Emanuel Rusu came to the United States from Ukraine as a young boy. Now he pastors a Russian speaking church near Atlanta, Georgia. But his church desires to reach the English speaking people in their community. Today he talks about the transition Living Water church has experienced as they focus more on evangelism.

Website: https://www.mylivingchurch.com 

Transcript: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Emanuel Rusu came to the United States from Ukraine as a young boy. Now he pastors a Russian speaking church near Atlanta, Georgia, but his church desires to reach the English-speaking people in their community today. He talks about the transition living water church has experienced as they focus more on evangelism.

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):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King and I’m excited to be with my special guest pastor Emanuel Rusu from the living water church in Buford, Georgia. Thank you so much for being with me.

Emanuel Rusu (01:14):
Well, thank you. It is such a pleasure to hang out with you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:19):
Yeah. So tell me about how you first came to America and then how you became a pastor,

Emanuel Rusu (01:27):
Such an amazing story. So I came as a young boy nine years old and we came as refugees from the former Soviet union. And I came with my family’s believers and we love Jesus. And we came to the United States and the Lord has opened up great opportunities, but that’s the way we came with basically nothing and started from scratch. We came to a place where we didn’t know English, so we started going to a small community language oriented church that spoke only Russian to those people who just came from the former Soviet union.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:15):
And how did you become a pastor? You started out first as a youth pastor and then became an assistant pastor. And now you are pastoring the church.

Emanuel Rusu (02:25):
Yeah. So it’s amazing because I never ever thought that I would be in a place in my life where I would be a senior pastor. So I was, I grew up in a family that, that went to church. That was the thing that you do on Wednesday on, on, on Sunday, on Friday. So really church oriented, but never thought I would be doing ministry. So there was a need at the church where help was needed in the youth department. So went into, became the youth pastor. There was a need in the worship department, so became the worship leader and then a associate pastor. And then the time came where became the senior pastor of the church. So it’s quite quite, quite, quite, quite an exciting journey.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:18):
That’s wonderful. Your, your story is a lot like the story of Obed-Edom. You told me that you’re preaching on him next week. And I wrote a book about Obed-Edom, and he starts out as a gatekeeper. Then he becomes a musician and the temple worship group. Then he becomes a leader in the house of God. And then you see his entire family as serving God. And so God seems to have promoted you as you have been faithful to serve him. So that’s, that’s wonderful as this story of Obed-Edom, and that’s really the story of every great servant of God. They, they don’t start in an amazing place, but as they’re faithful to serve, God begins to promote them. And so God has promoted you. And as you have transitioned into being the pastor of the church, you have changed a little bit of the flavor of the church and you showed me a picture. You showed me a picture of how the church used to be. It used to be with pews and it looked very formal. It was beautiful, but it was formal. And when I preach this morning at the church, it was more of a contemporary setting. You’ve got bright lights, you’ve got the sanctuary darken, so everyone can, can focus on what God is doing in there. What brought you to this place where you thought it was a good idea to transition in the flavor?

Emanuel Rusu (04:39):
Yeah. So throughout throughout just going back to what we were talking about just recently throughout ministering, you know, being faithful in the little things, I just began to notice that the church is not only a place where we come to pray, but it’s so much more, it needs to be so much more. And so as throughout the years, as I noticed that I, it became, became evident that if we don’t have the young generation in the church, then it’ll just become a club of older saints, which has awesome. But we’re you know, one of the things that we’re all about is for the generations. And so we’re thinking ahead, we’re praying ahead. We’re, we’re, we’re planning ahead three to four generations ahead. So our thing is we want to, whatever we do today, it’s to make an impact for the third to the fourth generation ahead and how awesome it is that when, when my great grandchildren are talking, talking to their sons and daughters, if, if the Lord tarries and doesn’t come back soon, they would be talking about their, their great, great grandfather did great-grand great mother that really made an, they were building something that, that, that a foundation was so great that that effected them so far.

Emanuel Rusu (06:06):
I had. So, so we’re, we’re about building something that would affect them. And so the question is, what is it that would affect them so far ahead? What is it that would interest the current generation would interest their, their children. And so we understood that, that that church has to be more than just a place where we learn stories of the past. It has to touch them today. And so we’re about, you know, making it impactful and interesting through media through. And it’s interesting how, when, when, when we started doing what we have with the more modern setting, so many of the kids said, sign me up for the immediate team. I want to be a part of, of music want to be a part. And we record music videos, you know iMusic is a big thing of our, our DNA.

Emanuel Rusu (07:00):
And so it, it really sparked a desire interest in the young generation. And because the young kids are excited, their parents are excited to bring them. And so it just caused this chain effect of, and now the kids tugging at their parents let’s go. We want to be a part. The issue with that we used to have before the remodel and before kind of the new direction was to the members and to the commerce, please help us out. We need help at the church. We need someone to volunteer, you know, do it for the Lord, please, please, please. And now the issue that we have is being creative because so many, there’s so many volunteers that said, sign us up. We want to do something. And so we have to be creative of new ideas, how to bring people, put people in different places of, of, of the ministry so that they would be active. So it’s a great new problem to have, but that, that that’s really at the center focus is, is how do we effect, how do we impact the the generations to come? And so the things that we purchase, the things that we are part of really have that thought pattern, you know, it’s not, how can we have fun today? Which, which is great, but also how can we impact the future generations

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:30):
And another transition? Sorry. That’s wonderful. Another transition that you’re you’re thinking about right now is reaching out to a new language group. So your church historically has been primarily Russian speaking people. You translate all your services into Russian in the churches full of people from Russia, from Ukraine, from Moldova, what other countries are represented?

Emanuel Rusu (09:02):
Well, the mass amount of people is from the former Soviet union. The country that you mentioned was Becca, Stan, Kazakh, Stan. But we understood that the Lord has placed us in this country, in this community, not just for us to be comfortable in a certain culture that we came from or a certain language that is near and dear to us. But we ought to open the doors to, and really come out of the four walls because sometimes the four walls they limit us and, but to come out of, to build beyond the walls. And so we understood if that is our mission, we can’t hold onto a language, right, because the gospel is for, for, for everyone. And so we understood that. And when we said, Hey, we’re for the community, the local community, we we’re, we’re now seeing people that are from, from different backgrounds, whether it’s south America, Asia, the United States Latin, you know, people from, from you know, from that background, Spanish speaking people, American people.

Emanuel Rusu (10:22):
And so we said, okay. So if we continue with, you know preaching in English with a Russian translation, we’re going to hit a certain ceiling. And so we said, okay, so we have to structure ourselves in such a way that we’re still a blessing to the Russian speaking community, but we’re reaching our immediate community that is speaking in English. And so we just had to make some steps that might’ve not been comfortable to us in the beginning, but as, as much as we’re talking about it and making those steps, we’re saying, Lord, this is the right thing. This is your heart. This is what we are have been planted here for, is to, is to preach the gospel to this community that’s around us and also not forgetting the roots. And so we said, okay, we can do both things. We can have a service in Russian. We can have a service in, in English, and we can also have a service in any of the language because we want to make sure that that building is operating to its full capacity. Man, I can be there 24 7. It doesn’t matter, but I want to see the name of Jesus lifted up. I want to see souls being saved. I want to see people being on fire. And so, however God will use us for that. We’re ready.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:40):
And so you have a motto that you are going after people’s families and generations. So we’ve kind of talked about generations and we’ve talked about different peoples talk to me about families, how are you reaching?

Emanuel Rusu (11:53):
So we have different things that we’re a part of. Like we have couples ministry, we have youth ministry just, kick-started a middle school ministry. We have kids choir. We’re about to do go big into different arts for our, our, our young children. And so we really care about the marriage unit where biblical biblical principles in, in, in the family. And so I feel like so many people, it’s a breath of fresh air when they really, really hear someone speaking about the family unit, someone talking about, you know having a strong marriage. And so much of that seeming is lost because, you know the movies and the shows and what we hear on the radio really will have us, you know, believe something else. And so when we begin to talk about, well, what does the word of God says, you know speaking life into family, speaking life, into their marriage, people really begin to respond to that.

Emanuel Rusu (13:02):
And so, and so they, they, they go to a place where they were there, they come alive where they, they, they hear what God has to say about them, what God has to say about their family. And so we see great results in that. And so we’re, we’re basically pouring our time, treasure talent into kids, into marriages, into families because we believe if they’re healthy, if they’re, if they’re you know, coming alive, others around the community, people at work or at, at the grocery store will see something different. Is that is that Eli chef or remembered that that woman saw Elijah walking back and forth and she said, this man is different. And so we, we just, we just want to bring, bring that, that, that life back into the families live back into young people. So on and so forth,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:00):
You invited me here to the church to impart a spirit of evangelism to talk about evangelism. So last night we did a master class talking about different ways of leading people to Jesus. And then this morning, I really focused on being an outreach oriented church instead of inward focus. How do you feel that the, the message was received by your church and how did it speak to where you are at this time?

Emanuel Rusu (14:28):
So some of the things we were talking about before it was, Hey, we can’t live for ourselves. And one thing that you said this morning, which was really powerful about we can be closed off a group of people. We can form a circle and our backs will be facing the world. We be fishermen that never get to fish. And now that that’ll bring frustration inside the church. And so I feel like this is such an important message for every church to be able to to hear. And, and to remember that this is a major calling for the church. You know, you mentioned something this morning that we can have all night prayers. We can pray until we’re blue in the face. We can, you know, we can, we can worship, we can do it, have all of these programs, but if we’re not about souls winning souls, we’re really leaving out a major thing that Jesus spoke to us to do the great commission.

Emanuel Rusu (15:33):
And so I feel like we’re in a part of a, of, of a season where the church needs to turn back to to, to soul winning. I think we it’s really easy to start, really start focusing on yourself again, you know, the different programs, this and that. But if we’re not about winning souls, if we’re not about evangelism, something’s going to be missing and we’re going to be arguing over, like you said, the carpet, the color of the carpet, you know the, the, how loud the music is or whatnot. And, and it, it’s all about soul winning. It’s all about, that’s what Jesus is calling us to do.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:14):
You are in the middle of a building project right now. You’ve bought a beautiful building. It’s absolutely gorgeous, has got lots of room and you’re in a process of, of remodeling it. How do you hope that this building will help you to reach this community?

Emanuel Rusu (16:31):
Uh well the projection of the different organizations that this area that we’re moving into is going to have continual growth for the next, at least 10 years. And so it’s, it’s really strategic for us. Even today, as we were evangelizing at the park, a lot of the people that we prayed over met and spoke to just move from a different part of the country. And and so it’s very strategic for us to be in this place, because even though this is a major area in the Atlanta Metro region, but there’s not that many church churches in this area that are really doing a lot of things to reach other people. So we, we really feel like this has a, a great strategic place for us. And so we’re excited about doing the, the building in, in, in really a great way of building it up, having great visuals and, and, and a beautiful area, but the whole purpose why we are doing that is to bring people into a place where they can see their grow, where they can see themselves grow, where they can see their teenagers and young adults being being able to grow into a individual that they’re, they’re doing the, the purposes and things of God.

