1 877-431-4276Beat Baumann | The Go Movement
Beat Baumann is the International Director for the Go Movement. Their evangelism movement started when they asked every believer on earth to share the Gospel on one day named Go Day. Now Go Day has become Go Month and the Go Decade of Evangelism. The Go Movement is building a Global Evangelism Coalition of denominations, churches, and individuals who are committed to living a lifestyle of evangelism.
Learn more about the Go Movement: https://gomovement.world/
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus Today. I have a very special guest with me, brother Beat Baumann from the Go Movement. Thank you for being on the Evangelism Podcast.
Beat Baumann – The Go Movement (00:14):
Yeah, it’s a pleasure. I’m just very happy to be with you.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:17):
Well, I love the Go Movement. You have such a great focus on telling people about Jesus. Can you tell me a little bit about what the Go Movement does?
Beat Baumann – The Go Movement (00:30):
Well, we do basically we mobilize believers to share their faith. They usually don’t do our mission statements and slogans says everyone can reach someone together. We can reach the world. So we are have the keyword word is everyone the founder Ben Antarctica from Germany. By the way, I’m from Switzerland.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:49):
Yeah, I’ve, I’ve interviewed Werner before. Yes, we were in Malawi. Had a wonderful interview. I just love his enthusiasm. Yeah. For sharing Jesus with
Beat Baumann – The Go Movement (00:58):
People. So we’ve, we just mobilized ordinary believer to She the good news. We attend the local church and we partnered together on national level with national teams to do that, but also to reach the world in a 10 years time to, with other partners. So go move as three initiatives. It’s a lifestyle for evangelism, the go month in May to activate this, and then the yearly agenda. And the third one is the 10 years goal. The gold decade until 2030 free reaching everyone with the gospel. That’s what we are passionate about. And we are sort of a two stringing guitar. One is evangelism, pure evangelism, and the second one is we collaborate to fulfill the great commission and partner with fathers. And we are building a sort of a platform to work together, partnering with ministries. And it’s just wonderful. What, what is taking place?
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:55):
So let’s talk about this first very important thing, lifestyle. Tell me, what does that look like in the life of a, an ordinary believer?
Beat Baumann – The Go Movement (02:06):
It’s really depending a bit to the situation where they are, but I think in the western world, it’s in daily life to share the gospel. It’s good to pray in the morning, Lord, show me people that are open for you. And then you start the conversation, you make a compliment, you ask a question, and then in daily life, either with people you don’t know or people you already know, you just share your testimony or you share the gospel. And then I think in some places where they have more, a collective culture, lifestyle is more likely doing outreaches regularly as a church. So for example, in Karu, there’s a small group. They always go out after the church service since they heard about Go Movement, they say every Sunday afternoon you go for an outreach. So their lifestyle is that.
(02:59):
And some of the people, they’re really very ambitious. Like when Antarctica, the founder of Go Movement or Dave Gibson Grace Church in Minneapolis, and he, he’s also part of the global leadership team, and they do one a day, one a day every day sharing the gospel. Even if they’re on a Christian conference, they go to a dating app and starting to share the gospel to, to another guy. And, and then I think it’s so different. Some people, they prefer to, to share the gospel to people they know. Our African leaders, Stephen MuTu says, what you like to have your family in heaven and your friends, okay, in that case, share the gospel to them and, and others stay more likely go to people they don’t know. Yeah,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:43):
Yeah. I’ve interviewed Dave Gibson. I’ve interviewed Steven Matua, and so if you’re listening and you want to hear their wonderful stories, Steven Matua was crusade director for Reinhard Bonky for many years and has a vision for raising up evangelists in Africa. So those are such wonderful stories that we’ve had on the Evangelism podcast. Okay. So we’ve talked about lifestyle. Now let’s talk about the go month. What is the go month? And I, I know every year it’s the same month, is that right?
Beat Baumann – The Go Movement (04:15):
It’s May
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:15):
In the month of May. Now, now in the secular world, they have pride month here in the United States we have Black History month, but you have decided that Christians should have a go month Yes. To share the gospel all throughout the month of May. Yes. Culminating in the day of Pentecost, right at the end of the month of May.
Beat Baumann – The Go Movement (04:36):
Right. So we started finally with a go day. Earlier, it was called Global Outreach Day. The last Saturday in May, it was connected with the global deaf player. But then in the year 2020, we expanded. It took to five weeks in May and say most people we ask to reach five people one-on-one each week, somebody, and then that every church would do at least one evangelistic activity every week. And there are many, many different ways, for example, in Latin America that they have a main emphasis to say the first week and maybe pray for and with people. The second week is the week of the, of the compassion, practical help, pray care. Then the third week is personal testimony. The fourth public gospel proclamation and then of May, beginning of June is then disciple making and go, mom starts with prayer in most countries of the world, and we end with the go day where at least the most child, laziest and busy person also reaching at least one person with the gospel.
(05:37):
And then the last Sunday, in May, since about two years since a global church planting Sunday, we partnered with global s for church multiplication and others to say every church could be involved in a church multiplication. And Christians said, do all sorts of evangelism. It could be one-on-one groups, social media, go to an old school friend visiting somebody in a hospital, just a street outreach. There are that many ways that that’s such a diversity. Usually we train and mobilize and equip people before may. Then the month of evangelism comes, followed by a time of disciple making.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:14):
Let’s talk about the go decade. I think that’s really why we’re here together. We’re in the city of Phoenix doing a strategic planning meeting for the Go Movement with Bob Beal. And really there’s going to be a focus in the body of Christ on Evangelism over the next decade. And so I, I don’t think this only comes from the Go Movement. Many other different movements are talking about having a decade focused on evangelism. Dr. Billy Wilson from Oral Roberts University has talked about reaching everyone on Earth with a message of Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit before 2033, the 2000 year anniversary of the first day of Pentecost. Yes. And so tell me, what does the Go Movement hope to see happen over this next decade?
Beat Baumann – The Go Movement (07:09):
Yeah, just to say there are about seven global movements. They have like similar approaches like ending Bible poverty, also with evangelism, then Rick Warren with finishing the task, and suddenly everyone is talking about 10 years to reach the world to work for towards, to fulfillment of the Great Commission. And we feel it’s God’s hand in it that he gave from the South Korean, the Americans, the European and others, just the same dream.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:38):
I I think that’s actually really significant because when the Holy Spirit speaks, he only, he does not speak only to one. Yeah. I think you hear the Holy Spirit speaking to different groups all saying the same thing. Yeah, yeah. At the same time, it’s like
Beat Baumann – The Go Movement (07:54):
A confirmation.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:55):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It’s so
Beat Baumann – The Go Movement (07:57):
Beautiful. It’s so beautiful. And that also those movements now did align to one another. There have been different meetings, like Billion Soul Harvest from South Korea. God is using this Korean doctor to heal the body of Christ, somehow bringing the movements together to work. And then Dr. Billy Wilson and inviting at six December last year for a meeting. And then there was this paper I had myself on my heart, we should send out the paper to the world. And then we suggested to do, and now it happens. And now many people are signing this commitment to say, let’s intensify prayer with gospel, sharing even resources. Let’s work together, collaborate to see the world reached. So as Go movement, we are focusing on, on really collaborating especially on the national level. This year we are doing in a, in more than a hundred Nations, a national Go decade lounge meeting.
(08:57):
You’re asking national leaders, what, what, what are you in? Let’s, can we work together to reach the world in 10 years? And what’s your plan and contribution to reach your country and the world? We ask for both everyone, because we need one another. There are people in South Africa from Gibuti, or there are people from India. They’re, they’re all over the place. When you reach them, where they live today, we help reaching India. And so there is now a decade launch meeting, and we then go for the consultation building regional teams. And this goes along with what we do anyway with Month Co lifestyle. But we would like to see that. Now, there will be every year a meeting. There is also joint measurement platform, but basically we help to facilitate collaboration. On one hand, we’re sitting on the round table with other movements, global movements, that which is partner as one.
(09:52):
But with the Go Movement Network, we are connected on the global and national level. Then we see how to implement. And that means to see that ongoingly, we see more Christians sharing a lifestyle because if we, if where there are believers it will be, it will spread out. But then partnering with church multiplication, because if you think on Turkey right now we have like 8,000 believers among 80 million. So you need to plant churches. You need also to use media, sharing the gospel online, then going on a disciple making process. And which just in the beginning of a wonderful adventure that we see, God is bringing things together, like puzzle pieces. I think also the, the global evangelist network you part of it, which will be very significant. This group will help to equip worldwide the church as also doing crusades. We just, we are just so much on personal evangelism as Go movement.
(10:55):
But now we discovered that some parts of the body and some parts of the world at the public Gospels proclamation is still one of the number one things. So we believe reaching the world and every person needs to be one-on-one. It needs to be public gospels, proclamation, then media all together, combine it with prayer, combine it with church multiplication, then being very strategic in collaboration. So we are now in process to to partner together and say, where are the most unrich people? Do we have a task force for Turkey, one for Somalia? And then we are connecting people all over the world saying, who from Brazil has a special calling for this nation? And then we, we try to, to to go the way. And I’m so happy that I can testify that many global ministries have want to go for the hardest place.
(11:49):
Might it be the Jesus film, every home for Christ, even the people with the end Bible poverty sharing the gop, the Bible, home to home. They also talk about evangelism, church planting. And then they say, we want to go for the hardest places. And somehow God gave also there God is speaking and which is going, he step by step now implemented wherever we can on national level, partnering on global level, working together on strategic processes, praying like never before, dedicating our lives to it, inviting others to have ownership. It’s quite an adventure. I compare it to my personal, in internal picture is like doing a trail round together on a mountain peak. And I think we will be successful if it’s exactly 2033, if you really reached everyone, if this is even possible, I think the deadline will help us to accelerate.
(12:51):
But at the end, God is, is in charge. And we will see how far we will go with, with China with other places. But I gained more confidence. I, I should give you an example. There is one area in the world. I’ve been told two years ago, there is zero church. And now I figured out there are 6,000 underground house churches in the area where I’ve been pot told there is zero church, I can’t tell here because of security where it is. It’s one of the most persecuted area for Christians. And there are places in the world where we’ve been thinking there is nothing. It’s spreading peace and mushroom and God is moving, but God is also moving now that he’s bringing the Catholic renewal. Also, they said, we need to reach 2 billion people. And now the Catholic removal, they about 120 million born again.
