1 877-431-4276

Yearly Archives: 2025

Evangelism in France | Leave the Shore | Timothée Paton

Timothée Paton is an evangelist passionate about reaching France with the Gospel. On today’s episode of the Evangelism Podcast, we discusses the current spiritual state of France, noting that while churches have grown in size, the presentation of the gospel message has often been lacking. Timothée shares his vision to bring the clear, simple gospel presentation back to the forefront of church services. Timothée also talks about using short gospel stories and radio spots to effectively communicate the good news. He challenges believers to leave their comfort zones and take the gospel to the “deep end” – the unreached areas of France and the Francophone world. He expresses optimism about the opportunities to reach the French, particularly through the influx of believers from Africa, and calls for more missionaries to minister in the rural, traditionally Catholic regions of the country.

Buy the Book: Leave the Shore: https://amzn.to/3WGhpko

Learn more about Timothée Paton: https://timotheepaton.com/

Transcript: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. And today I have a very special guest all the way from France, Timothée Paton, thank you for joining me today.

Timothée Paton (00:16):
Thank you Daniel. It, it’s a joy to be with you. We met once that’s back in Amsterdam, 2023 if I remember. Well,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:27):
Yeah, that was at the everyone conference there with Dr. Billy Wilson. God gave Dr. Wilson from Oral Roberts University a vision to reach everyone on Earth with the gospel before 2033, the 2000 year anniversary of the first day of Pentecost. And so I believe that’s a vision that comes from God. It goes right in line with the Great Commission. And the Great Commission is something that you are very excited about. Tell me a little bit about what God is doing in France right now.

Timothée Paton (01:04):
Well, I got excited probably because my parents got excited about serving in France 60 years ago. I mean, my mom and dad are very similar to yours. They left the comfort of a wealthy or Christian nation and they came to a place where the gospel was not very known. So my parents came, my dad from Glasgow, Scotland, my mom from Birmingham, England, I have none of their accent. And I was born as an MK right here in the central of France where it was tough back in 1964, I was told. And in 2025, it’s still a tough place, but as you know, France like Western Europe is wide open. We can tell people about Jesus anywhere, anytime. So I’m excited. I guess I got excited when I saw that mom and dad found the best thing to do in the world was to tell people in France about Jesus.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:07):
And what are you seeing God do in France through your ministry right now?

Timothée Paton (02:14):
Well, when we got married about three and a half years ago, after many years in Southeast Asia, I realized that I left France in 1999, came back in 2019, and then I realized maybe by going overseas, when you come back, you see what you couldn’t see so well because you were part of the picture. So when you leave the picture and come back into the picture, I realized that churches in France had great services. Churches were bigger than 20 years before almost mega churches in Paris and a few other places. But now realize the worship is good. The church building is top-notch. You could be in California and the service is so good, people are very welcoming. But something interesting had changed from in the nineties, the preaching of the gospel, which used to be in the Assemblies of God, where I was brought up on Sunday afternoon.

(03:24):
Jesus saved only at 3:30 PM on Sunday afternoon. And we prayed for the sick when the service came to the end. But since that gospel meeting has been taken away, we took away the gospel meeting, but we took away the gospel and the meeting. So the preaching of the gospel, the A, B, C, as Bonky used to say the A, B, C was dropped out of the Sunday morning service. So I realized it was time to bring the gospel back. It doesn’t have to be on Sunday afternoon, but it has to be back at the heart of the church. So my wife and I realized that the best thing we can do is to ask pastors in France who invite us to speak. What about if we had a gospel service on Sunday morning? And for some pastors, the two don’t go together Sunday morning gospel service.

(04:24):
And we said, Jesus can save on Sunday morning. And many of them would say, Hey, I mean they wouldn’t say so plainly, but I could read between the lines Sunday morning is a service for God’s people. And I said, well, you’d be surprised if we have a gospel service on Sunday morning. How many people in your church will actually respond when the call is given publicly to turn to Jesus? And we’ve had these gospel services on Sunday. I preach the gospel, people respond, and I love the look on the pastor’s face. And he says, wow, this lady’s been in my church for 20 years. She’s been worshiping where he thinks she’s been worshiping. She’s been singing, now she’s going to worship because she’s born again.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:19):
Amen. And one of the things I really like on your website is you talk about having gospel talk and not making it boring, but making it interesting using stories. Give us some examples of what you would recommend to a pastor to include in a gospel talk on Sunday morning. How do we take it from being just a boring, sometimes condemning presentation of facts to making it dynamic and interesting, using stories in a way that communicate the truth of the good news?

