimonies of people being saved by sharing the gospel.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:15):

Wow. That is so beautiful to hear about what you’re doing. And you’ve also been mobilizing people to pray. Tell me about that.

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (07:24):

Now. This is also historic. I mean, we are coming from one historic event to the other. I was praying. And as a leadership from one GDA, we thought we need a day of prayer for Africa before we start, because prayer is the foundation of everything without praying, nothing happens. So I started to share that and I had a day in mind, that was the 6th of November. I shared that here in a meeting with, with C fan, with Daniel Kolenda and the team here. And they said, well, we already have set the 6th of November as an international day of prayer for Africa, all our offices around the globe are already preparing for a day of prayer for Africa. I said, wow, this is wonderful. I talked to Velma not to go. The precedent of go 2020. He said, well, I know of ministries world, no, a renown ministries, prayer ministries. They have already prepared for a day of prayer for the 6th of November, the, the prayer night of the largest church in Lagos, Nigeria, our CCG pastor Addie boy. He is on board. I spoke to the largest church of North Africa. They are on board and suddenly I realized how churches, ministries and individuals are joining for a global or international day of prayer. Not for something wonderful to happen in America or in Europe, not for the political, but for a revival for salvation, for a harvest of souls in Africa.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:03):

So how many countries total are there in Africa?

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (09:07):

There’s 54 countries in Africa. We are dividing closed countries, semi-closed countries and open-ended

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:13):

Trees. And so does the approach have to be different for each of those groups? Yes,

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (09:18):

Absolutely. Because when we come to Africa, it’s a continent. The continent of Africa is as diverse as the whole world. We got different, not only different time zones, we got different languages. I’m not talking about five major language. I mean, I’m talking within one country about 15, 16, 20 different things,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:37):

Language groups, and every language has its own culture. Its own people, its own customs,

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (09:43):

Tribal things. We have to take care of religious background. So there is a tons of differences.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:50):

So with these, these 53 nations, how many ministries have joined hands with you in order to do this massive outreach?

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (10:00):

Well there’s ministries and there is churches we have about 34 ministries covering countries. And then there is African local churches that joined together, which is also a miracle to me. Church is joining, taking responsibility. If I look at Burkina Faso, if I look at ivory coast, if I look at other countries, they join churches together, denomination say we take our own responsibility, Nigeria. They don’t have an American or European evangelistic ministry coming. They said we will cover our nation. And then of course we have closed countries where we have a different approach. We broadcast livestream into those places. All the churches underground churches are networking already and they will have all their events in the homes, in the underground churches and even in the open church.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:57):

So sometimes you go in on ground, sometimes you go in by air, but it’s a massive effort to take the entire continent for Jesus. What’s coming up. What’s next for the plan? Well,

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (11:13):

You know, just a couple of weeks ago when I got up in the morning and I saw November is coming so quick, I said to myself, you know, I see two things. Number one, this is not just ministries connecting for one event. What we have seen in the last one and a half, two years, we established a network of ministry, relationships, friendships, building friendships between evangelistic ministers and preachers of the gospel. This is so wonderful. Number one, number two, we realized it’s not only for day event or a three day event. And then God spoke to me. He said one GDA does not only mean one God. One day one Africa. Yes, it’s always the day of salvation, but it’s one God, one decade, one Africa. So we are homing in for a decade of harvest for Africa. And then I realized suddenly go 2020 has changed. Now their name to go decade. See fan is speaking about a decade of harvest and many other ministry suddenly are speaking the global church network, Steve Davis, bruh. I’m also part of, we are speaking about a decade of harvest for the global church. It’s absolutely stunning. What happens in the next 10 years?

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:44):

What a tremendous vision. I like your focus on networking because Jesus called us to be fishers of men. And of course fishermen need nets. And so a network is a net of many different relationships working together to bring people to Jesus. And in these days, ministries that don’t network will not work. You have to network, you have to build friendships. You have to work with others. Collaborate. Talk to me a little bit about the importance of collaboration.

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (13:18):

Yes. Well there’s two aspects. Number one, a network is built, as you mentioned, it comes from the Vertin net. When I was in Morocco just recently, I was standing in the Harbor and watching and taking pictures of fishers who were mending their nets. Number one, the nets are made out of many knots. So if we have a net, let’s say, u,, foot by 10 foot net and, and we only have five knots. All the fish will swim through. So we need a network that is made of net many knots and Yves Meech ministry is a knot that comes together to build that net. If one knot is broken and it’s not being mended, the whole net will not work. So it means that we all need to take care of one another. We need to monitor and watch one another. I think that has never been before.

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (14:17):

We were looking at our own little world, our own ministry and when something broken our ministry, the whole ministry broke. And I believe we are called when we network, when we call up core liberate, not only that we sharpen iron and as the Bible says, you know, iron sharpens iron, but we also help to meant one and each other’s nets and not heal the broken heart. If one faults, the other one doesn’t stand there and says, I knew it. I knew it from the, but you know what I believe we are called. When somebody faults, we kneel down, we lay our arm around the shoulder and we pray and we comfort him. We encourage him. Come on, let’s stand up together. We need you because if you don’t stand up, the net, we’ll have a whole, wow. What a tremendous analogy, brother free. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. I appreciate it. God bless you. God bless you and your own ministry. Thank you.

 

Evangelism Podcast Announcer (15:18):

More information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

Kamran Karimi was born in Iran. He leads The Voice of Freedom, a ministry dedicated to reaching people for Jesus in the nation of Iran. Since 2003 he has been ministering to the Farsi Speaking Muslim world through his television program.  On today’s podcast, he talks about how to reach a nation that is closed off to many people in the West. 

Show Notes: 

Today, my guest is Kamran Karimi. He was born in Iran, but now he leads The Voice of Freedom, a ministry dedicated to reaching the Farsi Speaking Muslim world. His ministry has heard many testimonies of Muslims whose lives have been impacted by Jesus Christ. 

The fastest growing church in the world is in Iran. The leadership of the church is 60% woman. 

Website: http://www.thevof.org/

Book: In Allah They Trust

Tell us about your background? You were born in Iran, how did you come to live in the United States? 

How did you get saved? Kamran shares about how he got saved through a combination of seeing a friend named Richard who got saved, watching a preacher on TV, and going to the church of Pastor Bob Yandian. 

How did you get started in ministry? The moment Kamran got saved, he was called into the ministry to reach Muslims. 

For many people in the West, the nation of Iran is somewhat of an enigma. Tell me about the country of Iran. 

Your ministry helps people in Iran who are struggling with prostitution, drug addiction, and poverty. How do you help people with these issues? 

Poverty: The official unemployment rate in Iran stands at 11.9 % – UN World Drug Report

According to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Iranian Resistance, “10 million people in Iran are living under the absolute poverty line.”

Drugs:  “2.2 percent of Iranian adults are addicted to drugs, the highest rate in the world.” – UN World Drug Report

Prisoners: “Iran executes the second highest number of prisoners in the world annually, without right to fair trial, behind only China” – Amnesty International

Prostitution and Sex Slavery: 84,000 woman each year are sold into prostitution and sex slavery.

Since 2009, Iran was listed as 1 of 12 countries in the world with the poorest record of human trafficking. 

In Tehran, there are an estimated 84,000 women and girls in prostitution, and an estimated 250 brothels that reportedly operate in the city.

As a result, child prostitution has risen 635%;

Dozens of Iranian girls flee their country and are brought to Arab countries, promised freedom,

But upon arriving they are in deeper slavery then when they left.

According to government officials, most of these girls are raped within 24 hours of their departure and used in the sex slavery trade. Other girls are sold into prostitution under the guise of a short-term marriage known as Sigheh.

Tell me about your underground church planting movement. 

How do you reshape a culture? 

Listen to Daniel King the Evangelism Coach on the Evangelism Podcast

Transcription:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (00:00):

Cameron Karimi was born in Iran. He leads the voice of freedom, a ministry dedicated to reaching people for Jesus in the nation of Iran. Since 2003, he’s been ministering to the first seed speaking Muslim world through his television program on today’s podcast, he talks about how to reach a nation that is completely closed off to many people in the West. Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionary, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Well, I love Muslims and Muslims love me today. I am with a special guest who has a great heart for reaching the Muslim world. Cameron, Jeremy, me, welcome to the podcast so glad you could join me.

 

Kamran Karimi (01:17):

Good, Danielle. I appreciate you being with you and I love your heart for the people that you always are reaching and everywhere that I, you know, see you reaching out to, obviously you have a heart for reaching people and evangelism. So I think this is going to be a good podcast, a good time

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (01:35):

Together. So brother Cameron leads the voice of freedom, which is a ministry dedicated to reaching people for Jesus in the nation of Iran, since 2003, he’s been ministering to Farsi speaking Muslim world through his television program. And he was born in Iran. And so I wanted to ask you, tell us some about your, your background. How did you become a Christian? How did you end up here in the United States? Well, basically

 

Kamran Karimi (02:04):

I became a Christian in 1991. You know, I came to America in 1978, just a few months before the whole hell broke loose in Iran where the revolution took place. You know what I mean? I remember being in Iran. I was ninth grade, 15 years old, and my parents had told me if you get good grades, we’ll send you to America that year in 78. And my sister had just got married and moved to America with her husband that lived here before her. And so anyway, I got good grades in 78, July of 78. I migrated to U S Dallas, Texas. And and then right after that, everything just broke loose in Iran, the revolution, the major demonstrations that even the bloodshed that took place to the point that Shaw left Iran. And then not long after that in 79, early part of 79 Khomeini in and established Islamic Republic of Iran through that revolution and flew past 42 years now or so that tyrannical regime has been dominating the nation. But at the same time, this is really good. Actually. I always say that the, the you know, the best evangelist of all time that went to Iran was Ayatollah Khomeini, because he revealed and exposed the true nature of Islam in such a way that he pushed everybody into the arms of Jesus. They ran to Christ

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (03:37):

Because of the radical policies under his, his regime. People started looking for a new solution. And so, so you were, you were born in Iran and were you born to a Muslim family? Yeah,

 

Kamran Karimi (03:52):

I was, I was, my family were, you know, Muslims, you know, my mother was more of a nominal, but my dad was a practicing, you know,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (04:00):

What’d you say he was a devout Muslim and practice

 

Kamran Karimi (04:03):

Every day. You know, in Ramadan he fasted in, you know, what have you. And he was very you know, found fundamentalist so to speak, you know, so I was raised in that, around that I should say, of course I left the nation when I was 15, you know, but up to 15, I’d experienced a lot of that around me.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (04:24):

Yeah. And so then tell us, how did you become a believer? How did you meet Jesus

 

Kamran Karimi (04:29):

Came to the States, you know, about 1991 is when really things began to take place in my life. But prior to that, I had some what I call significant, like a defining moments that really kind of got my attention, didn’t commit to the Lord, or did know how to commit to the Lord. In fact, the first encounter with me happened to any Iran actually we had a two-story home, which we at least at the second story to this couple that were a Syrian Iranian Assyrians. That means they’re a Syrian Christians. Okay. Beautiful couple, just really wonderful people. Then I remember we had one line, one phone line in our home back in those days. So phone rang one day. This is really just touched my heart phone, rang my mom, my mother, it was for him. So my mom asked this is Google, you know, call mr. [inAudible]

 

Kamran Karimi (05:24):

Cause there’s a phone call for him. So I got him, he comes down and I’m just sitting there doing my thing. I’m about maybe 12 years old at this time. And what happened was he get up, gets off the phone and he’s sad. And my mom kinda inquired. He says, well, mr sandwich, I was the, what happened? You’re sad. What happened? He said, well, that was my mother. It was wintertime at the time. And she was asking me to she, that she needs the winter coat and we don’t have all the money. And neither you know is my wife and I in agreement because, you know, we limited funds, you know, we’re not in agreement to spend the money. So my mom turned around and told him, he said, why don’t you just go and then buy it for your mom. He’s your, she’s your mom, buy it for your mom? And don’t say anything to your wife. And I never forget his response. That was just like a Mack truck that hit me when, when I heard that. And I wasn’t even listening necessarily on their conversation, but he says, mrs. Scary me. We don’t do that. That’s the line.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (06:23):

Wow. So, so you had an encounter with someone who wanted to call the laws of God. Yeah,

 

Kamran Karimi (06:29):

Exactly. I mean, he was a Christian and, and there was a difference in there. I mean, the way he expressed that it really impacted me. So that was my first, you know, I didn’t say anything about that to anybody. I just kinda kept that he’d really was significant enough that I kept it in my heart. And then I migrated, it came to America and and I remember in college days I had a college roommate that had some Iranian college roommate that had foster a foster family that you could I found out, obviously they were Christians, they were practicing Christians. They were evangelicals there. You could tell they were full of the Holy spirit and they had this potluck dinner. And of course in college

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (07:13):

Food always talked. So of course invited us to there

 

Kamran Karimi (07:17):

Like dinner, if you will look like this thing that, that was there. So we showed up and it was actually a Bible study. And I don’t remember them. I don’t remember the topic that they were talking about, but that right there, you know, the word says, the Bible says that the word of God does not return void. And I believe whatever that was shared, that in that potluck dinner, you went for the food, but we got heavenly manner. If you will. Something deposited into my heart that I haven’t forgotten that couple. I don’t know. I think the last thing was David’s if I’m not mistaken, but, and I remember him, he was like a stocky guy and a older kind of guy, but super beautiful people want it w there was this aura around them, this beautiful spirit. So that was another like a defining moment or one of those

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (08:02):

Highlights of me being

 

Kamran Karimi (08:04):

Exposed to Christianity, a real Christianity, because everybody calls themselves Christian in America practically, but that was a difference. There was something different about this family that really marked me as far as that goes, and then fast forward to 1991. This is when I remember I had actually in 2000, I had had a friend of mine that, you know, I was in car business at the time I was managing a dealership in Tulsa, a big dealership. And he, this other friend of mine was also managing a different dealership. And I used to see him in the nightlife, you know, going to the clubs and stuff like that. And I run into him and be partied, so to speak. And then I have saw Richard vanished from the whole nightlife scene. And I had heard that Jesus or Richard got born again.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (08:54):

Wow. So he partying,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (08:56):

Oh, you heard that there was a difference in his life. I heard he was born again.

 

Kamran Karimi (09:00):

So the next thing that I basically happens from here is, but two years later from this incident, I walk into the,uwalking at,uin my workplace one morning and there’s Richard, they, they, the dealership I’ve hired him to be a manager alongside of me. And now I’m looking at Richard. I was surprised to see him there, but I look at him, he’s the same Richard physically, but there was something significant, different, significantly different about him. And that got my attention to the point that I began to observe him. I begin to listen to the way he operated and everything. And I remember the first thing he said to me, when that, that first day he says, you know, Cameron, I’m going to tell you something. He wasn’t necessarily Bible thumping me, but you know, he began to talk to me. He says, you didn’t come when he said, God wants to make a covenant with you.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (09:48):

So he was planting seeds into your life.

 

Kamran Karimi (09:50):

He began to relationally reach out in such a way where before that, even through some other relationships that were even closer to me than then Richard and I were they tried to stuff Christianity down my throat. And I ran further and further away from Jesus. When through these relationships, it was more of a religious thing that they were doing. And it was just, it wasn’t, there was no life in it. They way they’re approaching me. But then Richard comes in and there’s definitely something different about him. And it got my attention and that begin to observe every move he made. And every action he took, as far as that, you were watching him, Oh yeah, I was watching him and he says, God wants to make a covenant with you. And he wants to bless your life. And I had never heard anything like that. Really. Prior to that, those people that I’m talking about, the old said, well, you know, you know, God doesn’t want you to prosper. God wants you to be sick. God wants you to be broke. You learn, you learn. 

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (10:49):

God’s angry with you. He’s mad at you. Well, why do I want your Jesus? And Richard says, God wants to make a covenant with you. And bless you. That’s really the blessing of Abraham. That’s exactly. Right. In fact, I was pondering on that just before I was coming here right now.

 

Kamran Karimi (11:04):

And, and that’s, that’s what got my attention to the point that I literally observed him for about a year. And I continued in my old way, still partying and this and that, but I don’t remember one night in 1991 August,uI came home from a party and I’m looking at myself, I’m washing my, you know, my face and brushing my teeth about to go to bed,uhigher than a kite, if you will. And,ulooking at myself in the mirror. And I said, God, if this is what life is all about, it’s not worth living. And I turned around and said, you know, God, if you’re real, please make yourself real to me. And I’ll never forget. I went to live in my living room, turned the TV on before I went to bed. And there was images of desert storm war where United States was,usending the scuds into Baghdad. And that literally scared the out of me.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (11:54):

Wow.

 

Kamran Karimi (11:55):

You know, you’ve really scared me to the point that I flipped the channel. And when I flipped the channel, it was, it went on this next channel was like a Christian. I don’t know what this meant, who this man was, what you were saying. But the peace of God came all over me that Friday night. And then the next day I go to work and Saturdays were our busy days. And at the end of the day, Richard reaches out to me. He says the camera, why don’t you go to church with me to tomorrow? You know? And so he insisted, and finally, can I consent it? I went to church with him. And when I walked into that church, there was like 2000 people in this church. And they were all like Richard hands raised up in heaven. It was a charismatic word of faith church, Bob. Yandian great.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (12:41):

This fellowship. Yeah. Great. [inaudible]

 

Kamran Karimi (12:44):

Worship was amazing. I said, man, I didn’t even know you could do this in a church. I’d never seen a church that worship so freely. And then the next thing that happens is pastor Bob comes up and begins to share. And he began to share that you have heard, it said that you should love your neighbor and hate your enemies. But I say unto you, Jesus is talking. You should love your enemies. Bless those who, despite who they use you. And that that’s totally

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (13:12):

Outside of Islam

 

Kamran Karimi (13:15):

Totally. That’s what got my attention. And I remember saying to myself, well, that’s a new concept. You know? I said, how do you do that? How do you love your enemies? And that marked me. And I tell you Daniel, when I heard pastor Bob share, and I’ve said this to him, a couple of different times that I ran into him. And I thank God for that man of God. His words were like this glass of water, this cold glass of water. I’m holding in my hand right here for a man that’s been in a desert all his life. Those that those words were like soothing my heart. Wow. And he got my attention to the point that I wanted to keep going back with Richard. So I did that for four months and God began to move in my life. Even though I had not committed those first four months from August to December, I’m not committed to the Lord, but I tell you what, every time I went to church, I got something out of what he was saying.

 

Kamran Karimi (14:08):

He had a way of community. I remember telling myself that man talking about pastor Bob really does believe what he’s saying. You know, it came across that way. Whereas before when I had there, others make comments about Jesus, there was no conviction in it. There was no convincing in it. You know, there was no faith in it, but I could sense the presence of faith coming through his words. And it really began to touch me. And the Lord began to just really touch me in my business where I was. And we’re like a past seven, eight years in the car business that I was at an always reaching for these goals and everything. And always come in short. And I was a hard worker dedicated to my work and all that. But in those four or four first four months, everything I desired and dreamed about God did.

 

Kamran Karimi (14:54):

And I knew it was Jesus doing it. That got my attention. So I’ll never forget that this was a defining moment in my life, December of 91, sitting in my living room crying because of the goodness of God that he had shown me, tears running down my face. I said, God, I know there is more to this. I don’t know why you’re doing what you’re doing in my life. And I know there is more, whatever that more is. I want it. I was really crying out for salvation. I wasn’t ready for a relationship. Okay. I didn’t know. I couldn’t word it that way, but that’s what it was. And I tears running down my face. I cried out to God that way turned the TV on. And flipping through the channel. I came across a Christian program and there was this man on TV, showing miracles, taking place in his ministry.

 

Kamran Karimi (15:43):

And people are saying how they got healed, this, that, and all that. And I’m just like totally skeptical about what’s happening. Got my attention completely. I’m thinking it’s skeptical. This is I’m being skeptical. I think he’s like like staging all this stuff. But I remember telling God, I said, God, if these miracles are real, please make it real to me. And that was the most amazing thing question or that I asked, I believe or statement I made immediately after I said that that man’s program ended he’s back in it. Those clips ended. He came back into the studio and he pointed his finger at the camera. He says, there’s a young man you’re watching right now would have knowledge began to flow. And he says, you just told the Lord. If these miracles are real to make it real to you, well, God’s going to make that real to you. Jesus is going to make that real to you. And I’ll tell you what he verbatim quoted at me and my hair in the back of my neck was standing up. And he said that doesn’t the presence of God came into my

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (16:48):

Listening to the Holy spirit in saying what the Holy spirit, absolutely what you had just said.

 

Kamran Karimi (16:52):

And that got my attention to the point. And he says, not you people at home. We’re going to take communion here in the studio. You at home, take communion with us. Not even know what communion was, but I do know this. I had been to church a few times. There was a little bread some juice that we took. So I went and ran into my fridge, grab some bread, got some juice. And Danny went up, put that bread in my mouth. The glory of God showed up in my living room. Wow. Then tire in our atmosphere changed. I knew someone greater than myself, walked in the manifest presence of God showed up and I was scared. So you actually

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (17:29):

Got saved taking communion right there.

 

Kamran Karimi (17:32):

Wow. That’s exactly what happened. And I heard the Lord, I actually heard this in my heart. I was scared. I closed my eyes. And when I closed my eyes, I could see Jesus standing in front of me. I was scared to open my eyes because maybe he’s actually standing in front of me. That’s the way I thought I’m seeing him. I’m just really perplexed with this experience. And all that had happened like this, you know, and what happened was the Lord says, Cameron, he calls me by my name. He says, not only does miracles raise your name. Absolutely. He says, not only are those miracles are real, but I have called you to take my saving presence and healing presence to this generation and to your people. And the moment he said to your people, I knew he was talking about Muslims. And I said, Lord, you don’t know

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (18:15):

The moment you got saved. God called you into ministry, right?

 

Kamran Karimi (18:19):

. I said, Lord, you don’t know these Muslims. He says, Cameron, I created them. Of course I know them. He says, the only thing is they don’t know me. And I’m going to prepare you and send you to them. So you can introduce me to them. And that was the defining moment where everything shifted. Prior to that, I read the Bible. Didn’t make any sense. Now I’m reading the Bible and it’s speaking to me. And the living word of God became alive inside of my heart. I got born again. That was my experience. Begin to pray in this heavenly language. After that, you know, things began to really expedite in my life. And then like, what nine months later from there I found myself going to Bible school, Victoria, B VBI and all that hungry for the word of God. I mean, I would spend hours in the Bible, devouring God’s word prior, even to the Bible, it really transformed your thinking.

 

Kamran Karimi (19:13):

That’s it always say this Daniel, you know, to those that may be watching or hearing this where’s that goes, I’ll say, if you ever see Jesus, you’ll never be the same. You know, Jesus wants to manifest himself and I’m not talking about physically seen him with your physical eyes on you could that’s happening in the Muslim world a lot where people are seeing Jesus appeared to them in visions and dreams and supernaturally encounters. But the reality of it is as however he reveals himself to you. When you have that encounter, you’re marked forever. You are completely something shifts in your life. And the key about it is there’s a lot of people don’t have that encounter. And the key is they’re not even, they think it’s just for select few. That’s not the case. Jesus wants to manifest himself to everybody and wants to reach out to everybody.

 

Kamran Karimi (20:03):

You know, I’ve got a message I shared, which is part of my testimony and then show examples of different people who have these kind of encounters like apostle Paul or job, or or Moses, you know, where they encountered God face to face and everything about their life changed as far as that goes called encounters with God, as far as that goes. So, you know, I really believe God wants to encounter every single person on this planet. If we get simple enough, as far as opening our hearts and say, God, however you pleased to come into my life, open myself, come. And I believe when we are sincere like that, Jesus shows up

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (20:41):

Amen. Glory to God, what a beautiful testimony. That’s so awesome. Let’s shift the conversation a little bit and talk about the nation of Iran, which you’re, you’re called to. And I was looking at your, your website a little bit and it was showing some, some statistics about the needs there in Iran and into the people here in the West, I ran is a little bit of an enigma. It’s very difficult for us to understand it. It’s been closed since the revolution in 1979 and even often viewed as an enemy of the United States. But all the people I’ve met from Iran have been beautiful people and wonderful people, very warm and very hospitable. And so I think if you ask people in Iran, if they wanted to be friends with the United States, I think most of them would say, absolutely

 

Kamran Karimi (21:30):

Any of them. I say 99% of them would say yes.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (21:33):

Yeah. So, so tell us some about Iran and about the needs there and in what your ministry is doing to meet those needs.