(13:48):
They’re now want to reach the rest of the Catholic church. And they’re most amazed about Big Crusades, the people. And that’s their culture. And, and I see God is orchestrating in a wonderful way, different movement, different peoples. What we need to do, I think let’s just be focused on a task involving everyone. So inviting everyone here to be involved in the go decade. You see 2033 Earth or go decade world as the webpages and say, let’s be part of this great commission adventure. Can we join hands? At least we can do much more when we partner together. We could share resources, knowhow relationships, best practice. We can travel to a place we can connect people. And I, I’m just amazed about what is taking place. For example, in India, we see historic things taking place. And where I didn’t have the faith two years ago and now see it just happening.
(14:54):
And I say, my God, you’re doing it. And I think let’s just follow his footsteps. But let’s see, just taking India 700,000 local congregation, you have right now a half a million villages without the church. What would be, if all of those local congregations would just adopt one village we would have in 10 years time is really every village of India, a church That will be one step. Or let’s think on on the 40 million born again, believers in India, while that’s not that much, maybe compared to the 1.3 billion, but let’s sort of think on media. And some people they tell me, you just filtered and blocked. You come to media. And then I just encounter Christian vision. They do it every day. And I think we are serving a God who’s making the impossible possible. Amen. He has it more on his heart, the world to see the world reach than we have.
(15:53):
And now we will celebrate 2000 years of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And I believe by 2033, we can say, well, we could achieve by God’s grace much more by, by being devoted to this great commission. So I’m, we are inviting just everyone to partner. Let’s do the main thing. The main thing announcing the gospel of Jesus tries to every person. And then when this is achieved, seeing we making disciples and they multiply themself, planting churches, proclaiming the gospel, every we can helping people in a practical way. And God is just in control. There’s such a vibrant atmosphere all over the world. God is awakening the sleepy giant. It’s not what we see in his 37. It’s just taking place in front of our eyes that the army of God, the people are coming together. Everything is coming together.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:52):
Amen. Well, I so love what the Go Movement is doing. You are very close to the heart of God. Jesus said, go into all the world. And so that is what you’re doing. You’re preaching the gospel. Amen. If someone is listening and they want to get connected to the Go Movement, they want to be a part of the go day or the go month or the go decade, or they want to have the Go lifestyle, what is your website? What is a good way for people to get connected and to see the vision of what you’re doing?
Beat Baumann – The Go Movement (17:22):
Yeah, it’s Go Movement world. It’s the webpage. Until you find some helpful resources. But still, it’s so easy. And now everyone who heard the month of May is a month of evangelism. Just do it. And then a lifestyle means we could start to share the gospel on a weekly base on a monthly base. I think at least once a month, a church should do an outreach. You meet every Sunday. We should also do once a month on outreach, when it’s about the lifestyle. We encourage really to say at at least once a week somewhere, I would like to have a meaningful conversation about the gospel. Let’s think about the hundred million to win. And if
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:05):
You’re really hardcore, go for the one a day every single day.
Beat Baumann – The Go Movement (18:08):
Yeah. Then you can do that. And we believing on 1 million, let’s think about 1 million will share every day, and they will multiply to two others. If 3 million are doing every day, those people reaching 1 billion in a year with a $0 and everywhere in the world unstoppable, and this will be grassroots. So I think we will see it. I talk to Dave Gibson. He has now two free networks. They all three say, we wanna mobilize 1 million to share daily, but we will see, I know maybe it’s an average one day you maybe do, you don’t do, then another day you reach 10 people. But let’s think about on one on 1 million people having 365 gospel conversation in a year. And we could see millions doing that. And that’s what that it’ll be, it’ll take place. In the beginning when Go Movement started when an article said, well, if I, I could achieve to help to mobilize 1 million Christian. And then Mark Anderson from Coldwell said, you’re just much too small. You’re
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:17):
Thinking too small,
Beat Baumann – The Go Movement (19:18):
Small, too small. And today we could, we can’t testify about a hundred million being active. Wow. People that never share now the due, some just once a year in May, but others now we see that with as a lifestyle. And yeah. So let’s just go for it. Let’s go for a lifestyle. Let’s let others know about the Goal Month because it’s a helpful catalyst for people that never shared in May. And then let’s work together in being very strategic. So everyone can be asked, what’s my contribution in my area? How can I partner with other churches and ministries if I’m living in interlock in Switzerland? So my my point is, what are we doing to reach our place and the world? So we also share the gospel to the tourists. We may be make a donation to other nations. We travel, we go on a mission strip. So everyone has his Jerusalem, Samaria, and the end of the world Acts one, eight. We receive power to be witnessed where we live and then in our country and the world. And I think, I believe sincerely, God has called every one of us to be active in, in those three fields if it does a lifestyle or if it’s as a as a 10 years plan.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:34):
Well, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism Podcast.
Beat Baumann – The Go Movement (20:36):
Yeah, it’s a pleasure. Thank you, Daniel.
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Evangelism Explosion | John Sorensen
John Sorensen is the president of Evangelism Explosion, the ministry founded by Dr. James D. Kennedy. For fifty years Evangelism Explosion has been training believers how to share their faith and bringing people from unbelief to belief. Their goal is to multiply the number of believers sharing their faith by providing on-the-job evangelism training to people who will go on to train others.
Learn More About Evangelism Explosion: https://evangelismexplosion.org/
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. Today. I have a very special guest with me, John Sorenson from Evangelism Explosion, one of the greatest evangelistic ministries in the world today. Thank you so much for joining me.
John Sorensen (00:20):
Well, thank you. It’s wonderful to be here, Daniel.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:22):
So let’s talk about Evangelism Explosion. I remember when I was young, I was wanting to learn about Evangelism. Well, this is when I was a teenager. Oh, wow. I I got a hold of your green book Oh, sure. Written by Dr. D. James Kennedy,
John Sorensen (00:37):
Dr. D. James Kennedy.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:40):
I went through that and I read all the illustrations about how to share your faith. And that really shaped the, the early years of my preaching, trying to lead people to Jesus.
John Sorensen (00:54):
Well, you know, he loved Dr. Kennedy, loved illustrations cuz he was, they said they were like windows. They allowed people to see in. And you know, I can tell you from my own experience that, you know, I’d been around the church my entire life. My dad was a preacher. I can’t even tell you how many sermons I heard in my life. And yet it was for me, right in the middle of the chair illustration, we used a very simple chair illustration that for the first time in my life at 26 years old, I understood it wasn’t merely knowing about Jesus that saved someone. It was putting your trust, like we’re trusting in these chairs we’re setting in now. This is an act that we took that moment of trusting in Christ. That’s when we’re saved. And and boy, what a difference it made in my life. I, I got up the next day and I, I didn’t even feel the same. I I was a totally different person and all from putting my trust in Christ. And, and you know what? I’ve been in that mode since. I’ve been trusting in Jesus firmly only holy and my life has been changed.
(01:52):
That’s awesome. So let’s start at the beginning. Okay. Tell me your testimony and how you came to Christ.
John Sorensen (01:59):
Well, again, my dad was a pastor. I was around the church my entire life. I was in church nine months before I was born every single Sunday. And and did all the kinds of Christian things that people do. I even went to Bible college to be honest with you, not too far from where you are in Joplin, Missouri, at Ozark Bible College. And I know there must have been quite a number of Christian around me, but I wasn’t a Christian. I had no idea how a person knew for sure that they were going to heaven. So for me, it was actually when a, a man asked me those two diagnostic questions, do you know for sure you’re going to heaven? And I said, no, I don’t. I don’t know that for sure. I don’t know anybody that knows that. And then he asked me the second question, suppose you were to stand before God this very night.
(02:43):
And he were to say to you, John, why should I let you into my heaven? What would you say? And I remember Daniel, I thought about it, it was a profound question. I knew it was, and, and I said, but you know what? I think my answer would be, I’m a pretty good person. I try not to do too much wrong. I hope that the good things that I do outweigh the bad things that I do. And that question is so critical, because what it did was allowed me to understand what I was trusting in to get to heaven. Yes. Right. Once he shared the gospel with me, because he had asked me that question, he was able to say, now, a few minutes ago you talked about a particular person. In your answer, it was, I’m a pretty good person and I try not to do too much wrong.
(03:21):
And I hope the good there was an I you kept, it’s you, you have a savior. His name is John <laugh>. What I’m telling you is there’s a savior named Jesus, and you need to put your trust in him. And so for me, that day, it, it changed my life. And so eventually God called me into becoming part of that ministry. Now, Daniel, I would’ve told you if ever there was a person that would never have qualified as a witness for Jesus Christ, I’d have been on that list. You know, I mean, I was sure I couldn’t do it. I had tried. And every time I had tried, I just made the person mad that I was talking to, you know, I felt like I was gifted at taking a normal person and turning them into somebody that was just hopping mad, you know, with only a few minutes.
(04:08):
And, and yet it was through EE that I learned that I can actually share the gospel with others. And so that same experience that you had and by the way, I think most Christians are in this boat. You know, I think I I’ve seen all kinds of statistics and some as high as 96% of people who bear the name of Jesus have never one time led another person to Jesus. Maybe they tried it worked out badly the first couple times, so they quit trying. And I’ve heard all kinds of reasons that Christians give. They’re afraid. Some say, well, you know what? I’m gonna goof it up for the next person. You know, I’m gonna, if if I try and then I’m gonna mess it up, and then I’ll just push ’em away. I won’t actually bring them toward, well, here’s the thing. This is the truth.