Emanuel Rusu (18:07):
So, so just, just I think, I think it bolds down to everything that we do. We want to see people saved, and we want to see people grow into their purpose in the Lord.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:21):
I thought the outreach that your church did tonight was really tremendous. We went to a park right near where your new location is on one side there’s basketball courts. On the other side, there are volleyball courts and it was beautiful weather. So, oh, all the courts were full of people. And so we set up a little sound system, did worship led by Phillip Renner. It was really powerful. And then appreciate a little message. And the many members from the church came out, we were giving away hot dogs and water to people and praying with them. And I think this was just really a tremendous way to involve the church in evangelism. And, and so what are some ideas that you have for reaching out to

Emanuel Rusu (19:08):
The community? Well, the, the park thing is really awesome. We also did things like we went to major and other major park in the Atlanta region where there’s a lot of foot traffic and did something similar as well. So I think it’s very effective. And I can tell you that in, in the very beginning, it feels very scary. So to say, right, you’re unsure, this is something new. I mean, even for me, I’m used to speaking with people, but this, this was a new experience. And it took me like two, three times, and now it’s, it’s so enjoyable. I so want to talk to people because it, it’s amazing to be able to hear their story and say, Hey, I want to pray for you. And the amazing part is they’re really hoping someone, they would meet someone that cares for them that will lead them into you know, prayer or, or it’s, it’s a beautiful thing. When you get to meet people who are willing to pray for you to willing to tell you about Jesus and I, and I think it makes their day. I think it’s such a beautiful thing that the church needs to do more of.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:25):
Amen. Well, pastor is such a privileged privilege to be here with you at your church. I believe that in the years to come, your church is going to grow by leaps and bounds. I pray that God will give you a great harvest of souls here in Georgia and even to other parts of the world. So thank you for being on the evangelism podcast. Thank

Emanuel Rusu (20:47):
You so much for leading that masterclass and preaching such a powerful message, which brings us back into the great commission and what the Lord has sent us to do.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:58):
Thank You, pastor. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. Thanks for listening to the evangelism podcast today. I want to ask you to partner with me to help lead people to Jesus. For as little as a dollar a month, you can be responsible for helping us lead at least one person to Jesus every single month. Over our 20 years of ministry, we’ve found that it costs an average of about $1 for every person that we’re able to reach. And so if you could just go to king ministries.com and partner with us for at least $1, just $1 partner with us to help us lead people to Jesus. Imagine for a dollar, you can be responsible for starting a party in heaven every single month. And would you do me a favor go to apple iTunes and leave this podcast a review. Your positive review will help other people who are excited about evangelism to find this show. Thanks so much. And God bless you

Evangelism Podcast Host (22:04):
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.

 

Fernando Fleming has organized almost two hundred crusades in the Dominican Republic and Haiti for dozens of evangelists. Today he talks (in Spanish) about what God is doing on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean. You will be inspired by his faith and he talks about the miracles he has seen God do.

Connect with Fernando Fleming on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fernando.fleming 

Visit Resurreccion y Vida church: https://www.facebook.com/Resurreccion-y-Vida-124820804211870

Learn about evangelism from Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach.

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

Fernando Fleming has organized the most 200 crusades in the Dominican Republic and Haiti for dozens of evangelists today, he talks in Spanish about what God is doing on his island. In the Caribbean. You will be inspired by his faith. As he talks about the miracles he has seen God do.

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. 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 (00:54):

Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. I have a very special friend. He’s been a friend for many years for Nando Fleming from Dominican Republic. Thank you for joining me today.

 

Fernando Fleming  (01:17):

[Speaking in Spanish]To have an encounter again with you. Can I make [Speaking in Spanish]Pedro [Speaking in Spanish]remind me that you are a young man, but working with you, man, Microsoft [Speaking in Spanish]passion for the soul and for the nations. [Speaking in Spanish]Every evangelist has to have that passion for the souls into the world to talk about [inaudible]. And even though you’re a young man, [Speaking in Spanish]you have been a big blessing for the world. [Speaking in Spanish] mainly for my nation, the it and hate [Speaking in Spanish]because you can’t [Speaking in Spanish]to ministry. The word meant that we need to solve. And not only you came by yourself, also, you brought the [Speaking in Spanish]to continue going to the Dominican Republic. [Speaking in Spanish]Being a great blessing for [inaudible]. And for me, it’s a pleasure and honor to be with you in this moment.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:25):

I remember the very first crusade that I came to be with you was in Puerto Plata. It was my second crusade. And I still did not know very much about preaching, but you worked very hard and we had a very good crusade there and Porto Plata. Do you remember that?

 

Fernando Fleming  (02:49):

[Speaking in Spanish]Okay. You were coming from Honduras. They didn’t have that crusade over there. [Speaking in Spanish]Got broken. So you remember that you came to Puerto Plata, local mall. And I remember like [Speaking in Spanish]because it was really impactful what God did meet up [Speaking in Spanish]you know, for us to organize that crusade, it was hard for us [Speaking in Spanish]because my guys even were taken to Gale [Speaking in Spanish]the theories from the city gave us the permission for the crusade. [Speaking in Spanish]When they saw how many promotions and posts they saw on the city, no Yamato. Then they called us and they took our permission away. They said we will not permit [inaudible].

 

Fernando Fleming  (03:41):

The entire city is [inaudible]. I didn’t know what to do. No one took him off. We were hauled out. And then my guys and I went to pray [Speaking in Spanish]and they came back to the governor for the seat [Speaking in Spanish]and I said to him, who has invested so much money [Speaking in Spanish]and this is a touristic place. [Speaking in Spanish]These people are going to bring like a group of north American [inaudible]. If I tell them those news, they okay. Know how many they will not come for. [Speaking in Spanish]that’s not going to be good for the [Speaking in Spanish]because it’s a touristic city. Okay. And then he said, okay, then I’m assuming I may have a couple of meetings to jam all a policy called the police charge and lay my guys go out of jail. [Speaking in Spanish]Longer not explaining, well, don’t do anything yet. Wait [Speaking in Spanish]we were just three days away from the, for the crusade, the Birmingham and okay. And then he called me, he said, okay. He, he seemed more like a silo. And then we have the crusade. [Speaking in Spanish]Incredibly [Speaking in Spanish]because [Speaking in Spanish]nobody knew yet. And you were like, yo, man [Speaking in Spanish]were not popular. [Speaking in Spanish]But the people decided to go [Speaking in Spanish]the whole city of port supply. [Speaking in Spanish]Gathering this place. [Speaking in Spanish]And remember that we gave out so many books you send to, to make many books. It don’t say [Speaking in Spanish]and then he was such an amazing [inaudible]. And I don’t know if you remember [Speaking in Spanish]but one of those nights it rained. He [inaudible]. And he was running in the whole seat of [Speaking in Spanish]in the place of the crusade where the people were [Speaking in Spanish]30,000 people and it didn’t rain [inaudible].

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:45):

Yeah, I do remember this miracle. It was raining all over the city and our whole team was praying. We’re praying saying, God, you have to give us good weather. And so the sky opened up above the area of the crusade, everywhere else was raining. And just in the place of the crusade, there was no rain. And we saw so many miracles at that Crusader. I remember there was one boy. He was named Valentino. He was about maybe like eight years old. And he was deaf and dumb. He couldn’t speak, but Jesus healed him. And he came up and began to speak in front of the whole crowd. And everyone was talking because that was a great miracle. And I remember there was another miracle at that crusade. There was a little girl who she had been in an accident and she was in like a wheelchair. She couldn’t walk. And so her mother brought her to the crusade and, and she was not healed the first night, but then she took her home and put the little girl in bed. And then the next morning in the other room, the mother felt a tap on her shoulder. And her little girl had gotten up and walked from her room over. You remember that?

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:57):

She came and brought the testimony

 

Fernando Fleming  (07:01):

To this, to the crusade. [Speaking in Spanish]Again, you guys were not popular preachers [Speaking in Spanish]but it was a risk with you guys and God made it [inaudible]. And then after that, you’ll be perceived. That’s when they saw [Speaking in Spanish]is that where it started? And we made [Speaking in Spanish]and I remember that pastor villager would tell me, look, [Speaking in Spanish]you have learned in this share with others [Speaking in Spanish]and then we have made crusades to other people [Speaking in Spanish]people in the crusades. See?

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:56):

Yeah. And so, since that time, you, you have organized many crusades for, for many of my friends Dr. Jack Myers comes Peter Youngren has been with you. Mike friends seen Billy Joe Doherty. You, you have had so many great evangelists that have come Andrew Palau and the whole Palauan team.

 

Fernando Fleming  (08:18):

Mike May go law. I love him.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:21):

Yeah. And so, so many people have come and, and worked with you. And you’ve been doing crusades in the Dominican side of the island, but also going to the Haiti side, which Dominican and Haiti, they share the same island, but they’re very different. I remember we did a crusade in Cape, Haitian in Haiti and also in one, a men. And it is very different. It’s very difficult. Sometimes working. [inaudible]

 

Fernando Fleming  (08:50):

Really difficult. [Speaking in Spanish]Yeah, [Speaking in Spanish]in Haiti is really, really hard singing. [Speaking in Spanish]However, we were able to see the glory of God. I quit. [Speaking in Spanish]Like when I’m in there, I remember it. For example, in [Speaking in Spanish]the amount of Mirakuru [Speaking in Spanish]we were praying, she lost so much weight. [Speaking in Spanish]Fail, power [inaudible]. And then we also saw in that Tuesday, it was a whole week of crusade [Speaking in Spanish]and people would move to the crusade side. Even to the day of today. I saw somebody on site that was many years ago, pips on, well, even today, they still have the poster of the promotion [Speaking in Spanish]and everything. I go around [Speaking in Spanish]they’re always asking me, you can come in back, [Speaking in Spanish]back there with all the pictures [Speaking in Spanish]but they always remember [Speaking in Spanish]extraordinary. And it’s so good. [Speaking in Spanish]Because that’s what [Speaking in Spanish]glory of God manifested [Speaking in Spanish]makes people to come to the [Speaking in Spanish]and at the end, that’s the goal. God Alma, Barclays win souls for Christ.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:28):

Yeah. I remember one night in, in one, a man, we, we had five nights of services there and on the fourth night was holy spirit night. And so we were praying for people to be filled with the holy spirit. And on that night, a white dove came and flew three times around the crusade, the crusade. And then it perched on the banner behind where the crusade was. And I said, wow, that is amazing. The holy spirit has come Stacy. And, and I remember in Kate patient, when we were in Kate patient, you remember we were in the main Plaza, right in the middle of the city.