 

Kamran Karimi (21:41):

I want to say this concerning the closed doors in here on, even though the natural doors are closed because of this regime, that’s in Iran. That is about to, I believe it’s going to be uprooted very quickly. It’s already begun, okay. Even though the doors are closed, but the open, the people’s hearts are open to the gospel, you know, the fastest growing church right now in the world. I’m not sure if you are aware of this or not. It is taking place in Iran, the fastest growing church in the world, faster than the church in China, it’s taking place in Iran. And what’s amazing about this. The it’s the leadership of the church is 60% women glory to God. And it’s very decentralized leadership, as far as that goes. Meaning like there’s not a building, this is all underground movement. And, and women that have been in prostitution, which is a huge thing that’s going on in Iran because of the unemployment and the pressure and all this stuff that’s going on there. Yeah.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (22:39):

I read that the official unemployment rate in Iran is that 11.9%

 

Kamran Karimi (22:45):

Official that the government has released. But actually it is a whole lot higher than that.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (22:50):

According to the foreign affairs committee of the national council of Iranian resistance, 10 million people in Iran are living under the absolute poverty line. So that is very, very good.

 

Kamran Karimi (23:02):

And those, those numbers are little, a few years back. So with the sanctions that’s been put on Iran recently through president Trump and all that, that’s really bringing this regime to its knee. It’s even higher numbers than that. I know I feel for my people because of the sanctions, but I believe it is a necessary thing to take place in order to, for them to rise up, see the people have to rise up and overthrow the regime and that’s about that’s what’s happening. And there’s been demonstrations and protests. People are rising up and doing that. And I believe more importantly, I believe that the church in Iran is rising up in their spirit and using their God, given authority in prayer to bring about what I call a, an awakening, a revival and a reformation in Iran.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (23:55):

So some of the issues there would be poverty and then also drug addiction and prostitution. There’s 84,000 women each year sold into prostitution in insects

 

Kamran Karimi (24:11):

Even more. Now those are a few years old, the rates numbers. Yeah.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (24:15):

Wow. And so what is your, your ministry doing to help people that are drug addicted, who are caught up in, in the sex slavery?

 

Kamran Karimi (24:25):

Well, the th th I believe this with all my heart, do you want me to the way the Lord said it to me back in 2001, we launched this ministry in 2000, in a one the Lord spoke to me, he says, I want you to get on television. You know, I was in California at my sister’s house, flipping through the channels, came across in the Iranian television station. And I didn’t even know there was an Iranian station in America. This was based in California. And the Lord says, I want you to get on that network and preach the gospel to Iran.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (24:53):

And so your program is called the voice of freedom. And now, which is the most aired into Iran,

 

Kamran Karimi (25:00):

All of Iran, all of Europe and all of North Africa and even parts of North America,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (25:05):

Just I ran into it’s all Farsi speaking

 

Kamran Karimi (25:08):

Signal carries through that whole region of middle East, as I’ve got calls as far East, as Seoul, Korea, Iranians, and Seoul, Korea have reached out to me.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (25:18):

Wow. That’s amazing. And so you are, are airing this program. How often does it air?

 

Kamran Karimi (25:25):

We, we broadcast six days a week. It’s a half hour show and it repeats three times a day and people get it via satellite, satellite television. Yeah. You know, 99% of Iranians have satellite television because that’s the only source of entertainment they have. Therefore we have a captive audience.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (25:41):

And so then you’re hearing testimonies from people who are watching the program. And what are they saying to you?

 

Kamran Karimi (25:49):

One of the most predominant results that we’ve seen as a result of this, these programs that are being aired is people are being delivered from suicide. You know, many, many, many testimonies have come to us that they were on the verge of suicide. And they came across our program. And the spirit of God just literally invaded their hearts and led them away from committing suicide. As far as, and now they’re disciples of Christ. They gave their life to Christ. You know, because of see, the thing is because of the circumstances in Iran, the oppressive circumstances, unemployment that we were talking about, prostitution, drug, addiction, really, all of that is a result of hopelessness. I always say this when you steal people’s hope and Iranian regime has clearly done that. Why? Because they want to control the, they want to control the regime, the control, the population.

 

Kamran Karimi (26:46):

So they don’t rise up against them, but it’s too late already. I could truly say it’s too late. But because of that, what happens is that hopelessness drives people into those different behaviors that really, they don’t want to do that. But because of the circumstances they’re in, they’re trying to escape the hopelessness. And ultimately it leads them to it tries to lead them into committing suicide. And we have seen so many different testimonies come to us that I was on the verge of basically hanging myself or cutting my wrist. And then I came across your program and I heard in my heart what you were saying, and I received

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (27:29):

You’ve Christ in your words are giving hope. That’s it. They’re talking about the hope that comes from Jesus Christ.

 

Kamran Karimi (27:34):

Absolutely. We are the voice of freedom. I call it that week. And I’m like, John, a voice crying out into wilderness prepared the way of the Lord. You know, what is it? We’re making it preparing a way into people’s hearts, asking them to open their hearts. So freedom can come in. I believe when Jesus comes in, freedom comes in. So we want to establish freedom. And just like, you know, I, you know, people ask me, so tell me about your ministry and what it’s all about. I said, well, six words. Describe the voice of freedom. What we do is be equipped nationals towards there. We established, or we reshaped cultures and we establish freedom, you know, on every one of those words I could preach for hours on, as far as that goes and teach on it, as far as that goes. But I really believe to answer your question about what are we doing?

 

Kamran Karimi (28:21):

We’re bringing the word. I believe everything starts with the word. When the Lord spoke to me back in 2001 about getting on the television network. And he said it to me is this, I want you to seed Iran with my word and believe me for a harvest of salvation. So I believe everything starts with a word. The Bible says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. And the word was God. So when you plant the seed of God’s word into a nation, into people’s ears and hearts and eyes, that word doesn’t return void, and it will bring the harvest of the very word and you’re speaking into their lives. And we are seeing it. That’s why I really believe this, that this fastest growing church that’s taking place in Iran is a result of the words that’s been sewn into the nation. Not only just to our ministry, there’s a handful of other great ministries alongside with us that they are preaching the gospel into Iran. And we are seeing an amazing result.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (29:18):

Tell me about your underground church planting movement, because your goal is ultimately to plant churches across Iran.

 

Kamran Karimi (29:26):

You know, we started obviously with a television program. Are you able

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (29:30):

To talk about it it’s underground? Are you able to, yeah, we

 

Kamran Karimi (29:32):

Are. We’re not naming names and we’re not giving an address as far as that goes, but generally speaking, this is a, this is common for those that are in touch with missions, if you will. But generally speaking, the thing about it is this that, you know when, when we first started the television program, people would receive that half hour show and then they would respond. We were getting thousands of phone calls every week to the point, frankly, that I w I couldn’t handle all the phone calls, you know, that were coming in. So then they, the next thing that they said was I would hear this consistently through our constituents that were listening, watching, and they said, so what do we do next? We, we want more. So dad led into having us go like to Istanbul, Turkey and other places, Armenia in Dubai, different places and conduct like week long meetings to the point that it all ultimately reached extended to two week meeting.

 

Kamran Karimi (30:29):

And then what we did was we actually started doing these four months, what I call intensive trainings, and all of it was geared to helping those that would come to those trainings to first and foremost, find out who they are. Okay. The word of God, not only first healed them completely. They have to get free, you know, from all the mindsets that were contrary to the gospel. Okay. What Islam has placed in them where they’re reeling the, or unwillingly by them. But the reality of it was this, that the word was, has setting them free healing them. And then the next thing that we emphasized on about, for them to discover who they really are, that’s what we did in our training. And then I always tell him, I said, when you find out who you are after you’re healed, the next thing that I find you find out is what he has actually created you for what you’re supposed to do, your calling, you know, and in that process, when we went through that first training program, the next part of it was began to really emphasize that your purpose is to take this gospel and make disciples of the nations.

 

Kamran Karimi (31:35):

And you can start right here, right at your own home, visit your very own family. Start with your family, your family members. It doesn’t come under detection. Absolutely. And they would go back and they began to reach out to their family members. We would tell them, I said, it all starts with praying for them. You don’t need to tell them that you’re praying for them. You don’t need to show it in front of them. You just, in your secret place began to stand. And we would show them like the Ephesians prayer, praying for, you know, a spirit of wisdom and revelation to come to them and all that. So we would, you know, challenge them to pray for their families. And then as they began to inquire of the change, that’s taken place in them. Now you had a platform to begin to share. What’s happened to you. I gave him your testimony, share your, your, your story. And as a result of that, the family would come to Christ. And then next thing you know, the family is reaching out to the extended family because family in Iran is very big. You know, it’s not just your immediate family, it’s your aunts and uncles and your cousins. And so once you reach one person,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (32:40):

Then you can reach the entire family. They start going and ,

 

Kamran Karimi (32:45):

They should have the house church movement. And then of course the other part of it was we emphasize on this as well. It all begins with prayer. You have to be grounded and we would teach them how to pray, you know, really emphasize on the baptism of the Holy spirit and praying in tongues, because, you know, you can pray in your natural mother language so long, so much, but we emphasize on praying the word as well as praying in the spirit, praying in unknown in our heavenly language. Okay. And as we pray in heaven, an average Bible says that we are praying the perfect will of God. So when we were targeting our family members, praying in tongues, Holy spirit knows how to reach them and bring him in and creates the opportunity for those to begin to ask questions. And then once the question is asked, now you have the opportunity to share the gospel with them based on your testimony. And what’s happened to you. We saw thousands upon thousands of people come to Christ. The point that next thing you know, when the next meeting we would do, we did about four meetings a year in different various parts of the world over there in the middle East. But next thing you know, they would bring their brothers and sisters and they would bring their mom and dads. And,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (33:53):

And it’s a whole family is being transformed. I heard you say that you want to reshape the culture of Iran. What does that look like? What would you like to reshape it into?

 

Kamran Karimi (34:04):

Well, you know, there’s a lot of in every culture that we have our own earthly cultures in every nation in America, we have our culture, you know, in Iran, we have our cultures, they’re all different from each other, but really ultimately is bringing heaven’s culture and giving it precedence over our natural earthly cultures. That’s really reshaping cultures, you know, in Hebrews 11

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (34:32):

To turn the culture into the heavens Kevin’s culture, correct? Instead of earthly color, which early culture is focused on, on making money, greed hate sometimes. But the heavenly culture is about giving, loving others.

 

Kamran Karimi (34:48):

I’d like to say this with a heavenly culture is founded upon the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, kindness, goodness. You know self-control. Those are the characteristics of the heaven’s culture. And when you establish that and in people’s lives, you are shifting society. You’re bringing heaven’s ways of doing things into a heart, into a life, into a family and into a society. And all that, you know, the scripture says in Hebrews 11, three by faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. Okay? Now that word was framed. That word over here says the world. The world is not talking about that. I studied that out. It’s not talking about the planets. It’s talking about eons generations. That’s what it’s talking about. That means families and generations were framed by a word, a word from God, God gave a word to Abraham and he reshaped his entire family.

 

Kamran Karimi (35:54):

Okay. So the key is this, that word altered is also means that word, a frame, excuse me. It was altered by the word of God was altered. It’s actually framed is altered. So shift reshaping takes place. When heaven’s kingdom comes, it takes precedence over your natural way of thinking your traditions. You have to make Roman. And we emphasize that quite a bit that you have to be willing. If he is Lord in your life, you have to be willing to even let go of your own tradition. If need ne I’m not talking about just company new reject in it, but you don’t give it precedence over heaven’s kingdom. Heaven’s culture. You know, that’s a really emphasizing and I’m showing it through the word to them that, you know, when the word of God takes precedence over every part of your life, that’s been changed to expects. That’s when things begin to reshape into the original plan, that’s why Jesus said, pray that your kingdom come on earth. As it is in heaven. See God fully expects us to have his kingdom established. How does that work? It happens in a life when the kingdom comes in a life and everything should shift and it starts with the word of God. And it starts with the characteristics that God’s word reveals to us.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (37:18):

Amen. Well, let’s finish with a word of prayer for the people of Iran. Dear heavenly father, we pray for Iran. We pray for the people of Iran. We pray that Jesus would be lifted up in the nation of Iran in that all of Iran would come to know you as their Lord and savior in jesus’ name. I pray. Amen. Thank you for being on the podcast. Thank you so much.

 

Kamran Karimi (37:43):

No for having me. I appreciate you, my brother, God bless you.

 

Evangelism Podcast Host (37:46):

For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

 

 

Sports teams have coaches. Why? Because coaches help the players perform at a higher level. So why can’t we develop a system of coaching pastors to help them be better at their calling. Today, Vidar Ligard talks about his system for coaching pastors in East Africa.  That is what we are talking about on today’s podcast. 

Website: www.safarimission.org 

Book: A Fork in the Road Order Now:  https://amzn.to/33iwhKN 

Show Notes: 

Vidar and Cathrine Ligard are the Directors of Rhema Bible Training College Kenya and are both graduates from RBTC in 2001 and 2002. In 2006, after completing their bachelor and masters degrees in engineering and church leadership/business at ORU, they relocated to Kenya to pioneer a bible school that equips pastors and leaders in rural areas of East Africa. Today, with the help of a national team, they oversee multiple campuses across Kenya. Their main focus is training and transforming people with God’s word in a way that affects their everyday life and gives them tools to transform their communities. 

Key Thoughts: 

Football teams have coaches. Top producers in business have coaches. Pastors should have coaches too. 

Churches need to develop systems in order to grow. 

How do you coach pastors to be successful? 

What does the process of coaching churches look like? 

1. It starts with Personal Growth 
2. One hour a week coaching system. 
3. Every two weeks doing a one hour conference call. 

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

Sports teams have coaches. Why? Because coaches help the players perform at a higher level. So why can’t we develop a system of coaching pastors to help them be better at their God-given calling? That’s what we’re talking about on today’s podcast.

 

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:18):

Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King we’re Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host missionary and evangelists Daniel King.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:56):

Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King. And I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. We have a special guest. His name is Vidar Ligard Did I say that right?

 

Vidar Ligard (01:12):

We, we, we got it almost Vidar Ligard

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:15):

Vidar Ligard, So hopefully I don’t mess it up too much. And brother VR is a missionary over in East Africa and is planting Bible schools and also doing a lot of work coaching, local pastors. And so tell me a little bit about how you coach people. Sure. So

 

Vidar Ligard (01:43):

We’ve done work over there since 2006, we’ve got a two year training program and we found out that a lot of pastors that come to us and they might have 30, 40 members. And a lot of times they’ll grow to 200, two 50, 303, you know, that rain somewhere. And that’s about the range where if you don’t start delegating your pastoral care, at that point, you’re going to be overwhelmed with every single church member wanting to have personal contact with you for everything that need. And so you’re, you’re, you’re overwhelmed. You can’t grow any further. And so we saw the need for, for, mraduates to be coached. How do you get to the next level from here? And, ht’s, it’s interesting because in ministry, most people don’t think much of coaching. You think of Bible colleges and getting some training. When I think of coaching, I usually think of a football coach or a sports coach, someone who is out there telling people to do more exercises.

 

Vidar Ligard (02:44):

Yes, exactly. You know, somebody like Michael Jordan just, you know, pick any top player in any field you want, every single one of them is going to have a coach. And you would think there’s something even wrong with the top player if they didn’t have a coach. Well, it’s the same in the field of business. Utop producers in the field of business, they all have mentors. They all have coaches and sometimes multiple coaches in, in various areas. And,uyou know, we’ve got the church movement here in the United States that the arc movement, and there’s a strong component of coaching with that church planting movement. And they’re doing pretty well. Uone because the financial model that they have, but also because of the strong element of coaching, I think they’re very

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:28):

Well for two reasons. One is the coaching aspect. And then the other aspect is developing a system that can be implemented by multiple people. I mean, that’s what makes McDonald’s so successful is they have a system that works even for the lowest common denominator of worker, any worker that McDonald’s hires, they have developed a system to teach them how to make McDonald’s French fries. And every McDonald’s in the world, the French fries tastes exactly the same because there is a system. And so you’re developing this coaching system, coaching people, how to be pastors. So what does that look like? Yeah. So that, that,

 

Vidar Ligard (04:15):

That’s exactly right. It’s, you know, in a classroom, it’s very difficult to tell people how to do children’s ministry successful. You, you need some hands-on and so you can try a few things with labs, but unless you’re, you know, in a church where you’re seeing the growth of these kids over time, that’s when you really start to see, okay, this is what really works. And this is what doesn’t work say in children’s ministry. So what we’re working to do is, is have different modules in this coaching program where one module is how to do effective children’s ministry. A module that we’re working on now is, is youth or teenager ministry,ubringing experts that really have done well in that field. And then taking the ones that we are coaching and say, Hey, this is a way that teenagers and youth ministry can be done really well. Pastoral care is another area. So we take the various areas that you deal with on a day-to-day basis, in a church. And then we have packages for how we coach that. Uwe start off with personal growth and that’s, that’s where everything starts.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:23):

Okay. So take me from the beginning all the way through the end, you start with personal growth. What are some of the things that you coach people in the area of personal growth?

 

Vidar Ligard (05:35):

You know, you can, you can make things simplistic. You’ve got two kinds of people. You’ve got the kind of person that they do the same thing day in and day out. Uthey’re in the same segment of society that their parents, parents were because they have the same habits that their parents had. So they grew up working class. They’re going to be class. If they grew up upper middle class, they’re going to be upper middle class. That’s the majority of society. But then you have some that are really have a growth mindset. They’re always looking to learn more. Ufor most people, whenever they finished high school or finished college, that’s when their education stops. But then there is this other growth kind of segment of society and they don’t stop reading books. They don’t stop listening to podcasts whenever they’re done with formal education.

 

Vidar Ligard (06:26):

And these are the ones that actually move society forward. They’re the pioneers in society, if you will. And so the first part of our coaching program then is to help somebody to understand all this and absorb a growth mindset so that sure they might be coming to us and us, you know, resources in different areas. But somebody with a true growth mindset will no longer be dependent on me or anybody else. They’ll, they’ll be resourceful. They will, there’ll be a person that will find resources in whatever areas they’re struggling. And if somebody can get that one down,uI think that 75% of,ubeing on the way to success right there, because now they’re, you become unstoppable, basically

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:10):

They’re looking for solutions. Okay. So, so it starts with personal growth. And then where do you take them? What’s the next step

 

Vidar Ligard (07:16):

At that point? It depends on the particular church. Like one of the churches we’re working with now,uthey’re really working on strengthening their small groups. So we help them in that particular area. We’ve got a system where,uyou know, we, we give pastors,uabout a one hour a week, hoaching session. And so at that point, it’s, it’s, it’s tailored to the various ones. Ume also have a segment where every two weeks we do a one hour conference call, that’s a group. And so then we talk more about current issues that we see the most people having needing help with. So two different tracks, if you will, how

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:56):

Many pastors are you coaching right now?

 

Vidar Ligard (07:59):

On the call we have about 80 pastors every two weeks. Uthe other set, it, it varies. Uwe started with seven and we had several dropout. And,uyou find out that,ua lot of people want coaching, but they don’t want to change. And I think any coach will tell you the same thing. Uso right now that’s,uduring this, this segment, we’re actually down to one church.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:26):

Okay. So you’re with those seven, those you’re meeting with once a week. Yeah. And you’re, you’re addressing their concerns, helping them with their needs. And, but you’ve got 80 that are part of the conference call. Yes. And so do you plan to expand and to do more?

 

Vidar Ligard (08:46):

Yeah, we, we are, you know, looking at our own resources and looking at different ways to do that. And that’s why we have both the conference call and individual coaching as well to see, you know, what works best for, for the most amount of people. And how can we be the most effective of duplicating our stuff.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:03):

So I’ve preached a lot of churches in East Africa. There’s a wide variety of churches. Some are out in the villages, just a little hot with a dirt floor, chickens running around. And some of the leaders there are very effective. I mean, I went to one church one time, and this is, this is how he was coached. I, m preached in the church and, and there were people hanging in through the windows. It was packed out probably about 250 people in this little tiny hut, dirt floor, chickens running all over the place. And I looked over and he had his Bible. And on top of his Bible, he had a book that was covered in duct tape. I said, what’s that book there? And he says, Oh, that’s, that’s from a TL Osborn, the great missionary evangelist. He said, h0 years ago, TL Osborn came to my country and did a crusade.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:54):

And he gave my father this book. So my father preached every Sunday from TL Osborn his book. And he said, last year my father died and I became the pastor. And so now I’m preaching from this book. And so that was the extent of what coaching he had. He had one of TL Osborne’s books, which of course, you know, are, are tremendous resources. And it provided 20 years worth of sermons in that church. Yeah, that’s amazing. And so, so that’s, that’s one level. I’ve also been to some very large churches in Nairobi that have huge buildings, very successful Bible schools. They have a daughter churches that they’ve planted all over Kenya and they’ve got great systems. So, so how do you take someone at one level and, and train them to, to be more effective in what they do? Well,

 

Vidar Ligard (10:49):

You, you, you have to look at where is this particular church at and you know, in a big church, you’ve got many wheels that are spinning and you can’t make every single wheel spin faster in the same week that you’re talking with the head pastor, you just kind of have to pick an area that they would like to grow in. And usually it doesn’t matter the size of the church. They always have some area that they realized that we can use a little help in this area. So it starts out Y doing a little diagnostic, asking some questions and seeing where we’re at. And then just like in sports, whatever level they’re on, you don’t have to start there and then help them go to the next level.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:28):

Now, earlier you said that, that everyone could use a coach. So do you have a coach? Yes, I do. Now tell me about your coach and what your coach challenges you to do. Yes.

 

Vidar Ligard (11:40):

So, you know, I have coaches and mentors in different areas. When it comes to the ministry right now, we’re working with with the business coach because ministry is both but there’s also a business side. And so we are with the thrive time show in in Jenks, Oklahoma,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:00):

Clay Clark. And actually he just recently started helping to coach me and my ministry too. And he has a very successful business podcast and he challenged me to start this evangelism podcast. And so already I’ve seen how seeing someone be successful in an area and start coaching can, can help me be, be more successful. So, so what are some of the things that you’ve learned in, in your coaching?

 

Vidar Ligard (12:25):

The relationship? Well, one of the things I really learned is that the more I talk to people, everybody’s got a coach and in different areas. And so you just need to look at the, where do I need to grow and then, and then find a mentor or a coach,uin that area. Umanagement skills is one of the things that we’ve learned. Um’ve the day-to-day operations. I was working 20, 30 hours a week. And, mhrough better processes, better management, I’m able to manage our teams now, 40 individuals with three to five hours a week, just because we’re using better methods and better processes.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:08):

So it’s a much better use of your time.

 

Vidar Ligard (13:11):

Absolutely. Yeah.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:13):

I also written a book called F fork in the road, and this book has a lot of principles that, that help with coaching. Uprobably use some of your extra time you found in order to write this book. So tell me some of the, the, the content of this book and how it can help people.

 

Vidar Ligard (13:32):

It really is a book on personal development. I think everybody wants some level of financial security. Everybody wants some level of, of success, which success is not really a destination. It’s a journey it’s, you know, successful person is successful every year, just not in their 80th year, but it’s the the personal growth principles and how to become a resource it’s principles like what we were paid last month as a result of the value of the services and products that we provided somebody else, whether we were employed or in business, or, or even in ministry the gifts that people gave they are related to the value of the services and the, whatever we did in ministry. Very often that type of thing. And then there’s a whole section in this book about taking your vision for life turning that into measurable goals.