(04:49):
We as Christians actually can participate in leading our friends, our relatives, our work associates, our neighbors, and yes, even strangers that we meet, we can be part of, of sharing the gospel and leading others to Christ. And, and once we do it, to be honest with you, I can tell you that very first time that I was part of seeing, I can even tell you the guy’s name, I could describe the night you know, all the things about it. It was such an impactful moment in my life when God used me to lead someone else to Jesus Christ. And wow, that changed everything, you know? And in many ways, I would tell you, the ministry of EE has changed my life a number of times. The first in me coming to Christ, obviously that was a pretty big change. Secondly, in leading others to Christ, I never thought I could do that. And then thirdly, I found there’s even something more fun than leading people to Jesus until you might say there’s nothing more fun. Well, there actually is, there’s one thing more fun. And that’s training other people how to do that <laugh>. And when you start having spiritual grandchildren, spiritual great-grandchildren, when somebody, and again, I’ll tell you the, I can tell you the first time that my first trainee calls me up and says, I just let somebody to Jesus and listening to her excitement. And by
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:08):
The way, that sense joy that
John Sorensen (06:09):
Comes it, it is joy. And, and every single Christmas I get a letter from Marge. She was my very first trainee, her and another gal named Gwen. But anyway, every Christmas I get a letter and Marge to tells me every single person she has led to Christ this past year. Wow. And I get the joy of being, it’s, it’s like over 400 people at this point that I get to be part of, even though it was Marge who led
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:31):
Him to, can I share with you a testimony? So Sure. I have a son. His name is Caleb. He’s 13 years old. He just became a teenager. So we’re praying for wisdom, how to raise a teenager. Well on Saturday of this week, he went with one of my friends, his name is, is Ron Hood. And, and, and Ron has a great heart for evangelism. He took a, a truck, like a, like a trailer, and he wrapped it and it says
John Sorensen (07:01):
Two
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:02):
Are you going to heaven? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, two questions, reveal the answer. Yeah. And then he asks the same two diagnostic questions that someone asked you. And, and so anyways circuit writers from YWAM came to Tulsa and they’re doing some outreaches. And they were doing an outreach. And so my friend Ron Hood, he brought his truck to their outreach. And my son loves hanging out with his son. And so my son was sitting there in the truck asking every person who came by that, that two diagnostic questions. Awesome. And he was so excited. My wife was asking him, you know, what’d you learn today? He says, I can be an evangelist just like my dad. Dad is so and so. I’m so proud of him for being out there, sharing his faith. Yeah. Using those two diagnostic questions. Yeah. Which are a very simple method anyone can ask. And it just opens up a conversation, and then you can start to share the
John Sorensen (07:54):
Gospel. Amen. And they’re really not that hard to ask. And you know, we, we’ve got actually a number of what we would call questionnaires, questions you can put in front of those questions that, that make it very easy to have a ver just a regular normal conversation with a person that you meet. Turn that into a spiritual conversation through the use of just some basic questions like we learned. You know, you’re talking to somebody and, and they talk, they’re talking about their life. How’s your life going? What do you do? It’s very easy for you to say at some point in the conversation, well, it sounds like your, your life’s going pretty good. Or maybe you would say the opposite. You know, whatever it is you, whatever it is. And then you can say, you know what, I, I’m gonna ask you a kind of a funny question.
(08:34):
Scale one to 10, if you had to quantify your life, if 10 were the very best life ever, and one were the, the the worst life ever, where are you at today? And people don’t have any trouble answering the questions. I commonly hear 5, 6, 7. And you’re able to say, now can you tell me some of the things that make up that? Why is it a five or why is it a six? And they’ll tell you, usually they’re temporal that they mentioned, I’ve got a good job, you know, I’ve got this. I I have, I live in a nice house, you know, I’ve got a good girlfriend or whatever that happens to be. Yeah. But usually those are temp and you can say, but what that allows you to do now is you’ve started a conversation where now you can share a little of your testimony.
(09:11):
You can say, you know what the truth is, and think about this. It’s true. Before you came to Christ, you, you were a lower number than you are now. That, that you’re a Christian, whatever that is. And I can say, honestly, I used to be a one, but now that I, I know a guy shared with me this great news, I’m now a 10 every day. I know that sounds braggadocious, but it’s the truth. I used to be a one, now I’m a 10. Would you like to hear how that happened? I’ve never had somebody say, no, I’ve never, not one time. Wow. And so then I go, well, you know what, here’s what he shared with me. Five key things. And this is what you learned when you’re reading that green padded book. Yeah. There are five key. And you know, most people would say, traditionally, the gospel contains four things that, that really like it or not.
(09:56):
It’s, it’s truth that you have to hear and understand, respond to. Right. The, the gospel, these aren’t ee things. These are ju this is the gospel that everyone since Jesus’s ascension have agreed these four things. You have to understand where we are as humans. Right. The Bible says something very particular about us. It’s not all that complimentary. We’re sinners. We have all broken our relationship with God. Right. We’ve created this distance and divide through a thing called sin. You have to understand that now, you know, many people would agree they’re sinners. They don’t understand the scope of it, though they don’t get the degree in which they’re a sinner. The, the, the second thing that you would really need to understand is what’s God re God’s reaction to that? How does he feel about sin? Can’t he just push it under the carpet or something?
(10:43):
Well, no. Yeah. The very nature of God tells the city abor sin. And, and he, he, his his eyes are too holy to even look upon it. So that, that’s a real problem for us. On one hand, God loves us, but on the other hand, he cannot stand us sin. So what did he do? Well that leads us to the person of Jesus Christ, who he is and what he did. He is the God man. And what did he do? He came from heaven to earth. He lived an absolutely perfect life. He traded places with me. Right. This is the great substitute. And, and so that now I can be right before an all holy God, he took on my sin and died as if it were his own. It wasn’t his, but, and, and made a way for me to be right before God.
(11:25):
And then that leads us to the very final bit of that. If that’s all true, and it is, how do you get it? There’s, there has to be a moment when you appropriate that to yourself. And we understand from scripture that that’s called faith. And that’s that thing we were talking about when I put my trust in Jesus. That’s, that’s saving faith right now in ee we add a fifth item to that so as to not have to start the conversation on the bad news. You’re a center. You know, you can go try that right now. Go out on the street and just up to people and you are in a center, and you’re gonna find that some
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:56):
People, it’s a good way to start an argument.
John Sorensen (11:57):
That’s, it’s a good way to start an argument if you don’t wanna start an argument now, it’s, it’s, it’s true, by the way. It’s not an untruth. Instead start with the fact that heaven’s an absolutely free gift and it’s something that God wants to give to you. And so we start the conversation on heaven is an absolutely. So I was able to say, even in that first conversation, there are five things that I learned about how a person can know for sure. This is what changed my life from a, a one to a 10 was understanding these five things. And I’d say, say this, Daniel, you know, I’m, I am an extreme introvert, so I don’t your viewers, I, I don’t know. I’m sure that’s not what they think. It’s the absolute truth given the opportunity. I’ll go into a room and read a book every time by myself. So if God
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:43):
Can use an introvert like you That’s right. He can use anyway.
John Sorensen (12:45):
And that’s the truth. And, and, but it’s turned into one of the greatest joys of my life. And so I’ve decided to be different because I love seeing people come to know Jesus. And it’s become so such a an addiction for me. <Laugh> using that word in the positive way God has so invaded my life is to understand I can be used by him, he will he’ll use me. And that I get this immense joy of seeing people’s lives change. And there is no greater miracle. People love miracles. There’s no greater miracle than watching somebody go from death to life right in front of you. And I mean to tell you it’ll change some things.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:27):
Amen. And so one of the strengths of evangelism explosion is that you are training people how to share their faith. Yeah. Talk to me about that process and some of the results that you’ve seen. Yeah. From really equipping introverts and people who have never shared their faith before. How do you take someone who doesn’t know how to share their faith and and help them become competent Yeah. At talking to people about
John Sorensen (13:54):
Jesus? Well, the simple answer is through mentoring. You know, the model of EE is a one-on-one or a one on two discipleship model. EE is actually not an evangelism program. It’s a discipleship program where we’re discipling people in how to share their faith. Right. And so, if you are my training in ee, we’d go out together sometimes 7, 8, 9, 10 times, depending on which tool or product that we used with ee. But, but let’s say it seven times. And I can tell you, I’ve watched this happen thousands of times. The first time you don’t say anything, you know, I’ve taught you this basic outline that I just shared with you, grace, man, God, Christ, faith. And I’ve said to you, now, watch how I use that. Watch how I start the conversation. Just watch. And so this time you don’t actually have to say anything. We go out, we meet somebody, we have a conversation.
(14:39):
Maybe we’ve invited a friend to come join us for coffee. And and you watch how this happens. So then the next time I say, now Daniel, you saw what I did. Probably the shortest section that we did was on the, on God. It’s, it only takes about 30 seconds to say it. You, I’ve, I’ve shared with you what it is, the Bible verses you’ve learned them, the story you learned, the two main points that he’s loving. But also just, you know what, when we come to that spot, I’m gonna just say, you know what this comes into sharper focus when we understand what the Bible says about God. Now Daniel, would you mind sharing what it is that we know about God? And then you are just going to give it a go. And if you mess up, or if you start getting to the point where you forget something, just still look at me and smile and I’ll pick it back up and, and I’ll tell you what the nick, you do that.
(15:25):
Then the next time I say, you know what, just keep going. Go on into Christ and go on into faith. And, and I’m telling you that by about the fourth or the fifth time that we went out together in an incredibly safe way, because never were you put on the spot if you messed up, you just looked at me and smiled and, and I just picked it back up. Little by little, you would’ve picked up all of the pieces and learned to have that conversation. And so usually it happens around the fifth or sixth or seventh time, a person will look at me and go, I don’t need your help. I got this. I can do this. And so that’s the cool thing. And if I’ve given it to you in an understandable enough way, you can then turn around and pass it on to the next guy. And for us, this is called spiritual multiplication. And it’s the greatest joy that we as Christians get to have this side of heaven.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:14):
And now you’ve multiplied all over the world mm-hmm. <Affirmative> and, and you have evangelism, explosion people. And how many countries now? Well, we
John Sorensen (16:22):
Were the first Christian ministry to be in every single nation of the Earths Wow. Back in 1996. And we still are. And we have about 150 nations or so on earth that we are substantially working in every day. And the rest we do things in, but, you know, not as often or whatnot. But so he’s a and we’re in over 400 different denominations of the church. So that’s the, I love that the church can agree on the gospel and can can even go out together. We were just, we just did an event in Santa Ana, California, and I wanna say there were 12 different denominations that were there. And, you know, they’ve decided they’re gonna do their evangelism training together as a group, all these different churches and denominations showing up, learning to share the gospel and going out together.
(17:09):
And I just think that’s a hoot. I I love seeing that and kind of unity happen around the gospel. But yeah, so ee works all over the world, and we trained this past year just at 2 million people to be witnesses for Christ. Wow. Just at 2 million little over 900,000 children, ages four or fourth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, 9, 10, 11, somewhere in that range. And then about 1.1 million adults that we trained how to share the gospel. And and they went out. And in the process of going out, led 17 million people to Christ. Now here’s the thing. I cannot qualify, you know, you learned e ago use it all the time. That’s nowhere in my number. I I, there’s nowhere I can account Yeah. For people that were trained in the past, you know, that use it in their life, but you know, aren’t in some method to give it report.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:03):
Yeah. And at my home church, a victory church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it’s an independent, charismatic church. We have an EE group. They go out and they tell people about Jesus. They love that. And just go into the apartment complexes nearby and knock on the door and, and, and start witnessing to people as
John Sorensen (18:19):
We Yeah. No, I’ve actually heard of, of this church, and I’ve heard stories about what God’s done through y’all for years and for a long time. And I praise God for you. Yeah. Thank you.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:30):
Yeah. So I have a question. You know, times are changing very quickly. Yeah. And today’s generation still deals with the sin problem, but they’re asking different questions than we’re asked 50 years. Yeah. Or even 20 years ago. How are you navigating Yeah. Changing culture and, and changing media and the, the different landscapes of, of how to share the gospel.