 

Fernando Fleming  (11:07):

Remember [Speaking in Spanish]we had so many problems. The crusade was not supposed to be there. [Speaking in Spanish]Soccer, c’mon soccer. The crusade was supposed to be in a soccer stadium. [Speaking in Spanish]But he doesn’t know if [Speaking in Spanish]they took the permission. [Speaking in Spanish]Crusade. They took the permission. [Speaking in Spanish]I told you that because I didn’t like to give back. [Speaking in Spanish]Like to give back [Speaking in Spanish]were saying to us, the whole seed is going to go to the crusade [Speaking in Spanish]and they are going to damage the grass [Speaking in Spanish]and you know, that new grass in the stadium [Speaking in Spanish]and there are 30 said to me, [Speaking in Spanish]for us to be able to have that grass [Speaking in Spanish]we worked for five years. When I say mama, and you in one week, we’re going to destroy. The entire seed is going to go to the number. We want to set up a lot. So we went to the [inaudible],

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:26):

Remember that the, the Archbishop of the Catholic church, he was upset about us being there because it was right in front of the beautiful white cathedral. And so they, they were angry and even on yeah. Radio. And they said

 

Fernando Fleming  (12:40):

That like, that place belongs to them, actually.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:42):

Yeah. And, and, and on the radio, they said, these people that are coming, you don’t go tannic. But every night there were great miracles. Jesus was healing. So many people. And so we would give the testimony, Jesus healed me. My ear was healed. My arm was healed. My I can walk now. And so he, he was listening. And after several days of the crusade, the Archbishop of the Catholic church called us and says, I hear the miracles. I believe this is Jesus. And he says, will you come and pray with me?

 

Fernando Fleming  (13:24):

[Speaking in Spanish]They didn’t want to allow us to be there in front of the Plaza [Speaking in Spanish]shop. And he didn’t want us to be there. [Speaking in Spanish]But the people came, Vino people came ultimately, and again, God glory, if you have wind up on the [Speaking in Spanish]Jesus words, when he does those moments, those moments are going to get there again. This one call you after COVID, we’re going to go back to it.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:58):

Many years ago, one of the people that came with us on the team, they had a prophetic gift and they prophesied over you and said that God is raising you up with an app, historic anointing, the anointing of an apostle for the Dominican Republic. And since that time, you have done crusades across Dominican, across Haiti, you have been on television, you have been on radio. You have a beautiful church that God has given you. And, and, and Barahona, and it is so magnificent to see the influence and the, the blessing that God has given on your menu, even, how am I

 

Fernando Fleming  (14:41):

Going to, let me tell you this [Speaking in Spanish]I knew I was going to [Speaking in Spanish]they’re in my city. [Speaking in Spanish]You spoke about the TV, Canada. [Speaking in Spanish]I used to cover the city of [inaudible], but you know, the Dominican Republic has 33 cities. You’re the boy I went out on the air and then I said, I’m going to see Danielle [Speaking in Spanish]because I want him to be with me and support me in this project. [Speaking in Spanish]Because now our TV challenge is not only for the one city national. Now she, the whole seat Dominican Republic, CC [Speaking in Spanish]has been working. [Speaking in Spanish]Doesn’t have anything with do with [Speaking in Spanish]church has, has grown. [Speaking in Spanish]Has grown in the middle of the pandemic. More [Speaking in Spanish]in the calling of [Speaking in Spanish]in what God has placed in us. [Speaking in Spanish]Believe me. I’m happy. [Speaking in Spanish]Because the only thing that changes, I own a persona, a personal model of being from bad to good is Jesus.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:07):

Amen. Now all these different, great leaders, great evangelists have come and worked with you. What are some of the things that you have learned from these evangelists? I remember one time you told me a lesson from pastor Billy Joe Doherty, and to help me be a better evangelist. Do you remember that?

 

Fernando Fleming  (16:27):

SI SI SI Bina. [Speaking in Spanish]I’ve worked with so many people, emotional number, many men names. [Speaking in Spanish]I will not mention now I say squalor, but that’s cool. You guys pass your calls that at school beat or the Christian center victory Christian center [Speaking in Spanish]is a school [inaudible]. And if we learn from him, [Speaking in Spanish]it’s like getting closer to Jesus and being closer to Jesus for the hemp. For example, [Speaking in Spanish]that passion for the soap. [Speaking in Spanish]Totally feels, he goes faster. Billy y’all transmitted that where the passion for the soul [Speaking in Spanish]humility, humbleness from [inaudible]. He hasn’t seen that in anybody. And I did not. Nobody. I’m gonna have to let me give you a testimony. [inaudible]

 

Fernando Fleming  (17:26):

I was with possibility in Haiti. [Speaking in Spanish]In our, in our, in our city called careful [Speaking in Spanish]mothers in mid persona. And the last night of the crusade, we have more than 100,000 people in your medicine. And I get close to pastor and I told him [Speaking in Spanish]15 minutes. [Speaking in Spanish]We’re going to hand you the microphone. You know, we’re going to worship for 15 minutes because people are here. Ready? [Speaking in Spanish]People came from the miracle. [Speaking in Spanish]We’re going to hand you the microphone. And pastor Billy Joe told me no, no Kim sent me no bill, 15 minutes. [Speaking in Spanish]The preacher of tonight. Maybe also not to me. He gave him his last night [Speaking in Spanish]was a joke. And he said, no [inaudible]. And he ran from him. [inaudible]

 

Fernando Fleming  (18:24):

He kept organizing and you know, keeping attention to the crusade. And he came back to me and he said, you are the preacher [Speaking in Spanish]scripture from the Bible. And preach tonight. He told y’all see your thoughts. And even so I was like this. And then he handed me the microphone [Speaking in Spanish]and I spent seven minutes and after seven minutes I handed him back the microphone. He said, no, no I [inaudible]. Well, I worked with so many preachers. I know that that’s really hard. They’d never give away the microphone [Speaking in Spanish]that I’ve worked with. I can say, look, we got to say it. You’re the one who knows more about crusade. It’s a mental DNA out of a movie. When, and also you have something really good. [Speaking in Spanish]I know so many people have it. [Speaking in Spanish]And it’s that you help others to become great. I can remember. And that’s a huge blessing.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:30):

Amen. Yeah. I remember that. The lesson you taught me from, from possibility to authority. You said that one night possibility Joe was finished preaching. He was ministering to thousands of people. Great miracles. And then when he walked off the platform, there was a lady there who came for prayer and he’s spent time just praying for her spending time with her taking making sure that she was cared for. And you saw me one time. I was preaching. And then when I got off the platform, I run to my car and drive off to the hotel. And you told me, Daniel, you need to spend more time caring for the people. And I always remember that big. And now when I go to a crusade, I always make sure anyone who wants prayer take the time. And because that’s what they’re there for. [inaudible],

 

Fernando Fleming  (20:17):

That’s something that possibly he would pay attention to. [Speaking in Spanish]He wouldn’t run from there. Like if he was an artist, he will go one by one. [Speaking in Spanish]Even sometimes if [Speaking in Spanish]he will leave the area, the state from the [Speaking in Spanish]after everybody would have left already. Yes. I’m willing to put it back. And that’s really [inaudible]. That’s like, that’s why for me, it was a privilege to work with possibility, Joe [inaudible]. That was amazing. When I basically come more, I think sometimes in Haiti [Speaking in Spanish]we will have security guards for him. [Speaking in Spanish]Would call me. He might say, take those people away. And I would say, pastor, I’m sorry. [Speaking in Spanish]They have to be there. That’s okay. And he’ll say, okay. [Speaking in Spanish]And then after we were done, he would say to me, [Speaking in Spanish]your thing. Where are you sure that it was necessary for them to be here? You’ll see. And then I say, yes, pastor. Yes. See, I’m not going to him for the answer. He was such a great experience.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:27):

You’ve done so many crusades, more than a hundred more than you, would you say 200, 200 crusades in Dominican and in Haiti, what do you think the impact of those crusades have, has been, have the churches growing? Has it had an impact on the nation? Okay.

 

 

Fernando Fleming  (21:51):

[Speaking in Spanish]he, hasn’t only been that the churches have grown [Speaking in Spanish]but also the city takes a different attitude. [Speaking in Spanish]Like, if you started like the life of [inaudible], they go to talk to one another and over and over [Speaking in Spanish]because they know what, that, the only thing that changes a city, a country is the gospel [inaudible]. And I think that it’s smart for an evangelist or for the pastor to take territory. I say, go to that country. [Speaking in Spanish]many times it’s necessary. I can be able to pay in order for them to change the [Speaking in Spanish]change. Our country [Speaking in Spanish]change. [Speaking in Spanish]Change the way people will look at the gospel. So that’s like that.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:58):

Sometimes it’s very difficult to organize crusades. What are some of the biggest challenges and problems you’ve faced in organizing crusades

 

Fernando Fleming  (23:09):

May not be like [Speaking in Spanish]he will always be difficult. What? I have brilliant because in my case, [Speaking in Spanish]when the evangelists allow me to have the city for the crusade. [Speaking in Spanish]I go three days to the, to that city. It Camino and I walk around [Speaking in Spanish]and I ain’t checking around what God wants in the moment for the city. [Speaking in Spanish]If it’s a good city, it doesn’t matter. [Speaking in Spanish]I just want to receive the tip from God it’s him. Okay. And then we’ll say, okay, [Speaking in Spanish]that had been to Aquino. And I said, no, not here. [Speaking in Spanish]That’s the first thing we’re looking for God’s direction. And they’ll say, [inaudible], what’s the main challenge or challenge of this [Speaking in Spanish]that it doesn’t rain. We don’t want it to rain. [inaudible]

 

Fernando Fleming  (24:05):

We don’t want it to rain so that people can come to this, to, to the area. However, though, [Speaking in Spanish]we have seen so much rain and get a castle up with the plot. I do. You remember important? The plateau and people stayed there [Speaking in Spanish]once we were in San Francisco with Dr. Jack Myers [Speaking in Spanish]and it rained a lot and people stayed [Speaking in Spanish]with pastor Billy Jo [inaudible], Billy Jo at 7:00 PM. No, I’m hoping that we will not have the crusade today. And he said, why [Speaking in Spanish]because it rained the last few, like [Speaking in Spanish]CDs full of water. [Speaking in Spanish]The place of the crusade. We only have like 50 people in [Speaking in Spanish]and he said to me, no. And he said, if there’s one person I’m going to go to preach. And there were 50 people seeing Metro, like 100 meters. I mean, I don’t know no CMBS until you got a [inaudible].