 

Vidar Ligard (14:28):

You know, a lot of people say, I want to start a business. Well, that’s wonderful, but are you talking about being a one-man plumber? Are you talking about having a corporation with 50 employees? You gotta be able to measure those goals with the timeline then you plan for how are you going to reach and achieve those goals. And then you’ve got to make sure you stay on target each and every single day that what you do is not just provide lunch for the kids and send them to school, but there’s gotta be some tasks each and every day that has to do with your goals and your, and your vision in life.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:00):

That’s tremendous. Well, if you’re listening and you want to be mentored by brother Vidar or know more about him, probably the best way to get started is by getting a copy of his book it’s available on Amazon. And tell me what the website of your ministry is.

 

Vidar Ligard (15:18):

Yeah. So you can go to Safarimission.org. That’s a Safarimission.org. You can find information about the book. You can buy it from there, or you can go to Amazon. A fork in the road is the name of the book, but a contact us. There’s a contact button there reached out to us and we’ll see how we can help you get started.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:37):

Thank you so much for being on the podcast. Appreciate it.

 

Vidar Ligard (15:39):

Thank you, Daniel, for having us.

 

Evangelism Podcast Host (15:41):

Bless you for more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

Mac Barnes has done over seventy Gospel crusades in Haiti, a nation where many people practice voodoo. In today’s podcast he talks about how to set people free who have been enslaved by the devil. 

Website: https://preciouspearl.org

In October, 1986 Mac Barnes attended the Jesus Calls School of Evangelism taught by Brother DGS Dhinakaran in Madras, India.  During that school Mac operated all nine gifts of the Holy Spirit.  When he returned to New Jersey he had his first outdoor gospel crusade called Heaven ’87 in Tompkins Park Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY.  Since 2005 Mac has had over 70 mass gospel crusades in Haiti.  

Show Notes: 

What are some of the unique challenges of doing crusades in Haiti? 

Learn how to handle demonic manifestations. 

Hear about the miracles God has done in Haiti. 

Learn how to operate in all nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. 

Key Scripture: John 10:10 

Key Quotes: 

Voodoo is devil worship. 

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

Matt Barnes has done over 70 gospel crusades in the nation of Haiti, a nation where many people practice voodoo in today’s podcast. He talks about how to set people free, who have been enslaved by the devil.

 

Evangelism Podcast Announcer (00:16):

Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King we’re Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionary, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:54):

Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King and I’m super excited about leading the world to Jesus. Today. I have a special guest Matt Barnes. He’s done many, many crusades in the nation of Haiti, brother Mac. Thank you so much for being with me today.

 

Mac Barnes (01:12):

Daniel is great to be here. Thank you.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:14):

So tell me some about your ministry and how you started doing crusades.

 

Mac Barnes (01:19):

Well, I went to a brother DGS Dhinakaran school of evangelism in 1986.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:26):

Here’s the great evangelist from India who did massive crusades all over India.

 

Mac Barnes (01:33):

Right. And he had a school of evangelism. And when you went, he taught on all the gifts of the spirit. So I operated all nine gifts of the Holy spirit and 1986 when I went to Madras India for the school of evangelism.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:49):

So what are some of the things that you learned from DGS Dhinakaran in India?

 

Mac Barnes (01:54):

Well what I learned when I came home was I was operating under his anointing. And so I’d tasted all these gifts, but now I had to get them in my own ministry. So I had, I had a crusade in Brooklyn, then I had other crusades in New Jersey and I became the leader of my church’s evangelism team. And I think one of the things that was really key was we always prayed in tongues for 30 minutes to an hour before we went out on the street. And by the time we got on the street, we had a smile on our faces that nobody could wipe it off.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:37):

And so a lot of your ministry has been focused in the nation of Haiti. Tell me, what is it like to do crusades in Haiti?

 

Mac Barnes (02:45):

Well, my Haitian partner, pastor Eddie Francois said Haiti is one of the only countries where black people want to listen to a white guy from America. And so I said, okay, I’m coming anyway. So,uwe would have crusades from Sunday to Sunday, eight days. And,uwe

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:05):

A lot of preaching. So is it morning and evening or

 

Mac Barnes (03:10):

Well, the meetings were in the evening, but in the morning we would have a pastors conference for two days. Uthere would be a Sunday school teacher’s conference and,uthere’d be a Sunday school crusade Sunday afternoon. And so we had a lot of things going besides the evening meetings, but there were about 70 people on the crusade team to put these events together.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:36):

That’s a huge team of people to coordinate a crusade. How many people would come to a typical crusade?

 

Mac Barnes (03:44):

Well, we usually had five or 10,000, sometimes 20,000 or 30,000 people a night.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:51):

Now in the nation of Haiti, often there are demonic manifestations. Tell me some about that.

 

Mac Barnes (03:59):

Well, people in Haiti worship voodoo, and I mean, if you go to the airport, they got voodoo art on the walls, in the Porter Prince airport. And so they think of voodoo as just a ordinary religion, but it’s not it’s devil worship. So they worship demons. They worship devils and they have a lot of bad outcomes. But when we would have crusades, people would fall down manifesting demons. And when that happens, the ushers would pick them up and carry them to a certain spot where the Christians would then cast out the devils and the people would get up born again, filled with the Holy spirit and, and go back to live their normal life. If

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:51):

When a demon manifests how can a Christian cast out the demon?

 

Mac Barnes (04:59):

Jesus gave his disciples power over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal the sick. And that’s not one scripture. That’s about, Oh, it’s at least there’s over a hundred scriptures that say that we have authority over demons. And in addition, there’s an angel or angels standing right with you all the time. And when you tell a demon to go to the abyss, those angels are what give you the victory over the demon.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:34):

And so you take authority over the demon in the name of Jesus, you command your angel to take them to the abyss. And what impact does that have on the person who has opened up the door to the devil?

 

Mac Barnes (05:49):

Well, it has a tremendous impact because they’re in , they’re free at all. You know, they may think that, Oh, I think the devil sounds really cool. You know, I might I might be able to get an advantage over some enemy of mine, but soon they find out that they’re enslaved. It’s like joining the mob, you know, you commit one crime. And then they say, well, if, if you tell on us, we’re gonna, we’re gonna tell on you for that crime. You committed. So you’re, you know, like you’re in this for life. And,uso these people are in and when they get free, it’s incredible. You know, how, how good they feel. And you just see the look on their faces, a smile, the tears, they are just so thrilled to be free.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:45):

John 10, 10 says the thief Satan comes to steal, kill and to destroy. So anytime you open up a door in your life to the devil, he comes in and starts to steal. He starts to kill. He starts to destroy people’s lives, but Jesus says, I’ve come to give life and life more abundantly. So give me some testimonies of some of the miracles that you’ve seen Jesus do in Haiti.

 

Mac Barnes (07:13):

Well, if, if people go to a voodoo priest, for instance, to get healing, what’ll happen is they’ll have a little complaint, like a cough. And the, the demon, the voodoo priest will give them a big demon and the big demon old tell the little demon get lost. And so the person thinks, Oh, my cough is all better. I got healed by the voodoo priest. But what they don’t realize is they now have two demons minimum. Then the bigger demon is just letting the little demon, you know, be quiet for a while. And,uthen the person realizes, man, I got, I got big problems now, you know, and now I got a backache and arthritis and I still have a cough. So,uthat’s how people get, what do you want to call it sucked in to this, but when people get set free, they’re just so thrilled. I remember one girl, hhe told me she used to run around her neighborhood naked. And, hhen she got free, the smile on,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:23):

I think we might have some of those demons here in America. They just appear a little bit differently.

 

Mac Barnes (08:29):

Yeah. When, when she got free, the smile on her face, I said that that smile would keep me coming to Haiti for the next two years. Just seeing that smile once. And that was, yeah, she had an incredible joy.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:45):

Now you said that over the course of your ministry, you’ve had the opportunity to operate in all nine gifts of the Holy spirit. How can someone begin to activate the gifts of the Holy spirit in their lives?

 

Mac Barnes (09:00):

Okay. Well, one thing you can do is go out on a limb. So if you want to activate the gift of prophecy, it’s best to start in a small group. Like if I used to go to this whole meeting at a Christian bookstore,ucalled Noah’s arc and Staten Island, and,uI started a prophecy there and it took a little,uwhat’s the right word, guts to stand up and say, the Lord is telling me this. But,uand then I remember our church had a meeting with two other churches. So there were three pastors, three churches, big crowd. And the Lord said, I got a prophetic word. And I go, Lord, I’m not giving a prophetic word in this crowd. This is too big. Anyway. So the Lord told me then just stand up. So I stood up and he goes, turn right. I turn right. I got to the aisle. He says, turn left. By the time he finished giving me instructions, I’m standing right in front of the speaker at his podium. And he goes, what are you here for? I have a prophetic word. So I gave my prophetic word, God will help you. God knows exactly what you’re going through when you try to operate spiritual gifts and he will give you the assistance, you need to get into it.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:17):

So tell me some stories about how some of the other gifts have manifested in your life. So we’ve talked about seeing spirits discerning that would be discernment of spirits. You’ve experienced that in Haiti. You just talked about giving a prophecy. I assume you’ve seen lots of healing miracles. So you’ve seen gifts of healing. What about some of the other gifts? What, how have you floated those?

 

Mac Barnes (10:41):

Let me talk about healing. We were having crusades in Haiti, but we weren’t getting very many people healed and a young minister talking the age of my children younger than my children came to me and said, can I go to Haiti with you? And at the end of the service, he had all these words of knowledge for healing. And so he, he, the whole, like the last 45 minutes, he’s just given words of knowledge. People are getting healed and he’s praying for him. And when I got off the stage, I go, that was great. I want what you have. And he goes, well, go to this school. And as it was called the school of healing by Randy Clark and, and so I get back to the United States. I get on the computer. I find out there’s one in two weeks in Colorado. I live in New Jersey and there’s one in six months, somewhere on the East coast. So I said, Lord, which one should I go to? And he goes, what have you been fasting and praying for? And I’ve been fasting coffee for 18 months because I wanted to get more people healed when I prayed for, and I go, okay, Lord, I’m going to the one and two weeks you got me. So I have been getting so many more people healed since I went to that course on the healing school.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:06):

Can you give me a testimony of an individual who was healed?

 

Mac Barnes (12:10):

Okay. So we were praying for people. We had a medical clinic and we went to Haiti with, with about 24 people. And a bunch of them are nurses and a couple of doctors, and I’m not anything medical. So we were working the line of people waiting to see the doctor. And we prayed for this lady and her ear opened up. So she was deaf in one ear and we prayed for her and her, her ear opened up. So that was, that was a great miracle.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:45):

That’s awesome. Could you pray for our listeners that they would be able to cast out demons and that they would be able to start to, to flow in the gifts of the Holy spirit

 

Mac Barnes (12:58):

Father? I thank you for the gifts of the Holy spirit. Lord, I give you praise honor glory for all of your provision, Lord, I thank you that you are a wonderful teacher. You, you teach us in the way that we need to learn. And each one is different. Each person has different things. They need to learn in a different order, but you teach all of us and you’re so patient and so kind and so gentle. So now Lord, I declare that everybody listening to this broadcast can operate spiritual gifts and yes, they have to learn. Yes, they have to start. Yes, they have to begin, but it will be so easy once they get over there,uwas, shall we call it insecurities and just step out and start to do it in Jesus name? Let it be done. Amen.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:51):

Amen. Thanks so much for being on the podcast. Bless you.

 

Mac Barnes (13:55):

God bless you, Daniel. Good to be with you

 

Evangelism Podcast Announcer (13:58):

Or information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

Steve Hill (Brownsville Revival) and Leonard Ravenhill were both great revivalists but who is carrying the torch of revival and evangelism now? In today’s podcast, I introduce you to Levi Lutz. He carries a burden for souls and a passion for leading people to Jesus. 

Show Notes: 

Levi burns to see the body of Christ equipped and mobilized for effective evangelism in this urgent last day Harvest. 

On today’s podcast, Daniel King asks him about how he was inspired and impacted by the ministries of Steve Hill & Leonard Ravenhill. 

Website: https://www.togetherintheharvest.com/

 

Listen to The Evangelism Podcast with Evangelism Coach Daniel King!

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (00:00):

Evangelists Steve Hill and Leonard Ravenhill were both great revivalist and evangelists, but who is carrying the torch or revival and evangelism. Now in today’s podcast, I introduce you to Levi Lutz. He carries a burden for souls and a passion for leading people to Jesus. Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies, and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome to the evangelism pod

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (01:00):

Cast. I’m Daniel King and I am super excited about leading people to Jesus. I’ve got a special guest with me today, Levi Lutz with together in the harvest ministries. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.

 

Levi Lutz (01:14):

Well, it’s an honor to be with you, man. I’m excited, bro.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (01:18):

Tell me a little bit about yourself and, and what you do in ministry.

 

Levi Lutz (01:21):

Yeah, man, I was a, you know, I was a burnout, nobody that Jesus rescued, he reached down into a big mess and he pulled me out of that and I fell in love with Jesus about 18 years ago. And man, we’d just been going after the least the last and the last ever since, because I want everybody to come home to meet my Jesus.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (01:37):

That’s awesome. So the ministry that you’re part of was actually started by Steve Hill.

 

Levi Lutz (01:42):

Yeah. Many of your viewers and listeners may know Steve Hill from the Browns revival Steve’s life. I mean, Steve was a general and he ran so hard after souls, just tirelessly going after one more. And what many don’t know about Steve? Because I know him from Brownsville, is it, Steve was such an intense, personal soul winner. He would go after, you know, every waitress or the, you know, people in the mall everywhere. He went one-on-one he was leading people to Jesus. And I was blessed early in ministry after God had saved me to get around the life and message of Stephen Jerry Hill. And that set the bar Daniel for me of what normal was before somebody could get ahold of me and water it down.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (02:19):

So what are some of the things that you learned from evangelists, Steve Hill?

 

Levi Lutz (02:23):

Oh, go, you know, he used to always quote William Booth, but he would say, go for souls and go for the worst. And for me, I realized that, you know, no matter how intimidating somebody’s situation was, no matter how hard the shell was on the outside,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (02:38):

We had, we had a 

 

Levi Lutz (02:40):

White, hot burning fire of the Holy ghost inside of us. That’ll melt that shell. Steve wasn’t, wasn’t afraid to share the gospel with anybody. And I, and I’ll bring, you know, his wife, Jerry, into that too. Something I learned from her life was the tears of the saints will soften the heart of even the hardest unbeliever. If we learned to weep for the lost. And then we sow the seed of the uncompromising, the gospel, we will reap a harvest.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (03:03):

I love sister Jerry Hill. She is such a tremendous woman of God. And you can tell she does pray for the lost and weak for the loss

 

Levi Lutz (03:12):

Everywhere. She goes, man, and it’s contagious. You get around her man and you just start getting intense burden, like never before for, you know, for the broken ones.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (03:21):

And so Steve Hill was, was an amazing evangelist helped with the, the Brownsville revival. And I remember hearing him preach several times just he had a way of communicating the gospel through illustration. What are some of the, your favorite illustrations that he ever did?

 

Levi Lutz (03:41):

Oh man. There’s so many, you know, I think, I think the one that I still today, I actually carry care with me, a set of shackles and use them. Steve would pull these old shackles out from the altar for the altar call. Now his were from the 18 hundreds. I’ll just, I’ll just plug myself your monitor a little bit older than that monitor about the about 400 years old. But I had these old shackles and Steve would, would relate that to the hole that sin had on our life and how there’s a moment, you know, what’s what Wesley called. Prevenient grace, where God will pop that shackle open, but you can’t just stand around. You gotta move. You gotta run to the alter. You gotta run to the cross. Well, before that shackle closes again around your ankle, man, you and I had a moment. We had to step out of that old life and step into what God had for us. There’s no time to hesitate.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (04:20):

So tell me what’s happened through the transition because a few years ago, Steve went to heaven and, and so that is a major time of transition for a ministry what’s happened since then. And what’s happening now with the ministry.

 

Levi Lutz (04:35):

Yeah. So you know, yeah, as you said, Steve went on to be with the Lord. He entered into his reward. We honor that it still has life challenges so many today. And we have many of his messages posted people that we always getting emails of people that are still being touched. But Jerry continued on Jerry continued on with together in the harvest of ministry. They had both started in the eighties and gone to Argentina. There, there was so much God did even before Brownsville and she’s continued to run with that torch. And we had my wife and I had planted a ministry in Texas that had been greatly influenced by their life and message and raised it up over the last 17 or 18 years. And God was just moving. When our sons in the faith now we’re planting them in the ministries.

 

Levi Lutz (05:13):

And all of a sudden, one day I was in my prayer closet and the Lord told me, you know, you don’t tell everybody this kind of stuff, but the Lord told me that we would, we would get a call and that we would be taking the ministry of Steve and Jerry Hill together in the harvest. I told my wife, but I said, you don’t, don’t say this to anybody. We’re just going to pray and see what the Lord does. And it was about a year later and Jerry called me, I was sitting in my office. I was very blessed. Actually my ministry owns the home of Leonard Ravenhill. So I was sitting in Leonard’s old office. And,uI got this call from Jerry and I, and I picked up the phone and she, on the other side, she said, Levi, I don’t know how to ask you this, but I want you to pray about coming here and beginning to work with us and take this ministry.

 

Levi Lutz (05:53):

And I said, Jerry, I said, I don’t have to pray about this. The Lord spoke to me a year ago. She said, well, she said, I’ve been afraid to call you for a year, since the Lord began to put this in our heart. So we begin to move and make the transition. And man, we’re so excited about what God has there. So many projects that we’re about to launch. And you know, man, we honor praise God for the legacy of Steve. There was nobody like him. He was a general, but together in the harvest is not just a museum to the past. We have a sharp sickle in our hand and I believe these are the greatest years of harvest that we’re living in right now.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (06:25):

Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. And so the same revival and repentance that happened at Brownsville can still happen today and is probably needed even more today than it was back then. And so what do you see God will be doing in the next few years?

 

Levi Lutz (06:44):

What we’re doing right now is something that’s crazy. You know, there’s so many great just schools of evangelism around the nation and things you can do. One of the things Steve did right before he died, it was in his heart to raise up an online that the Steve Hill school of evangelism. And there are many resources like that. I think that Steve’s is a great one, but something we’re doing that, I don’t know anybody that’s doing. We have just now. And, and we’ve, hou may have seen some broadcast on this, but we’ve just kicked the doors open and we’re opening our calendars to make it available for those that, that sign up and go through the steep Hills glue evangelism to actually come and travel on the ground with myself and Jerry Hill was I’m mobilizing churches as we’re having, you know, citywide, hhvangelism, hnitiatives.

 

Levi Lutz (07:24):

We’re actually bringing these people that have, you know, maybe they’re just a businessman or a lay person, but they have a heart for souls and they want to continue to get equipped. Or maybe they’re, they’re not tendered evangelists just starting their ministry. And they say, how do I navigate this and integrity? We don’t need anybody else with a man of God syndrome. We need authentic, humble soul winners that are submitted to God and just say, use me Jesus. And so we’ve invited them to come with us to get training, to help us to serve pastors as we activate. So winning in their churches and just reach their, their whole neighborhoods for Christ.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (07:56):

So what would you say to someone who has a heart for evangelism, but doesn’t really know what to get started? How would you activate them and get them out into the harvest field?

 

Levi Lutz (08:06):

Step one, I’d say sign up for the Steve Hill school of evangelism come treble with us, but

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (08:10):

I actually went through the online version of that Steve Hill school of evangelism. And it’s tremendous. I highly recommend it.

 

Levi Lutz (08:17):

Yeah. Hey man, it’s amazing notes for those that didn’t have the opportunity to sit across the desk and look in Steve’s eyes and have him speak in. It, it really makes that same type of opportunity available to people today. But yeah, you know, as far as the question, you know, outside of a joke, but outside of our ministry, you know, what, what do I do? I have a heart for evangelism, where do I start? You know, this is not very systematic, but you know what I believe, I believe you go up, you introduce yourself to somebody and you open your mouth and you let Jesus feel it. I don’t think, I think right now the Lord is hard pressed for, for effective soul-winners in evangelism. I think God is speaking to people, millions of people every day to share gospel and no one’s going.

 

Levi Lutz (08:57):

And so I think if you’ll just step out in faith and walk up to somebody, because there’s only three voices that can speak, we got the devil, we got the Holy spirit, we got the flesh, the flesh and the devil don’t want to evangelize people. So when you feel a drawing to go talk to that, you know, that young lady or that young man in the frozen foods and Walmart step out, go up, introduce yourself and just let the Lord begin to speak through you. And I promise you, you’re going to begin to have these stories. You’re going to begin to see these testimonies. You’re going to see the power of God come down right there in the supermarket.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (09:24):

The devil’s not going to tell you to go talk to someone about Jesus. So tell you that, Daniel. So if you feel like you’re supposed to go talk to someone about Jesus, that is a word that’s coming from God, and God is putting it on your heart because that person is on his heart. Amen.

 

Levi Lutz (09:40):

And Daniel, I just, even right now, I know this is evangelism broadcast, who tunes into this, probably the cutting edge, the most on fire. You know, this is not the lazy Pew center that tunes into a podcast like this. This is probably the cream of the crop, but also know we’re in a very unusual time in history where maybe, you know, somebody is at home on some kind of a, a lockdown or maybe you know, the person that student to the broadcast is a on fire. You know, just so winter, but they’ve got some family in the car right now as they’re listening to this. So if it’d be all right, I’d just like an opportunity to share the gospel with them real quick, man, if you’re, if you’re listening to this right now, now you’ve got trapped. You didn’t expect this to happen.

 

Levi Lutz (10:15):

But man, this is a destiny moment. I ran from the Lord. I was actually called to preach when I was still lost. And I ran from the Lord, but he, but he, he kinda hedged me and he backed me into a corner and we don’t have time for that story. But I had a supernatural encounter with the power of God. And I believe right now, even listening to this broadcast you know, you might be the son or the daughter or the friend or the cousin or the coworker of maybe, maybe your boss is tuning into this broadcast and he’s calling him employees. In fact, I would encourage you right now. As you see me ramping up for this, I go into the house, get your teenagers, bring them in and bring in your employees, get them in the room. Because I believe right now is a destiny moment for those that are listening there might be someone that a grandma has been interceding for.

 

Levi Lutz (10:55):

And right now the Lord is about to speak to them. And I would just say this, the Jesus that rescued me, he can rescue you. He understands that your laws, it doesn’t matter if you’re in a homosexual relationship. It doesn’t matter. I mean, things we don’t even want to talk about, but even right now, we see, we watch the news. There’s an epidemic of pedophilia in the name. It doesn’t matter. We were all monsters. We were all depraved, but Christ came and bled and died to pay the price for that sin. But not only that, he didn’t stay in the ground. He Rose again. And he’s alive today and he’s calling you. And so right now, even those listening, if the Lord is speaking to your heart, you’re where I was. You’re lost. You don’t know the answer. Maybe you even run from God and you’ve turned off broadcasts like this.

 

Levi Lutz (11:37):

And you walked down a church meetings. But right now you’re like, man, you caught me. Jesus. If you would just pray this prayer with me right at this moment, I believe God will change your life forever. And it’s not, it’s not in the magic words of a prayer, but I believe man, the Bible says, if we ask him for bread, he’s not going to give a stone. We asked him for fish. He’s not going to give us a snake. If we’ll surrender to Jesus and we’ll ask him to come right now and change our life, you’ll never ever be the same again. And so I invite you to pray with me right now, dear Jesus.