John Sorensen (18:55):
Now, firstly, I’m gonna say this quickly, the gospel hasn’t changed and people haven’t changed. The lost really haven’t changed. Now they’re asking different questions, which is what a very good, good word that you said, lost are still lost. The gospel still is the only method by which lost people get saved. But period, full stop. And Jesus, when he stood on that hill in Galilee, looking out at all of the generations and all the lives, the, the people groups and the ages that would come, he’s the one that prescribed this idea to us. Right? And so we know it’s relevant, we know it’s valid. Now, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do everything in our power to be as culturally relevant as we can possibly be. And so, to answer your question, we’ve changed, we have a number of tools that we’ve developed through time. XE is a, a for, for generation X and Y instead of it being more of a legal argument which is kind of like what I’d heard, that’s far more of a relational argument based on John 10, 10, Jesus saying, I’ve come that you may have life to the full.
(19:55):
What does that mean to have abundant life? And what is it that stops us from having that? Well, we know that that’s when we have broken this relationship with God. And of course that’s called sin in, in, in, but we don’t talk about sin in the same way. Now I will tell you this, we’re in the process right now of developing a new tool for high school age today, and that’s forcing us to have conversation about identity and about, you know, all things that we’ve just never had to talk about in the past before. But that being said, please, anyone listening, please, please believe this is true when I’m telling you there’s an openness to the gospel today that we’ve never seen in 60 years of ministry. And so I would encourage people, do not believe anybody who tells you it can’t be done today. We’ve seen so in the history of ee you know, in the seventies, and you’ve gone out to do questionnaires out on the street, and, and typically if you would’ve approached 10 people, one of those 10 would let you share the gospel. This is the seventies. Do you know what it is today? It’s six out of 10 today. Wow. On the street.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:05):
And so that’s showing more openness in today’s generation towards
John Sorensen (21:09):
Than has ever been in the last 60 years of this ministry. And, and, you know, and we’ve proven that not just in places like the Southeast in America, we’ve proven that in, in, in the northeast. We’ve proven that way out west in the, in the southwest west and in the northwest part of the United States. We’ve done these Equiped America events all over the United States. That number rings true. We, we actually did a full on study with lifeway to see if it was just our experience, or if it was, if, if a researcher could find, and you know what they found? Six out of 10 Americans are open hearing the gospel. Wow. At 5.1% from an absolute stranger. They’re willing to hear it. But here’s the last thing that I, I, I would encourage Christians to understand. When we put the, i, the the idea into that study about them searching it out on the internet and reading a website, the, the interest in evangelism went down dramatically.
(22:09):
So it is this one-on-one, or it’s this personal explanation. The other thing that was in the study that really surprised us was that four out of the 10 that had come to Christ said they never would’ve sought it if somebody wouldn’t have approached them. That the point being, it was so critical that a friend started that conversation. Now, look, you, you can either believe what I said or not. It’s up to you if you’re willing to try it. All you have to do is to go up to 10 of your friends and ask this question. I just heard this crazy person today who said, six outta 10 people are open to having a spiritual conversation. And I, I just have to tell you as your friend, I, I’m, I’m a believer, but I’ve never thought to ask you if you want to have a conversation about spiritual things, are, are you open to that?
(22:59):
Just ask that question. And if you find that none of your friends are, well then, you know, I was wrong. If you’re seeing what, what we were seeing all across the country, you’re gonna see six of your friends go, you know what? I really would like to have that conversation. Now. Listen, ask good questions like your son was doing, Caleb, way to go ask questions and listen to their answers and then build on what it is that you’ve heard. And, and the most important thing is, as a believer, please be ready to share some of the things that are going on in your life that is why you are so in love with following God. You know, be willing to share testimony about what God’s doing in your life and, and how he’s given you joy and how he’s given you peace, and how he’s given you patience and, and you know, all these things which he promised he’d give you. By the way, if you don’t have those, you need to call us. And we’re gonna help you come to know Jesus. Because if you have Jesus in your life, he’s given you amazing things that you can talk about as you share your faith.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:01):
That’s awesome. Well, if someone is listening and they want to learn more from some of the resources that you have, or they want to get trained by one of the evangel evangelism explosion trainers, or maybe even to help support your ministry, what is your website? How can they access more information about
John Sorensen (24:22):
It? Well, that’s, that’s awesome. So if you come to evangelism explosion.org you’ll find all of our training tools and you’ll find when they, those trainings are, and you can kind of let us know you’re interested and we’ll connect with you. The, the study that I mentioned, we put on a website called equip america.org. So if you go to that, go down to the bottom, you’ll see the live way study. You can download the whole study and read it for yourself. Every single question we ask and what the answers were. And so, you know, and then every day I put tools up on a, a, another, a third website I’ll mention called Share life.today, share life.today. Every day I put tools up there like this week we’re focused on memorizing God’s word. Well, what would that look like? And how would you share that with a friend? Something like that. And so we’re constantly putting tips up there, just little encouragements about how you can share your faith. And so people can use those absolutely free. And our, we get joy when we see Christians become bold witnesses for Jesus.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:21):
That’s awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism Podcast.
John Sorensen (25:25):
It is my joy. Thanks for doing the podcast.
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The Billion Soul Harvest | Young Cho
Right before he died, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, Bill Bright was talking about The Billion Soul Harvest. On today’s episode I talk with Young Cho about how James Hwang from South Korea has breathed new life into this vision to lead one billion people to Jesus.
Learn more about the Billion Soul Harvest: https://www.billionsoulharvest.net/
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. Today, I have a very special guest with me, Young Cho, from The Billion Soul Harvest. Thank you so much for joining me.
Young Cho (00:13):
Well, thank you. Glad to be here too.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:16):
Well, tell me a little bit about the history of the billion Soul harvest and what the vision is.
Young Cho (00:22):
Well, I guess I have to talk about bill Bright when he first mentioned about the billion Soul harvest in 2002, not too long after he went to be with the Lord. And that vision kind of died down the way I understood it. And the just a few years ago, Dr. James Huang from Korea, he’s a crew man, or sis C man, and we say it in Korea. So that’s like Campus Crue for Christ, which is now known as Crew in America. And sis c is still going very strong in Korea. He was Asis c staff during his medical school, you know, years in Korea. So at his heart discipleship and Evangeline is very strong, and he’s a renowned guy in Korea being an oncologist CEO of a, an honorable hospital and the health supplement products. So, but then because of his, his dna he picked up that billion soul harvest idea and wanted to do something about it. Basically he wants to win at least another billion soul by 2033. And you probably know the importance of 2033, which happenss to be the 2000 year anniversary of Jesus’s crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and Pentacost which gave the birth of church. So, you know
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:55):
I think that would be an appropriate birthday present to give Oh, yeah. To Jesus. Oh,
Young Cho (01:59):
For sure, for
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:00):
Sure. As a celebration of his resurrection.
Young Cho (02:03):
Yeah. And why billion? I think we’re not really limited to 8 billion songs. Actually the world is billion Soul instead of souls harvest billion begins with one soul at a time. So that’s the idea. But then still numerically speaking, we want to see at least a billion born again Christians. Of course, we want all people to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. But by 2033, you know, having <inaudible> is always good, right? So, billion songs, because there are 8 billion people out there. And they say, Rick Warren out at our gathering last December, said there are about 2.65 Christians, but that includes Catholic, Orthodox, and all kinds of, you know, nominal cultural Christians and whatnot. So if you kind of, you know, trim down, it becomes about, you know, 1.2 billion Protestant Christians, you might wanna say 1.2, born again Christians. I don’t know. It depends on, you know, where, where you’re coming from. So and, you know, I think it is safe to say you got about a billion born again Christians, if you kind of consider the nominal Christians. So we want all rest of the 7 billion to be reached with the Gospel of Christ, but at least want to see another billion. So double the size by 2033, hence billion. So harvest
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:36):
Well, I say amen. This is a worthy goal to do for Jesus. So what are some of the strategies and the ideas that you have to accomplish this very large task?
Young Cho (03:49):
Yeah, it is, it is God-sized task, for sure. And we want God-sized task, right? That’s the only way we depend on God. And, and, and He’s the Lord of the harvest. We are not, and we don’t want to call billion soul harvest a movement. You know, we rather want to call it, at least at this stage, a vision, a vision of rich billion soul and making billion soul disciples. So, so far we’ve been really blessed to share the vision, casting the vision all over the world. So strategy is not that we actually win ourselves. It has to be really done by the body of Christ together. You know, billion soul is a big number, and even for me, in the beginning, billion soul, that’s such a huge number. How, how can you accomplish that? And I realized that it cannot be done by one person, one church or denomination for that matter of one, one country.
(04:49):
Either. It has to be done, it has to be done by the body of Christ together. Sorry, my voice is cracking up because I’ve been on the road for a long time. Anyways. So it is important to to have the churches’ denominations coming together. So what we do is we are creating a platform where different movement leaders and Christian leaders come together to share and to unite and to love one another as a body of Christ to reach the world. So in the past couple of years we had multiple global summits that have been quite successful, bringing all the continental or national, you know, global leaders from all around the world, despite, you know, during, you know, the fact that it was during the pandemic. And we had multiple, actually many, many b h or Pius Harvest gatherings all over the world in different countries.
(05:53):
Just this year we traveled 20 countries. So it’s really about casting the vision that every believer is a witness kind of what we hear at this hour. So we’re casting the vision, we’re bringing leaders together. We’re just inspiring and challenging, and recommitting to the great commission that we all agree. Anyways, and let’s do this together. We talk about four grades. One is great. Return two is great, harvest three is great unity, and fourth is great breakthrough. Whenever we go we talk about this four grades when we talk about billions. So harvest, because, you know, great return as you can imagine, and easily think, we’re talking about the return of Jesus, our king, the great return of our Jesus Lord. And we’re not saying that he’s gonna come back on 2033, that’s just an anniversary. But what we are saying is that there is a sense of urgency in our time that Jesus can come anytime, not 2033, but he can come today or tomorrow with everything that’s going on.