 

Fernando Fleming  (25:19):

Okay. 100 feet before I Wade from that, from the stage [Speaking in Spanish]couldn’t keep going. So we got off the call [Speaking in Spanish]and the water was covering him, both his knees coming down. And we were walking in the water until we got to the field. [Speaking in Spanish]Five minutes later [Speaking in Spanish]there were more than 7,000 people that live to say equal phenol. And by the end of the [inaudible], the crusade was done with more than 20,000 people. [Speaking in Spanish]in the middle of the rain. So like, our challenge has been rained [Speaking in Spanish]but God is God, he lost it. And he does because of the people

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (26:07):

See, amen. What are some of the greatest miracles you have seen? What have you seen do

 

Fernando Fleming  (26:14):

Many I’ll help us out again. We’re going to spend the whole day here. [Speaking in Spanish]I’m going to tell you one. That was really impactful for me. [Speaking in Spanish]My fantasy. I ain’t got a nice act to say for my friend sin, E L L [Speaking in Spanish]and the place was full [Speaking in Spanish]and there was an old woman [Speaking in Spanish]with a boy that was around eight years old. He, so I’m walking, I’m walking towards the stage. [Speaking in Spanish]And the woman touched me like this [Speaking in Spanish]we had around 37,000 people in there and she touched me and [Speaking in Spanish]and she said to me, please tell mommy, Nina, take my key. [Speaking in Spanish]Take him to the state. But I kill all that. So that he prays for angel [inaudible]. You know, that boy was born blind. He had a Nino and the boy [Speaking in Spanish]when he’s, when she finished telling pass dad, and then they blow was touching her over there. No, mommy you’re well, no, mom. I see now, but then my first time he had seen his mother. No, mommy, you will. He was stuck her and saying, no, mom, I see you Yulia. And pastor said, this is incredible. The God [inaudible].

 

Fernando Fleming  (27:39):

And I’ve seen so many [Speaking in Spanish]with pastor Billy Jo homing. There was a young woman Benia she was coming. He’d been on about the forest. He came to the state testimony to give her testimony. [Speaking in Spanish]Went through the depression [Speaking in Spanish]she was walking on the, on the seat of [Speaking in Spanish]and she decided to commit suicide. Y’all hit me with the mother. She said, today’s my last day [inaudible]. And she ran out to take her, take her life flyer. And she found a flyer [Speaking in Spanish]victory for Santiago. And she’s looking at the flyer. And he said, [Speaking in Spanish]victory for Santiago. She kept reading the flyer [Speaking in Spanish]and she said, I’m gonna wait either way, put that on your plate. And then I’m going to go to night for the crusade [Speaking in Spanish]and she went to the crusade, Evie also testimonial. And she gave her a test. She will say yes. And that’s the best miracle. Wow.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (28:38):

Amen. That’s amazing. God did so many miracles. Well, I am so grateful to know you. It is an honor to have you as a friend, God has raised you up as an apostolic leader in Dominican Republic. And I believe that God will give you the entire nation for Jesus. And I think this, this next stage where you are taking the television channel across the entire country, God will give you a voice. And thousands of people will come into the kingdom of God. And so thank you very much for being on the evangelism podcast with me.

 

Fernando Fleming  (29:17):

Okay. [Speaking in Spanish]Thank you. Then. I would like [Speaking in Spanish]but thank you. I want to say something to you then when I say I need that, I have an old woman [Speaking in Spanish]that I’ve known him for almost 26 years. So, nah, see I’m a board teacher. Her name is [Speaking in Spanish]and we were, I said, [Speaking in Spanish]you are [inaudible]. And when I heard that from her, she’s an old lady [Speaking in Spanish]I said, that’s what makes the difference. [Speaking in Spanish]In this dirt, like integrity. [Speaking in Spanish]For me, for me, it’s an honor to be your friend Siegel. I follow, I follow everything you do. And I think I, for your life [Speaking in Spanish]family, I have blessed you come with them and how good it is. Thank you, Daniel. Thank you so much. God bless you.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (30:20):

Thanks for listening to the evangelism podcast today. I want to ask you to partner with me, to help lead people to Jesus. For as little as a dollar a month, you can be responsible for helping us lead at least one person to Jesus every single month. Over our 20 years of ministry, we’ve found that it costs an average of about $1 for every person that we’re able to reach. And so if you could just go to king ministries.com and partner with us for at least $1, just $1 partner with us to help us lead people to Jesus. Imagine for a dollar you can be responsible for starting a party in heaven every single month. And would you do me a favor, go to apple iTunes and leave this podcast. A review. Your positive review will help other people who are excited about evangelism to find this show. Thanks so much. And God bless you

 

Evangelism Podcast Host (31:24):

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 ministry.com.

 

Josh Haver was a youth pastor in Austin, Texas and God spoke to him about becoming a missionary. He moved to Mexico and now he is married to Esme. Together they help run a Bible school and do soul winning invasions across Mexico.

Website: https://www.vcharvesters.org/

Check out The Evangelism Podcast with Evangelism Coach Daniel King.

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Josh Haver was a youth pastor in Austin, Texas, and God spoke to him about becoming a missionary. He moved to Mexico and now he is married to Esme. Together, they help run a Bible school and do soul winning invasions across Mexico.

Evangelism Podcast Host (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, 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 podcast.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:54):
I’m Daniel King. And today I have some special guests, Josh and Esmerelda Haver our missionaries in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, right across the border from Laredo, Texas, and they are with Victorious Christian Harvesters, the ministry of David and Donna Blanchard. Thank you so much for being with me today.

Josh Haver (01:19):
Thank you, Daniel. It’s a honor, a pleasure for us to be here with you and getting to know you a little bit and, and we just know that God is good.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:27):
Amen. I really want to hear some about your journey about how you became a missionary, because I remember that you used to be one of the youth leaders at victory Christian Church in Austin, Texas under Lee and Sue boss there. And now you’ve made your way to the mission field. How did that happen?

Josh Haver (01:49):
It really started in prayer. I just remember one time I was in prayer and I was in prayer for the youth group going back farther, even than that, I had always enjoyed missions. And so when pastor Lee boss in probably 2002, 2003 sat down with me and, and mentioned that he felt that it was time for me to come and be a part of the staff at the church there, his youth pastor. He also knew that one of my passions was missions. And so part of the deal was, yes, I’ll be a youth pastor, but I get to take the church on mission trips at least once a year. And so one of the very first mission trips I ever took, actually, the first I took as the youth pastor was in November of 2003. And we went down to the Bible school and, and just served in Nuevo Laredo, doing evangelism and the plazas there, painting P whole lot of painting, painting churches, painting benches, painting stairs.

Josh Haver (02:46):
And and that was my first, actually the first time that I was down in Nueva Laredo, fast forwarding a few years I was in prayer one evening just covering the youth in prayer as a youth pastor. There’s a whole lot of prayer that needs to take place. And in the middle of prayer, I just felt the holy spirit. I literally just felt him. It was so strong. It wasn’t an audible voice, but it’s so strong inside of me that I say the Lord spoke to me. And he said, it is time for you now to go and missions and I will supply all of your needs. And so as a, as a good, good pastor and a good believer, I was like, yeah, whatever, you know, I’m a youth pastor high have a focus here. And so I tried to ignore that and it probably went through about six months of just in worship and in prayer every time I was, you know, trying to seek the Lord, that just came back to me.

Josh Haver (03:34):
And so finally I just said, okay, Lord, here’s the deal. I will go and tell my pastor that this is what I feel. And when he tells me no, because I’m so involved in so many different things, he’s going to tell me no. So when he tells me no, then I will say, Lord, I’m sorry. I have to be my pastor. And so I went in, I remember I spoke with pastor Lee and I said, you know, pastor, this is, which is what I feeling. But I would really like you and pastor Sue to pray about it. And he was just like, wow, well, we’ll pray about that. And we’ll, we’ll get back with you. And, and then about two days later, he called me into his office. He said, yeah, John, yep. Josh, you’re going to the missions field. Where are you going?

Josh Haver (04:12):
And my response honestly, was pastor, I thought you were going to say no. So I haven’t even thought about where I’m going. He said, well, what about David down in Nuevo Laredo? You know them, okay. He said, let me give him a call. And, and, and that was probably around March of 2007 and April, 2007. I drove down with a couple of people to go to the graduation of the Bible school to try to feel it out a little bit. And then in may I moved down to Nueva Laredo. I moved down there for, for a couple of years and 15 years later with, for those couple of years, they’re just keeping on rolling. And so when I was down there then is when I began to work with the youth and the Colonia, the neighborhood that we were in, my wife Esmerelda at the time, wasn’t my wife, but she had found that a mission for the youth there. And so since I was just trying to learn Spanish and she spoke a little bit of English, we started working together and, and lo and behold, God opened up my eyes. And I saw that she was the one that he had prepared for me. And then just little by little, just trying to serve where, where God opened up the doors and, you know, and he’s opened up the doors

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:23):
And now you have three beautiful children. And it’s so important that to know that God doesn’t just call individuals, he calls families. Right. And so you are ministering alongside your husband and also raising the children. Talk to me about your romance and how God has put you together and how you work together in ministry. And so now you are directing the Bible school with a victorious Christian harvesters, and you have students that come from across Mexico to be trained. Tell me about the Bible school and what you are trying to impart into the students.

Josh Haver (08:08):
It’s okay. If I can go back to one thing that she said real quick, and then, and then I’ll jump right into the Bible school. I believe it’s so important, you know, God, God calls people, but yet when he looks at a couple, he says that’s one flesh. And so one of the things this summer we’ve had the opportunity to travel quite a bit and minister together. And one of the things I’ve realized is in ministry and in, in, in the service of the Lord, when you put yourself along somebody, the grace that they carry overflows onto you. And so working as a couple, it’s one of the things that I’ve realized, you know, my wife has an amazing grace to flow in the prophetic, and yet as I’m ministering alongside of her, that grace of the prophetic begins to flow through me as well.

Josh Haver (08:58):
And then vice versa, you know, the pastoral or the teacher, you know, annointing that, that I believe God’s placed on my life as she’s administering alongside of me. She begins to operate in a little bit of that grace as well. And so it’s, it’s, it’s so important as a, as a husband and wife, especially, but then as the family, cause the children participate to understand the graces that each one have and allow them to flow in that grace, that grace, but then being willing to receive from that grace as well and say, okay, Lord, I can honor, and I can respect the grace that you’ve put in her life, but I also want to flow in that as well because I’m ministering alongside of her. So that’s just been a blessing to work with, as you mentioned we are now the directors of a Bible school that was founded 20 years ago.