 

Salvation Prayer (12:07):

I’m a sinner. I’m a sinner. I’m away from you away from you. I’m backslidden, backslidden, I’m a product. I’m a product. But if you’ll save me, but if you’ll save me, if you’ll be my Lord, if you’ll be my Lord, I’ll surrender to you, surrender to you. And if you wash away my sins and I surrender to you, and if you wash away my sins and I surrender to you, then I know I can know you as my very best friend. No, I can know you as my very best friend. So from this day forward, Jesus. So from this day forward, Jesus, I give my life to you. I give my life to you, come and live your life through me, come and live your life through me. I am yours. I am yours and you are mine and you are mine. And your precious name and your precious name. Amen. Amen. Praise God. That’s powerful. That’s what I live for

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (12:58):

Me too. That’s awesome. When, when you have the heart of God for people, that’s what all of us should live for. Let’s talk a little bit about Leonard Ravenhill you mentioned that you, you have his house. How did that come to pass it? And what did you learn from, from Leonard? He was a great revivalist.

 

Levi Lutz (13:15):

Oh man. It, yeah, that’s a whole nother story, but you know, Leonard had mentored Steve and Steve was really the intersection of, of Dave Wilkerson and Linda Ravenhill. David had bred into him, the heart for souls and Leonard, a heart for revival Leonard when he died was really the world’s leading expert on historic revival. I never met, met Lynn and I had some time to spend with his son, David, but yeah, man, we just, I felt like it was, you know, it’s like the land of our father. Steve would tell these stories and through a story we don’t have time for on the broadcast, God moved and, and allowed us to purchase the house. So for the last two and a half years, we’ve just been opening the study and allowing people to come and be mentored. And we’ve had,umyself and a dear friend of mine, Joel Stockstill have held prayer meetings there.

 

Levi Lutz (13:56):

And man, we had like the second prayer meeting we had because of the size of the house in the study, we had to limit it to like 13 liters. And man, we had a waiting list almost a year out. People wanting to come and pray in that old study. And it’s not that you know we’re not stopping the worship Joshua’s [inaudible] or anything like that. But it’s where, you know, Leonard is dead today, man, we honor his legacy, but Leonard’s dead. But those prayers are still alive. The things that he beseeched heaven for the things that he cried out to God for for America to turn back for America, to come to repentance for the church to be stirred and awakened, man, those prayers have gone up and maybe some of them have been answered, but there’s some of those that God’s still searching the earth, looking for a man, looking for a woman, that’ll say here I am, send me.

 

Levi Lutz (14:39):

And we just partner with the burden that he had and the, the, the petitions he made to heaven. And we say, God, America’s never needed you more than now. The church has never needed you more than now. The world needs Jesus. We’re a place where people, they need answers. Some like Judas are under suicide. In some light, Peter will run to the savior. And so man, all these great generals of the past, we just say, Lord, in this moment, right now, the thing that they long for, the thing that they cried out for send us and have your way in this generation. Every time I read Leonard, Ravenhill his quotes, I get convicted and I want to get saved all over again, man. They’ll mess you up, man. We don’t, we don’t have too many voices like that today. Well, thank you so much for being on the podcast. I love how your heart beats for souls. It’s been amazing to be with you, bro. I look forward to the next time and I love what you’re doing for Jesus.

 

Evangelism Podcast Announcer (15:29):

For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches, visit King ministries.com. Again that’s King ministries.com.

 

Joe Oden is the Evangelism Coordinator for the North Texas District of the Assemblies of God. His training materials are being used to coordinate local church outreaches all over the United States. On today’s podcast we will ask him how he is empowering Assembly of God churches to reach out to their communities.

 Book: The Lightnings of God: https://amzn.to/3iHoY3q 

Website: https://joeodenministries.com

Show Notes: 

Joe Oden is

• The GO2020 National Coordinator for the Assemblies of God. 
• The Evangelism Coordinator for the North Texas District of the Assemblies of God,
• And on the executive committee of Global Evangelism Alliance, a division of Empowerment 21. 
• He is the executive director of a SUM Bible College and Theological Seminary extension site in the Dallas Metroplex and has served as an adjunct professor at several different Bible Colleges, including CFNI, Heartland School of Ministry, and SUM.

His goal is to to equip, ignite, and mobilize the local church for the great commission.

On this podcast, he answers the following questions: 

Describe a “Love Your Neighbor Outreach Weekend” 

How are you empowering Assembly of God churches to reach out to their communities? 

Tell us about your “Empowered to Share” Online Course? https://joeodenministries.com/courses/empowered-to-share/ 

What does the name of your new book “The Lightnings of God” mean? What is a lightening of God? 

In his powerful book, Joe imparts…

• Confidence for laying hands on the sick, and expecting healing.
• Strategy on positioning yourself for encounters with the fire of God.
• Boldness to prophesy and move in prophetic evangelism.
• Hunger for a prayer life filled with Holy-Spirit power.
• Practical tools for releasing God-encounters to the people around you. 

What is the most powerful testimony you have of someone who was touched by God when you witnessed to them? 

 

Listen to The Evangelism Podcast with Evangelist Daniel King, AKA The Evangelism Coach.

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (00:00):

Joe Odin is the evangelism coordinator for the North Texas district of the assemblies of God. His training materials are being used to coordinate local church outreaches all over the United States on today’s podcast. We’ll ask him how he is empowering assembly of God, churches to reach out to their communities.

 

Evangelism Podcast Announcer (00:23):

Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King we’re Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (00:59):

Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I am super excited about leading people to Jesus. And today I have a very special guest, my good friend, Joe Odin, and he is the go 20, 20 national coordinator for the assemblies of God. He’s also the evangelism coordinator for the North Texas district of the assemblies of God. And he’s on the executive committee of the global evangelists Alliance, which I’m on that committee too. So brother Joe, thank you for being on the podcast. Hey man, it’s great

 

Joe Oden (01:31):

To be here with you today, Daniel. Awesome.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (01:34):

So tell me a little bit about your ministry and what you do.

 

Joe Oden (01:38):

Yeah, well you know, in Ephesians four 11, where Paul set the parameters for the five fold ministry offices he used the word equip and that, that God has given some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. And you know, I’ve got friends that will say, well, I am a revivalist evangelist. And to me, Daniel, that’s like someone saying like a tiger identifying themselves with teeth. I mean, they should everyone knows they’ve got teeth and every evangelists should carry a revival. But the, I believe the mandate of the evangelist is to equip the believer to effectively share the gospel. And so being saved through the Brownsville revival, I have a burning passion for revival, but just as much as that to equip the believer to effectively share the gospel and move in signs and wonders.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (02:47):

So tell me, how do you equip believers to share the gospel? I was looking at your website and it described a love your neighbor outreach weekend. Tell me what does that look like and what do you do? Yeah,

 

Joe Oden (03:00):

Well, you know, one, one of the things that in the United States of America, there’s different stats, but one is that 93% of Christians in America will never share their faith. And so when you look at that, u,ere’s a, there’s a couple of reasons. And the one I want to focus on right now is one, they don’t know how to start a conversation. They don’t know what to say, and they don’t know how to communicate the gospel. So, so really those are the core places that I like to start. And if you say, how do you do that? If I had, if I had 20 minutes with a group of people and, uh,yknow, and that was it, I would make sure before I got up that they understood that how to share the Apostolic kerygmatic gospel, that man is deprived. Jesus came as a ruling King. That’s what Messiah is to the Jew, that he died on a cross that he Rose from the dead. And you’ve got to repent of your sins. I would, I would teach people how to communicate that if you boil it down.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (04:21):

So you go into a church and you teach that, and then how do you get people beyond the apathy of just sitting in the Pew and going out to where the lost are and actually sharing that message with?

 

Joe Oden (04:35):

Yeah, well you know when you talk about a love your neighbor weekend, I go in on a Sunday first, and really I share my story. I connect with the people, I ignite them. I get them to understand that anybody can lead someone to Christ. It’s not just for the pastor, the evangelist or the apostle that anyone can do it. So I share stories of how I’ve seen God move out in day to day activities. When I come back, I share how to share the gospel, how to move in the gifts of the spirit. And then we have a time of practice where we take them out into the community and they began to interact with people and begin to talk to them about Jesus. And more often than not, we find people that will say, Joe, I’ve never shared the gospel. I was scared to death to come today. I stepped out and did it, and now I’m going to be a lifelong soul winner. So it’s getting them to overcome that step of fear. And once they do, and you give them some tools, we really see great impact on not only the communities that they’re reaching, but their life personally, for the rest of their life.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (05:49):

Now you’re serving the assembly of God churches there in the state of Texas. What are you doing to help empower us

 

Joe Oden (05:59):

And of God churches to do more evangelism? Yeah, well it’s, it’s kind of what we’re talking about right now. You know, one of the things to even draw that back, another step is we, we, we talked about the five fold ministry a moment ago, you know, in Ephesians, I believe it’s four nine that Paul said that Jesus gave these gifts to the church. Usome translations say treasures. Imagine if there was a treasure in your backyard, you dig it up, you would you’d get it. You’d go after it. Rubies diamonds, pearls, you wouldn’t leave it buried. And oftentimes,uI say this in just a brokenness and a contrite anise pastors leave the treasure of the evangelists, locked in a chest with a deadbolt on it, and they never opened up that gift. So I would say how, you know, in how you mobilize churches, you’ve got to communicate to the pastor, the need for the evangelist and the mobilization. If you’re looking at ground level, that’s the first obstacle, the first,uthing that you, that you really have to do as an evangelist to communicate the urgency and the need for the pastor and come alongside the pastor and help them.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (07:36):

Your website is Joe Odin, ministries.com. And on your website, you’ve just put up a brand new course, a training course on empowering people to share the gospel called empowered, to, to share is that available for anyone to look at?

 

Joe Oden (07:56):

Yeah, right now it’s a, it’s a eight part video series book workbook. We’re giving it free right now. And if you do not feel comfortable in sharing your faith, maybe you, you’ve never shared your faith or you’re an evangelist, or you’re a soul winner and you’re engaged if you meet any of those fall in any of those categories, this is for you. It’s, it’s, it’s got real theology, but real practical application to help mobilize someone and make them a better soul winner.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (08:34):

And you just published a brand new book called the lightnings of God. What does that mean? What, what is the lightnings of God? Yeah.

 

Joe Oden (08:42):

You know, it, the, the statement originated from the great apostolic evangelists, John G Lake, whenever he would see a mighty miracle, a resurrection of the dead blind eyes opening the Mubarak, plague dying, he would say that was a lightening of God. And throughout our ministry we have seen in the marketplace, I’m not talking about in the local church, but you know people in witchcraft sections get hit by the power of God. People that are aren’t alternative lifestyles fall out under the power of God and the street getting prophetic words for people to where they come on done. And they’ve never had a word they’ve never, they’ve never tasted of the gifts of the spirit and get instantly saved. And, and so I like to think of those instances as a moment in time

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (09:36):

Where God’s lightening comes

 

Joe Oden (09:38):

From heaven and touches an individual and changes them forever. So I just basically wrote a book that shares those stories. It has power pack theology around it. So that really Cindy mother of three has been married 15 years attends church, but as afraid doesn’t want to mess up any situation and stepping out that she could read this book. And when she’s done, she would have an ignition and a fire and a faith that God could use her right now. That’s why I wrote the book.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (10:17):

Can you tell me the greatest story from your book of a time that the lightening of God came and changed? Someone’s life? Give me a testimony.

 

Joe Oden (10:27):

Yeah. I’ll give you a story. I was in a subway restaurant and I just preached and the the pastor and the youth pastor and I were at get something to eat. And there was a Buddhist behind the counter. And, you know, Daniel, I, I have a simple technique. Have you ever felt the power of God? I didn’t go into a long dissertation of the book of Romans. I just connected said, have you ever felt the power of God? She was a Buddhist. She said, no. I said, would you like to? She said, yes. So I said, can I pray for you? So I stuck my hand over the counter. I touched her on the shoulder and I just prayed a real simple prayer of faith filled, but simple Lord, touch her with the fire of God right now in Jesus name. Amen. The next thing she does is she gives me my sandwich turn around and walking out. I’m about to touch the door and she starts shouting. It makes sir, there’s something on me in the restaurant, you know, everybody’s there. The, you know, it’s open for business and she shouted again, sir, there’s something on me. When I turned around, I said the name above Islam, Buddhism, and the devil. I said, it’s Jesus. When I said that name, she doubled over under the power of God and began to manifest demons. Right, right. In the restaurant. Right in subway. Right?

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (11:45):

You mean there’s demons here in America too. I know we see them overseas, but here in America and subway, there’s demons, there’s

 

Joe Oden (11:52):

Daemons, there’s Damons. And she’s manifesting you couldn’t depict it. A Hollywood actor, Daniel and seriously would have a hard time depicting and demonstrating. She was full out, looked like she was having an asthma attack. C O P D. She couldn’t breathe. She was gasping for air, like throwing up gagging. So I jumped the counter man. The sandwich making dude was tripping out, man. He’s like, dude, you know, but he didn’t Jack with us. And so I laid hands on her. She got delivered. A demons will let her to cry. She took her idols off. Totally got set free. And the cool part of the story is six weeks later, she calls me, I didn’t know she was a Buddhist on issues of Buddhist, but I didn’t know she was from China. And she’d only lived in America a couple of months. So out of,ufor the first time in her life, she hears the gospel.

 

Joe Oden (12:45):

She’s has an encounter with God, Buddhist, her entire life. One touch from God, changed her life. And then she says, she said, when you, when you shared with me that night, I knew it was real. Get this. She says this because about six weeks before I met you, she said, I had a dream and you were in it preaching me the gospel. I hung up the phone with her. And the Lord spoke to me and said,uJoe, I’m giving people dreams all over the United States of America. He said, this crystal clear, I am doing my job, tell the church to do theirs. And so I share it. That’s a powerful story, but I, but I, but I share that God’s doing his job. Jesus came, he died on the cross. He Rose from the dead. He sent the Holy spirit. He’s empowered us. What do we want Jesus to do parachute out of heaven and do all the work. He’s empowered us to do it. He’s done the work. Now we just need to do our part.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (13:59):

It’s amazing when God takes time out of his busy schedule to go and appear to someone in a dream to announce your arrival, you must be really special. Well, but the amazing thing is, is that you, that God working through you change that woman’s life just really tremendous.

 

Joe Oden (14:16):

This is another aspect. What would have happened if I’d have felt that leading and thought, no somebody’s behind me

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (14:25):

Or been embarrassed because it’s a Subway.

 

Joe Oden (14:28):

He could have done his job. And if I wouldn’t have done mine, God only knows what would have happened to her. Maybe he’d have had to give her another dream of somebody else. And so, you know, when you feel that leading follow it, because you have no idea what God has done on the other side to prepare the person or to orchestrate that step of faith. Oh brother, Joe, I love your ministry. You’re such a unique person. You are a scholar, but you are also an anointed minister of God. And so I just love the call of God. That’s on your life. Thank you so much for being on the evangelism podcast. Amen. And Lord, we just pray for everybody that’s listening right now. Lord, they tuned in today by the very nature of the podcast being evangelism. Lord, I pray that you light a fire in some individuals right now that they wouldn’t just say, man, that’s a cool story. Joe shared that there would be a provocation on the inside of them that says, God, I want to move in the power of God. And I want a story. God use them today in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

 

Evangelism Podcast Announcer (15:50):

Thank you for more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

Chris Mikkelson has had the opportunity to preach to huge crowds of people in Pakistan but now God has put a burden on his heart for America. Today we talk about a new innovative way he is working on to reach people for Jesus in the United States. 

Website: 

http://www.Chrismikkelson.com 

https://www.salvationusa.com/ 

Show Notes: 

What are some of the miracles you have seen God do in Pakistan? 

How did you go from being a student at Christ for the Nations in Dallas, Texas to doing enormous evangelistic crusades? 

Hear the story of a man who was crippled with polio from the age of 3 to the age of 33 and how Jesus touched him. 

Learn about the innovative idea of doing a survey in order to do personal evangelism. The survey is one question, “What do you know about Jesus?” 

Learn about Chris’ TV program called “Salvation Today” and how it reaches people who may never come to church. 

 

Listen to Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach, on The Evangelism Podcast

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

Chris Mikkelson has had the opportunity to preach to huge crowds of people in the nation of Pakistan. But now God has put a burden on his heart for America. Today, we talk about a new, innovative way. He is working on to reach people for Jesus right here in the United States.

 

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:22):

Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King we’re Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:58):

Praise the Lord. It’s good to talk about Jesus. I’m here with a special guest, Chris Michaelson. Great evangelists. Welcome to the podcast. Hey, it’s great to be here, Daniel. So brother Chris, you’ve been doing some amazing crusades in many different parts of the world, but most recently focused on Pakistan. Tell me what Jesus has been doing through your work.

 

Chris Mikkelson (01:21):

Yeah. Pakistan has been amazing. We’ve been seeing thousands of people receive Jesus as their Lord and savior. In fact, over the last two years, 2018 and 2019 combined, we saw just over 1 million people received Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior in Pakistan. So we give God all the praise for what he’s doing there, but the harvest is ripe in the nation of Pakistan. Uthe world is ripe really for the harvest. And,uI feel like we’re in exciting times right now to be an event,uto be evangelists.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:53):

Tell me some of the miracles that you’ve seen in Pakistan.

 

Chris Mikkelson (01:55):

Yeah. We’ve seen so many miracles. In fact, the last time we were there, we had to shut the miracle testimony line down because there were thousands of people in line trying to push each other to get on stage to testify. We were away. We were afraid we were going to have to pray for people who had already been healed, who are going through the testimony line because there was so excited to tell about Jesus and how he had healed them. But we see incredible miracles. We’ve seen blind eyes, opening, deaf ears hearing. Uone of them, one of my favorite stories is of, u, a guy who contracted polio at age three. He came to our crusade at the age 33. And for the last 30 years, he had been completely crippled. He couldn’t walk at all. So we send out buses to the surrounding villages to bring in the poor people.

 

Chris Mikkelson (02:48):

So somebody had carried him onto the bus. Then when it got to the crusade field, they put him on their back. He was a very small frail men crippled and they, him to the crusade field, Jesus touched him that night and he started walking for the very first time in 30 years. It was absolutely amazing. And w you know, it was a really special night. One of the other amazing testimonies was of a woman. And,ushe had contracted some sort of disease in her body. And for a year, she was going to the doctors trying to figure out what the problem was. She was a, a wealthier woman. And so she had enough money to go to multiple doctors, but no one could fix the issue that she had. I think it sounds like it was some kind of like rheumatory arthritis or lupus or something like that.

 

Chris Mikkelson (03:39):

Just constant pain throughout her body, really difficulty in moving. And she came to the crusade because some of her friends, she was a Muslim. Some of her friends told her that she should go see the witch doctors. Maybe the witch doctors can heal her. And about the same time that they told her to go to the witch doctors, she saw an advertisement on television for our crusade. She said, I’m going to go to that crusade because they say Jesus can heal me. She came to the crusade, she heard me preach the gospel. She got saved born again at the crusade. We began praying for the sick. She got completely healed, came up on stage and testified of how Jesus not only saved her that night, but also healed her and set her completely free from all the pain she had had.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:30):

What a tremendous testimony. Now, you and I first met when I was teaching at Christ for the nations in Dallas, Texas. I came to do a week of chapels. And I think at that time you were a student. Yeah, that’s right. I was. And so tell us, how did you go from being a student at Christ for the nations to now doing these massive crusades?

 

Chris Mikkelson (04:54):

Yeah. Well, when I was a student at Christ for the nations, I remember reading Gordon Lindsey’s autobiography and Gordon Lindsay was the founder of Christ for the nations Institute. And I remember him talking in his autobiography about how a lot of evangelists when he was on the evangelism circuit, how there were so many evangelists that were getting started, but were having struggles in their ministry. They were struggling to raise money. They were struggling to, you know, run a ministry and all of these different things. Some of them had seen issues and they fell and their ministries collapsed. And he made a statement in his autobiography. He said, if a young man feels called to be an evangelist, he should consider serving an evangelist for a season to learn from them so that he doesn’t make the same mistakes everyone else makes when they start.

 

Chris Mikkelson (05:46):

And I remember hearing that word and the Holy spirit spoke to me. So clearly he said, Chris, that’s what I’m going to do in your life. You’re going to serve someone for a season before you start doing crusades. Well, I said, okay, God, the praise, God, that’s awesome. I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever you want me to do. But I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t know. I know I knew of a lot of evangelists, but I didn’t have any connections with them. I went all the way through Bible school. And I was following another evangelist. Somebody that you’re friends with, I was following him on Facebook. He’s was also somebody that came and preached at CF and I, and as a graduate of CF and I, his name’s Bernie more evangelists, Bernie Moore.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:26):

Yeah. He’s a great evangelist. Yeah.

 

Chris Mikkelson (06:27):

And so Bernie Moore, I was following him on Facebook and he put a post up one day and said, I can’t wait to come to Dallas this week. So I reached out to him and I said, where are you going to be ministering this week? I’d like to come. And he replied. And he said, I’m going to be at Christ for the nations on Tuesday, let’s have coffee. And I remember being so excited feeling like, wow, maybe this is the evangelist that God is going to connect me with. You know? And I, of course I knew about Reinhardt Bunky. I knew about Daniel Kolenda. I knew about, you know, Benny Hinn and a lot of the really well known evangelists. I just didn’t have any connection with any of them, but I thought maybe Bernie Moore is the guy. Well then,uw I went and had coffee with him.

 

Chris Mikkelson (07:07):

And at the end of my meeting with him, he said, you know, a friend of mine called me this morning. He’s an evangelist. And he’s looking for a personal assistant. And I think you’d be great for the job. His name is Daniel Kolenda. And I was just as static. I couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. I was so excited. And so he connected me with Daniel. I got the job to be his personal assistant. And while I was there, Daniel train me, he began to tell me things like, Hey, I want you to work on this project because when you have your own evangelistic ministry, you’re going to have to know how to do this when you have your own ministry. And so of course, Daniel,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:49):

Melinda, is that the head of Christ for all nations in Orlando, the ministry that was started by Reinhardt Bunky. And so he does massive crusades all over the world. Yeah, yeah,

 

Chris Mikkelson (08:02):

Yeah. And seeing millions of people receive Jesus as their Lord and savior. So it was such an honor for me to learn from Daniel and to serve him and to serve the ministry that evangelists around her bunkie started and to learn from them. And so that was a, it was an amazing experience of learning how to be an evangelist do crusades. And so then in 2015, after being there three and a half years I felt like the Lord said, it’s time to launch your ministry, take what you’ve learned from them. And so we did, we started our evangelistic ministry Daniel and I are so close. He serves on our board, but we started doing crusades and we just started simply by saying, okay, God, we know you’ve called us to do crusades. We know there’s lots of people out there. How do we start with where we’re at?

 

Chris Mikkelson (08:48):

And I think a lot of young evangelists, they see these massive crowds and they think, how do I get from here to there? But the reality is there’s a process that we all go through and, and Jesus said he was faithful in the little, he’ll make ruler over much. And so if you’ll just take with whatever you have and begin being faithful with it, God will give you more and more and more when he sees you faithful. And that’s what we did. We had small budgets back in those days, we started doing, you know, smaller crusades. And I even remember reaching out to you kind of early on and getting some advice from you and how to start, you know, doing crusades. And so all of that really impacted me greatly. And as we started being faithful, God said, okay, I’m gonna cause you to go to this nation to go to that nation. And he started opening up nations to us. And we’ve been seeing millions, you know, over a million. Now come to now,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:43):

Recently I saw that you have developed a heart for this nation, for the United States of America. And you’re actually planning to do a crusade here in America. Tell me about that and what you’re planning to do.