Timothée Paton (06:04):
Well, I think stories are the best way to captivate any audience. And we sometimes think stories are for kids in Sunday school so they can hear another Bible story. But everyone is made, it’s in our DNA, people respond. You can see the body language of the congregation actually rise when the preacher says back in 1924, there was the famous Russian clown that would go around the country and people suddenly the body language will change. And I realized that there’s nothing more powerful than a story. I think our sermons are like bonkers, bonkers are in the Second World War. You had these very tight buildings with soldiers, with hide, no windows

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:03):
Made out of concrete, very

Timothée Paton (07:04):
Hard concrete. So it’s good to have the doctrine. It is good to have sound teaching, but if you don’t have windows in your house, you’ll suffocate. And we have too many suffocating sermons from the pulpit. So we need windows to get the light through. But you can’t build a sermon on windows alone. You need some windows. I think Billy Graham had a window, a story every seven or eight minutes to keep the audience captivated, but also to bring the light on the word. So one of the keys of gospel talk, we’ve given it another name since I’m back in France, it’s called Luter. It’s like a circle of people who are together to proclaim the gospel and one of the keys to captivate your audience anywhere in the world. I’ve seen it from Colombia to New Zealand to Finland and France. Wherever you go, whether you have very wealthy people or your stick somewhere in the bush of Africa, everyone responds to a story.

(08:16):
So one of the keys that I teach in these gospel talk sessions is I plead pastors and preachers and missionaries bring stories. I have here myself, hundreds of stories that I’ve cut out of newspapers, magazines, Christian calendars, and I use them. I use maybe two or three in a sermon, and I know that will really bang the nail. So then the truth, and also teach one truth at a time. There’s a Russian proverb that says if try to run after two rabbits, you would lose both of them. So run after one rabbit catch it. And that’s enough for a sermon.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:07):
Yeah, sometimes it’s hard to be disciplined to stick with just one idea. Can you share with us one of your favorite stories? You have hundreds. Give me one or two of your favorite gospel stories that you use.

Timothée Paton (09:23):
Yeah, there’s one I’ve used in many places, this little girl probably in France many years ago when trains were not very common and she heard about trains, she’d never seen a train, maybe a picture of a train. So she said to her, dad, dad, please take me some time to the train station. I know there are trains passing through every day. Please bring me there. So the dad took the little girl, she’s maybe nine years old, and took her to the train station and she was fascinated. She’d never seen a train before. Suddenly a train comes into the station and this very rough looking man surrounded by two policemen, handcuffed, comes out of the train and he’s about to be taken away by a police car. The little girl who’s a believer, she leaves, her dad runs to this man she’s never seen, of course, very terrifying face.

(10:36):
And she looks at him and she says, I’ve got something to tell you. And this man looks to the little girl and says, what do you have to say? And she says, Jesus loves you. She runs back to her dad. The dad is a bit surprised. The man gets into the police car and ends up in jail. And the words of that 9-year-old girl is like a broken record in his mind. Jesus loves you. Jesus loves you. She didn’t give a long sermon, but she brought the whole gospel in those few words, Jesus loves you. A few months later, he’s on his knees, in his cell, in his prison cell, and he cries out to God and he says, God, I need that love that I don’t have in my life. And he became a believer, the power of telling the truth in three words. Jesus loves you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:38):
That’s a beautiful story. Let me tell you about what I’ve been doing with my stories. I’m like you, I like to collect stories. And so recently I’ve been recording some of my stories as 62nd YouTube short videos, and we’ve been putting them up on YouTube in order to build momentum with the algorithm on YouTube, we’re posting three videos every single day. And so each one is only 60 seconds, but each one is one story with one idea. And then at the end of it, I say, if you want to know more about Jesus, watch the video. I pin down below and I point like this on the video. And right there, there’s a place on YouTube where you can pin a video and it will take them to a longer session on how they can properly be saved. And so we’ve just been doing that the last two months and just this month we’ve had over 30,000 people watch these little stories.