Josh Haver (09:45):
Actually, this September was the very first, the doors were opened on September 11th, 2001. David and Donna Blanchard and, and through Victorious Christian Harvesters, they planted the Institute international. They call such a daughter’s international harvesters Institute. And it, it was founded from a vision that God gave David of, of raising up leaders and ministers to destroy the works of the devil. Jesus said, I’m here to destroy the works of the devil. So therefore we are here to destroy the works of the devil. And so we have ministers, future ministers from all over Mexico that come to receive training. And, and, and what we believe is it’s not enough to receive head knowledge. We want you to take that head knowledge and put it into practice because then it becomes real knowledge and wisdom and understanding. And so our students now like come and they have classes throughout the day, but then they have practice in the afternoons and the evenings this last year, the Lord has opened up the ability for us to, well, because they closed all the other doors through the co the Corona virus pandemic.

Josh Haver (10:52):
We know that God doesn’t close doors. And then, and then leave you shut in. He opens doors. So the doors were opened up in our community to go door to door, like never before. And so our students started participating with several of our staff members, going door to door, knocking on the doors, evangelizing and witnessing, but then saying, would you like us to come and start at a Seipel ship in your house with your family? Would you like us to come and start church with you? And so our students were a part of evangelizing, but then discipling and raising up churches within the community. And that started last September when October opened up and, and with there began to be a few less restrictions. We were able to code to those same people and say, Hey, now come be a part of a larger community.

Josh Haver (11:37):
What we’ve seen God do this last year over 80 homes have opened up in the community around us, where our students are participating with the staff. They’re going to class in the morning, but in the afternoon, they’re putting into practice. We have children’s missions where we send children’s ministry to the homes. We have discipleship families where the cycle, where the church they’re having church in the homes. And so the heartbeat of what we’re seeing now is, is that our students will raise, be raised up with a mindset. We have to win the lost, but not just have to win the loss, but now we have to take care of the lost. And so this summer, as I was traveling and ministering with, with pastors and leaders in several different regions of Mexico, one of my encouragements to them was as a pastor, look for the gifts that God has placed in the people in your congregation.

Josh Haver (12:29):
And if you say that person is called to be a pastor, send them to us because we want to raise them up to be a pastor that has a passion for winning the lost, but also has a passion for caring and edifying and equipping the believers so that they can now go and win the lost. And so in our Bible school, it’s we’re online. We’re in zoom where we have students that come and take classes with us. But really, I would say that the nucleus, the nucleus of, of, of our students are the ones that are the interns that live there. And they have a schedule from five 30 in the morning, till 10 30 or 11 o’clock at night, but it’s a schedule of learning and being trained, putting it into practice. We have pastors in the dorms that then help them walk through the situations that rise up. And so it’s a, it’s an interesting, it’s a, it’s a humbling ministry, but it’s great as well because you’re seeing people being trained to be who God called them to be.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:28):
I’m so impressed with your story of how you went from being a youth pastor to being a successful missionary. What advice would you give to someone who thinks maybe they’re called to missions, but don’t quite know what to do or how to make that come to pass?

Josh Haver (13:46):
What advice would you give him? The biggest thing I would say is get on your face and just listen. One of the things that probably has carried me the most is when I go back to, when I first heard the holy spirit speak, he said, Josh, it is time for you to go into missions and I will supply your needs. And so, you know, the, I started out, I’d joke around. I said, my, my support base has grown kingdom style since I started. And I started with this amount of supporters, and now I have this amount of supporters, but also in that time, I’ve gotten married and had three children, but God said I will supply all your needs. So honestly, that, that has never been a worry, there’s been times where I’ve questioned, but I always go back to that. I said, but God, you said, so you know what? I’m not going to worry about it. So I would have to say that the key is make sure that you know, that the holy spirit said do this and then trust him because if he said it, then he will do it. So on your face before God not looking for your looking for his ideas.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:54):
Amen. Well, let’s finish by praying for Mexico to be saved Esmerelda would you lead us in a prayer for the people of Mexico to come to Jesus?

Esme Haver (15:09):
Praying in Spanish

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:32):
Oh, man. Well, thank you so much for being on the evangelism Podcast…

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:41):
For listening to the evangelism podcast today. I want to ask you to partner with me, to help lead people to Jesus. For as little as a dollar a month, you can be responsible for helping us lead at least one person to Jesus. Every single month. Over our 20 years of ministry, we’ve found that it costs an average of about $1 for every person that we’re able to reach. And so if you could just go to king ministries.com and partner with us for at least $1, just $1 partner with us to help us lead people to Jesus. Imagine for a dollar, you can be responsible for starting a party in heaven every single month. And would you do me a favor, go to apple iTunes and leave this podcast a review. Your positive review will help other people who are excited about evangelism to find this show. Thanks so much. And God bless you

Evangelism Podcast Host (17:44):
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.

 

David & Donna Blanchard set a goal to give one million Bibles to one million souls. After years of doing evangelism invasions across Mexico they have now completed that goal and their new goal is 10 million Bibles for 10 million souls. They have enormous passion for reaching the lost.

David Blanchard, president and founder of VCH, received a vision from the Lord while in a prayer meeting in 1990. He saw the country of Mexico covered with ocean waves. When the waves receded, they left big black Bibles with gold crosses on them. In this vision, God spoke to David telling him to get His Word out “for it will not return to Me empty or void without accomplishing what I’ve sent it forth to do.”

“How many BIBLES do you want me to get out, Lord?” David asked.

“How many SOULS do you want to see saved?” was God’s reply.

David answered, “The whole nation of Mexico!”

“Me too,” said God, “But how many souls do you want to be responsible for?”

“I’m not Dr. Billy Graham nor Dr. T.L. Osborn,” David said, “I’m just me. But I want to see a million souls come to know You.”

“Then,” God commissioned David, “Get One Million BIBLES for One Million SOULS .”

Thus the vision for Victorious Christian Harvesters was born – One Million Bibles/One Million Souls.

Visit David & Donna Blanchard’s Website: https://www.vcharvesters.org/

If you are excited about soul winning, call: The Evangelism Coach, Daniel King at 1-877-431-4276.

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
David and Donna Blanchard set a goal to give 1 million Bibles to 1 million souls. After years of doing evangelism invasions across Mexico, they have now completed that goal. And their new goal is to give 10 million Bibles to 10 million souls. They have enormous passion for reaching the lost

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:23):
Well, 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 and evangelist Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:59):
Welcome to the evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King. And I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. And today we have very special guests with us, David and Donna Blanchard from Mexico. Welcome, and thank you for joining me. [inaudible],

David Blanchard (01:18):
We’re very happy to be here today and we’re excited to be here with you all. Well,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:22):
David and Donna Blanchard have been missionaries for many years and really have a passion for soul-winning telling people about Jesus. Tell me, how did you first go to the mission field?

David Blanchard (01:35):
Well, back in in fifth grade, actually, I started doing I had Spanish in school and so I w we had this reel-to-reel cassette tapes and we’re learning Spanish Imani Mondo on his time on, but Beto Beto Benecchi Maria don’t ever. And so we had all that. And so anyway, it was something that seed was sown in my heart back then and for Mexico. And then we would go to California on our vacations and take trips. And then we would always go see over to Tijuana, Mexico from California. And, but there’s something that was just in me that I loved about Mexico. And then in 1979, I graduated from Colorado state university with my animal science degree in pre-veterinary medicine. I studied to be a veterinarian but in my heart, I really wanted to be a missionary at the same time.

David Blanchard (02:27):
And so I got involved with an organization called youth for Christ campus life, and we began working with teenagers. And as we begin working with teenagers, I met Donna in Kansas. We were in Emporia, Kansas, and that she’s in garden city, Kansas. And so we met there and and got married in 1982. And God began to work in a, in a great way as we began to take teenagers on mission trips. And so we started taking them to the mission field. We went to India, we went to Mexico and started doing different trips. God began to move in a great way, and it was very exciting to see what God began to do. And the missionary in Mexico, they were working with said, when are you going to move down here? And we said, well, work, we’ll be back here next year. He said, no. When are you going to move down here? And so we prayed about it and sock God and sought the Lord. And so in 1986, we moved from Emporia, Kansas, where we were executive directors of youth for Christ campus life. And we moved to Nueva radio, Mexico and began full-time mission work.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:31):
So your base is now they’re in Nuevo Laredo. And tell me some of the ministry Ms. Donna, that you guys are doing from that place.

Donna Blanchard (03:43):
Well, actually there’s a lot of ministry that takes place. And just for the record, it’s always starts out small. So don’t be discouraged if you’re doing something. And I mean, it was just me and my husband and our, at that time two daughters. And then we had our son while we were down the mission field. So it starts small at use what you have use your family and you can grow in it. So then when we first moved down we were working with another ministry for six years and we just, whatever they needed us to do, that’s what we did. But then in 1992, when we received the vision for victorious Christian harvesters at that time we decided, okay, God as we branch out and do what the Lord wants us to do you just start where you’re at. So we started out, we planted churches, we had mission teams that came down from all over the United States, worked with your parents a lot to junior high teams that would call us.

Donna Blanchard (04:36):
We would send them to your, your ministry with the Kings because you guys were amazing. And we knew you did great work with junior highers. And, and then we also did other high school and junior high and, and, and even some grade school teams, but anyway, what we do now 28 years later, Zell VCH is right. Are we 28, 30 years? I’ll be on my word 30 years. We were still expanding you know, don’t despise the small beginnings cause right now we w our staff and some of our students will go, yeah, but you’re doing all this great stuff and look how many people you’ll have to help you. And so when we started out, it was me and my husband, our three children, and we did it all. We hosted a hundred team a hundred member teams, and we would put the teams to work. And so basically right now we have a Bible school in Nuevo Laredo. We have students that come from all over the nation of Mexico and we’re raising them up to go back home and bless their, their churches that they’ve come out of and teaching them how to multiply our number. One thing, if you would want to know what we’re really known for, I would say it’s evangelism. We eat live, breathe. Anything that moves, we witness to it.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:50):
Well, you’re on the right podcast, the evangelism podcasts, or we love evangelism, anything that is going after souls and leading people to Jesus. I remember hearing your vision and it inspired me many years ago, 1 million Bibles for 1 million souls. And I think you’ve completed that now. Tell, tell me about that, that vision.

David Blanchard (06:12):
So we were I was out we were with a group of missionaries, the one that we joined up with first in Mexico that asked us to come down to Laredo, Texas. And and, and so we, in a prayer meeting while we were praying Daniel, God showed me a vision of all of Mexico covered with ocean waves. When the ocean waves left, the dentally white foam, like on the beaches of Acapulco, Cancun, Matson lawn, and left big black Bibles with gold crosses on it all over the country. And God said, get my word out because we won’t return empty or void without accomplishing what I sent him for it to do. And I say, God, well, how many Bibles you want me to get out? He said, how many souls do you want to see saved? I said, well, I’m not Billy Graham. I’m not till I was born.