 

Chris Mikkelson (09:59):

Yeah. We’re really, really excited about this. You know, I feel like it’s time for America. American needs the gospel, like never before we’re in a crucial time right now in the nation of America. And so we’re going to continue to do our international crusades, but on, in addition to that, we feel like it’s time, we’ve got to start taking the gospel out of the four walls of the church and bringing it out to where the loss people are. So we’re really excited. We’re going to, we’re using a new strategy. We’ve never implemented before. We’re still working with area churches. Like we always would for our crusade, but now we’re going to be doing a lot of giveaways to the poor community where our crusade is, and we’re going to be helping people pay their bills. You know, people are struggling financially right now. So we want to help pay people’s bills.

 

Chris Mikkelson (10:48):

We’re going to give away groceries. We’re going to help people get jobs from local Christian businesses in Orlando that we think is going to attract the loss to come to the crusade. And then we’re going to preach the crystal clear gospel like we always would. And I believe we’re going to see thousands of people from the community come out and receive Jesus as our Lord and savior. And so I’m really excited about it. We’ve got Eddie James coming to lead worship, and we’re working with area pastors and area leaders to put this on. And I just, I couldn’t be more excited.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:20):

Marilyn Hickey once told me that every nation has a key that opens the hearts of people. And she told me, Daniel, you need to pray and ask God to give you the key that would open the door in each nation. So the different nations are different. And in some nations, it’s music, having famous musicians attracts lots of people. Other times it’s miracles. There’s no local doctors. There’s no one to, to help those who are sick. So when you advertise miracles, lots of people come. But I think your strategy of helping people here in America is a wonderful strategy because especially with everything that’s going on economically, right now, there’s a lot of people that are hurting. There’s a lot of people that are struggling to pay their bills. So this is the right strategy for right now.

 

Chris Mikkelson (12:10):

Yeah. We’re, we’re really excited. I’ve never used a strategy like this before, but I really felt like God was saying to, to that, we have to start thinking outside the box, how are we going to reach people who would never walk through the front doors of a local church? How do we get, how do we get them to hear the gospel? And, you know, I think this is one of those things where,uyou know, God gave me a strategy back when I was in Bible school,uwe were going door to door in an apartment complex. And we were in a very impoverished neighborhood. There was a lot of gang activity and people were very hesitant of answering the door. They didn’t know if they didn’t know who you were. They weren’t sure you know why you were there and that sort of thing.

 

Chris Mikkelson (12:51):

And so we were going and knocking on doors and we could hear people on the inside, but they wouldn’t answer the door. And then some people would yell from the other side of the door and and just say, go away. So we were having a hard time trying to reach people with the gospel door to door in that particular neighborhood. And I remember praying and saying, God, how do we get people to open the door? And God gave me a strategy that has forever changed how I do personal evangelism. God said, do a survey. And I said, a survey. He said, do a survey. So I said, okay, I’ll go. I’ll do a survey. So I went to the next door. I knocked on the door, a lady yelled from the other side of the door. She wouldn’t open the door. She said, who is it?

 

Chris Mikkelson (13:34):

I said, I’m Chris I’m I’m here. I’m here to do a survey. And all of a sudden she opened the door wide open and she said, what’s the survey. And all of a sudden, I went, Lord, you didn’t tell me what the survey was. And so I started panicking. And then all of a sudden, God said, it’s one question. And so I said to her, I said, Oh, the, the survey is just one question, Mike, the question is, what do you know about Jesus? And she goes, you know, I don’t really know a whole lot about Jesus. And I said, well, can I tell you what I know about him? And she said, sure. And right there at our doorstep, I started sharing the gospel with her shared about how we’re all sinners in need of a savior shared about Jesus made a call for salvation.

 

Chris Mikkelson (14:21):

She repented of her sin with tears running down. Her eyes asked Jesus to save her right there at her doorstep. And that model we started using at all the other doors. And I still use it to this day. I don’t really ask anyone about a survey anymore, but I asked those same questions. What do you know about Jesus? Can I tell you what I know about him? Do you want to receive him? And that’s been our model. And so yet God will give you keys to different areas to reach different people. And I’m excited about you utilizing this key of bringing people to something where we can help them economically. But more importantly, we can help them spiritually in jesus’ name. Yeah. The survey says that a hundred percent of respondents need to know Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. Amen. Yeah. And a hundred percent of us are all going to die.

 

Chris Mikkelson (15:13):

Right. So we all need Jesus. Absolutely. That’s right. And you’ve also been doing a television program. Tell me the impact that that TV program has had. Yeah, it’s been amazing. We have a TV show called salvation today. It’s a, it was a 30 minute program. We’ve just added another 30 minutes. So it’s a one hour program. We tape it live every Wednesday at 11:00 AM Eastern time,uon our social media platforms. But it’s also going into 72 countries worldwide. We’re reaching millions and millions of homes and we’re utilizing the television program to specifically share the gospel in, get, get the gospel into homes of people who may never come to a church who may never go to a crusade. And so that’s another model. It’s another Avenue of reaching the loss. We need to reach the loss at all costs right now. And so I think as evangelists, it’s an exciting time.

 

Chris Mikkelson (16:11):

We’re seeing people getting saved. We have Muslims getting saved, Hindu’s getting saved. They write to us regularly saying, you know, I want to know like, how do I, how do I follow Jesus? You know, how do I become a Christian? And so we’re really excited about the impact, excited about the impact that the TV show is making worldwide. That’s awesome. Chris, I love what God is doing through your ministry. It’s so encouraging to see. And the, the acceleration of the harvest that God is allowing you to preach to these massive crowds of people is just so beautiful to see. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. Yeah. Thank you, Daniel. It’s an honor

 

Evangelism Podcast Host (16:49):

For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches, visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek is from Colombia and he is working on an evangelism major at Oral Roberts University. Part of his degree requires him to do a practicum with a local ministry. He chose to intern with King Ministries. On today’s podcast, he talks about what he has learned as went from the theory he learned in the classroom to the practice of applying what he learned to real life. 

Show Notes: 

Today’s podcast has four topics: 

1. Evangelism in Colombia 
2. Doing an Evangelism Major at ORU 
3. Practicum with King Ministries 
4. Testimonies from Outreach with Iglesia Victory Hispanic.  

What are the differences between the culture of America and the culture of Colombia? 

 

Listen to The Evangelism Podcast with Evangelism Coach Daniel King

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (00:00):

Luis Carlos is from Columbia and he’s working on in evangelism major at oral Roberts university. Part of his degree requires him to do a practicum with a local ministry. He chose to intern with King ministries on today’s podcast. He talks about what he has learned as he went from the theory he learned in the classroom to the practice of applying what he learned to real life. Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome. I am excited about

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (01:03):

Evangelism and telling people about Jesus. I’m Daniel King and I’m here with my friend Louise, Carlos Navaretti. He is from the nation of Columbia. Welcome to the podcast.

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (01:16):

Yes. Thank you, dr. Daniel Kim, thank you for inviting me to this amazing podcast. Yeah,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (01:23):

You are from the nation of Columbia and you’ve come here to the United States. You, you married a girl from the United States and now you’re studying at oral Roberts university. Tell me about evangelism in the nation of Columbia. Before you came here, you worked with your pastor down there doing evangelism stick outreaches. How did you reach out to people in Columbia?

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (01:50):

Yes, dr. Tanya, I was growing in Columbia, so I went to an, a church from encounter four, four square church from the Foursquare church. Yes. And Angela Iglesia quadrangular yes. And pastor Jews invite people in the church to go outside and preach the gospel. So people leaders and people who’s who like to preach the gospel, go outside and talk with people and pray for them and healing. This happens every time. So, yes, I think evangelism is very similar like this in Tulsa, Oklahoma. So I think is the sand, the same wave of evangelism, but the most important is that we preach the gospel with the Holy spirit. So I think this is the best part

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (02:50):

Down in Columbia that people were open to receiving the gospel. Did they listen when you went and told them about Jesus? Well, yeah, some people,

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (03:00):

Some people, but you know, there are a lot of people that don’t like to listen about God, but I think the, the, the thing is that we need to do not how to engage them in order to, to teach about God. So yes, some people are leasing us, some people don’t, but God is amazing. God love people, even when they don’t listen to us, I think that God is doing in their life.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (03:30):

And so you have a call from God on your life to, to be a minister and you wanted to receive more training in the Bible and learning about God. And so you, you ended up coming to oral Roberts university here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. What was it that attracted you to ORU?

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (03:50):

Yes. I think that God’s blessed me with this amazing university, but some something that attracts me to go and take classes. There is, there was the Holy spirit, then power of the Holy spirit. I think that for me is the most important think when, when, when university talk about the Holy spirit is for is complete university. I means, I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, but also I believe with in the Holy spirit.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (04:27):

So one of the things that really attracted you to, or Roberts university was their emphasis on being empowered by the Holy spirit. And so you came here and you decided to do evangelism as your major, and you’re going to graduate in two semesters. So congratulations. Tell me what are some of the things that you’ve learned about evangelism being an evangelism major at ORU?

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (04:54):

Yes. I learned a lot of things about evangelism. I take some classes like intro to evangelism, outreach, planting church, and other kind of evangelism class. And I learned at some by this the kind of evangelism

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (05:17):

To evangelism through kindness. Yes. Being kind to people,

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (05:22):

Two people. Yes. So sometimes preachers or evangelism, just go, going to the point is, Hey, the Bible say this, you know, and yes, it could be the truth when people, when, when preachers preach the Bible directly. But I think the Holy spirit give you, or give evangelist ideas and strategies to engage people to Jesus Christ. So this kindness like, Hey, I would like to give you something free, like food or like some present. So it is free when you, when you get something free, people are more openly to receive the gospel. So when you give free, they open their heart and say, okay, I want to listen, listen, what do you have for me? So, yeah, I learned that these kinds of things in, in classes, in who are you, and also I’m learning about planting church, how is students need to establish the area in order to

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (06:43):

The demographics of the siren that you’re going to plant a church in and study to know how to communicate to the audience, the people that are in that area? Yeah.

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (06:54):

Yes, yes. The culture also the culture, the ethnicity. So how many people are from USA, American people, how many people are African American or Hispanic? So it is very important to recognize these areas in order to

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (07:12):

Do you find that there’s a lot of differences between American culture and Colombian culture

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (07:17):

Of Coors. I tend, this is a huge

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (07:19):

Difference. What are some of the differences between Americans and Columbia?

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (07:24):

Well, I you’re talking about spirituality or cultural or spiritual or cultural and starting with food. Food is amazing. And Columbia, I think this is a good topic to talk about culture, because when you, when you start talking with food, who the, who doesn’t like for the course, everyone loves food. So when we start this topic talking about food, people are more open. So yes, I think differences like a food and also the language accent. So, and also even playing sports. There are many difference behaviors, behaviors playing in sports. You know, I am playing soccer. I am playing soccer with African-American people every Saturday. And I can see the difference in their quarter with my quarter. So even when I play with Dennis say, Hey, it is not good to play like this. Why now is my culture? So I am I an Anderson, not use a spirituality, but I understand the culture. Like,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (08:43):

But in, in Columbia you wouldn’t even call it soccer. You would call it

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (08:47):

Football, soccer, soccer. I hear, I hear people say soccer. Yeah. It is the, it’s the soccer team of Columbia.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (08:56):

Is it a, is it a good team?

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (08:58):

I say yes, because I have run Columbia, but 

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (09:02):

Yeah. But Columbia is good. Is good. Are you better than the United States team? Probably, probably. I think every country thinks their soccer team is the best in the world.

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (09:16):

Yeah. But I believe that when, when evangelist, undersigned Coulters make the gospel Berry fan, very, you know,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (09:26):

You are reaching out to a culture that likes soccer. You could do an outreach based around a soccer game, or you could, you could do a workshop on soccer. And then at the end of the workshop, present the gospel to them and look for a way to relate to their culture and use that as an opening to share the gospel.

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (09:49):

Absolutely. We need to be as track is strategy, strategic, strategic with your, with your, with your essence,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (10:04):

To be strategic with, with our, our,

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (10:08):

Who you are, who you are, you know, who gave me something that you have because people, because people liked differences, people likes differences, you know, and I am coming from an occult or an ambassador from a country, you know? So I am

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (10:29):

Well, you’re really like a missionary from Colombia here to the United States.

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (10:34):

Sure. I am re reading everything from Columbia. And he said, Hey, this is I have,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (10:39):

This is how I live. Yes.

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (10:42):

Yeah. So, and people like differences. So when, when I talk with people about food, about sports, about everything, about my country, you know, people realize different. So this is amazing way to engage people. Yeah.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (10:58):

Let’s talk about how you and I met at oral Roberts university. Every year. They have a, a ministry fair where they invite different ministries to come and, and to, to talk to the students. So last year I went to that and was, we had a table and we’re talking to the students and you came by the table and we started to talk together. And, and I said, I’d been to Columbia. Oh, you went to my country and you were very happy to hear that. And then I found out that, that you needed to do a practicum with a local ministry. And since you are an evangelism major, and our main focus in our ministry is evangelism. I said, Oh, that would be perfect. You should come and do a practicum with King ministries and learn about evangelism. And, and you thought that was a good idea. And so now you’ve been serving a practicum. How, how has that been? What have you learned so far in serving a practicum, doing an internship with King minister?

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (11:59):

Well, when I, when I was looking at people in order to be my practicum I was, I was praying and say, God, where are you? One that I go in, make my practicums. I need hell because I’m from Columbia. I don’t know a lot of people here, but one day I went to my university and I find you, and I saw amazing books in Spanish. It caught me attention because, well, my first language is Spanish. So well, a book is in a Spanish evangelism if I highly SMO. And I saw that and I, I was very happy to say, wow, what is happening here telling me, go to this conference. And you have start talking about evangelism about, heading the, hhese kinds of books. And I was very interesting and I say, okay, I am studying evangelism. And I look in a practicum, but I never imagined that my practical West connecting with evangelism, you know, evangelism. So I learned in more evangelism in this ministry to be honest than in university. Why, why? Because I mean, in the university, I learned learning some, some evangelists as strut strategies, you know, but within ministry keen ministry, I am like, hmproving more because it’s more focused in evangelism. They pay attention, more evangelism. They have good books about evangelism. So everything about evangelism, I cannot find these, these kind of topics in other place as, as in ministry, like, like keen ministry. Wow.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (13:59):

I think that’s one of the reasons that ORU requires a practicum because when you’re in class, you learn theory about evangelism, but the practicum is about putting it into practice. And so you take the theories and apply it to everyday life. And so we, we go and talk to real people and minister to real people, and you start to see how you can put the theories into practice. And so you’ve been a tremendous blessing to King ministries. We very much appreciate you. Uyou’ve you’ve been doing several things. One of the things you’ve been doing is helping us to, to update our website in Spanish, because we want to reach out to the Spanish speaking world. And so you’ve been helping with that also helping us with, with Spanish social media. And then I have a new that is just being published, called proof. God is real, and it’s an apologetics book and we’re about to put it into Spanish. And so you helped out with that. What did you think about the proof? God is real book in Spanish.

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (15:04):

That was so incredible work. And I recommend you everyone, even if you speak English, but you speak just in Spanish. Let me tell you, you are interesting about creation. I’ve out who God is. Read that book. Read, read that book. I am asked you to read that book because you will find amazing things. That books is very deep, very, very easy to understand God. So I love it. I love this book. When you say that

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (15:46):

There there’s a need for apologetics material in Spanish, because in English there there’s lots of material on apologetics, but what about in Spanish? Are there many books on this Sunday?

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (15:57):

Oh, let me tell you something. When I was taking that TA taking class with dr. Shelton, I talk and apologetic class,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (16:06):

Dr. James Shelton. He’s one of, he was one of my professors when I was there. He was a great professor. I love dr. Shell.

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (16:14):

And he’s a, he, I say, Hey doctor, do you have, do you know if you have a if people have apologetic books in Spanish and he say, well, I don’t know. I don’t have a, an, an idea, but let me, let me tell you. And he finds after days after his Amy. No, I just find just one. I just find just one, but I think that you can go to YouTube and see apologetics books. Probably they have to title. And I was okay, doctor. So I need to read that in English. So I was a little sad because [inaudible] is one of my passions still. I love apologetic, but when I find kill ministry and when I saw this kind of book apologetics book and in Spanish, and I say, wow, I was looking for that book. And believe me, I never saw books like this in Spanish. And when I read this book, it was soft, fluently, very clear. I understand everything that they booked at. Tell me. So

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (17:29):

That’s wonderful. I’m really excited about that because I think that there’s a big need in the Hispanic world for more apologetics. This is becoming more and more of a, an issue in Latin America that the spirit of atheism has become strong in some Latin American. And so Christians need to learn how to defend their faith and how to tell people why they believe what they believe. So I’m very excited about that. Yes. And then another thing that you’ve been doing with our ministry is every week we’ve been partnering with a local church here in Tulsa Iglesia victory, Hispanic. So it’s the victory Hispanic church. And we’ve been leading a, an evangelism team every Saturday out into the neighborhoods and talking to people about Jesus. So, so tell me what has been happening on those Saturday morning? The evangelism,

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (18:31):

Yes. That church is amazing is a Spanish and people, leaders are very, very, kind, very, very good. They have a good heart to preach the gospel outside. And dr. Daniel can invite me to, to go out and make outreach with these leaders. So I learn and I’m still learning. But what I learned is how to engage people outside when with with teens that they like it. For example weeks ago I saw a beautiful house, Carla four, amazing, beautiful. And I saw amazing plants and flowers, you know, Carla for, and I just observed these houses. I said, I would like to go this in this house and preach the gospel in this house. So when I went to this house, the woman opens the door and she said, Hey, how are you? And he said, Hey, I am Reese, Carlos, let me tell you something. Your house is so beautiful is amazing. It’s clean is very, very, very, very beautiful. And the face, her face expression was brilliant. She just went.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (20:07):

So you complimented your, her, her house. You said your house is beautiful. And then that opened our heart. Yes. To hear about Jesus.

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (20:16):

Yes, she is. She has started just open her house, a hair heart, and I start preaching the gospel in the, in the same, in the same conversation, you know, and say your house is beautiful by letting me tell you, God can make your house inside your life. Your house made you beautiful as these outside. So

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (20:44):

Just like your, your house is beautiful. God make your, your inside. Beautiful.

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (20:49):

Yes. Yes. How is that in a start to preaching the gospel. So Island learn how to use teens of salvation and preach with these kind of teens that I can see in the environment where you

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (21:04):

Are. You surprised at how many people here in Tulsa speak Spanish, because when we’re going out into the neighborhoods with a Spanish church, there are many people that speak Spanish.

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (21:16):

Yes. I love of people. I never thought about that, but yes, people are amazing people, open people. I don’t know about. I dunno for me, people from furniture, from Spanish, people are very open to receive the gospel of God. I never, I never re feel rejection. Like people crossing the door. No, they are open say because they like it. People from other school tour like that, others people babysit them because they miss their call their country. So when I go and visit them and they say, where are you from? And they say San Salvador, or they say [inaudible] and they say Mexico and wow, Mexico since Salvador, Honduras, this is amazing. Cool country. Let me tell you, I went to El Salvador with my wife and I start conversation. People are very happy and say, yes, you are talking about all my life. You are talking about my family, my culture. So they are open when people are open, people receive them.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (22:26):

The last book easily. I remember last week we were in one neighborhood. It had lots of trailers in it. And there was one house with a woman sitting on the porch and she was smoking and she had two kids. And you went up to the door and she was hesitant to talk at first. But you say, just give me five minutes and let me talk for five minutes. And I want to talk to you about Jesus. So she came over and you started to talk to her about Jesus. And after like one minute, she takes the cigarette out of her mouth. And then after the second minute she throws the cigarette on the ground and she’s listening and she’s listening to everything you’re saying. And when you finish that conversation, you said, could I pray with you to receive Jesus? And she said, yes. And so you prayed with her. And then a few minutes later, I got to pray with one of her sons to receive Jesus. And it was so beautiful to see that family at least have an exposure to the gospel.

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (23:22):

Yeah, that was amazing. I feel very, very happy preaching to this person, because I remember when Jesus preached to the collector taxes, collect tax collection. Oh, there’s people say why Jesus talk with, with these kinds of people, you know, and I remember this story with this woman lacks Saturday, because she was smoking cigarettes, religious people probably say, Hey, don’t talk with her cheese smoking cigarettes. She will not pay attention about gospel, but I just do it because I did that before I received grace, I need to give grace to, so I used to start preaching and it’s imbibe here. Hey, give me five, five minutes. Believe me, five minutes. How, how many, how, how, how many minutes? And you too.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (24:23):

Well, how much, how many, how many minutes do people watch you?

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (24:26):

Yeah. Five minutes. Yeah. Five minutes. You know, I think this is the five minutes time for preaching the gospel, you know, in five minutes. And I say, give me five minutes. And she say, five minutes is not too much. So yes, talking about that. And I start preaching the gospel and preaching the gospel in five minutes and God give her salvation. And I know she has a Turner life and I believe she prayed with me and she received Jesus Christ. And I saw the hair, her little boy, he, a little boy was listening. And he, he was paying attention when I was talking about, and he was very interested. So yes, even when, when, when you are talking the gospel, you never know what person will receive the message of salvation, but God is doing amazing things. God can do things that you never imagined in your life. So that boy received Jesus Christ to receive salvation. And I was just talking with a woman, but the boy was listening. So that moment was very special for me. And I remember that God’s, God’s makes, I saw, I saw tears in, in her face. Hmm.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (25:55):

God really touched her. Yeah. Louis, Carlos, thank you so much for serving King ministries, doing your practicum with us. Thank you for being on the podcast. Let’s finish today by praying for everyone who’s listening and asking God to anoint them, to be evangelists and to share the gospel with people. But instead of praying in English, could you pray for them in Spanish? Give me a good, Holy spirit prayer in Spanish for everyone who’s listening that God would use them in evangelism. Let’s do it.

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (26:27):

Praying in Spanish 

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (28:12):

For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

Between the time of Jesus’ resurrection and His ascension, He had one thought on his mind. What was that thought and why did Jesus repeat Himself so often? 

Website: http://www.wagnerministries.org 

Read Josh’s Book “Go”: https://amzn.to/2RslerE 

Show Notes: 

The Great Commission is not a suggestion, it is a command. 

Read:

Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Mark 16:15-18 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

Luke 24:47-48 repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. 

John 20:21  Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Listen to The Evangelism Coach, Daniel King, on the Evangelism Podcast! Please subscribe and leave a review today on iTunes.

Transcription: 

Daniel King (00:00):

All right. Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King and I am excited about leading people to Jesus. And today’s guest is Joshua Wagner. He is the son of Kevin and Nicole Wagner. He began ministering at the age of 14 by leading teen conferences around the world. And then at the age of 18, he began leading his own leadership conferences and evangelists crusades around the world ministering to up to 50,000 people at a time. Josh and I have had the privilege of preaching together in some nations, Josh, he graduated from victory college and from oral Roberts university with a master divinity degree. And so Josh, welcome to the podcast. Delighted to have you

 

Josh Wagner (00:47):

With us today. Thank you, Daniel. I’m happy to be here.

 

Daniel King (00:50):

And so today we’re going to talk about the great commission and I know you’re excited about the great commission. You’re very passionate about going and telling people about Jesus. And the specific question that we’re going to discuss is why did Jesus repeat himself five times? So Josh in the gospels between the time of Jesus’s resurrection and the time of his Ascension,

 

Josh Wagner (01:21):

He repeats great

 

Daniel King (01:23):

Commission instructions five different times. Why do you think Jesus repeated himself so much?

 

Josh Wagner (01:29):

Yeah. Well, that’s a great question. It’s a great point. And you know what, one of the things that’s interesting in scripture and it’s true, even outside of scripture in our only own daily lives, is that when you really want to emphasize a point, you, you repeat it. The Bible was written in both Hebrew and Greek and in Hebrew and Greek, they don’t have exclamation points. They don’t have all the punctuation marks that we have in English. And so one of the ways that the biblical authors and even those who are non-biblical, but we’re writing in those languages at that time would emphasize a point is that they would repeat it. So, for example, in Isaiah six, Isaiah sees this vision of Jesus in heaven, and he’s surrounded by the angels and they are crying out Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord, God almighty. And why are they repeating the word? Holy not because they’re stuttering or because they forget the first time.