(12:44):
And I think that’s just the very tip of the iceberg of what is possible because I have some friends on YouTube and they get a million views on one video. So you can imagine if you take a gospel story, 60 seconds, just share the story and then give people a quick opportunity to have something that impacts their lives. Just something simple like your story there. Jesus loves you and it can change their life. And so I think that you should go into your cupboard of hundreds of stories that you got there and record some of them so that they can impact more lives. Do them in both French and Spanish. French and English. And English. Yeah. I think there is not many things like that in French. So you will very quickly get a big following.

Timothée Paton (13:43):
Actually, I’ve given a second live to those illustration at a Christian radio called Far

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:51):
And

Timothée Paton (13:51):
Far Fem is in the francophone world.

(13:54):
It’s actually the fastest growing Christian radio in the world outside of the US I was told by the director, and it’s an amazing tool. There’s 16 people working full-time in the town of Ulus in France. And one day I said, look, I’ve got these stories. As you say, lying in those envelopes is hundreds of cuttings by theme Easter forgiveness mission, the cross give your life to Christ, which I’ve used for sermons. But I’ve said I will have to leave 400 years preaching those anecdotes and I don’t have 400 years, so I want to give him a second life. So every day, three times a day, they are broadcast. And as you say, it’s very short. It’s 75 seconds, one minute, 15 seconds. And it’s one idea, one story no more with a punchline, inviting people who are listening to the radio to actually respond to the love of Christ.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:01):
Wow. I wonder how many radio spots have you produced? I

Timothée Paton (15:08):
We’ve done 139.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:11):
Wow.

Timothée Paton (15:12):
And they are aired on this Christian radio, which can be heard anywhere in France, but also on the internet. And actually the Christian radio I find, which started 35 years ago as probably a gospel, Christian radio has become very a lot of teaching as if everyone in France was already a believer, it’s oh 0.5%. I’m like, when everyone is a believer, maybe we can put so much Christian content on the airwaves. But since France is mainly resistant to the gospel, they don’t know anything about the plan of salvation. I don’t want to broadcast anything else but the A, B, and C, I won’t even go into D and F. I just want to stick to those three letters. And I’m very happy that they take those one minute, 15 second Christian messages. And sometimes it seems to be like it’s a bit the odd and the odd one in the Christian radio, but actually it should be the other way. We should just be preaching the A, B, C till everyone gets the message.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:31):
Yeah, you are the evangelist. We need more good evangelists on Christian radio. And you actually have a book that you have written. The name of it is Leave the Shore’s. Tell us a little bit about why you chose that title and what someone can find in the book.

Timothée Paton (16:53):
Good. If you hold on, I’ll get you a copy. It’s right there on the shelf.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:04):
Yeah, I found the book on Amazon. And so when I post this podcast, I’m going to put a link to where someone can get a copy of the book. And is that one in French, the one you just showed me?

Timothée Paton (17:21):
Yeah, that’s the latest one in French.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:23):
And then I saw you also have it in English.

Timothée Paton (17:26):
It’s in English. Leave the shore. It’s seen about 20 languages. Some are not fully printed yet, and we just look for new languages and the publisher can keep all the money. The whole idea is to get it out, no copyright, no royalties. Our passion is to get people out of the shore into the deep end.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:51):
Wow. Alright. Well tell us a little bit about the book and the main message.

Timothée Paton (17:59):
Yeah, the book is a challenge to get believers away from the shore. Remember when Jesus met Peter for the first time, he was cleaning his nets. He was discouraged, the two men had never met, but Jesus tells him from Peter’s boat, get back into the boat, bring your nets and let’s cast the nets in the deep end. The deep end is anywhere in the world where people are still waiting to hear the gospel message. For the first time, two thirds of the world have had some knowledge of Christianity. But one third, that’s 2 billion people, not 2 million. It’s not an M, it’s a B. 2 billion people are waiting for the message of the gospel. What gets me sometime is that we translate the Bible in a new English version in a new French, in a new Spanish version with a better cover, with a nicer design.