David Blanchard (06:53):
I’m just me, David Blanchard, but I want to believe for a million souls. Then he said, they’d get a million Bibles for a million souls. And that became the goal of victorious Christian harvesters in 1992. And so then we started out we had we became pastors of a church in leveled, righto, and 99. We started building our Bible school and then we started doing evangelism seminars. We were training up nationals to to be pastors, evangelists, missionaries teachers, preachers. And so we had a two-year Bible school. And so we’re training up all these evangelists and ministers, how to do all that and doing evangelism seminars. And then one of our staff in Mexico city said, why don’t you, why don’t we invite many churches to be involved in this evangelism seminars that we’re holding? And so in 2010, we started a program called invasions and invasions. The, the cartels in Mexico have been invading the country, the city for many, many years. And so he said, let’s get the body of Christ to rise up, come together, train them in evangelism methods and techniques and form evangelism teams, and then blitz the city, invade the city with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So that’s what we started doing back in 2010. And

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:15):
So now you’ve gone to many different cities across Mexico doing these invasions. What type of results have you seen

David Blanchard (08:25):
When in 104 cities, major cities throughout Mexico, and even in El Salvador. And it’s been incredible because our evangelism through the crusades and different things like that, where we’re, we’re good. But when you capacitate, when you get a, equip the body of Christ to get ready, to win souls and teach him three days, we did three days of methods and techniques formed evangelism teams. And then we went out and blitz. The city with the gospel for three days, came back together and everybody’s shared the results or testimonies, what happened. And then they do the followup. Each church. It was phenomenal because we have trained over 5,000. I think it’s about 5,548 different churches throughout Mexico. And we’ve actually seen, I believe it’s 40,000, over 40,000, like 44,000 church members that have been trained how to win souls effectively. And so what’s happened is that exponentially took us to our first goal of a million Bibles for a million souls. And we reached that in August of 2016.

Donna Blanchard (09:37):
And another very encouraging thing about this training is that there are so many people, we all Alaska at the beginning, how many of you have never led one person to the Lord? All these hands go up, Christians that have been in a church. So when you see these pictures that we have all these mass groups of pictures, people, oh, is this the people you got saved? No, these are the people we trained, but then on Saturday, how many of you lead somebody to the Lord for the first time hands go up? And they’re just super excited. And then Daniel, we not only do the training Monday, we teach them how to actually we speak on breaking their heart for the lost cause if you don’t know where the destination of the lost is, you won’t have a passion to win them. And then the second day, of course, we need the empowerment of the holy spirit.

Donna Blanchard (10:18):
So the second evening we teach on the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. They get filled with the Holy Spirit. I mean, we have all denominations together, Wednesday, we commission them and then we say, you’re going to go out and do these great things for God. And we don’t pray over anything that looks sick and walks around needs. Jesus, tell them every plant, tell everybody that you meet about the Lord. And then when we’re done, we partner with them. We not only give them the tracks, the new testaments and Bibles, while we’re there, we make a covenant with them. If they want to continue to go out these 5,000, over 5,000 churches, we say, we a partner with you. If you still send out your teams, because everybody we trained in those invasions becomes their church evangelism team. And if they want to continue to go out, all they have to do is send us a report. We did this event, we held this month, we witnessed to this many people. We had this many children. If they get people that, that become born again, we have a new Testament for them. After they get baptized, they get a full Bible. We give them follow-up material and we continue the fellowship with them. And we still continue to get results from them. They, they let us know what they’re continuing to do long after we’re gone. So, so what do you say

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:25):
To these church members to inspire them to be soul-winners? Cause I find that sometimes church people that they, they know that Jesus called them to be soul-winners, but they’re content to just sit in the sea on a Sunday morning and they’re not really doing anything. So what do you say to them to inspire them to go out and lead people to Jesus?

David Blanchard (11:46):
Like Donna said the first night, we’re talking about the heartbeat of God. What is the of God? And so, you know the disciple, John, he leaned back on Jesus’ chest and he had his head up against the chest of Jesus at a dinner. And, and what did he hear? He heard the heartbeat of God. What is the heartbeat of Jesus? The heartbeat is Jesus is that none would perish and all would be saved. And that is what the great commission is all about. Go and make disciples of all the nations, teach them that none would perish, that all would be saved. And so that is what we, we impart into the congregation of every church member, because we desire for them to realize, Hey, what is God’s heart about? Why did God even sent Jesus to the earth? Jesus came to the earth so that none would be lost, but all would be saved that they would come to know him as their Lord and savior.

David Blanchard (12:49):
And so we inspire them that this is the heartbeat of God. And God is in you. The spirit of God is spirit of Christ is in you. And that, and that, that urge is inside of you. That anointing is inside of you. That spirit Christ spirit is inside of you. And what is it saying, tell your brother, tell your sister, tell your family member, tell your friends, God has a better place. God doesn’t send anyone to hell. That’s your choice. God made hell for the demons and his aim and that the fallen angels and the devil. But if we don’t, if we don’t choose God, we’re going to hell. So we’re teaching on the heartbeat of God, that compassion of God, that what, what is, what is God’s heart all about? And when they get that, when they understand that you know what that is, and you do, you want your friend to be with you in heaven forever. Do you want your friend to live with you forever? Well, you know, together with your relative or whoever, it may be. That’s God’s heartbeat. God’s heartbeat is that none would perish that all would be saved. And that’s what’s inside of you, his spirits inside of you.

Donna Blanchard (13:59):
And on top of that, we also teach them how simple it is to open a conversation that I think that’s the biggest thing. Everybody wants to lead someone to the Lord. Yeah. I want to be a soul winner, but what do I say? How do I start a conversation? That’s what we teach them during the day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, different techniques. When you’re on the bus, how do you start a conversation? When you’re on the plane, how do you start a conversation? How do you witness to a Catholic? How do you witness to a Buddhist? How do you witness to a Muslim so that whoever they encounter? And we also teach them that there’s four words that we want them to remember. It’s plan, problem, solution decision. If you keep this in your head, no matter what you use, your personal testimony, everybody’s got a testimony.

Donna Blanchard (14:39):
There’s no more powerful testimony to when someone to the Lord, except for how he saved you. How did you come to the Lord? So plan God has a great plan for people. Problem. We’re separated from God, but there is a solution and that his name is Jesus. And so you, you can put your testimony in, I didn’t know God had a purpose for my life. I was a drunk. I was this. I was a prostitute or I was just out there. I was a religious person. I went to church all the time, but I didn’t know God had a plan for me. But then the problem is, wait a minute, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. I’ve got to do something. It’s gotta be personal to me. And then solution is Jesus. So you present, this is how I got out of this mess that I was in.

Donna Blanchard (15:17):
And then then, then, then the decision you always close the deal. That’s one of the things we teach in this seminar, you witness, but you always close the deal. And we also take times to be teach them how to be led by the spirit. We’ll even do it during the seminar, after they’d been filled with the spirit on Tuesday, we’ll say, okay, now we’re going to ask God to give us a word for the persons, right beside you, that you don’t know right here in the seminar. It’s comfortable. These are all church people. And so then when they say, okay, I heard this word, just give it to that person. And then say, after you give it to him, I feel like the Lord wanted me to tell you that you should be more encouraged at what you’re doing. You’re doing a good word.

Donna Blanchard (15:51):
I always feel terrible about what I do. See you heard from God. So then when we’re out in the streets, they’ve already learned plan, problem, solution decision. One day we do it. We do the ultra call for them the second day. And we stand behind them where they do their altar call. The third day, we stepped back and watched them do the alter call. So then they get this confidence. And then we also say, there’s a lot of fish that leave the net while we do the altar call, people come forward. So while someone’s up there giving the article, you look at the ones that scattered and you go after them. And so then that then, Hey, can I just ask you a few questions? If we did a drama, we’ll say, ask them a question about the drama. Did you understand what you just saw?

Donna Blanchard (16:29):
Did you understand what this meant? Did you understand what that meant? Then you can do your own personal testimony, but once people realize it’s so easy, one of the easiest things, Dave and I teach us how to witness to a waiter or waitress. You got four contacts with them. They come to you, they bring you the, the menu. And then they ask you what you’d like to drink. You tell them what you want to drink. Then they come and take, they bring your drinks, they take your food order, and then they bring your food and they ask you a question, always ask you a question. Is there anything else I can do for you? And at that moment, that’s your cue. We always thank God for our food, but we always like to pray for our waiter or waitress. And then you’ve just mentioned their name.

Donna Blanchard (17:04):
If you see their little name tag, Sharon or Bob, what prayer requests do you have? And then when they tell you what it is, you can look them in the eye because we teach. You don’t have to close your eyes when you pray. And they’re a little bit embarrassed. So if you’re got your eyes closed, they’re doing this and you just grab them by the hand. If it’s a young lady, I’ll take her hand up. It’s young, man. I’ll put my hand on his shoulder, pray their, whatever their prayer request is. And then we’ll plan, problem, solution decision, and just lead them in a prayer. So I think what we try to do is make the gospel simple and take the fear out of it. Proverbs 29 says the fear of man will prove to be a scenario to you. So you’ll never witness if you’re fearful, but if most of the time people think they’re going to be rejected. When the majority of the time people are hurting and they want someone to tell them about Jesus

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:47):
David years ago, you shared a little message with me. You said that a soul is the greatest treasure in heaven. A soul is the greatest treasure in hell and assault is the greatest treasure here on earth. Share with me why souls are such great treasures.

David Blanchard (18:03):
So in heaven, when we read revelations, we see Daniel that, that in revelation, there’s, there’s a street to gold and there’s big old gates of pearls that we’re going to walk through. And we, we, we we, we see that there’s jewels in the walls. We read about it all kinds of different jewels in the walls, and we’re going to have gold crowns, but is that the most important thing in heaven? No. The most important thing, a heaven that God sent his son here on the earth for our souls. Why do I say souls, Daniel? Because, because God created us in his image and in his likeness and he wants to have fellowship with us. And he wants to have communion with us, not just here on earth, but for ever any eternity. And so the most important treasure in heaven is a soul.

David Blanchard (18:58):
And that’s why the devil is fighting so hard to take people to hell. That’s why there’s so many drugs, pornography and morality. There’s so much confusion, chaos and destruction because the devil wants to destroy people and take them to hell. And not only that, Daniel, that means that if the most important possession in heaven is a soul and the most important possession in hell that the devil is fighting for is a soul. The most important possession on earth. The treasure here on earth is not the gold. The diamonds is Juul is the money. It’s a soul because there’s two things that you know, and I know, and everybody listening knows that are eternal. Those two things are the word of God that will last forever and souls. We will all live somewhere forever, either with God or without God. And so that’s why I share with you the most important treasure in heaven on earth or under the earth is a soul and all, all, all Christians, all believers must listen to this, write this down.