 

Daniel King (02:24):

[Inaudible]

 

Josh Wagner (02:25):

Exactly the reason that they’re repeating it is to emphasize the holiness of God, because they were unable to put an exclamation point upon after that. They would emphasize it by repetition.

 

Daniel King (02:36):

And so in the Hebrew language, at that time in the manuscripts, there’s no punctuation, there’s no explanation point. So they repeated it. Holy Holy Holy, to emphasize this is something really important. You need to,

 

Josh Wagner (02:49):

They wanted to hammer home the point that God is Holy. And so when we see the same thing happening in scripture, where there, where God is repeating himself, it’s not because he’s forgetful it’s because oftentimes we are forgetful and we oftentimes need him and others in every, in all areas of life to have the same message repeated over and over again, in order for us to get it through our thick skull and undoubtedly, that’s why the Bible records the great commission five times, you know, it’s, it’s not even just five times, it’s by four different authors in five different books, stated in five different ways. It’s, God’s way of really trying to hammer home. This is important.

 

Daniel King (03:30):

Absolutely. So let’s go ahead and, and read through them. And I’ll start in the book of Matthew chapter 28, verse 18. And then I’ll ask you to comment on it and tell me what you get out of this passage. So it says, then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.

 

Josh Wagner (04:12):

Amen. What a wonderful word from God. And you know, this is, as you mentioned earlier, this is the last words of Jesus, of all of the things that he could have left the disciples with and us with prior to his Ascension to heaven, he gave us these words and they are so powerful. What stands out to me in Matthew’s great commission? You know, he has a very developed sort of process of what should take place. He says go. So this is aspect of going out into the world to find them believers and make disciples, not just decisions. It’s not just enough for us to lead someone in a prayer. We want them to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. That’s what it means to be a disciple. And how does that happen through these two things? Primarily Jesus says to baptize them, this is sort of an initial physical demonstration of what God has done on the inside of a person, and then teaching them to obey everything I’ve commanded you. So while baptism is a onetime experience, teaching is something that’s going to happen continuously over the life of that individual. And it is this process that makes that person a disciple of Jesus Christ, what a powerful command from Jesus. And I love that

 

Daniel King (05:24):

Ending of it where Jesus promises to be with us in the midst of this great task that we are not in this buyer ourselves, that Jesus is with us. He says, I am with you always. And so sometimes when you have an opportunity to share your faith or to witness to someone, it can be a little bit intimidating. You don’t really know what to say. You’re worried someone might laugh at you. You’re worried about what people might think of you, but just to have that assurance that Jesus says I am with you always don’t about it. I’ve got you. I’ve got your back. And this is a great commission. Someone said, it’s not just a good suggestions. It is a command to every believer. This is not just a command for evangelists. You’re an evangelist, domino evangelists. We, we, we feel that call of God in our lives, but Jesus was not saying this specifically to evangelists.

 

Daniel King (06:22):

This is to every believer absolutely. To go. You’re not supposed to stay. You’re supposed to go. You’re supposed to make disciples. You’re supposed to baptize them. You’re supposed to teach them. Yes. So that’s such a wonderful passage to the next passage, right? At the end of the book of Mark Mark chapter 16, verse 15, Jesus said to them, go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe in my name, they’ll drive out demons, they’ll speak in new tongues. They’ll pick up snakes with their hands. And when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all. They will place their hands on sick people and they will get well. Yeah, what a fan.

 

Josh Wagner (07:15):

I asked a great commission. This is the longest and most developed of the five great commissions, which is sort of interesting because it’s found in Mark, which is the shortest of the five books in which great commissions are found. But you can see the emphasis that Mark placed on this developed great commission here. And as you can see something that stands out here is of course, Jesus says that as you go and fulfill this great commission, all these other signs are going to be present in your ministry. And I would say that in our own ministry we have in some way or another seen all of these things take place. Yeah,

 

Daniel King (07:52):

I would say that the gospel is not just declaration. It’s also demonstration in terms that my, my son who’s in fifth grade this year could understand it, show and tell that’s right. That we preach the gospel, but we also have signs following the preaching of God’s word.

 

Josh Wagner (08:12):

Yeah. In fact, that is exactly what verse 20 of Mark 16 says the last verse it says, then the disciples went out and preached everywhere. And the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. So there is a confirmation that we should expect to have when we preach the gospel, God is going to confirm his word with signs and wonders and miracles that was present in the ministry of Jesus. It was present in the ministry of the disciples. And we should expect no less when we preach the gospel

 

Daniel King (08:42):

Well today. So I got a question for you. You’ve gone to a lot of different countries. How many countries have you gone to any country about 20 countries now, as you, you preach the gospel, have you ever had a chance to cast out? Yes. We’ve,

 

Josh Wagner (08:56):

We’ve cast out many demons over the years. Yes. Have you ever seen people speak with new tongues? Yes. We have done that.

 

Daniel King (09:03):

Now. This is the controversial one. Have you ever picked up a serpent? So, so I, I think that

 

Josh Wagner (09:09):

No, to answer your question shortly. No, but the principle here is that even if animals were to try to hurt you in some way, as we see, for example, in acts 28, when Paul is on the Island of Malta and a Viper bites him, he is not harmed. And, and I believe that that’s, what’s saying here, and certainly we’ve experienced that too. Being, you know, in, in instances, maybe I’m in a malaria filled area where there’s all these mosquitoes and we get bit by mosquitoes, but we don’t have malaria. God protects us from these sorts of things. I’ve run away from him

 

Daniel King (09:44):

Serpent before. Well, there you go. Exactly. The wisdom of Jesus. When Satan tempted him applies to this situation too, he says, says, when, when Satan asked him to jump off the temple, what did Jesus say? Do not put the Lord, your God to the test, do not put the Lord your God to the test. So you don’t need to prove your faith. That’s right. Picking up syrup on stats, right? But it says, if you drink any deadly

 

Josh Wagner (10:08):

Poison, it won’t hurt you. And I’m not deliberately right.

 

Daniel King (10:11):

Drink any deadly poison. But sometimes when you’re on the mission field, you get offered stuff. And you’re like, I’m not sure where that came from.

 

Josh Wagner (10:20):

Well, in, in our line of work, Daniel, oftentimes we are offered things. We don’t know what’s in there. And even if it could be safer, the locals, it may be, wouldn’t be safe for us. We always tell people do not drink the water, but sometimes these things are offered to you and you do it’s unavoidable. And and I, I, and doubtedly think that the Lord has in many cases, protected me from parasites or amoebae or any number of things that would hurt and harm me in foods and in drinks. And undoubtedly here we are still to this day, healthy and happy.

 

Daniel King (10:53):

And then the last part of the verse, it says they’ll place their hands on sick people and they will get, well, have you ever seen that happen?

 

Josh Wagner (11:00):

We’ve seen Jesus do so many miracles just as he did all throughout his earthly ministry. We see him doing it again through us today.

 

Daniel King (11:07):

And so Hebrews 13, eight says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Yeah.

 

Josh Wagner (11:12):

The same Jesus who healed people

 

Daniel King (11:15):

In the gospels is alive today. And he continues to heal people today. That’s right. All right. Let’s go to the end of the book of Luke, Luke chapter 24,

 

Josh Wagner (11:28):

[Inaudible] verse 47,

 

Daniel King (11:32):

Jesus says repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

 

Josh Wagner (11:45):

Yes. So this is a, a very more concise version, but it’s still got the same elements of the commission. Jesus is sending us as his ambassadors. He says, you are witnesses of these things. I want you to think about a witness in the terms of a trial in a courtroom. A witness is somebody who tells what they have seen, what they have observed. We would say that there is you know, in a, in a, if you’re in a courtroom scene, or if you’ve maybe watched a show that has a courtroom scene, they bring these witnesses to tell about their own experiences, eye, witness accounts, these sorts of things. That’s what Jesus is asking us to do in the great commission. He’s asking us to be his witnesses and what are we to witness about the repentance for the forgiveness of sins that we are to preach to all nations. We are to tell people about what we have seen Jesus do, what we’ve experienced in our own lives and in so doing, we are fulfilling that great commission.

 

Daniel King (12:45):

That’s awesome. Recently, I I recently heard Reinhardt Bunky preach. Yeah. Before he went to heaven. Yes, it was a little while ago. And he says a witness only tells what he has seen or experienced. He does not give speeches. He does not debate. The witness becomes a living piece of evidence. The living Jesus needs living witnesses. And he says, I want to be a living piece of evidence that Jesus is alive.

 

Josh Wagner (13:19):

Amen. And bunkies words of course continue to ring true. And

 

Daniel King (13:23):

It’s really interesting in this passage, it says repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And so right here at the end of Luke, Luke is already setting up the themes for what he’s going to talk about in the book of acts. Because of course, Luke wrote both Luke and the book of acts. And so he’s talking about witnesses, he’s talking about how you’re going to begin in Jerusalem. So he’s, it’s kind of like the end of the blockbuster movie where they give a hint of what’s going to come in the next, right. That’s a great way of saying it. All right, let’s turn over to John chapter 20 verse 21, where we have the Johanne nine great commission. It says, again, Jesus said, peace. Be with you. As the father has sent me, I am sending you. Yes. And with that, he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy spirit. If you forgive anyone, his sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.

 

Josh Wagner (14:32):

Yes. So this is a fantastic, great commission. Jesus, you know, he says as the father has sent me, so I am sending you. So it speaks to the way in which we are to be fulfilling the great commission. Now, I want you to think about this. As the father sent me, sent Jesus, how did the father send? He sent Jesus as an, as his son to earth. He left the comforts of heaven to go to a different land, to, to be amongst a different people, to learn, you know, learn to what it is to be among them. Jesus is really God’s missionary to earth.

 

Daniel King (15:09):

Wow, that’s a great point.

 

Josh Wagner (15:11):

And so we are to be going in the same way that God sent Jesus. Now he wants to send us. So that’s why we can’t just be content to stay. You know, I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I can’t be content to just stay in Tulsa, just as Jesus was not content to stay in heaven. We have to go and a theme in a lot of these great commissions to go into all the world, to go into all the nations. We have to start in Jerusalem, start in your hometown. But eventually we have to reach the entire world just as Jesus did for us.

 

Daniel King (15:41):

That’s beautiful. I think it’s really cool here. It says again, Jesus said, so here we have confirmation that Jesus was saying this over and over and over again. It’s really interesting how each of the gospels records this a little bit differently. It’s like Jesus was preaching one sermon and one person wrote it down and then he preached another sermon and another person recalled it and then another person. And so John says, yeah, again, he said to us, as the father has sent me even so send I you. And so Jesus, during these 40 days between his resurrection, his in his Ascension really had this one thought on his mind and he repeated it over and over again. I know as a parent, sometimes I have to tell my kids to obey more than once. Does that happen to you, your parent? Yes, absolutely.

 

Josh Wagner (16:32):

In order for them to really get the point I’m trying to make, I often have to repeat it more than once and Jesus knows we need this.

 

Daniel King (16:40):

I think my mom told me one time, it takes a hundred repetitions before kids get it. And that may be true. It may be times I get frustrated. I was like, I already told you, why did it choose? Of course, of course, Jesus. He just patiently keep saying again and again to, and sending them out with this great commission. All right. The final place we find, this is at the beginning of acts chapter one, verse eight, it says, but you shall receive power when the Holy spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Yeah. What a fantasy

 

Josh Wagner (17:23):

Mastic scripture here. Jesus, you know, he, I love how he says that the power that the Holy spirit comes that gives us when he comes upon us. Notice the purpose for it is for evangelism. You know, this is one of the things that I share about is that we need to recognize the baptism and the power of the Holy spirit. It’s not just so we can speak in other tongues. It is primarily here, given Jesus says to empower believer, to have a boldness, to witness. And we see that happen all throughout the book of acts individuals like Peter and John and Paul and Barnabas and all throughout, they are having the supernatural boldness to share the gospel, to fulfill Christ great commission. It’s not something we could do on our own, in the natural, but by the power of the Holy spirit we can. And we do.

 

Daniel King (18:11):

I really liked the term that some of the professors at oral Roberts university have come up with to describe believers who are going in the power of the Holy spirit. So they, they call it empowered believers, spirit empowered believers. And that’s what we are. We are empowered by the Holy spirit man to share the gospel. Yes. He’s the one who gives us the ability to go into share our faith with others. That’s right. And it’s really interesting in this passage that it starts in Jerusalem, then it goes to Judea. Then it goes to some area and then the ends of the earth. What are your thoughts about that?

 

Josh Wagner (18:54):

Well, you know, Jerusalem was their hometown. He was where they were familiar. And that’s where you should begin. If you’re listening today and you may say, man, I, I don’t know how to get to Andy. I don’t know how to speak this language and you know, Africa or wherever. Well, that’s fine. You start where God has placed. You, you start in your Jerusalem and as you are faithful with little, then God will make you faithful with much. That’s the principle of scripture. So as they began to share in Jerusalem, then God said, okay, now to Judea, Judea was the greater area of Jerusalem Symeria, which was the next province sort of over if we were to use this in our vernacular here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it’s like starting Tulsa and then in Oklahoma and then in Texas, and then to the ends of the earth, there’s this progression as you become more and more comfortable doing this work God will take you to the ends of the earth, but wherever you are, start where you are. And that, that work, God will bless.

 

Daniel King (19:51):

It’s interesting that Jesus says you’ll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, he doesn’t say first Jerusalem. Then he says, you’re supposed to do this. And you’re supposed to do that because some people have asked me, why would you go to people on the other side of the world when there’s people right here in Tulsa that are hungry or who have not been saved? And I would say, yes, we’d go to the people in Tulsa. We absolutely try to reach people here in our own city. And I did that on Saturday. I took an evangelism team out from one of the local churches here in Tulsa. And we went to a low income apartment housing area and we brought food. We knocked on doors and we probably knocked on about 40 doors. Prayed with people at every door, gave them food. And we had about 14 people pray us for salvation,

 

Josh Wagner (20:48):

Praise God. Yes, we, we start here in Tulsa, right?

 

Daniel King (20:54):

We don’t forget about ministering to the rest of the world too. In fact, one, one person said that the light that shines farthest shines brightest near at home.

 

Josh Wagner (21:04):

That’s a good way of saying it. Exactly. And I think the point you made is so important. You know, it’s not an either or it’s a, both, and we should be ministering in both Jerusalem, your hometown and to the ends of the earth. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.

 

Daniel King (21:18):

So what advice would you give to someone who wants to obey the words of Jesus and wants to help to fulfill the great commission?

 

Josh Wagner (21:28):

Yeah. I mean, to take this example here, start where you are. You are around unbelievers all the time in your workplace at your school, or maybe family members or different individuals that, you know, that need Jesus, those people, God has placed them uniquely in your life. I can’t reach them the way you can, Daniel. You can’t reach them the way that, that this individual can. And so start with those individuals. Talk to your pastor, talk to your church, ask them about opportunities that they have for getting involved in ministering to people, lost people and just do everything that you can to, to look for unsafe people. You don’t have to look hard. You just go to your local Walmart and you’ll find lots of people who need Jesus and begin to step out in faith in boldness and obey the words of Jesus Christ.

 

Daniel King (22:14):

Gosh, thank you so much for being on the podcast. It’s great to have you as a guest. Thank you.

 

Bible schools, Orphanages, and Native Americans, Oh My. Its Chris Walsh reaching out to the world. Hear his story on today’s Evangelism Podcast. Chris Walsh has planted over 60 Bible schools in 8 countries, built orphanages, and ministered to Native Americans. He recently had a stroke and a brain aneurysm but he was miraculously healed. Hear the story of how God has provided for him to impact the world. 

Website: https://www.chrisaomministries.com/

Show Notes: 

Hear the amazIng story of how Chris Walsh had a stroke and a brain aneurysm. The doctor said it would be 18 months before he would be able to walk or talk without slurred speech. But, he had a miraculously quick recovery and rode one hundred miles on his bike recently. 

Why is Chris Walsh are excited about planting Bible Schools? 

How many Bible schools has Chris Walsh planted? 60 Bible Schools in 8 countries. 

Hear about how God gave Chris Walsh a word for the President of Rwanda. 

Hear the story of how God provided for him to dig a well at an orphanage in Kenya. He challenged the well drilling company to contribute to the cost of digging the well and they did. He say, “Unless the local community participates, I’m out.” 

Hear the story of how Chris Walsh started ministering to the First Nations people of Canada. 

Key Quotes: 

You cannot build on broken bricks. 

A ministry of integrity is needed to eliminate bribery and corruption. 

If you educate the mind at the expense of the heart, all you have is a smart criminal. 

If you have a need for a car, pray for a car. Don’t ask for money to buy a car, ask for a car. God will meet your needs whatever it is. The most precious thing in the kingdom of God is people. 

The Gospel is empowerment, not enablement. 

FAITH: Fantastic Adventures in Trusting Him 

When things are done in God’s will with God’s way, they do not lack for provision. 

Book Mentioned: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee 

Listen to Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach, on The Evangelism Podcast

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Evangelist Bernie Moore has been doing large evangelistic crusades in many countries around the world, including most recently in Northern Uganda, on today’s podcast, you’ll hear about his passion for souls and he will reveal the key to being a great evangelist.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:19):
Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King we’re Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionary, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host missionary and evangelist Daniel King. I’m Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:55):
And I am excited about telling people about Jesus. I have a very special guest with me today, mr. Bernie Moore, he is an evangelist been all over the world, preaching the gospel. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.

Bernie Moore (01:08):
Thank you so much for having me I’m honored

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:10):
To be here. So brother Bernie, tell me some about how you got started in

Bernie Moore (01:14):
Ministry. So I was eight years old watching a Billy Graham gospel crusade, and my mother and I were watching the salvation call take place and people coming out of the stands. And she said to me, Bernie, one day you’ll do that one day. You’re going to help. A lot of people never forgot it. So when I was in high school, fast forward, several years later, I’m in high school. I’m a senior and my girlfriend at the time, who’s now my wife, maid, I want you to come to church long story short. I go to church and evangelist by the name of Jesse Duplantis was preaching that morning. And, he was preaching and I forgot on the subject of how much fun it is to walk with Jesus from then on. I never was the same matter of fact, I went, I went home that night and I started having visions of that moment, huring the Billy Graham crusade years earlier. And my mom’s speaking the words Bernie, one day you’ll help a lot of people. One day you’ll be doing that. And so, um the rest is history. So, uh ot saved, dedicated my life wholeheartedly to the Lord and, um t off to LSU first, then Bible school. And here we are. So

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:29):
Word from the, your mother was one day. You’ll do that. And now that word is coming to fruition. You’re doing it. Tell me about some of the evangelistic crusades that you’ve been doing recently.

Bernie Moore (02:42):
Yeah, so we just a few months back, we were in Northern Uganda, in a city called Aurora near the border of Congo and South Sudan. We had a massive crusade. Probably the biggest crusade we’ve had so far in our in our ministry is history. We had 130,000 people surrender their life to the Lord over 200,000, 220,000 ish people come and hear the gospel. It was amazing. It was, it was just amazing. Of course, after that, we went to Nepal to do big pastors training for people in Northern Nepal right next to China. And you know, we were all over India, Africa, we just, we keep going is the life of evangelists. We just keep going to see people saved.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:30):
That’s awesome. Tell me about some of the greatest miracles

Bernie Moore (03:34):
You’ve seen in your services. Well, we see a lot of deliverances we see a lot of healings. One that stands out in particular. It was,uthere was a little girl. We were in Pakistan, there was a little girl named Keenan. She was eight years old. She had a tumor on the side of her neck and the last night of the crusade,uher mother brought her to the gospel because they, her father wouldn’t come. They tried bringing her to every doctor, different hospitals, no one could help her. And they really thought, Hey, she’s going to die if she doesn’t get healed. So some of the neighbors said, Hey, you might want to go to this event, this crusade it’s Sunday night, it’s the last night. Umhere’ve been a lot of healings taking place. And so why don’t you bring little Keenan, maybe this Jesus can heal her.

Bernie Moore (04:17):
So the mother reluctantly said, okay, I’ll bring her. W we’ve tried everything else. So the mother brings Keenan, the father stays home because he’s not a part of any, you know, he’s, he they’re devout Muslims. He’s not a part of any gospel crusade or Christian event or Jesus loving event. Nothing. He didn’t want any part of it, but the mother was desperate. Thank God for desperate moms. She brings Keenan, I do the altar call for salvation. And then we pray for the sick and in the middle of praying for the sick and asking the Holy spirit to pour out his presence and power all over those who are dealing with sickness and battling infirmities and dealing with, you know any kind of, you know, issues related to their bodies or the Lord began to just, I mean, it was like a wave Daniel.

Bernie Moore (05:10):
It was a wave of glory all over that field. I never forgot. I still, as I’m talking, I still remember it. And little Keenan pulls on her mama’s shirt and says, mama, mama, the tumor is gone. And I can finally turn my head all the way around. And not only that, but there’s no pain going down my body. And so her mom couldn’t believe it. She’s examining little Keenan and she starts crying. The crowd goes crazy and I’m looking, I said, what in the world is going on over there? So the mama runs up to the, to the stage to testify that crusade was a little bit smaller. I think we had about 15,000 people at that, at that Pakistan event, but she runs up and she goes to testify of what the Lord has done. And she says, Jesus healed my daughter, my baby Keenan is healed.

Bernie Moore (05:59):
And we have given our lives to him, the true God. And I’m telling my husband when we get home, I mean, she turned into a fireball preacher. I’m telling my husband, and when we get home, Jesus healed. He’s the savior. He’s the one. And only,uyou know, and, and so she’s just ecstatic about what God has done and Keenan’s life. But what happened right behind Keenan was unbeknownst to me obviously was a,uelderly lady, 80 years old, carried on a big cut by her three sons. They bring their mama up. She hadn’t gotten off the cot in years. She was crippled. She couldn’t walk. And so they bring the caught up, but the mama walked up the stairs. I didn’t know what was going on. So through my interpreter, they began to say, my mother who’s 80,usuffered some sort of injury years ago. She’s bedridden, God healed her tonight. She got off the bed. This is the cot. We brought her to the crusade on. And here she is his precious little 80 year old, a woman. She had a beautiful face and she just, you could just tell there was something so special about her. And in that moment, the Lord spoke to me. He said, Bernie, I care for the eight year old in the 80 year old and everyone in between. I want to pour out my spirit on all flesh. And it was beautiful.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:25):
That’s awesome. God cares about the eight year old and the 80 year old and everyone in between. Where was your largest crusade and how many people came?

Bernie Moore (07:35):
So the largest crusade was probably this last crusade in Aurora. Probably also tied with another one that we did in a city called Koboko. They were both relatively the same. Uwe had, well over 200,000 people over three nights,uattended each, each,ueach of those events and both around the same, as far as salvation are concerned, as you know, it’s very difficult to actually count. Uwe have cards and so forth, but sometimes people fill them out twice, you know? And so for us, we want to use integrity and have character. The Lord spoke to me years ago. I don’t, God takes no pleasure in exaggeration, you know, so it’s just another form of lying. So we do the best that we can estimate. Uand we estimated each of those events, we had over a hundred to 130,000 people conservatively give the hearts to Christ. Now, if you ask the African pastors, the number is through the roof, but we feel confident that that’s,uthat’s a more accurate number for salvation.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:40):
So it sounds like you keep really careful records of how many people come. And then how many decision cards are filled out over the course of your ministry. Approximately how many people would you say have been led to Jesus? Yeah, a great question. So we estimate

Bernie Moore (08:56):
Right now, the number is somewhere in between 1.3 and 1.4 million over the last 11 years. And you know, it could be more and it, I mean, I guess it could be less, but w I feel like that’s a good average from where we, from where we started to right now, that’s

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:13):
Amazing. The Bible says that when one sinner repents, all of heaven celebrates. And so that’s 1.3, 1.4 million parties you’ve started in heaven. What a tremendous testimony, tell me who influenced your ministry? What have you learned from other evangelists?