(07:05):
We live, we do have a sense of urgency, and we need to have a sense of urgency. And even revelation ends with marata, come, Lord Jesus, come. We want to see his kingdom established on earth. So we are in an ansys anticipation of the great return in a Bible says about the Great harvest, multitude too great to count, will be worshiping the Lord. There will be a great harvest, even matter chapter 24 14, you know, this gospel of the kingdom of God shall be priested to the whole world as a testimony to the nations. Then the end will come. Yeah. So before the great return, it will be preceded by Great harvest. So hence great harvest. And if I May 3rd you know, great is great unity, and I, as I said, it has to be done by the body of Christ coming together united and loving one another.
(08:02):
Because Jesus clearly said, you love one another as I have loved you. And when you love one another, the world will know that you are my disciple. It’s the greatest testimony to the whole world. You know, that we are God’s disciple Christ of disciples of Christ that there is God. It’s the craziest evidence. So great, unity is important, and we need to unite together. And we may be different here and there theologically, one not. But when it comes to saving, you know, winning souls to Christ, we got to do this together. We can agree on that. Amen. Amen. And so hence great unity. And great breakthrough is all about breakthrough, you know, penetration. And and we’re more focused on the prayer because every gospel movement is also preceded by prayer movement. And without prayer, we cannot do this. And there are strong holes out there, and actually strong holes are being broken everywhere by prayers lately.
(09:05):
And we see great harvest everywhere. I mean, it’s just amazing. So part of the strategy we feel important is that, you know, of course the the u PPG groups in Unrich people groups and all that, those are important. But what we see is that there are places that where God is working, you know, in a mighty powerful way. And we like to find the flame where God is at work. You know, I remember experiencing God, you know, you know, don’t try to bring God to where you are working. You go where God is at work, right? I like that. You know? So you know harvest one of the things that we really focus on is to fan the flame, pour the oil. Where is where there is anointing thing, because this world we live in is quite globalized. Our own backyard is the mission field. There are all kinds of up g groups, right in our own network or the you know geographical area of metropolitan. And, and so when you keep flame flaming the, you know, fire it’s going to reach and cover all nations and all ethnics and all people. So
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:26):
I think the Korean church has two great strengths. One is a commitment to prayer. There’s no church in the world that praise as long and as fervently, I think as the, the Korean church. And then the second is a commitment to missions all over the world. I run into Korean missionaries who are giving their lives for the gospel. So what role do you think that God has for the Korean church in this billion soul harvest and over this next decade of evangelism? What do you hope to stir up among the Korean church?
Young Cho (11:06):
Well billion soul harvest is not just for Korean missionaries. Yeah. But obviously, I, I I thank you for thinking and saying highly of Korean church. It is true that even at the very beginning of Korean revival the world mission was at, at the core of their heart. So now we have about 50,000 Korean world missionaries all over the places, including lay people. And so they’re everywhere. It, it just bodies coming together. But going back to billion, so harvest, it’s is really the visionary and the founder is a Korea, but is really not about Korea. It is really about mobilizing the national leaders on the field that they would own the vision of being a witness and being a evangelist to their own kind. Because as a missionary, we can only do so much, you know, with language and culture.
(12:14):
Even if you have 50,000 missionaries Korean and ethnic missionaries out there, they’re not gonna be able to do the task of, you know, winning all people to Christ, the local people, indigenous people, national people. They have to rise and rise up and shine the line of Jesus Christ to everybody. So it is important to empower those people. And, and maybe even as Westerners in, in Korean, a lot of people view as a resource country now we need to really empower and, and, and, and, and serve under so that they can shine, they can do the job. We can’t. Yeah.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:58):
So if someone wants to connect with the Billion Soul Harvest and find out more about you, what is your website?
Young Cho (13:31):
Billionsoulharvest.Net We are based in Colorado Springs US and we have ASO Harvest International Leadership Institute where we train people. And so, and then we have global Summit throughout, you know, maybe one or two times a year. And then many, many national gatherings in the land. Just got back from Sri Lanka and Pakistan and, you know, India and, and <laugh>. I mean, I don’t have to list the names of the countries, but, oh, we are actually going around each country and people are signing up, joining in, in the vision owning up the vision so that they will do something about, you know Metro Chapter 28. You know, go make disciples of all Nations. Amen. Mission. Yeah.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:22):
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism Podcast. I appreciate it.
Young Cho (14:26):
Oh, thank you. Thank you so much for bringing me here. God bless you. God bless you.
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Every Home for Christ | David Schaal
David Schaal is the USA National Mobilizing Director for Every Home for Christ. He works to help pastors and ministries equip their people to carry Christ everywhere they go. Today he shares his testimony about how he was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness but became a believer. We also talk about the statistics behind how Christians in America share their faith.
Learn More About Every Home for Christ: https://everyhomeusa.com/
Also check out: everyhome.org
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus Today. I have a very special guest with me, David Shaw, from Every Home for Christ. Thank you for being on the Evangelism Podcast.
David Schaal (00:12):
Hey, thank you, Dan. Appreciate for the invite. This is exciting. I, I too have that same heart excited about telling people about Jesus. So this is right up my alley.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:21):
That’s awesome. Well, tell me what your position is with every home for Christ and, and, and what you do.
David Schaal (00:27):
Sure. Well, right now, currently I am the USA National Mobilizing director. Meaning simply this is that I, I go out there and help pastors, help churches, help local ministries mobilize their people simply to, to live on mission, to carry Christ wherever they live, wherever they work, wherever they play.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:48):
And tell me a little bit about every home for Christ. I know it’s been around for a long time. You guys have a great history and have done a lot of evangelism. Kind of tell me some of the history and, and what every home for Christ is doing now.
David Schaal (01:03):
Oh, wow. How much time do we have here today? Because you’re right. I mean, I, I have the privilege of working for a ministry, I would say serving in a ministry that, that has really been carrying Christ to the nation, to, to everyone, everywhere and every generation. For now, I think 76 years. So we started out in 1946. And from that point, we, we just continually going and helping churches, helping believers with either resources or training on really caring Christ to the world. And, and that’s really, I would say, kind of in a nutshell of what we’ve done for a, as a ministry who we are, well, we’re simply, we’re a global network of local catalysts. So, so let me explain kind of what that means. We’re in a, we have 180 offices in 155 different nations around the globe. So it’s not like we’re a ministry that sends missionaries to go do the work. We, we come alongside local Catalyst indigenous church, and, and we, we simply help them mobilize their people. So whether, whether it’s in nations of Africa, whether it’s in the Middle East, whether it’s in Russia or where I get to serve right here in the United States, and we do the same thing. All, all the leaders around the globe do the same thing.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:26):
Yeah. I I think it’s really neat. You, you really have a vision to reach every single home for Christ. And, and I’ve encountered your ministry in different countries that we’ve gone to. And so a few years ago, we were in the nation of Belize, and we did a 10 crusades simultaneously in the 10 greatest population centers in Belize. And I got to meet your national director there, Derek Pitts.
David Schaal (02:51):
Oh, my good buddy. That’s my buddy Derek
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:53):
Pitts. Yes. And, you know, he just came alongside the vision that, that we had to people for Jesus and, and served and helped provide literature. And we were able to take that literature into homes, into schools. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> distribute it all across the nation. And you helped to recruit Derek.
David Schaal (03:13):
Oh, <laugh>. And
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:14):
Like, tell, tell me a little bit about that and like, like how you first started that relationship, and then how you’ve been developing leaders in the Caribbean.
David Schaal (03:23):
Well, you know, when I I, I started off with every home for Christ being a, I was a local pastor here in the US before we really had a US focus. So I was a local pastor, but served the ministry of every home for Christ as the Caribbean coordinator at the time. So trying to, to go in and help churches within the, the Caribbean to, to establish the every home for Christ ministry. I mean, what we do is we, we inspire and empower the church to carry Christ to the world. So we wanted to be in every Caribbean nation. One of my trips brought me to the nation of Belize, and just through a series of events I was able to meet Derek. And Derek was a young man at the time. I, I look at him, I don’t know if he would look at me as a spiritual father, but I look at him as a spiritual son, just a, a great leader, a a man full of passion. A a man has such a great gift in this and, and a heart to really reach the law. So when we went into the nation, we found somebody that, that really had a, like mind, had had a, like vision like purpose in life. It was able, just really easy to get behind him and, and really kind of train him and, and teach him and equip him. And he, he took to the leadership and he’s doing such a great job in the nation of Belize.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:35):
Yeah. He, he has become such a wonderful man of God. All right. So you’ve now transitioned from the Caribbean to more of a focus here in the United States. Correct. And so tell me some of, of what you’re trying to accomplish here in the us.
David Schaal (04:51):
Well, simply, I would put it this way, we’re, we’re, again, we’re, we’re doing the same thing. We want to in inspire and empower the church really to carry Christ to the world. That means right here in the US as well. So the way that we do this is we bring pastors together. We believe in serving the local church. We believe in coming alongside pastors and helping pastors and, and outreach leaders to really equip and immobilize their church. So we bring pastors together. We, we, we love on pastors. We, we, we share with, give him a good meal, but at the same time, we share with them the history of things that we have learned and, and, and really how to equip their local church. So, for one of the things that we’ve did a, a nationwide study, we partnered with the Barna group here in the us did a nationwide study simply looking for the, the common practices and the perceptions that the local or the everyday, I would say Christ follower has not, not the evangelists like you and I. Okay, sure. We were talking about the everyday Christ follower. Like what would it take for them to, to share? Are they sharing their faith? Are they if so, what’s working? If not, why not? So we did a huge study. So when I bring pastors together, we kind of relay the kind of the results that study. We, we, we share with them some of the findings we’ve had. And and then,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:10):
And what, what are some of the, the findings? I mean, the Barna Group is the, the gold standard. They are in doing Christian research. Yes. They do such a great job with their research questions and, and, and very valuable insights. Every single time I get a chance to see one of Marna’s research projects, I always purchase it and get ahold of it. Great. Because it, it really gives insights into today’s generation. So, so what are some of those insights that you found in your research?
David Schaal (06:37):
Well, this will, so we, we want to know what the, what the common practice and perceptions were. Yeah. So the perceptions, like, you know, and I think, I think if that there’s a maybe a belief out there in the church that, you know, Christians are anti evangelism, right? They don’t, they don’t want evangelism or they, they’re not doing evangelism for whatever reason. So we wanna know, is that true? You know, not just an assumption, but is it true? So, yeah. So Barna did this complete study, and one of the questions they ask is really, really telling. They ask, do you, and if you do, how often do you pray for an opportunity to share your faith? So they ask the everyday, Christian, are you praying for opportunities? If you do, how often? 72% of those surveyed responded that they pray at least once a month to share their faith.