(19:06):
I was just praying with my wife yesterday for the people of Maldive in the Indian Ocean, a place where people go on holiday. After 2000 years, only 25 books of the Bible have been translated 25 books out of 66 up to 2000 years. For me, it’s a disgrace, it’s an injustice. And maldive is the deep end and we are called to help those who are translating join the Wcl Bible translators who are in the deep end. They’ve left the shore of the us, Australia, maybe a nice place, and they’ve gone to the deep end to translate the Bible for those people who are still waiting for the complete old and New Testament. So for me, the deep end are those places in the world where people are still waiting and you can stay on the shore for the rest of your life going from one conference to another, enjoying Christian music the whole day, just casting your net on the shore, don’t cast your net on the shore, you’ll catch some shelves, maybe some dead fish.

(20:24):
No one is called to stay on the shore. We are called to get into the boat. And I want to speak to people who might have one foot in the boat and one foot on the shore get both feet in the boat. Jesus is not coming on the beach to meet you. He’s waiting for you to meet him in the boat and bring your nets. Everyone has a net. Everyone has gifts and talents. I speak on radio, but I wouldn’t know how to build the walls of an orphanage. In Africa, we have different nets. Use your nets. Don’t compare your net with someone else. Bring your nets, your gift, your talents. Don’t spend your life cleaning your nets. Some people say, when my life is better, when I’ve read the whole Bible, when I’ve been two years to Bible school, when my nets are just right, then I can join Jesus in the deep end of mission. Well, that’s not the way it works. Come with your weakness, with your struggles, with your past, with your difficulties. But by all means, bring your net. Don’t leave your net on the shore. Bring it with Jesus in the deep end.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:44):
Amen. That’s powerful. Let’s talk about the challenges and opportunities of ministering in France. Some people have said that Europe is now a post-Christian nation. I like to say no, it is a pre-Christian nation. It is wide open and ready for a new move of God. And I was watching the news just recently and it was so beautiful to see the ceremony where they reopened the Notre Dame Cathedral

Timothée Paton (22:22):
Because

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:22):
For hundreds of years, Notre Dame has been the symbol of Christianity in France. And it was so tragic when it burned down, but now they have restored it. And the Bible says that God makes all things new. And in some ways I see it as a prophetic picture that in the past Christianity was very strong in France and now not so much, but Satan has tried to destroy it. Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus says, I have come to give life and life more abundantly. And in the same way that Notre Dame has been rebuilt, I believe that God wants to rebuild the Church of France to be strong, to be full of the fire of the Holy Spirit, to see miracles once again to send out missionaries around the world. Once again, what do you see working on the ground? What are the great challenges? And then what do you see are the great opportunities that God has for not just France, but all of the Francophone countries, francophone Africa and other places around the world that have been so influenced by French culture?

Timothée Paton (23:46):
Well, interesting you mentioned Francophone Africa. I mean almost half of Africa speaks French.

(23:55):
I think the Africans coming from the Congo, from KaVo, from Cameroon, from Togo, Binna, Congo, they’re coming over to France 60 years after the independence. And most of them are strong believers in Jesus. So the churches in France have been shaken. I’m talking about many the Protestant, evangelical Pentecostal churches everywhere across the country are being blessed by very strong. They know what they believe. Sometimes the French Christians have only Christian as a name, but they don’t really know what they believe. They don’t really read the Bible. But those Africans, they know what they believe and they won’t give in and they won’t be afraid to stand up publicly for Jesus. And what’s very good, because in France there’s no way you can say anything about someone with dark skin that’s against the law. So the best thing is when you have thousands of Africans who’ve come to France and they go for the march for Jesus, which is once a year in Paris, Mar Ur, 90% of the crowd is made up of Africans who live in France and no one dares to say anything.