Bernie Moore (09:34):
My greatest influence without hesitations run hard. Bonnke was my spiritual father, my mentor. I had a lot of spent. I was able by the grace of God has spent a lot of time with him, traveled with him all over the world. He, he is by far the one individual that has made an eternal Mark on my life. A lot of great pastors, a lot of great evangelists. My dear friend, Daniel Kolenda is another wonderful guy. You, Daniel are an incredible evangelist, has inspired so many, including myself. Ubut Reinhardt by far was the one that marked me the most. And, hn marked my life, my wife, hur ministry, our family. So, yeah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:22):
What are one or two things, the most significant things that you learned from Reinhart

Bernie Moore (10:27):
Monkey, humility, humility, without a question, humility was number one. Uhe lives such a humble life. UI would tell him often, sometimes it would bother me. And I would say pastor Bucky, I don’t, I don’t understand. UI’ve literally sat with him at a lunch table with some of the top leaders in, in Christianity today. And they all sit there and they just listened to him. Ron are tell us what God is saying. Reinhard what is the Lord doing around the earth, Reinhardt T you know, and with just such humility and such grace, he just, he just, he just chats. He just talks the spirit of the Lord, just oozes out of his life and, or, you know, oozed out of his life. Of course, now he’s in the presence of his savior. It’s, you know, but his humility, number one, number two, his passion for the Lord.

Bernie Moore (11:23):
He really loved Jesus. I mean, loved Jesus spoke with him, talked with him, walked with him. I mean, all the time he loved Jesus. So he humility his passion for cry holiness, honestly, holiness never seen a man live as Holy as he was. There’s a lot of things there. There’s, those are the top three or four, you know, his prayer life was, I mean, just so I would say those are three of the four, three, three or four of the things that have really just stuck with me and will never leave me. And I, I strive even now to emulate those things and put those principles in my own, in my own life. So

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:12):
That’s awesome. Paul said imitate me as I imitate Christ. So one of the things I really admire about you is you have a tremendous passion for souls and for people who are lost, why is it important for the evangelist to have a passion for souls?

Bernie Moore (12:29):
Well, I’ll tell you I don’t want anybody to go to hell. We, we, there’s nobody. There’s not a lot of preaching on the eternal consequences of rejecting Christ as your savior, God, through all of us, a lifeline in the form of his son, his son through us, a lifeline in the form of the cross. And we’re all drowning in a sea of sin. And some of us have said, no, I don’t want it. And eternity is a long time to spend without Jesus earth, this life on earth. If you’re given 70, 80, 90 years it’s just a vapor. It just comes and goes. It’s, you know, it’s like a blade of grass. It rises in the morning. It’s cut down in the evening, just so quick. And and I just, I don’t want one person on this planet to leave this life without knowing Christ. I want everyone. I want everyone to spend eternity with Jesus.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:39):
Amen. What would you say to someone who feels called to be an evangelist?

Bernie Moore (13:47):
I would say amen. And I would say stay on your knees every day. Pray every day, state teachable every day. Let the Holy spirit lead you learn to listen, learn to obey. I think obedience is the biggest key obey the Lord, no matter what, obey him, obey what he tells you to do, where he tells you to where he tells you to go. Don’t fear, man, because, you know, people have their own ideas and their own agendas and their own things. And they will say they’re this or that. But fear the Lord, you know, follow him, give everything to him. And, and, and live a life like Paul said, I’m worthy of your calling, you know, every day, every day, walk, hand in hand with God and let him just lead you down that path.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:41):
Bernie, thank you so much for being on the podcast. I appreciate it.

Bernie Moore (14:45):
Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure. Love you, Daniel. Love what you’re doing. God bless

Evangelism Podcast Host (14:52):
For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

 

Why should Christians care about evangelism? Today, our guest Josh Wagner shares six powerful motivations for believers to share their faith with people who need Jesus.  

Show Notes: 

Website: http://www.wagnerministries.org 

Read Josh’s Book “Go”: https://amzn.to/2RslerE 

Why Should Christians be Involved in Evangelism? 

1. Jesus Said It
2. Jesus Demonstrated It 
3. The harvest is Ripe
4. The Laborers are few 
5. It is how you love Jesus, 
6. It is how you love people. 

Key Ideas from Josh Wagner: 

The last words of Jesus should become our first priority. 

When the harvest is ready you better be ready. 

There is a short window of time available to reach people. If we miss the window, we may never get another chance to witness to them. 

Give a man a meal and he will need to eat again. Give him the Gospel and he will be changed for eternity. 

 

Listen to Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach, on the Evangelism Podcast.

Transcription: 

Daniel King (00:00):

Welcome back to the evangelism podcast. I’m joined once again with my good friend, Josh Wagner, he is an evangelist and the son of an evangelist, the son of Kevin Wagner, who is one of our good friends. And Josh grew up watching his father do crusades all over the world, have the opportunity to attend his father’s crusades. And then he launched out and started doing his own crusades. So, so tell me, how did that come about Josh? Yeah. Well, as you said, I grew up

 

Josh Wagner (00:36):

Sort of observing my dad and he was always interested in getting me involved. So even from a young age, I would do a teens conference when he was doing a pastor’s conference. And just became to came to love the ministry of evangelism and reaching the lost people of our world. And when I was 18, I started doing my own crusades and pastors and leadership conferences. And then when I graduated with my undergraduate degree from ORU, I in 2014, I started working full time for our ministry. And I’ve been doing that now for the past six years. And we are privileged to go all over the world, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who need it the most.

 

Daniel King (01:15):

I think your story is so wonderful because I think that God is a generational guy, man. He’s the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He’s the God of Kevin, Josh. And what’s your son’s name? Well, I’ve got to,

 

Josh Wagner (01:30):

To a right now, Caleb and Gabriel,

 

Daniel King (01:31):

Caleb and Gabriel. And what’s neat is that the, the anointing increases from generation to generation that the same anointing that’s on your father has come to rest upon you. Amen and prayerfully. Yes. Good. As you raise your, your sons God’s hand is on them and they’re called as well. And so my, my son, Caleb I was we took him on a missions trip last year to the Dominican Republic. Yeah. He was praying for people and helping me out run the camera for the ministry. And it’s just so fulfilling as a father to see a son also participate in the ministry a hundred percent. Alright, you are a teacher at victory college here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and this semester you are teaching a class. What class are you teaching? Misseology misseology that sounds like a very complicated word. What is, what is,

 

Josh Wagner (02:33):

There’s a word that means the study of missions and evangelism

 

Daniel King (02:37):

Of missions and evangelism. And so you just got done teaching a class today. And what were you talking about in today’s?

 

Josh Wagner (02:44):

We were talking about the motivations for evangelism. So why should a Christian want, or should they be involved in evangelism?

 

Daniel King (02:53):

That is a great question. Josh, why should Christians want to be involved in evangelism? If you listen to our podcast that we did

 

Josh Wagner (03:01):

Previous to this on the five great commissions, you can sort of get a glimpse of that. First, the first point I’ll mention here, which is that the re one of the reasons we should be involved in evangelist work is because Jesus said, so if we truly believe and trust in the words of Jesus, if we take them seriously, then we need to fulfill the great commission, because Jesus said, you know, recorded five different five, five different times in four different by four different authors and five different books to go and preach the gospel

 

Daniel King (03:29):

Jesus Christ. So Matthew 28, Jesus says, go and make disciples, Mark 16. He says, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Luke 24, he says repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations in John 2021. He says, as the father has sent me even, so send I you and then acts one eight. You shall receive power to be my witnesses to the uttermost ends of the year.

 

Josh Wagner (03:53):

Exactly. So we can see Jesus is repeating this message over and over again. And it speaks to its importance. You know, another fact here is that those are the very last words ever recorded.

 

Daniel King (04:04):

Bye recorded

 

Josh Wagner (04:06):

Right before he ascends to the father. He says these words. And when you consider maybe in your own life, you’ve had, you’ve been around somebody who’s nearing death. If they know that their time here is short, the last conversations that they have are such significant conversations, they don’t want to talk about the weather or politics. They want to leave you with something of deep significance. Cause they realize these may be the last words that I ever share with that person. And that’s the situation here with the great commission of all the things Jesus could have said right before he ascends to the father in heaven, he leaves us with this great commission to go and preach the gospel. And it speaks to the deep significance of that message. And if it was that important to Jesus than it needs to be that important to us, I say it like this, his last words must become our first priority.

 

Daniel King (04:52):

Wow. That’s really tremendous. His last words must become our first priority. So our first motivation for evangelism is that Jesus said it. Yes. All right. What are some other reasons we should evangelize

 

Josh Wagner (05:07):

Also want to evangelize because Jesus demonstrated it. You know, we, Jesus is our great example in everything. We look to Jesus to be our example. And when you look at the ministry of Jesus, I want you to notice the ministry. Jesus was all about evangelism is all about people. Jesus was constantly looking for individuals on a one on one basis or crowds in a large basis to w to tell them the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, whether it was Zakiah sup in the Sycamore tree, or Bartimaeus on the side of the road of Jericho or the woman at the well, Jesus was always looking for people and wanting to share the good news with them. When we see the ministry of Jesus, we see it as a ministry of evangelism. And if we are to be like Jesus, then we need to be involved in the ministry of evangelism. Now it’s not to say that we can’t be involved in lots of other good endeavors, you know, writing worship music and building orphanages and doing all these other wonderful things. But those things aren’t even the things that Jesus did. What did Jesus focus his attention on people. He wanted to reach people and all of these other efforts that we have made, they ultimately lead to that same goal. Those are just tools to help us reach people

 

Daniel King (06:20):

Very well said. What’s another reason why Christians should be involved in evangelism. Jesus says

 

Josh Wagner (06:26):

Matthew chapter nine, this hallmark verse passage of scripture on evangelism, Matthew nine verses 35 through 38. And within there, Jesus says the harvest is ripe, but the laborers are few. And therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest fields. You know, that statement, the harvest is ripe speaks to the urgency of the gospel. Notice. Jesus does not say the harvest was ripe in the, in the past, or will be ripe in the future. He says, the harvest is ripe. And if the harvest is ripe right now, so there’s an urgency to absolutely, you know, I’m not a farmer, but I know I have family members who are farmers and they’re wheat farmers. And they have told me Joshua, when the harvest is ready, you better be ready because if you’re not ready, when the harvest is ready, you will miss the harvest. There is a window of opportunity to bring in the crop. And if you wait too long, you will miss that opportunity. Well, that’s how it is with people. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. That person that’s lost is not guaranteed tomorrow. And that’s why Paul says in second Corinthians six, he says, today is the day of salvation. Not tomorrow, not next month or next week. Today is the day of salvation. There is an urgency to the gospel that we need to share it with people. Now

 

Daniel King (07:42):

I’ve seen this in some of the countries that I’ve gone to, where there is an opportunity to go into a nation and you go, you preach the gospel. And then just a few months or years later, the doors to that nation may shut. Maybe they have a presidential election. And the new president is not as open to Christians sharing the gospel. And so when

 

Josh Wagner (08:07):

The harvest is ripe, we must go out into the harvest.

 

Daniel King (08:12):

We can’t be complacent about it. Yes. We need to go and bring in the harvest and bring it in while the sun is shining.

 

Josh Wagner (08:21):

Absolutely. And then on the heels of that, Jesus says the harvest is ripe, but the laborers are few. He’s emphasizing the fact that even though there is this great harvest and it’s ready right now, nobody’s getting it. Very few people, very few laborers are in the fields, bringing in the harvest. So we need to assist in that harvest work. We need to be a part of the, of the solution. And you know, right now, Dina, we live in a world where approximately 3 billion people haven’t even heard the name of Jesus Christ. That’s a great harvest, just waiting to harvest. That’s a great

 

Daniel King (08:56):

Tragedy. It is that with all of our modern technology and ability to travel and the strength of Christianity and all the resources that Christians have in the world today, that there are still 3 billion people waiting to hear. And so,

 

Josh Wagner (09:11):

Because there is this great harvest, but there are so few laborers. That’s why the Lord even now is speaking to you, listener to be involved in the great commission work, whoever you are, whatever you’re doing, whatever your job may be, your vocation, God has called you by his great commission to be involved in the great commission work, to be involved in the harvest fields. We have. So few labors, I want you to think, you know, think about how many pastors, you know, lots of pastors probably now think about how many evangelists, you know, people who are full time evangelists. And it’s not that evangelists are better than pastors. If God calls us to be a pastor, we shouldn’t settle for being an evangelist. But if God calls us to be an evangelist, we also shouldn’t settle for being a pastor. And we need to acknowledge the fact that while there are many people in many vocations, there are very few people who are involved in doing the great work of the evangelist or the missionary, or just in general, being a soul winner. Somebody who is on the lookout for lost people. We need to be involved in that work.

 

Daniel King (10:07):

I think walking down the street here in Tulsa, you run into a church, every block or so there there’s, you can throw a stone and hit a church and you go to places like Pakistan. And there may be one missionary for every million people in the entire nation of Pakistan. And you see what a great need there is for soul winners, for people who will go to the loss, to those who have not heard and to preach to them.

 

Josh Wagner (10:37):

Amen. Agreed. Do you know another reason why we should be motivated to preach the gospel is because we love Jesus. You know, I ask people, you know, if you asked a group of Christians or something, do you love Jesus? Of course, you know that your congregation would say they would,

 

Daniel King (10:53):

Josh. I got a question for you. Do you love Jesus? You have,

 

Josh Wagner (10:55):

Of course. But to be honest with you, there’s nowhere in the scriptures where it says, if you love Jesus, then say you love Jesus. In fact, Jesus chastises, religious leaders. He says, you honor me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me. You see so many people. They say they love Jesus, but their hearts really aren’t showing it. Their actions say otherwise, you know, it’s not just enough for me to tell my wife that I love her. I need to demonstrate that I need to show her that I love her by cleaning the dishes and taking out the trash and you know, taking her out to dinner and doing these things to demonstrate that love for her. And the reality is this. We can’t take the trash out for Jesus. We can’t take Jesus out to dinner. The way that we can show Jesus that we love him.

 

Josh Wagner (11:43):

Not just by saying it, but by showing it is biobank. The great commission, you know, Jesus said in John 14, 15, if you love me, then you will keep commandments. And then it asks us a question. You know, it begs the question. Well, which commandments Jesus had a lot of commandments. Well, how about the one that was mentioned five different times and five different books of the Bible and was the very last commandment that he gave. Maybe that’s a big and important one that we should be. Oh, bang. And, and in that way, when we obey that commandment, we demonstrate to Jesus, our great love for him. And after all that he’s done for us, we, we want to show our love for Christ. We want to demonstrate our love to him. It’s not that he doesn’t love it when you read your Bible or sing songs to him. But those are not the ways he says. We communicate our love to him. He says, if you love me, then you will obey my commandments. And what better commandment to obey it, to demonstrate our love for God than to share the gospel with those who need it. Why do you think

 

Daniel King (12:42):

So many people forget about obeying that command like here in, in America, it’s very easy sometimes for Christians to be complacent about sharing their faith and maybe never in their entire lives, have the, the opportunity to share their faith with someone.

 

Josh Wagner (13:04):

Well, it’s a great question. I think that there are probably many reasons why people don’t share their faith. In fact, in my book, I talk a lot about the obstructions to evangelism reasons why people don’t share their faith. And for some people it’s, it’s fear for some people it’s this sort of natural predisposition to being an introvert, or they think, you know, I’m not called to do this,

 

Daniel King (13:26):

Which is really interesting because actually I’m an introvert, I’m an evangelist. But by my nature, I’m an introvert. Introverts tend to get their energy from being alone and spend their energy when they’re with people. And that describes me perfectly.

 

Josh Wagner (13:40):

Exactly. And so and so, you know, there’s all these excuses that people give.

 

Daniel King (13:45):

God could even use an introvert. That’s what I’m saying.

 

Josh Wagner (13:48):

God can, it doesn’t work. It shouldn’t work. In fact, there’s no good excuse that I’ve come across and Jesus doesn’t give any either. He doesn’t say, go into all the world and preach the gospel, unless you’re an introvert or go into all the world and preach the gospel, unless you’re a new Christian or unless you, you know have a fear of people or unless you’re not gifted or unless you didn’t go to Bible college. No, no, no. There are no qualifications. There are no excuses that Christ gives. He’s just says to go. And we oftentimes, because we are so consumed with our own selves and with our own desires and our own selfish desires that we choose to neglect the great commandment that Jesus gave us here to go and preach the golf.

 

Daniel King (14:29):

So our motivation for evangelism is that it’s how we love Jesus. And you have one last

 

Josh Wagner (14:37):

Well. Yeah. And we could go on and on. But maybe the last one I’ll mention now is, is also, is how you love people. You know, you can say you love people, all you want, but it’s, it’s important that you show them that you, you be able to demonstrate that as it was with Christ and in scripture, what we see over and over again, is that the way that we love people is by giving them the gift of salvation, you know there’s this term that we use sometimes give a man a fish and you can feed him for a day, but teach a man to fish and you can feed him for a lifetime. Well, I would say, you know, you could, you could appropriate that also with the gospel, you could say, you know, give a man a meal and you’ll feed him for a day, but give them the gospel.

 

Josh Wagner (15:18):

And you’ve, you’ve given me Turnitin. You know, so many times we are focused on meeting people’s physical and material needs, which we should, but we should not do it at the expense of their spiritual needs. You know, if I closed the naked and if I feed the hungry, but I never introduced them to Jesus, I’ve not helped them eternally because there are many people who will be well fed and well clothed who will go to hell because nobody introduced them to Jesus. And that is a great travesty. The best gift you can give somebody is the gift of salvation. It is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, because that is the one gift that you get to take with you beyond this life. The only thing that has eternal value is the relationship we have with Jesus. The only thing you get to bring with you to heaven is not your car, not your homes, not your clothes. It is people. And if you really love people, then you will do everything you can to take them with you out of hell and into heaven.

 

Daniel King (16:22):

Yeah. The reality of hell really is a motivation for evangelism, because if people are dying without Jesus, the spiritual reality is that they are going to spend eternity separated from God. They’re going to go to hell and we can rescue them. We can save them from any eternity in hell. Absolutely. And it shows great love to, to throw a life ring to someone who is drowning. Yes. If someone is drowning, you’re going to do whatever you can to, to rescue that person. Especially if, if you, you love that.

 

Josh Wagner (17:03):

Yes. And, and if someone’s drowning, what good does the loaf of bread that you throw them? Do?

 

Daniel King (17:09):

W what good. Does there have a snack? Yeah. What good does this, does this

 

Josh Wagner (17:14):

Coach or this new shirt do, I’m not trying to be little, the importance of meeting people’s physical needs, but when, in comparison to their spiritual needs, they are insignificant because a drowning person doesn’t need a snack and he doesn’t need a drink and he doesn’t need clean water or new clothes. He needs the gospel of Jesus Christ, because that is what will, that is the only thing that can save me.

 

Daniel King (17:36):

He doesn’t need a boost to his self esteem. I saw a picture one time with someone drowning and someone just comes and gives them five and say, Hey man, you’re a great person. And that’s not what they need. If they’re dying and going to hell, they don’t need just a boost to their self esteem or personal motivation. They need to be.

 

Josh Wagner (17:56):

And a person who’s drowning, we should not be concerned. Well, I wonder if I try to throw them this lifeline, are they going to get offended? Because I threw him a yellow lifeline rather than a blue lifeline? Or are they going to be thinking, Oh, well, you know, you should have had somebody else tell it to me or throw it to be in a nicer way. We don’t, we don’t consider those things. We just see that somebody is dying and we need to share the gospel with them. The gospel by its very nature is at times going to offend people. The Bible says that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. And so we should not be so concerned about, well, if I say this truth, is it going to offend somebody? Is it going to step on somebody’s toes? People are drowning. We don’t have time to be concerned about how it may affect their feelings. Always. We just need to give them the good news of the gospel.

 

Daniel King (18:43):

You’ve shared a bunch of motivations for evangelism today. And so which one of these motivations most motivates you personally?

 

Josh Wagner (18:53):

I would say that it would be my love for Christ. You know, I try daily to, you know, love Jesus and to serve him. And I think about how he has saved me. I could spend my whole life thanking him and doing everything I can for what he did for me. And it would not be enough. I’ll spend all of eternity doing that and it still won’t be enough because he saved us from our sins. He saved us from how and as a, an appropriate Thanksgiving for what he’s done. And my love for him. I want to tell people about Jesus and in, so doing, I believe that when Jesus sees me witnessing, I believe that he’s in heaven and he is looking down on me with such you know, pride thankful. And, and just to one day, hear those words well done. Good and faithful servant. If we live a life fulfilling the great commission, I believe we will hear those words.

 

Daniel King (19:46):

I love the verse in Matthew 10, eight that says freely, you have received now freely give. So thank God that I’m saved what a tremendous blessing by the grace of God that God has saved me. Amen. And now it is my privilege to go and to tell others

 

Josh Wagner (20:05):

That’s right. Exactly. Exactly. Thanks for being with us, Josh. Thank you.

 

Description: 

It has been said that Christianity in East Africa is a mile wide and an inch deep. On today’s podcast, I talk to Vidar Ligard about how to effectively disciple people in Africa using long-term strategies instead of quick band-aid fixes. 

 

Website: www.safarimission.org 

Book: A Fork in the Road Order Now:  https://amzn.to/33iwhKN 

Show Notes: 

How did you get started in the ministry? 

You focus on East Africa. What nations are considered East Africa? 

In your promotional video it says that Christianity in East Africa is a mile wide and an inch deep, what do you mean by that and how are you fixing the problem?  

You focus on long-term strategies instead of quick band-aid fixes, how do you do that? 

How many students have graduated from your Bible school? 

What is your ministry doing to evangelize in East Africa? What do you think are the best long-term strategies for evangelism? 

How are you training pastors and leaders in East Africa? 

Goma, Congo – The city where Daniel & Jessica met. 

Kisumu, Kenya – Jessica King lived here for one year. 

Kahama, Tanzania – Daniel is going in November. 

Nairobi is Kenya’s capital city. It has a population of 4.397 million. Kenya has a population of 51.39 million. 

Quote from VIdar Ligard: You may have heard it said, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” What would happen if you taught a leader in his or her community to fish? You have just impacted many lives by investing in one. That is the heart and the vision at the core of Safari Mission. Training leaders in godly principles, which address every aspect of life—work ethics, financial wisdom, family dynamics, leadership skills, civic duties—is the essence of Safari Mission.

Transcription 

Daniel King (00:00):

It has been said that Christianity in East Africa is a mile wide, but only an inch deep on today’s podcast. I talked to my guest about how to effectively disciple people in Africa using longterm strategies instead of quick bandaid fixes

 

Intro (00:21):

Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King we’re Daniel interviews, fulltime evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

 

Daniel King (00:57):

Welcome. Welcome. Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I am with a missionary to East Africa. He graduated from Ramo and or Roberts university here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and has been planting Ramo Bible schools in East Africa. His name is Vidar Lee guard. Did I say that right? You got it, Daniel. Great. Great to be on here with you. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. He is ministry is called Safari mission. And tell me, how did you get started in the ministry? Great question. We started in 1999, I took a missions trip to East Africa. I’d always been wanting to do some work in Africa came to Kenya and spent quite some time just observing what ministries had overdid, done, what the needs were. And that took us several years. We did some teaching in churches with it, some pastor seminars.