David Blanchard (20:03):
All Christians, all believers must put souls in your goals. Write that down, put souls in your goals because you and I need to have as Christian believers, souls as part of our goals, because every place would go. Just like Donald’s saying, when we go to a restaurant, when you go to a store, plant a seed, water, a seed put out some fertilizer, you know, do something and then harvest as he, because I soul is the most, a person is the most important treasure we are created in God’s image, Dr. TLR and told me Daniel. And he said, God made all the animals. And then he made humans. Then you made man. He made man. And the difference between man is that man can speak to God. God can speak to man. And we have a communication and God created man in his image, in his likeness, in his character, in his ability to have this fellowship with him there, the animals were there and I love animals.

David Blanchard (21:06):
I studied to be a veterinarian. I, animals are great, but you can’t exactly have a fellowship communication time in a relationship with an animal to the level you can, as with a human being. And God created humans and created man and woman to be part of his kingdom, which I know there’s going to be animals there as well, but we can speak, we can talk. We are intelligent. And so God made us in his likeness, in his image so that we can have fellowship with him forever. The devil wants to steal that fellowship that God wants to have with mankind. And, and, and that’s the devil’s purpose to kill, steal and destroy. Yeah. The only the way

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:50):
That the devil can hurt God is by stealing a soul from his grasp. And that means that the only way that we can hurt Satan’s kingdom is by going and redeeming a Thall and taking that person with us to heaven. I mean, we can stomp around and intercede and pray all day, but until we actually go out on the streets and lead someone to Jesus, we haven’t hurt Satan’s kingdom. And so we have to go after souls and lead as many people as we can to Jesus. Right. That’s

David Blanchard (22:18):
Exactly right. And the most important thing that we can do is live like Christ. And you know, to know God, and this is eternal life, John 17 three, that you would know God, the only everlasting God, the only true father and his son, Jesus Christ, whom he has sent to this earth, for who, for souls, there is salvation. And no one else except the name of Jesus Christ and God desires for all to come to know him, that none would perish that all would be saved. You know, that is God’s will God’s will, for all mankind, is that we would find our true identity in our relationship with him and our relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s right.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:05):
So if someone wants to come down to Mexico and participate in an invasion, or maybe bring a short-term mission trip down to work with you guys, or, or maybe even support your ministry, how can they find out more information about you? What’s your website?

David Blanchard (23:20):
Yeah. So our website is www.vc harvesters.org. And you might be thinking, well, wait a minute, Daniel, they already reached their goal of a million Bibles for a million souls. That’s exactly right. Well, what are we going to do now? So, and, and that’s a good question. I told Donna, well, let’s just go on cruises for the rest of our life. But that our, one of our staff in Mexico city gave me this gold ring. This is my ring, but this was a gold ring for a million souls. And so in a vision, in a, in a church, we are worshiping the Lord in Houston, Texas. After we reached that goal, I was worshiping the Lord with my hands up and I closed my eyes and I saw my 10 fingers were with each one, had one of these rings on it. And I said, Lord, what are you talking about? 9 million more? And that’s the new vision, 10 million Bibles, 10 million souls. So they, you can come with on a mission trip. You can come and get involved with us in, in our outreaches. You can come at our Bible school and revel, the radio, Mexico come and be involved in our church activities. When COVID passes, we going to start a Nate invasions, again, get involved with us and find out about us. You can call 9 5 6 7 2 7 0 0 5 9 or get on WW w VC harvesters.org org. And

Donna Blanchard (24:41):
I also less dislike to comment that every soul that we won, it’s not like, wow, when David and Donna get to heaven, it’s like, oh, look, these people came that they won the million or the 10 million. And I’m sure with Reinhardt monkey and teal Osbourne as well it’s all of us together. Everybody that’s ever given any, anything. Every mission team that’s ever come down, they passed out Bibles to, they did the altar calls to every person that was ever involved in any invasion. They were passing out Bibles they’re winning souls. So that we’re all going to say, Jesus, you get the glory. We give you the credit, the little grandma on the corner that says she’s 80 years old and she can’t go on a mission trip, but she’s praying on her knees. She’s going to say, this was my part in these millions of souls for the Lord. I have been, we all going to put our crowns down before the Lord, and he gets all the glory.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:31):
Amen. Well, you guys are great missionaries, great evangelists. I’m very inspired just by your story, in your example, for so many years, thank you for being on the evangelism podcast with me.

David Blanchard (25:45):
Thank you, Daniel, for having us.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:47):
Thanks for listening to the evangelism podcast today. I want to ask you to partner with me, to help lead people to Jesus. For as little as a dollar a month, you can be responsible for helping us lead at least one person to Jesus every single month. Over our 20 years of ministry, we’ve found that it costs an average of about $1 for every person that we’re able to reach. And so if you could just go to king ministries.com and partner with us for at least $1, just $1 partner with us to help us lead people to Jesus. Imagine for a dollar, you can be responsible for starting a party in heaven every single month. And would you do me a favor, go to apple iTunes and leave this podcast. A review. Your positive review will help other people who are excited about evangelism to find this show. Thanks so much. And God bless you

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (26:51):
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.

 

Duane & Sue Kershner are missionary legends who have built the most beautiful mission base in the world. For over thirty years, Roca Blanca mission base in Oaxaca, Mexico have been training students to minister to the unreached people groups of southern Mexico. On today’s podcast, they give us the secrets of their longevity in ministry.

Website: https://rocablanca.org 

Read the Story of Duane & Sue Kershner:

Transcript: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Duane & Sue Kershner are missionary legends who have built the most beautiful mission base in the world. For over thirty years, Roca Blanca mission base in Oaxaca, Mexico have been training students to minister to the unreached people groups of southern Mexico. On today’s podcast, they give us the secrets of their longevity in ministry.

Evangelism Podcast Host (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, 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 Podcast.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:01):
I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. I have some very special guests with me, missionary statesmen, a great legends on the mission field, Dwayne and Sue Kersner from Roca, Blanca, Mexico. Thank you so much for being with me today.

Duane Kershner (01:21):
Yes. Well, thank you Daniel, for having us it’s an honor for Sue and I, to be able to share with all of you and testify some of the things that the holy spirit has caused us to do helped us and let us in doing so. Yeah, it’s great to be with y’all.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:38):
You have been family friends for many years. You graduated at the same time as my mother and father Robert and Susan King from the Victory World Missions Training Center, which was under Pastor Billy Joe and Sharon Daugherty, a missions training school here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was three month months of intensive missions training back in 1988. I was 10 years old and my mom and dad graduated and they went to war as Mexico and north Mexico. And you went to south Mexico, to Roca Blanca. Tell us how you ended up there in south Mexico.

Duane Kershner (02:17):
Yeah, well, Daniel, first of all, I went there in 1971. So that’s a, you know, 50 years ago and that was about a year and a half old in the Lord. And miraculously, the Lord led me to south Mexico. I walked on the coast 300 miles living the Matthew tin call it came to me directly from the Lord. It was a supernatural encounter. And I led two guys to the Lord and Mexico city. And the Lord told us along the Seacoast, great lightest spring up to people sitting in darkness. And we got up left Mexico city, hitchhiked, Acapulco, and walked for the next two months down the coast. Well, as we walked down the coast of Southern Mexico, which is a state of get arrow and the state of Oaxaca, God began to give me a burden for the people that are there.

Duane Kershner (03:11):
And in the state of Oaxaca, we had 17 tribes of unreached peoples scripts that speak 155 different dialects. So when we went there, moved there much later after missions training school, which was in 1990, we moved there 31 years ago. Well, Huck had the greatest concentration of unreached people in this entire hemisphere. I know that’s hard to believe, but when you get, when you, when we arrived there, you’re going to understand because it’s a coastal area, but also a rugged mountains. The Sierra Madre mountains run down through that area. So you had a high mountains with indigenous people living isolated in these areas. Some places there were no roads, there were no electricity. And so it had a great concentration of Irish people.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:02):
And so tell me about the ministry that you planted there. You have the Roca Blanca missions base, which is one of the most beautiful missions basis in the whole world. You know, I was always upset at God a little bit because he sent us to [inaudible], it’s nothing but tumbleweeds and sand. And you are at Roca Blanca with the beach. The ocean is right there and Palm trees. It’s so beautiful. But tell us about the ministry that God has raised. Yeah,

Duane Kershner (04:34):
Well, you know, first of all, I have to say, we didn’t choose the place. W we, we obeyed and I wasn’t just a gringo that like the beach. Actually I got a word in my heart and my wife Susan knows very well because she, she endured me. I had a word on my heart that said, [inaudible] Roca, Blanco. We were looking for a mission space because we had been going to Mexico, taking short term teams all through the eighties, we’d pass her to work in Kansas. And so every year we would go into this coastal area of will haka taking teams. And so a movement started, we had like 2000 people coming to these events, you know? And so we knew we had to have a training center where we could make disciples, or we were going to lose the momentum.

Duane Kershner (05:24):
So we were looking for property and I got a word in my heart and it was a rock of Linka. We didn’t know what Roca Blanco we’d had no idea what it was. Well, finally, a year after I got the word in my heart, we went to look for Roca Lanka and it turned out to be an island about three quarters of a mile off the coast. Well, I couldn’t understand, but I knew that I had to get out there because that was burning on my heart. So this is hard to believe, but literally Sue knows us swim out early one morning to this island. And when I got out there, I climbed up on the rock. I looked back at the coastal area and the Palm trees and the mountains in the back where the indigenous people live. And as I saw Sue sitting on the beach and my eyes went down just a little and came upon this Palm Grove, literally Daniel, there was a flash of light and I heard God audibly speak to me and say, that’s your missions based property?

Duane Kershner (06:21):
Well, I wasn’t even aware that I was looking for property and it totally surprised me. I jumped in the water, swam back made it through the surf and told SU our mission space is right down the beach here. So anyway, after that, we went to mission school and Daniel, we knew this we knew that we needed medical missions, that God put that on our heart. We knew that we had to have a Bible school for training, and we knew he had to have school of worship because we were going to plant churches. And so to get into the indigenous people into their areas, we knew there were no doctors in many places, there were no clinics. And so we, we knew by God’s grace, that we were supposed to take medical. Well, we did Laura Pratt who studied with your parents and us in the world missions training.

Duane Kershner (07:15):
She went with us and so the door would open after prayer and fascinating for us to go in with medicine. And gradually people would begin to get saved. Sometimes it would take us 12 hours, four wheel driving to get back into these areas. But people began to come to the Lord. We knew we were to work with the chatting window hands that make stick wind and the most schools and the support techs plus the coastal people. And so we’ve given the last 31 years to those indigenous people. And there are now 70, 77 churches, I believe that are led by graduates out of the mission straight center. So when we have this establish a base, well, of course it was a Palm Grove. So we had to buy property. We had to build facilities, of course, the developer team. And anyway, 30 years later, well, there we are. And I hope that’s somewhat of an explanation,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:17):
Took a great deal of faith over these 31 years to, to buy it, to build. And it’s so beautiful. And how many students have graduated from the school now? And what are some of the things that you are teaching the students that come to your school?