(07:24):
Wow. Oh, that’s exciting news. Yeah. 40% of those said that they prayed daily for that opportunity. You know what that tells me, Daniel, it tells me the church is not anti evangelism. They’re praying for opportunities to go out there and to share their faith. Another question we asked was like, what are you willing to do? Are you willing to pray for somebody? Are you willing to show hospitality? Are you willing to share your own faith story? We had about four or five different things they asked. And in every one of those things we asked, what is the Christian willing to do? They were either very willing, willing, somewhat willing, or not willing. Very willing and willing was in the high 90 percentiles on all of that. Which, which for me, I was excited. Cause I’m thinking that’s the bride of Christ. They, they want to brag about the bride groom, right. That they, they want to share their
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:13):
Faith. Yeah. That’s actually good news.
David Schaal (08:15):
Oh, it’s great news. And,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:16):
And, and for the church, you know, sometimes people think of, of Prosci slys in negative terms. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> like, oh, I don’t wanna shove my beliefs down someone’s throat. Okay. Yeah. But I think if you were to like, are you willing to share your faith story mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, then people are much more willing.
David Schaal (08:34):
Exactly. Exactly. So to do that, now, check this out. There’s another question. We said, okay, well, how often are you doing it? Or if the opportunity came up, would you share your faith? So remember, 72% are praying for opportunities in the high nineties are willing or somewhat willing or willing to do different activities. But 85% of those said that they allow a barrier to keep them from sharing their faith. When the opportunity comes. Now, to me as a researcher, that there’s a gap there. Wait a minute. You have these people praying for opportunities, they’re willing to do this, but when the opportunity comes, 85% said they don’t do that. So we went a little bit deeper into that and said, okay, well what, what are some of those barriers? So in this survey, simply 15% said they would not allow a barrier to stop them.
(09:27):
They would share their faith. The 85 picked a certain barrier. So the top three barriers, I think are very telling. Number one, the number one barrier with simply this, is that the, the believer did not want to be come off as confrontational, pushy, argumentative. And I get that. I mean, I don’t want, I’m not, I don’t wanna start an argument with somebody. Yeah. So, so whether taught or caught, they, it would, they’re understanding they didn’t wanna argue evangelism, right? So, so they, somewhere they thought that the participating in evangelism, you gotta call people out on their sin. You gotta tell. And, and you mentioned that that’s not good news. Now, please understand, the whole reason that Jesus came was cuz of the sin issue. So, I mean, we gotta deal with that at some point. But, but we’re saying, well, does it have to be at the genesis of the conversation? Does it have to be the very first thing you share with somebody? Do you, do you have to have a script that tells you this is the way you have to do it? Or is it a bride bragging about the bride groom? Yeah. The number two barrier.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:27):
And I like in Romans too, it says that it’s the goodness of God that draws men to repentance.
David Schaal (10:31):
Yes.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:32):
Yeah. So if you start with the goodness of God, yes.
David Schaal (10:34):
It’s so good. So
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:36):
Good. It draws people to, they want to have a relationship with Jesus.
David Schaal (10:39):
Yeah. Yeah. I, I love it. And, and, and it’s, it works. I mean, it, it really, it really, really works. The, the number two barrier was simply this and get this, the, the believer didn’t share their faith. The barrier was this, that they didn’t feel qualified. Now we went a little bit deeper. This is the word that came out in the interviews, the word shame. That they were ashamed. They weren’t ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They knew it was the power of salvation. They were ashamed of their representation of the gospel. Meaning, how can I go and share my faith with my coworker Dan when, when Dan knows that I have an anger issue, or I struggle with lust, or I fill in the blank. And so simply what they’re saying is they didn’t want to be a hypocrite. How, how?
(11:21):
I don’t want to be a hypocrite, so I’m not good enough to do that. The third barrier was this, was that they didn’t know what to say. They didn’t know how to communicate without being pushy, confrontational argumentative and or hypocritical. So as a ministry, that’s what we’ve done in the US is we, we we’ve developed, understood what these problems are, these gaps. And we developed training that a local pastor could use to train his or her church on mobilizing them, overcoming these barriers. And, and that’s what one of our biggest in helping the local church in America. And we have found time, after time, after time, this is the result after an individual goes through, through a training. I didn’t know this was evangelism. If that was ave I would be doing that every day. And it’s like, yes, go out now. Please hear my heart.
(12:10):
Yes, we gotta take care and we gotta deal with the sin issue. Matter of fact, the Bible tells us the Holy Spirit does that. The Bible tells us in John I believe it’s chapter 16, that the Holy Spirit will convict the world according to sin, righteous, and judgment. Right. We just need to introduce them and bring the presence of holy spirits in their life by what you’re saying, sharing about the goodness of God, sharing them how good evangelism. I would say this is not telling people how bad they are, but it’s telling people how great Jesus is. And if the church would do that, and they’re willing to do that, think about how we would just kind of move that needle of the church. It wouldn’t be 85%, if we get to 85% just out there bragging about Jesus, just think of, of what that would affect the church, but not only the church, but the lives of the individuals who are living right now to a christless eternity. If they understood that there was a Jesus that loved him, that Jesus cared about them, that, that, that they’re not the objects of God’s wrath, but there’s a subject of his love. Oh, let me tell you the church, we have a great message to share.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:12):
Yeah. Amen. Well, I I go do large evangelistic crusades in different countries around the world, and so many different religions are represented. I never say anything to attack the local religion. I just lift up Jesus. Yes. Yes. And I think that when people see how good Jesus is Yeah. They will be attracted to him. Exactly. Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men on me. That’s right. That’s right. And, and, and so, you know, I start by telling them, this is what Jesus did in Bible times. And then I share some testimonies. This is what Jesus has done in the lives of some of these people. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and I share my testimony. This is what Jesus has done in my life. You’re sure. And then I tell ’em, this is what Jesus can do in your life. And by the end of the message, my goal is to make Jesus irresistible so that people cannot say no to Jesus. Exactly. Because I think when people see Jesus for who he is, it, it just opens up their hearts. Right. And, and then they’re, they’re quick and, and ready to say, yes, Jesus, please forgive my sins. Yes. Because they see, wow, Jesus died for me. He really gave his life so that I could have life.
David Schaal (14:15):
Yeah. You just shared my testimony. I mean, that’s, that’s my testimony. I was raised at Jehovah’s Witness. Wow. So, so I, I was in a realistic, this is
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:22):
Very legalistic.
David Schaal (14:23):
Very
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:23):
Legalistic. Works driven. Very
David Schaal (14:25):
Works driven. Yeah. You had, you had to go knock on doors. You had to sell, watch channel wake magazines. We went to five church services a week.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:33):
In fact, when I flew into Phoenix here mm-hmm. <Affirmative> to yesterday at the airport, I saw some watch tower people there with a,
David Schaal (14:40):
You know, why they’re doing that? Because that’s them earning their way to heaven. They don’t understand the grace of Jesus Christ. They don’t, they don’t understand. It’s already been paid. It’s already been paid. But people ask all the time, David, how did you, what, what scripture? What track? What, what did they say to you that caused you to lead the Jehovah Witness religion and become a Christian? And you know what? I can’t think of a track. I can’t think of a scripture. I’ll tell you another thing they didn’t do. I do not remember my friend Tracy, my friend Mike. I had many friends in high school, but Tracy and Mike shared Jesus with me. I can’t remember one time they told me I was a bad person, and it was, I had sin in my life. No, I did. Don’t get me wrong. Right. But they never called me out on it. You know what they did? They made Jesus irresistible till I got to the point that said, how could I not say yes to this Jesus.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:32):
Wow.
David Schaal (15:33):
That’s evangelism.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:35):
Praise God. Yes. And, and so walk me through that process. How did you go from being a Jehovah’s witness to finally saying yes to Jesus?
David Schaal (15:43):
Well I, it was, it was it, it didn’t happen in one conversation. Yeah. my entire senior year of high school, I, I think my friends who were Christians that, that I’ve been going to school with all since elementary school, I think they realized, Hey, we have one year left with David, so let’s, let’s kind of, whenever we get an opportunity, let’s share Jesus with them in some way. Somehow. some of it was very positive. Obviously I’m a Christian today, others of I had one of my classmates, she wrote this in my, in my senior yearbook. David read a real Bible <laugh>, you know, now was she speaking truth? Yeah. I need to re read a real bible cuz Joe Woodes had their own Bible. But that probably wasn’t love. I can’t say that that convinced me to, to look more into Jesus Christ.
(16:27):
But my friend Mike and Tracy, any opportunity they had, they continually, over time, over time, a process of multiple conversations. I, I would, I would be, be guessing, I would say hundreds of conversations they had with me about my faith and been them sharing me about their faith and what Jesus is doing in their life till the end of my school year. So probably nine months of senior year in high school where I just got to the point that said, I, I need, I, I need this. Jesus. You see, I saw peace. I saw contentment. I saw joy. I saw the fruits of the spirit in, in the life of my friend Tracy and, and her family. No, I didn’t know. I couldn’t call it out. What I did know was they, they had something I didn’t have. And I wanted it, and I wanted Jesus. Then Tracy said, was Jesus. I’m like, well, then I want that. And as soon as I said yes to Jesus, I started feeling that same joy and that commitment and that peace in my life. So that, that’s what we’re called to do. We’re called to share Jesus to, to those that God’s put in our world. And I praise God, Tracy and Mike did that. And, and, and I want to make sure I do that to as many people that God puts in my life as well.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:33):
Yeah. Let’s talk about how you help churches and pastors. So you were a pastor mm-hmm. <Affirmative> for many years before you, you started doing what you’re doing now. And if, if you, if a pastor came to you and say, how can I get my to be more evangelistic? Like, I want the people in my church to, to be bolder at sharing their faith. What are one or two things that you would share with the pastor
David Schaal (17:58):
Today? Only, only one or two <laugh>. I have a list of here, you know with the ministry of Very Home for Christ, we, we have, we have training and resources that, that we would, we, we give at, at they, they cost a lot of money, but, but we, we give at no cost. We really wanna serve the local church. Somebody, we have generous donors that say, Hey, let’s, let’s mobilize the American church. So we, we, we pass that on to the lo. So that’s one area. But, but I would say this, what what really works would be a, a couple things. One would be the pastor needs to share his or her experience in, in evangelizing outside the church. So when I pastor, there’d be many times I would share during an announcement time, Hey, let me share you with you.