 

Vidar Ligard (02:03):

And after a while we realized there’s a huge need here for, for training of ministers. And so we focused on that since 2006. Now your, your accent says you’re not from America. Where are you from originally Norway? Via Oklahoma to, to East Africa. So is your, is your wife from Norway as well? My wife and I are both from Norway. So how did you end up here in Tulsa, Oklahoma? Well, Tulsa, Oklahoma, for many as known as the buckle of the Bible belt. And so you know, there’s a lot of reputable ministries in Tulsa or Roberts university, Tia laws born Kenneth egg and many others since we’re very blessed here. We’ve had some great men and women of God that have lived here in Tulsa. Yeah, absolutely. So, so you came from Norway here to Tulsa. Did you come to go to Bible school? I came for training. I actually came for high school. It was a foreign exchange student at victory Christian school with Billy Joe at the time. That’s

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:00):

Where my kids go to school. So

 

Vidar Ligard (03:02):

Yeah, great school. That’s right. And so continued training and Tulsa. And then when we were done with training, that’s when we launched out in, in Africa with Safari mission,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:11):

You went from Norway to Tulsa now in East Africa. And in your focus now is on East Africa. So what nations are considered East Africa?

 

Vidar Ligard (03:23):

It depends a little on your definition, but Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania is always included. Rwanda Burundi, South Sudan. Somalia would be some other nations in the area. Ethiopia be included. Yes. Depending on, is it East Africa or Eastern Africa? There’s a technical difference there. So just how wide do you want the,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:46):

So you, you lived in Kenya for a while. What, what city did you live in?

 

Vidar Ligard (03:52):

I have lived in Kisumu, which is on Lake Victoria. We’ve spent some time in Mombasa, which is on the ocean and we’ve also lived in Nairobi.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:01):

Okay. So my wife, Jessica actually lived in Kasuma for a whole year. Before we got married, she was a missionary and she lived in several different countries. She was in India for two years in Nepal for a year, Papa new Guinea for a year, and then in consumer. So she loves cause sumu loves the people there. And Jessica and I actually met in East Africa in Goma. Congo. Have you ever been

 

Vidar Ligard (04:27):

Goma? I have not been to gomban to Eastern Congo, but Goma is on the radar for us.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:32):

A Goma is right there on the border with Rwanda and Congo and it’s it’s a great city. You should go. Yeah,

 

Vidar Ligard (04:39):

A lot of need there. It’s on the plan for 2021 for us. So outstanding. Wonderful.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:45):

And so tell me about your, your work that you do there and East Africa and what your focus is.

 

Vidar Ligard (04:52):

Sure. It’s, it’s a training of leaders is really what we do. And so this is evangelism podcast. We train evangelists, but also other ministers pastors. And then we do the training of a lot of community leaders entrepreneurs police officers various government officials, anybody with any kind of leadership aspirations in the community. We involve them in our training program.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:17):

And you have several Bible schools in different places. Where are your Bible?

 

Vidar Ligard (05:23):

Well, we started out rural so we have a good number of rural locations. One is on the border to Somalia other rural occasions, some towns. And now we’re also in Nairobi in the middle of the business district of Nairobi. So we were both ends of the spectrum, so to speak.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:41):

And so when you say your, your training leaders, are those people who are coming to the Bible school or are you doing training sessions for policemen or training sessions for the different?

 

Vidar Ligard (05:55):

We have done both. The police, the, the administrative police in Kenya, which is more of a military type police. They actually came to us the chief chaplain of the entire, that division of the police came to us and said, Hey can you help with the spiritual training for our chaplains? And so that’s been a program that we have tailored for the police chaplains in the country and help train them. And then we have all their civilian campuses, if you will where people all different walks of life, they come to us and we help train them.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:28):

So over the years, how many students have

 

Vidar Ligard (06:32):

Weighted from your Bible schools? It’s in the ballpark of a four 50 to 500 that we have brought through it. And then we have a two year program.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:40):

And many of them have now launched out into full time ministry and are planting churches doing evangelism, that type of thing. Yes. We have about

 

Vidar Ligard (06:50):

380 churches in Kenya where we have trained up the senior leadership in those churches.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:55):

That’s tremendous. So I watched your promotional video and it says that one of the problems that you’re addressing is that Christianity in East Africa is a mile wide and an inch deep. So what do you mean by that and how are you fixing the problem?

 

Vidar Ligard (07:15):

Well, that’s, that’s a common saying that there is another, I don’t know if you’d call it controversial necessarily, but there’s a saying in Nairobi in particular, that Nairobi has almost been crusaded to death. Meaning there’s, there’s been so much evangelism in certain cities in Africa. Typically

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:35):

They go to Kenya, they stay in Nairobi. Yes. In Kenya is much bigger than just the capital city,

 

Vidar Ligard (07:42):

Right? So the, you know, the cities is where you can find comfort. So it’s easier to bring a missions team and, and, and that type of a thing. Well, there’s been a lack of discipleship. And so in the big cities where there’s been a lot of evangelism, there hasn’t necessarily been a lot of churches for these new commerce to plug into. And a lot of the churches have modeled their churches according to how mass evangelism has done. So they’re trying to do a crusade every single Sunday, which doesn’t necessarily produce spiritual growth. And so it’s, it’s, it’s a situation where the evangelism evangelists and, and the teachers and the pastors have not always been working together. Now, if you go out in the countryside, it’s, it’s different. There, there are huge needs for mass evangelism out in rural Africa.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:35):

And so tell me about what your, your ministry is doing to, to deepen Christianity in East Africa.

 

Vidar Ligard (08:45):

Yeah, so it’s, it’s a, you know, a two year training program where we go through spiritual formation discipleship, how to grow spiritually to lay the more of the ethical foundation is part of it. Also. sometimes we forget when we come from the Western world that, you know, the Western world is built on a Judea Christian worldview. So somebody gets saved in the Western world. They already know about lying and stealing, and they’ve heard a 10 commandments and grew up with it, even if they didn’t grow up in church. Well, in a place where its society is not built in Judea Christian worldview, you have to spend a lot more time building that worldview into people. It doesn’t come by just three hours in a new believers class, it takes a lot more than that. So, so we take the leaders through a curriculum, and then the, the idea there is that these leaders then turn around and train whoever they are over.

 

Vidar Ligard (09:44):

If it’s a chaplain in the police, they have helped train a lot of police officers, a pastor in the church would of course, train pastors, a business person of course impacts employees, which impacts families and that type of thing. So if someone gets saved, how long do you think the discipleship process takes before they start to be able to lead others and become a mature believer? Well, I think there are two different ways. You can answer it one way to answer that is that a discipleship never ends. We’re all growing. Even a mature Christian is, is still growing. That is true. I’m still a disciple of Jesus. Exactly. And every day at the other hand, you know, you don’t have to be saved for two years before you start leading other people to Christ. But I think, you know, if you look at Paul and how he dealt with the Corinthian church, and he says, for, by this time you ought to be teachers. And you’re looking at two or three years time period where somebody ought to be pretty stable and pretty mature. If, if trained and proper growth opportunities have been given, what do you feel is your primary spiritual gifting?

 

Daniel King (11:02):

It’s a good question. I’m called to be an evangelist. I, I I’ve known I was called to be an evangelist ever since I was very young and been pursuing that. And of course, God gives different gifts to the body of Christ and all the gifts are needed. What would you say is your primary area of gifting?

 

Speaker 4 (11:19):

I think I’m teaching

 

Vidar Ligard (11:22):

Mentoring pioneer work. Some people call that an apostle. I don’t know that I necessarily use that label myself because it’s got so many different connotations to it. So usually when people call themselves an apostle, they rarely are, but usually in order to be an apostle, other people put that label on you. Yeah. So it’s, it’s, you know, we, we go in and we establish works. We mentor people to help them establish works. So let me use that descriptions instead. And then we do a lot of teaching. Mentoring is not really a biblical term, but apostle is, I think it’s mentioned 83 times in the new Testament. Yeah. Yeah. Mentorship. I never found it in the new King James version. Well, you have teacher teacher there, so yeah. Yeah. So talk to me about evangelism. What is your ministry doing to evangelize in East Africa?

 

Vidar Ligard (12:20):

And what do you think are the best longterm strategies for evangelism? There, there are so many different types of evangelism. You have massive Angeles with crusade, or you can, you know, evangelize using a TV program where you’re reaching the masses, but you’re not necessarily building a personal relationship with people. And that works very effectively in areas where the gospel is not very well known. You’ve got healing evangelism where you incorporate miracles and that type of thing in, in mass evangelism. And again, very effective where there hasn’t been a lot of church growth. But we find that personal evangelism training church members to reach their neighbors is much more effective where there’s already been a lot of crusade evangelism. So I think it’s a, it’s all of it. Even though I’m not necessarily an evangelist myself, we help train. And Paul even told Timothy do to work on an evangelist, even though he wasn’t necessarily an evangelist himself we all have a part to play in evangelism.

 

Vidar Ligard (13:26):

And so we’re very mindful of that. And we have a lot of great, great reports from the people that we train, who do go out personal evangelism, pastors that have great evangelistic programs in their churches. And we have graduates that do mass evangelism as well. How do you coach evangelists? Well, it’s, it’s difficult to duplicate myself and produce an evangelist like that when I’m not one myself. So one of the best ways we do it is the instructors that we have in the school teaching evangelism class. We make sure that they have results in that area. And that’s, that’s how we find instructors. We will look for people with results, not just people with some theoretical knowledge of how it ought to be done, or it could be done or should be done. So we do that for every class. If it’s family class, it better be somebody who’s got a good reputation for a good family life at home. That person is qualified for the best person to teach. The family class is not the person that’s been married seven times. They’re, they’re very experienced, but maybe they’re not the best one to teach that might be experienced in the part of the process. But yeah, no, you look for people who are successful and then you, you you work with them and help, you know, have them train certain aspects of what you’re trying to instill into students. So in your, your Bible schools, would you do a whole class or a series of classes on evangelism?

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:52):

Yeah. Weaning them in evangelism. Yeah.

 

Vidar Ligard (14:54):

We have a couple of classes on evangelism. One of them is where students actually have to do well. The one class they have to do personal evangelism and the other class, there’s a massive anilism that they actually have to go out and do some of it by so we teach by preset and by example, and by practical work that that students have to do

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:16):

When I teach classes on personal evangelism, a big part of the passing grade is if they actually go out and tell someone about Jesus, I require them to actually go out and evangelize. Otherwise it’s just theory,

 

Vidar Ligard (15:31):

Where does same way in, in our classes, you have to actually have a log of who did you talk to?

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:38):

That’s great. That’s tremendous. Yeah. Now you’ve heard, it said, give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed them for a lifetime, but I get the sense that in your ministry, you’re trying to teach people how to go fishing. And so talk to me about how that process works and in how you empower people

 

Vidar Ligard (16:04):

To start too

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:07):

Feed themselves, rather than just going, just, just asking for someone else to feed them.

 

Vidar Ligard (16:12):

So let me just give you a very practical example of that. Children’s ministry has an area that is often neglected many places. And so we brought people from overseas and bring them in to train children’s ministry. And we tell them, leave all your toys and gadgets at home, which is very hard for somebody to do when they’re coming on the, on a missions trip, because you want to give all these kids the best that you have and give them a wonderful experience and so forth. And that’s that’s okay. But the problem with that is that if you bring a lot of toys from the United States

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:51):

About the puppets, the little magic tricks, the exactly, exactly. All that fancy stuff.

 

Vidar Ligard (16:58):

We tell the people to leave it at home because we are not looking for a group of people coming from the United States to give the kids a great one time experience. We’re looking for people to come and give the kids an experience that the locals are able to duplicate, which you can’t do. If you’re bringing in, you know, toys with price tags, that they can’t buy themselves. So we go in and say, Hey, you know, pencils, maybe crayons, maybe paper that’s available in country in any church can do that. So we required them to stick with materials that are available to locals and the budgets that they have to work with. And then we say, now create the children’s experience in this church that the children’s workers in that church can duplicate. And what we see then that multiple churches come together. Sometimes it’s, children’s ministers from 30 different churches, and they’re given an example that they go, Oh, I can do this.

 

Vidar Ligard (17:59):

Then they go back to the 30 churches and actually start implementing changes in the children’s ministry. And we find that longterm it’s so much more effective than to bring in the whatever toys we’re bringing in from the United States. That’s a tremendous illustration. That’s wonderful too, to really empower local believers, to do what you’re doing. If it can’t be duplicated, then they’re just sitting and watching a show. Yeah. And I think that’s, what’s been done with so much of the missions work that we see overseas. It’s, it’s done in such a way. It’s, it’s got a great wow factor, but it’s not always duplicatable. And so you end up with all these churches that are looking for just another missionaries that will help feed them another fish. Well, thank you so much for being on the podcast. I appreciate it. Thanks for having man

 

Ending (18:51):

For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches, visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

Description: Evangelist Bernie Moore has been doing large evangelistic crusades in many countries including recently in northern Uganda. On today’s podcast, you will hear about how he received his call to be an evangelist and about his passion for souls. 

Website: https://berniemooreministries.com/ 

Show Notes: 

Hear the story of how Bernie’s mother prophesied he would be an evangelist when he was eight years old. 

Discover how evangelists Billy Graham and Jessie DuPlantis influenced Bernie Moore. 

You will be amazed at the story of one the greatest miracles Bernie has ever witnessed. 

What were the top four lessons Bernie Moore learned from Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke? 

Key Quotes:

Whether you are eight years old, or eighty years old, or anywhere in between, God loves you. 

Eternity is long time to spend without Jesus. 

If you are called to be an evangelist, stay on your knees. 

 

Listen to Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach, on The Evangelism Podcast

Transcription: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Evangelist Bernie Moore has been doing large evangelistic crusades in many countries around the world, including most recently in Northern Uganda, on today’s podcast, you’ll hear about his passion for souls and he will reveal the key to being a great evangelist.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:19):
Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King we’re Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionary, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host missionary and evangelist Daniel King. I’m Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:55):
And I am excited about telling people about Jesus. I have a very special guest with me today, mr. Bernie Moore, he is an evangelist been all over the world, preaching the gospel. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.

Bernie Moore (01:08):
Thank you so much for having me I’m honored to be here.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:10):
So brother Bernie, tell me some about how you got started in

Bernie Moore (01:14):
Ministry. So I was eight years old watching a Billy Graham gospel crusade, and my mother and I were watching the salvation call take place and people coming out of the stands. And she said to me, Bernie, one day you’ll do that one day. You’re going to help. A lot of people never forgot it. So when I was in high school, fast forward, several years later, I’m in high school. I’m a senior and my girlfriend at the time, who’s now my wife, maid, I want you to come to church long story short. I go to church and evangelist by the name of Jesse Duplantis was preaching that morning. And, he was preaching and I forgot on the subject of how much fun it is to walk with Jesus from then on. I never was the same matter of fact, I went, I went home that night and I started having visions of that moment, huring the Billy Graham crusade years earlier. And my mom’s speaking the words Bernie, one day you’ll help a lot of people. One day you’ll be doing that. And so, um the rest is history. So, uh ot saved, dedicated my life wholeheartedly to the Lord and, um t off to LSU first, then Bible school. And here we are. So

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:29):
Word from the, your mother was one day. You’ll do that. And now that word is coming to fruition. You’re doing it. Tell me about some of the evangelistic crusades that you’ve been doing recently.

Bernie Moore (02:42):
Yeah, so we just a few months back, we were in Northern Uganda, in a city called Aurora near the border of Congo and South Sudan. We had a massive crusade. Probably the biggest crusade we’ve had so far in our in our ministry is history. We had 130,000 people surrender their life to the Lord over 200,000, 220,000 ish people come and hear the gospel. It was amazing. It was, it was just amazing. Of course, after that, we went to Nepal to do big pastors training for people in Northern Nepal right next to China. And you know, we were all over India, Africa, we just, we keep going is the life of evangelists. We just keep going to see people saved.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:30):
That’s awesome. Tell me about some of the greatest miracles

Bernie Moore (03:34):
You’ve seen in your services. Well, we see a lot of deliverances we see a lot of healings. One that stands out in particular. It was,uthere was a little girl. We were in Pakistan, there was a little girl named Keenan. She was eight years old. She had a tumor on the side of her neck and the last night of the crusade,uher mother brought her to the gospel because they, her father wouldn’t come. They tried bringing her to every doctor, different hospitals, no one could help her. And they really thought, Hey, she’s going to die if she doesn’t get healed. So some of the neighbors said, Hey, you might want to go to this event, this crusade it’s Sunday night, it’s the last night. Umhere’ve been a lot of healings taking place. And so why don’t you bring little Keenan, maybe this Jesus can heal her.

Bernie Moore (04:17):
So the mother reluctantly said, okay, I’ll bring her. W we’ve tried everything else. So the mother brings Keenan, the father stays home because he’s not a part of any, you know, he’s, he they’re devout Muslims. He’s not a part of any gospel crusade or Christian event or Jesus loving event. Nothing. He didn’t want any part of it, but the mother was desperate. Thank God for desperate moms. She brings Keenan, I do the altar call for salvation. And then we pray for the sick and in the middle of praying for the sick and asking the Holy spirit to pour out his presence and power all over those who are dealing with sickness and battling infirmities and dealing with, you know any kind of, you know, issues related to their bodies or the Lord began to just, I mean, it was like a wave Daniel.

Bernie Moore (05:10):
It was a wave of glory all over that field. I never forgot. I still, as I’m talking, I still remember it. And little Keenan pulls on her mama’s shirt and says, mama, mama, the tumor is gone. And I can finally turn my head all the way around. And not only that, but there’s no pain going down my body. And so her mom couldn’t believe it. She’s examining little Keenan and she starts crying. The crowd goes crazy and I’m looking, I said, what in the world is going on over there? So the mama runs up to the, to the stage to testify that crusade was a little bit smaller. I think we had about 15,000 people at that, at that Pakistan event, but she runs up and she goes to testify of what the Lord has done. And she says, Jesus healed my daughter, my baby Keenan is healed.

Bernie Moore (05:59):
And we have given our lives to him, the true God. And I’m telling my husband when we get home, I mean, she turned into a fireball preacher. I’m telling my husband, and when we get home, Jesus healed. He’s the savior. He’s the one. And only,uyou know, and, and so she’s just ecstatic about what God has done and Keenan’s life. But what happened right behind Keenan was unbeknownst to me obviously was a,uelderly lady, 80 years old, carried on a big cut by her three sons. They bring their mama up. She hadn’t gotten off the cot in years. She was crippled. She couldn’t walk. And so they bring the caught up, but the mama walked up the stairs. I didn’t know what was going on. So through my interpreter, they began to say, my mother who’s 80,usuffered some sort of injury years ago. She’s bedridden, God healed her tonight. She got off the bed. This is the cot. We brought her to the crusade on. And here she is his precious little 80 year old, a woman. She had a beautiful face and she just, you could just tell there was something so special about her. And in that moment, the Lord spoke to me. He said, Bernie, I care for the eight year old in the 80 year old and everyone in between. I want to pour out my spirit on all flesh. And it was beautiful.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:25):
That’s awesome. God cares about the eight year old and the 80 year old and everyone in between. Where was your largest crusade and how many people came?

Bernie Moore (07:35):
So the largest crusade was probably this last crusade in Aurora. Probably also tied with another one that we did in a city called Koboko. They were both relatively the same. Uwe had, well over 200,000 people over three nights,uattended each, each,ueach of those events and both around the same, as far as salvation are concerned, as you know, it’s very difficult to actually count. Uwe have cards and so forth, but sometimes people fill them out twice, you know? And so for us, we want to use integrity and have character. The Lord spoke to me years ago. I don’t, God takes no pleasure in exaggeration, you know, so it’s just another form of lying. So we do the best that we can estimate. Uand we estimated each of those events, we had over a hundred to 130,000 people conservatively give the hearts to Christ. Now, if you ask the African pastors, the number is through the roof, but we feel confident that that’s,uthat’s a more accurate number for salvation.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:40):
So it sounds like you keep really careful records of how many people come. And then how many decision cards are filled out over the course of your ministry. Approximately how many people would you say have been led to Jesus? Yeah, a great question. So we estimate

Bernie Moore (08:56):
Right now, the number is somewhere in between 1.3 and 1.4 million over the last 11 years. And you know, it could be more and it, I mean, I guess it could be less, but w I feel like that’s a good average from where we, from where we started to right now, that’s

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:13):
Amazing. The Bible says that when one sinner repents, all of heaven celebrates. And so that’s 1.3, 1.4 million parties you’ve started in heaven. What a tremendous testimony, tell me who influenced your ministry? What have you learned from other evangelists?

Bernie Moore (09:34):
My greatest influence without hesitations run hard. Bonnke was my spiritual father, my mentor. I had a lot of spent. I was able by the grace of God has spent a lot of time with him, traveled with him all over the world. He, he is by far the one individual that has made an eternal Mark on my life. A lot of great pastors, a lot of great evangelists. My dear friend, Daniel Kolenda is another wonderful guy. You, Daniel are an incredible evangelist, has inspired so many, including myself. Ubut Reinhardt by far was the one that marked me the most. And, hn marked my life, my wife, hur ministry, our family. So, yeah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:22):
What are one or two things, the most significant things that you learned from Reinhart

Bernie Moore (10:27):
Monkey, humility, humility, without a question, humility was number one. Uhe lives such a humble life. UI would tell him often, sometimes it would bother me. And I would say pastor Bucky, I don’t, I don’t understand. UI’ve literally sat with him at a lunch table with some of the top leaders in, in Christianity today. And they all sit there and they just listened to him. Ron are tell us what God is saying. Reinhard what is the Lord doing around the earth, Reinhardt T you know, and with just such humility and such grace, he just, he just, he just chats. He just talks the spirit of the Lord, just oozes out of his life and, or, you know, oozed out of his life. Of course, now he’s in the presence of his savior. It’s, you know, but his humility, number one, number two, his passion for the Lord.

Bernie Moore (11:23):
He really loved Jesus. I mean, loved Jesus spoke with him, talked with him, walked with him. I mean, all the time he loved Jesus. So he humility his passion for cry holiness, honestly, holiness never seen a man live as Holy as he was. There’s a lot of things there. There’s, those are the top three or four, you know, his prayer life was, I mean, just so I would say those are three of the four, three, three or four of the things that have really just stuck with me and will never leave me. And I, I strive even now to emulate those things and put those principles in my own, in my own life. So

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:12):
That’s awesome. Paul said imitate me as I imitate Christ. So one of the things I really admire about you is you have a tremendous passion for souls and for people who are lost, why is it important for the evangelist to have a passion for souls?

Bernie Moore (12:29):
Well, I’ll tell you I don’t want anybody to go to hell. We, we, there’s nobody. There’s not a lot of preaching on the eternal consequences of rejecting Christ as your savior, God, through all of us, a lifeline in the form of his son, his son through us, a lifeline in the form of the cross. And we’re all drowning in a sea of sin. And some of us have said, no, I don’t want it. And eternity is a long time to spend without Jesus earth, this life on earth. If you’re given 70, 80, 90 years it’s just a vapor. It just comes and goes. It’s, you know, it’s like a blade of grass. It rises in the morning. It’s cut down in the evening, just so quick. And and I just, I don’t want one person on this planet to leave this life without knowing Christ. I want everyone. I want everyone to spend eternity with Jesus.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:39):
Amen. What would you say to someone who feels called to be an evangelist?

Bernie Moore (13:47):
I would say amen. And I would say stay on your knees every day. Pray every day, state teachable every day. Let the Holy spirit lead you learn to listen, learn to obey. I think obedience is the biggest key obey the Lord, no matter what, obey him, obey what he tells you to do, where he tells you to where he tells you to go. Don’t fear, man, because, you know, people have their own ideas and their own agendas and their own things. And they will say they’re this or that. But fear the Lord, you know, follow him, give everything to him. And, and, and live a life like Paul said, I’m worthy of your calling, you know, every day, every day, walk, hand in hand with God and let him just lead you down that path.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:41):
Bernie, thank you so much for being on the podcast. I appreciate it.

Bernie Moore (14:45):
Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure. Love you, Daniel. Love what you’re doing. God bless

Evangelism Podcast Host (14:52):
For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.