Duane Kershner (08:35):
Yeah, well, we have approximately 1,500 students that have graduated. It’s a three-year program now. The first year is 29 courses that basically we adapted and used from victory Bible Institute here in Tulsa. And then we added two more years of training which has a lot having to do with leadership administration, but also laying on of hands. And especially trying to get back to the original discipleship of preach, the kingdom of God, heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out their wills. And so we’re really endeavoring to get ourselves higher in that level. And also train disciples that literally can do the original call, which is basically kingdom heal, the sick raise, the dead cast out demons. One of the

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:32):
Amazing things about the graduating class that you and my parents were in is that there there’s a fair number from that class that have remained on the mission field. And, and it seems like sometimes it’s easy for people to give up. But you guys, haven’t, dewerd, you’ve stayed and continued to flourish all these years. Ms. Sue, what is some of the lessons that you’ve learned that can help people with longevity and actually staying faithful to the calling that God has on their life?

Sue Kershner (10:05):
The biggest thing I believe is to really know that it is God who is calling you to the work I’ve been challenged in that area many times. One specific time was when there were some bandits who were in hiding in the river. I learned about it as I was taking a couple to the, to the doctor. They were about to have a baby, but the baby was in trouble. The mother was in trouble. And as I was leaving the base, the, I saw a truckload of policemen that were getting up on the, the pickup truck and they were leaving. And as I was wondering, what was going on, it was right off the base property. And, and so as I came through the town one of our friends told me that the reason that they were leaving was because there were five hooded, gunmen that were hiding out in the river for my husband and our other bass director.

Sue Kershner (11:18):
And I had the big challenge. Do I go back and tell them, or do I get this emergency to the doctor? And I sensed the piece to go ahead and take the couple. It, it was late afternoon at that point. And by the time we were finished, it was dark. And so I’m coming back to the mission base in the dark, not knowing what the situation was. And I said, father, talk to me, I really have to know, is this something that I should be concerned about? And instantly, he said, don’t fear for your life. Fear him, who has the power after death to throw you into hell. And it sort of startled me. Number one, I could relax. I didn’t have to fear these that would maybe, you know, threatened with guns. But the second part of that was what really gripped me and I, and so there’s where the fear of God has really taken hold in my life.

Sue Kershner (12:34):
And I realized that boy, before the Lord, we are commissioned to take our territory and whatever it takes, we need to be faithful in that call because we are stewards of the call. And so that, and it turned out that it nothing happened with the masked gunman. Just like he said, you know, if our father says, don’t worry about it, then I thank God for a good father. I learned to trust him, my father from childhood and, and that, that basic trust has become a very cornerstone or one of the foundation stones that really feeds into our lives. And so, as long as we know what our father wants to do is like, then stick with it and see it through, stick with it. And don’t stop.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:41):
One of the tremendous things about your base is that you have the medical people that come talk to me about what you do to help the people medically.

Duane Kershner (13:54):
Yeah, as we said, from the beginning we began medical missions. So we have I really I’m, I’m impressed with the medical clinic. That’s on the base. We have a full dental treatment. We have a full-time doctor, nurses pharmacy. And so the, the treatment is basically free. We don’t have hospital care, but we do have all the ordinary, you know, necessary care and medicine for people that come from miles around. It’s hard to believe, but a lawyer plant Pratt and Nelson. Now I can tell you the clinic has treated over 150,000 people in these years. And so not only is a clinic at the base, but we take medical teams out into the villages and thousands of people have received help.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:47):
Let’s talk about evangelism in Wahaca and the other states they’re in Southern Mexico. One of the things that really brought you to that area, where these are unreached people, groups, and you had a, a burden, a heart to, to reach them with the gospel, what has been effective in reaching out to these very remote areas, sometimes dangerous to go into yes

Duane Kershner (15:14):
Medical missions along with all the medical teams, we’ve always had those who were ministering the gospel. So people will come from medicine, but we also pray for them and minister the gospel to them. And in those medical crusades, many people have gotten saved. Now also though we do crusades at the base, you know, mass crusades, people come we also do certain village crusades and on a local evangelism, our Bible school students work evangelism every weekend they’re, they’re going out every weekend. And so we’ve found that it’s so important along with evangelism to have the discipleship and also then the care of the local churches. And

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:04):
Talk to me about these churches that you’ve planted. What does a church plant look like?

Duane Kershner (16:11):
You know, each one’s different. I think of a, if you have how much you have, how many children, two children, if you have five or two or 10, each child is very different. Every church plan is different, but quite a few of our church plants have opened by medical missions. We’ve gone in and gradually a number of people began to come to the Lord. We begin to choose the the disciples out of those that come to the Lord, take them to the mission space. And sometimes they’ll say 1, 2, 3 years and training and then go back. Actually, all of the churches that we have are led by Bible school graduates. So that really helps us in maintaining our unity. And we are in nine different dialects language groups. So there are leaders over each one of those different regions, geographical, and, and language groups. And so most of the churches though have been founded by medical missions. But sometimes we’ve just gone into a village and began to share the gospel and people come to the Lord. So yeah,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:22):
Yeah, you Are very sensitive to the voice of God. And of course, this, this last couple of years, the whole world has gone through chaos because of, of COVID and churches have faced many challenges in Mexico and the United States, other, other countries around the world. What are some of the things that you hear the spirit of? God’s saying to the church during this time?

Duane Kershner (17:50):
Yeah. As soon as COVID began and we had to shut down, we were very sad. We were planning the very month of March at the, when you’re two years ago, when covert began we had one of those massive ans plan that where you came down and participated with us some years back, we had to shut all that down. So we pulled our team together, our leadership team, we began to pray and fast. We knew that all things were being shaken. The Lord gave us scripture out of out of the book of, Hey guy, chapter two, all things can be shaken the shaken heaven and the earth. And then out of Hebrews, chapter 12, all things to be shaken. So we know there’s a great shaking going on. I believe that we just been separated from the chaff. I also believe though that we need to be all really getting ourselves geared up in the holy spirit because we’re coming into the greatest harvest the world has ever known with, with a power of signs and wonders, you know? And so we want to get, get up a little higher and that noting where we’re seeing deliverances and seeing people raised from the dead

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:06):
Ms. Sue, what would you say to young people that feel called to be missionaries? And they really want to see a supernatural move of God? What, what would you say as advice to them?

Sue Kershner (19:22):
My advice is allow the Lord to do that supernatural work in one’s own heart, touching every deep place, every place that the enemy has tried to steal Rob kill or destroy all of those hidden places in one’s being things that we’ve received from our parents, from our from the generational line, anything that does not line up with the Lord Jesus in our life needs to be identified and then renounced and, and really overcome the promises to the overcomers. And so when you overcome in your own life, then that gives Liberty to our father to bring other things to you, that you can overcome in the power of his presence in your life. And so that just goes in ever enlarging circles. And so the first, the real key, and it’s not a hard one, it’s not a mystery, it’s when your own battles. And from that point, then the spirit of the Lord will have Liberty to direct. That’s good

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:46):
On your missions base, you offer Spanish lessons. So people who feel called to missions can come down and learn Spanish. And you also have opportunities for, for groups to come and to minister. If someone wants to learn more information about you or support your ministry, find out more about what you do, what is your website address? How can they find you?

Sue Kershner (21:13):
Our website is www dot Roca, blanca.org, or G. So R O C a B L I N C a.org.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:25):
And what kind of opportunities do you have for people who feel called to missions?

Duane Kershner (21:31):
Yeah. Well, I’m not sure we do. Short-Term teams. We have a great guest house and people coming down on short-term teams. Well, we have a variety of things, medical missions, of course, it’s always a plus, but we do construction. We do a children’s ministry, a youth evangelism any area, you know, that people can give, we try to focus them in that area, on short-term teams. Also, I’d like to add, you know, Daniel, I’m not sure that you’re aware of this, but we also have a children’s home. Now we have 17 orphans. We don’t like to call them orphans now because they’ve been adopted into the family of God. We have house parents but 17, we have a house that will hold 24. And also now we’re doing trade school. Trade school is really important so that our disciples have an ability to make a living once they’re on the field, because if you’ve spent three years in Bible school or in worship school, but not having an ability to support yourself, once you get to your mission, that’s disheartening and can be really frustrating. So we are developing it’s in process, but it’s coming along. Quality trade school, carpentry, mechanics, welding cooking, sewing multimedia plumbing and electric. And so our Bible school graduates will be equipped with the trade.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:02):
That’s wonderful. Well, I’d like to finish up by asking both of you to pray over those who are listening and especially pray for those who are called to evangelism are called to missions. We have a heart to go out in the mission field and see God do amazing things. I would just like to ask you to pray for an impartation of the same spirit that’s in you to come upon those who are listening.

Duane Kershner (23:30):
No, no Joshua and Caleb, the scripture said had a different spirit. They have the spirit of faith. And so we do pray over each one that you know, you’re being called. We pray over you that you will hear the word of the Lord and then obedient to it. It’s one thing to hear, but it’s the next thing to be obedient. And we’ve found that by obeying the word of the Lord that comes to us, God opens away and makes the way. So father, we pray now in the name of Jesus we know that we are called to do the greater works. Your word says those who believe on my name will do even the greater works than I’ve done. And so Jesus, we’re asking just now those who are listening, those who are watching the anointing of your holy spirit increasing upon their lives, the guidance of the holy spirit, and then the spirit of faith coming to them to make the step, take the first step, put your feet in the water, crossing the Jordan and go into your divine destiny at your promised land and Jesus’ name.

Duane Kershner (24:40):
We asked this, we know that each one of us who have been saved through faith by his grace, we are called into divine purposes. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, Ephesians two 10, which he ordained from the foundation of the world. And some of you who are listening, you know that you’re called perhaps you don’t know how to take the first step. I encourage you to come on a mission strip get your feet in the water. If you’re called to Latin America, come down to go to Spanish school and begin to get cross-cultural arrised and, and see if you’ve, if you’ve got that kind of grace.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:21):
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for being on the evangelism podcast. I really look up to you. You are heroes of the faith great examples to all of us. And I just so much appreciate you and your faithfulness and the beautiful mission space that, that God has raised up under your care and what a tremendous impact you have. So thank

Duane Kershner (25:45):
You, Daniel. Thank you, Daniel. We’ve been friends. It was Daniel’s parents for many years, 33 years now. And so we appreciate you having this.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:55):
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Evangelism Coach Daniel King (26:58):
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