(18:43):
What, what, what happened this week? Hey, I met a, I at the grocery store this week. I encountered this person or whatever. Yeah. I would share my experiences because the, the congregation is gonna mimic what the pastor’s doing. Yeah. So if the pastor is not, I would say the first thing for pastor is Pastor, you need to be out there living on, living on mission, sharing your faith outside of your pulpit ministry pastor. You need to be out there doing it, and you need to share that. The second thing is that I would have people every week on Sunday give a testimony of what their activities were. So somebody would come to me, Hey, pastor, I prayed with my class week today. Hey, today at church, I just want you to take 30 seconds. I want you to tell the church you did that.
(19:26):
And what that did is that showed that we made it, well, what we made that as an important aspect that this is what church is about, where about equipping the church, do the work of the kingdom. And so we’d have people come up and give testimony. Children, elementary school, high schoolers, college age, I mean, adults, whoever came to me and said, Hey, I wanna tell you what I did. Hey, you’re gonna tell the church today. But the other thing is this, is that we didn’t just chair the victories. Hey, this person said yes to Jesus. Hey, I got to pray with this person. Person would come to me at church, say, oh, pastor, I tried evangelism. As a matter of fact, I I was talking to my class today, and they all laughed at me. I said, you know what? I want you to share that with the church today.
(20:08):
You see, I think we got to a point in the church where all we did is share the victories and the wins. And not every time we share faith is there gonna be a victory or win. So what we celebrated wasn’t victory wins. We celebrated obedience in the church. So we would have people sharing stories like, oh, I tried this, but it fell flat on my face. But at least I tried. And we would clap for them. We would cheer them on because we wanted to celebrate obedience in the church. And the more you create a, that’s how you create a culture of an evangelistic culture in your church, is by giving testimony, sharing stories. People want to hear stories, not they need to hear their pastor stories, but they need to hear other people’s stories, both the highs and the lows. Because what that does, that makes a person say, oh, I could do that.
(20:53):
Yeah. And or if I, or if they fail, oh, it’s all right, so-and-so failed too, but, you know, I’m gonna give another try. So those are just a, a couple of the things that, that I would really encourage the, the church. But you need to, you pastor you, you need to make it a priority. If you’re not making it a priority, your church is gonna make it a priority. We make a lot of things priority in the church. And, and whatever you’re best at in the church, you, you may have the best worship team. That’s your priority. You, you may have the greatest offering because you make a priority of offerings. You want an evangelistic church, you want a church that’s winning the loss. Make winning the loss a priority in your church.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:30):
Yeah. Amen. And I think every church should have that as a priority.
David Schaal (21:34):
Sure. I agree.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:35):
Well, if someone wants to get connected to every home for Christ, or they want to take advantage of some of the, the resources that you offer, or even to help support you guys, how can they find out more information? What’s, what’s your website? Sure.
David Schaal (21:49):
The, the website is very easy. It’s everyhome.org that, that’s our global international ministry website. And, and that will take you, give you opportunities to see what’s happening around the globe. So we spent the most of the time talking about kind of where I work, and that is in the US and how, but,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:07):
But overview kind of, of what’s happening in other countries too. Well,
David Schaal (22:10):
You know, globally, I mean, like I mentioned earlier, we’re, we’re in 155 nations probably have 180 offices. And, and like I mentioned before, we’re, we’re, we’re a global network of local catalysts, meaning that the, the work is going and, and pastors all around the globe are, are being equipped to be catalyst to carry Christ to their world. So, so many, I say we have 155 offices, offices, we may have 155 different ways that we’re carrying Christ around, around the globe. But, but it’s continuing to grow all the time. What we’re, we’re seeing people let me just say this. Numbers are big and, and things like that, but, you know, we’ve been around for now 76 years, but prop, approximately 334,000 believers every month are carrying Christ to the world through the ministry of every home for Christ.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:06):
Wow. That’s amazing.
David Schaal (23:07):
It is amazing. I mean, I, I’m just, it gives me goosebumps. Sometimes you see a big number like that, you’re like, wow. But you know what? We need more. We, we, the, the, the church, we, we need everybody to come on board and participate in the mission that God has called us to the, the Great Commission, which I call, it’s our common mission. And that’s what God’s called us to. So everyhome.org is our, is our global national headquarters website for the ministry right here in the usa. It’s everyhomeusa.com. So you can go to everyhomeusa.com and you could see kind of the things that we, that we have as far as pro what we produce for, for churches, specifically for pastors. Because we believe this, we, we wanna stand behind a pastor. I could go to your church just like you can, Dan, we could go to church.
(23:55):
We could, we could encourage, we could train a church on how to evangelize that church gets excited that day until the next Sunday when they have another guest speaker. Yeah. Encouraging you something. But if the pastor trains his or her church, it now becomes the pastor’s vision and now becomes the culture of the church because the pastor led it. We’re big believers and come alongside that, that local pastor inspiring and empowering that pastor and the church to carry Christ to wherever they’re at. And that’s really what we do around the globe. So without going into detail, every little nuance, that’s kind of the bottom line. We, we inspire and empower the church to carry Christ.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:43):
That’s awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism podcast.
David Schaal (24:47):
I Appreciate it. Oh, I appreciate the invite. Thank you so much, Dan. God bless you.
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Calling All Great Commission Workers to Amsterdam 2023 | Ashley Wilson
In June of 2023 there is going to be a massive gathering of evangelists, missionaries, pastors, and people who care about the Great Commission in Amsterdam. You are invited to be at the table and lend your voice to the effort to reach EVERYONE on earth with the Gospel. Today I talk with Ashley Wilson from Empowered21 about this amazing event and why you need to attend.
The questions we talk about:
What is Amsterdam 2023?
Who should come to Amsterdam 2023?
How can someone register for the event?
What is Empowered21?
What is the Holy Spirit doing in missions over the next ten years?
Be a part:
Come to Amsterdam 2023: https://amsterdam2023.com/
Join the Global Evangelist Alliance: https://globalevangelistalliance.com/
Connect with Empowered21: https://empowered21.com/
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. Today I have a very special guest with me, Ashley Wilson. Thank you for joining me on the Evangelism Podcast.
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (00:11):
Hey, Daniel, I’m excited to be here and, and glad to talk about evangelism and what God’s doing with you.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:16):
Well, we are very excited about what is coming up because in Amsterdam this June 21, 22, 23, and 24, there is going to be a gathering of great commission, believers, evangelists, pastors, ministers from all over the world coming together in Amsterdam. And this is going to be one of the most significant historical events that have taken place in the body of Christ probably in my lifetime. Yeah. And so tell me a little bit about what God is going to do in Amsterdam.
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (00:51):
Yeah, we’re really excited about what’s getting ready to happen in the next few weeks. I want to say if you’re an evangelist listening to this podcast, you need to be in Amsterdam, June 21st through the 24th. If you can’t get there, then make sure that you block out some time during those dates so that you can join us online as well. But it’s gonna be a gathering of several thousand great commission focused leaders, evangelists, missionaries, pastors from all over the world, talking about what we can do to get the gospel to every person on earth in the next decade. 2033 is going to be the 2000 year anniversary of the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And we believe that it’s possible to complete the Great Commission or fulfill the great commission by getting the gospel to every person, all eight plus billion of them on Earth over the next decade. If we work together, I think we can do it. And so we’re gonna be talking about that, praying about that collaborating with one another around that topic in Amsterdam. And I think it’s gonna change the direction of the church for our generation.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:06):
Now, this initiative is led by the Global Evangelist Alliance, which is a, a group of some of the greatest evangelists that are alive today. And the Global Evangelist Alliance is under Empowered 21, which is a gathering of spirit empowered believers who believe in the power of the Holy Spirit and believe that the Holy Spirit is needed for world evangelism. And so tell us a little bit about the history of Empowered 21 and how the Global Evangelist Alliance was launched and how this whole plan for Amsterdam started being birthed. Sure.
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (02:47):
So in Power 21, really the genesis of it happened around 2006, which was the hundred year anniversary of the Asuza Street Revival. When we gathered leaders from all of the different streams of Christianity that could trace their roots back to Asuza Street, gathered them together to celebrate what the Holy Spirit had done over the first century since the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Asuza Street. Fast forward a couple of years, and there were some changes at Roberts University happening, and a number of leaders who were involved in that change said, you know, what’s the purpose of Oral Roberts University? And from that they said, you know, the purpose of this place is to be a, a a a, a vessel of leadership for the Pentecostal and Charismatic Church around the world. So they begin to have some discussions. They begin to talk with a number of these leaders who had been together at the Asuza Street Centennial in 2006.
(03:45):
They said, what is the whole, we know what the Holy Spirit did over the last century, but what does the Holy Spirit want to do in our century? What is he calling us to do together? And out of those conversations, they came up with this vision, which I believe really is the, the heart of God, which is for every person on earth to have an authentic encounter with Jesus through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit by 2033. And so Empowered 21 is a relational leadership network that brings leaders from all the different streams of the body of Christ who believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, brings them together around this vision. Can we get the gospel to every person on earth by 2033? And so that’s what we’re trying to do at Amsterdam.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:31):
Now, in the early years of the Pentecostal movement, going back to a Zeus street, Pentecostals suffered from a lot of misunderstanding and even persecution sometimes where people thought they were a little weird. Well, fast forward to today, and the Pentecostal charismatic spirit empowered movement is the fastest growing movement in the entire body of Christ. And now there are millions of spirit empowered believers around the world, and they are on the forefront of what God is doing. Evangelistically, I love going and doing crusades in, in different nations. And, and at our crusades, we preach that Jesus Christ is the same. Yesterday, today and forever the same Jesus who healed people 2000 years ago can heal people today, the same Holy Spirit that was poured out on the day of Pentecost can be poured out on people today. And we see God do tremendous miracles, tremendous signs and wonders.
(05:37):
And because of that, a lot of people get saved and the churches grow. And we found that around the world, especially in the the majority world Africa, Asia, the churches that are growing are the ones that believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. They’re casting out demons, they’re praying for the sick, they’re praying for people to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And, and so there seems to be a transition in the body of Christ that to towards an acknowledgement that we need a fresh move of the Holy Spirit, if we’re really going to fulfill the Great Commission, we need the Holy Spirit. Yeah,
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (06:17):
I think you’re absolutely right, Daniel. And you brought up some good points. You know, Todd Johnson from the Center for Global Christianity at Gordon Conwell he says that there’s approximately 650 million and that data’s a couple years old, but 650 million, what we would term spirit empowered Christians in the world right now. So from from zero at approx, you know, a few handful at Asuza Street in 1906, fast forward a hundred and, you know, 15 years later, and there’s 650 million. So this is the spirit empowered movement within Christianity is one of the fastest growing movements in history. Religious movements in history and what’s happening around the world is explosive. The truth is the formula of the Book of Acts works when you believe that God is breaking in and intervening in people’s lives, and that he can heal, he can deliver, he can set free, that Jesus is who he says he is, and he can do what he says he can do then the Holy Spirit breathes on that.
(07:22):
And God does amazing things. And so that’s why we’re seeing this explosive growth. And the truth is, when you think about the number of people on Earth today, there’s 8 billion plus. We went over the 8 billion number in November, according to the United Nations, 8 billion plus. My dad likes to, to say, if you tried to count to 8 billion starting from the day you were born and never stop, to take a breath, to go to the bathroom, to have anything, to eat, to sleep, you could count for 120 530 years and still not reach 8 billion. Just trying to count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. There’s a lot of people on planet Earth. And the truth is to reach them is gonna require a variety of different strategies. But we believe that the Holy Spirit is creative enough that he’s gonna birth inside of us and birth inside of his church and inside of his people, all of the different ways and ideas and methods that are needed to get the gospel to every person on earth, from the Wall Street millionaire in New York City, to the child who’s living on a trash sheep in Manila, Philippines, Jesus died for each and every one of them.
(08:35):
And we believe God is gonna give us the the ability to reach them with the gospel.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:41):
And the work that Jesus did on the cross to bring salvation to all of us is really the, the heartbeat of Amsterdam 2023 and what God is going to do there. And so, let, let’s talk about Amsterdam 2023. What are some of the things that are planned? Who’s coming and why should people do everything they possibly can to get there? Yeah. And to participate? Yeah.
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (09:05):
Well it’s gonna be really a who’s who of leaders from all over the body of Christ, not just in the Pentecostal and charismatic stream, but a number of our evangelical brethren are gonna be joining us serving with us the Palau organization, the Billy Graham organization’s gonna be there. Christ for All Nations is gonna be there. Rick Warren is gonna be there. Christine Kane is gonna be there. They’ll be over 150 key leaders from all over the world who will be speaking and sharing in general sessions and in workshops. But all of that’s gonna happen over the first three days of the event when we’re at the Rye Convention Center. But I really believe the heart of the meeting is gonna happen around round tables. We’re gonna have collaborative sessions every day where leaders will gather with people from their region who speak their language and will talk about the themes of the meeting and how they can contextualize that into where they live.
(10:03):
So we’re gonna talk about this vision of reaching every person. What does that look like to re personalize the Great commission? You’ll gather with people around round tables and talk about that. We’re gonna talk about what are new strategies that are emerging, new methods of evangelism, and how can you use those in your context? And then we’re gonna talk about Gen Z and Gen Alpha. You know, I’m a a dad of three teenagers. I don’t understand what my teenagers are saying half the time because they speak a totally different language and operate and think in a totally different way. If we’re gonna reach every person on Earth, then we have to know how to reach Gen Z and Gen Alpha. And so we’re gonna talk about that in these collaborative sessions where you’re meeting with leaders from around the world. Then we’re gonna take those sessions, the input that you give us from those round tables, and we’re gonna compile that and come up with some trends to say, okay, this is what we see the Holy Spirit is doing. This is what the Holy Spirit is saying around these issues. So I think it’s very important if you’re a leader of any capacity that you’re there in the room in Amsterdam, so that you can have some input into this process as we talk about reaching every person on Earth.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:17):
Yeah. One of the benefits I think of going is going to be the relationships that are going to come out of this, because you have so many like-minded people coming together in, in one place. The people you’re gonna meet, the, the friendships that are going to develop relationships are the currency of the Kingdom of heaven. Just yesterday, I was talking to a friend from Pakistan, and I’ve done some crusades with him in Pakistan, and he was asking me, you know, why should I come to Amsterdam? What’s, is this just another conference? Cuz he goes to conferences from time to time. I said, no, this is gonna be much more just a, a conference. This is going to be an event. And it it really is something spiritual that happens too. Back in 1983 mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, the Billy Graham organization hosted a big gathering in Amsterdam.
(12:08):
And at that time, they brought thousands of evangelists together from around the world. And in that meeting in 1983, really set the tone for what God has done. And now this big event Amsterdam 2023 is almost to the day, 40 years later from what God did through Billy Graham and is his heart for evangelism. And I remember when I was a young evangelist, I found a big book mm-hmm. <Affirmative> that Billy Graham’s organization had put out with all of the different sessions from some of the, the great evangelists from 40 years ago. And that book really impacted my life as a young evangelist. I was gonna say, man, I wish I could have been there just listening to the heart of all of these great men and women of God talking about God’s heartbeat for the world. And, and so at this Amsterdam event 40 years later, I really feel that this could set the tone for what God is going to do in a new generation.
(13:09):
It’s a new era of evangelism, it’s a new time of, of evangelism. The the heart of God is the same, but the methods are different now. We live in a completely different world. The challenges we face are probably even greater than the challenges that they faced 40 years ago. But I think by coming together and talking and building relationships and hearing about what God has put on different hearts and different organizations, that we’re gonna see an amazing synergy that’s gonna come out of this for especially this next decade leading up to 2033, the 2000 year anniversary of the day of Pentecost.
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (13:47):
Yeah. you know, Daniel, you, you, you know the history well, I also had that compendium from the 1983. I got it when I was, I think 22 years old. Someone gave it to me. And I flipped through that over the years many times. It’s a, it’s a great resource. What Graham did in 1983, and then they had another meeting in 86 and another meeting in 2000 was groundbreaking. And I believe it set the direction for the church in the previous generation from those grand meetings really came a lot of the impetus around unreached people groups focusing on the 10 40 window, focusing on unreached people groups. And I personally believe that that was the challenge for my father’s and grandfather’s generation. But for my generation and your generation and the generation of my children, I believe the Holy Spirit is raising the bar.
(14:43):
It’s not enough just to reach the nations of the earth, but I believe God is also interested in reaching each person on earth. That’s why Jesus said in Matthew, go and preach the gospel to everyone. That’s why Paul says to Tim, to Timothy, I want prayers for everyone because God, our savior wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. And so I think what is happening is we live in a day and age when it is possible to get the gospel to every person on earth, but it’s gonna take a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit and it’s gonna take us collaborating together. And so what’s gonna happen, I believe in Amsterdam, is the Holy Spirit is gonna raise the bar. He’s gonna raise the target for our generation, not just every nation or every people group on earth, but let’s get the gospel to every individual on Earth in the next decade.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:40):
And that is going to be an amazing initiative, everyone on Earth. It’s a, it’s impossible in human thinking, but with God all things are possible. Absolutely. And I think if the body of Christ comes together and, and starts thinking, how do we reach everyone on earth, that God will give us the creative ideas to make it happen, and it’s gonna take the entire body of Christ working together, collaborating together, celebrating one another, and the Empower 21 and the Global Evangelist Alliance as, as part of this 10 year effort to reach everyone on earth, we’re going to be targeting entire nations. We’re talking about next year going to El Salvador. Yeah. And reaching every single person in El Salvador. And so I brought this vision to my home Church Victory Church here in Tulsa. And they said, oh, we want to send 120 teenagers from our school to come down to go into the schools to minister to the people in El Salvador. And so the whole purpose of this is to mobilize from the youngest to the oldest, the entire body of Christ to, to go out and to lead people to Jesus.
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (16:55):
Yeah. And, and I’m super excited about where I, I see God leading us over the next 10 years. You know, the g is taking great leadership in this process. And, and you know, we could, we could choose a country every quarter and still not get anywhere close to being finished with all the nations on earth over the next 10 years. But I think what the GE is trying to do is to set a catalytic example to say, okay, we as a team are gonna collaborate together and we’re gonna take this nation and we’re gonna say every person in this nation is gonna hear the gospel over the next year. And so I think that’s an amazing example. And what’s gonna happen, I believe as we go through the next decade is God’s gonna touch the hearts of people all over the world, and they’re gonna grab that vision and say, what’s it gonna take for me to get the gospel to every person in my neighborhood, to every person in my city, to every person in my nation, to every person in the places where I live and work and have influence.
(17:58):
And as that happens, we’re gonna see God begin to move. And then I, I also believe there’s gonna be people that are be challenged to say, okay, what does it look like to get the gospel to people who have absolutely no connection to Jesus and no way to know about him. You know, when we’re talking about getting the gospel to every person on earth, the real challenge for us is gonna be China and North India, to be honest. I mean, those are the places where there’s billions of people who have not heard the name of Jesus. And so I think one of the things that’s gonna happen out of Amsterdam is God’s gonna really inspire some creativity in people and put some seeds in people’s heart that are gonna help us get over that hump and help us reach those people with the gospel in an accelerated fashion as we head towards the 2000 year anniversary of of Christ’s sacrifice for us.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:47):
So if you are excited about the Great Commission, if you are a leader or a future leader in what God is doing here in the world, I encourage you to go and sign up to come to Amsterdam 2023. The website is Amsterdam 2020 three.com. And I’d also encourage you to check out the global evangelist alliance.com because by joining the, the ge, the Global Evangelist Alliance, you can get connected to all of these big evangelism initiatives that are going to be taking place over the next decade. There’s some great resources, therefore, evangelist, we’ve got an Evangelism masterclass with many of the greatest evangelists that are live today teaching on evangelism and, and equipping people on how to witness how to share their faith both to one-on-one and to the masses of people. And then if you wanna find out more about Empower 21, go to empower 20 one.com and you can find out more about what the Holy Spirit is doing around the world.
(19:55):
But the main thing I’d encourage you to do right now, go to Amsterdam 2023 and Amsterdam 2020 three.com and sign up to come to this amazing event that’s gonna take place in Amsterdam, June 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of 2023. It’s coming up really quickly and, and so, but there’s still time for you to get your plane tickets, to get some hotels over there. Come to this massive gathering of great commission believers because we need you at the table. We need your ideas, we need your contribution to the discussion of what God is going to take place, and I think it will do something significant in your life.
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (20:39):
Yeah, absolutely. And thank you, Daniel for for allowing me to share today. And if you’re listening to the podcast, make sure that you, you find me at Amsterdam 2023 and say hello. It’s gonna be an amazing gathering of, of people who are on fire for Jesus and excited about reaching every person on earth with the gospel.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:01):
Ashley Wilson, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (21:04):
Podcast. Thank you, Daniel.