(25:20):
Being black in France is the best thing because you can have a black gospel choir singing the gospel, gospel music, black gospel music. It’s probably the best tool to reach French people. They might not believe in God, but they have a lot of respect for the Martin Luther King and the civil rights back in America. So when you have a gospel choir singing, it’s probably one of the best ways to reach French people. So I’m telling if you have a black gospel choir, whether you’re from Chicago, LA or Detroit, come over to France with your choir, you’ll be invited everywhere you will go where it’s difficult for me as a white man born in France to go. So there are great ways to reach the French people in rural France. It’s still very, very dark. I mean, yesterday my wife and I went back to where I was born, exactly to the day 52 years ago.

(26:34):
We went, it’s bang in the middle of France. It’s a little place called Ghana. You’ve got Ghana in West Africa and you’ve got Ghana as a little town right in the central of France. That’s where my parents started the ministry back in the early sixties. I was born there, but I was born again at the age of four in Ghana. So I went back memory lane yesterday with my wife and she’s very nice. She goes where I love to go back to, and she was born in Hong Kong, I was born in Ghana, but she comes to my world and I hope one day I can go to her world over there on the other side of Asia. But we went to this church, an old Catholic church a few miles away from Ghana. And I realized that not much has changed in a thousand years.

(27:30):
And I saw those leaflets on the way out, how to pray for the dead with the dead, how to have a better relationship with the Virgin Mary. And I said to myself, those rural places in France, which is a large section of the country, is still untouched with the message of the gospel. So I ran from my car, picked up a few gospels of John, slipped him in that church because we saw no Bible, no gospel. And that’s the way it is. In a lot of villages in France, people have a religion, but they don’t yet know the gospel. They’ve never read. Most French people have never opened the Bible. So we see great things. We see big churches. A new evangelical church is birthed every 10 days in France,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (28:29):
But

Timothée Paton (28:30):
France is big. France is almost 70 million people. It’s the largest country alongside Germany, the largest country in Europe. So it’s good news, a new church every 10 days. We don’t tell you those who close. But in rural France where we live, my wife and I since early January this year, we realized not much has changed. So if you want to leave the shore of America, bring your nets to places like Central France where people have a religion. There’s a Catholic church in every single village, but most people have no knowledge of the gospel. People are very suspicious. We went for a restaurant for my birthday yesterday. I always have a gospel in my pocket and I don’t just give it like that. I bring the price. I want people to realize the price of the booklet I’m giving them, and I gave it to the waiter on the way out when we paid.

(29:36):
We do pay missionaries, pay for the mill. And I said to her, this book is the oldest book in print. It’s almost 2000 years. In about 20 years time, this book will be 2000 years old. So that raises a little bit of interest. I say this is the most translated book in the whole world. People will do anything to get this book in some countries. And this book is part of a large book that my wife and I read every single day. We start the day with this book. So I don’t just give it as a gospel tract too quick,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (30:19):
You the value.

Timothée Paton (30:21):
I elevate the value. I want people to realize how precious this book is. But I could see on that woman’s face, there’s something on the faces of most French people when you give the gospel is very cautious. Don’t get me into your thing. Very, very aware of cults. I think the French people are more afraid of a cult and they think we belong to one of those than they are of the atomic bomb. So you can sit on their faces. So we need to pray for France and we need missionaries to come to those rural areas that have had Christianity, but not really the gospel.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (31:14):
Amen. Well, let’s take a moment right now to pray for France. Would you pray and let’s pray together and agree together for God to send missionaries and for France to come to Jesus.

Timothée Paton (31:29):
Yeah. Father, we thank you that you love this nation, A nation that has known revivals in the past. But we know that people like John Calvin, Jean Calva was born in France and others who brought the Bible back at the center of society. And we know that France centuries ago went through a genocide when the Protestants were either slotted by the millions in France or escaped to places like Switzerland, Holland, South Africa. Though we pray that the gospel would come back. People have had religion. People have seen a church in their village their whole life. Even when they walk through the doors of a church, they don’t always hear the salvation message. Lord, I pray that you will bring new workers to France. This nation is waiting to hear the true message that changes lives. Lord, the country is open. It’s easy to get in. And I pray that you’ll bring gospel choirs from America to tour across this nation singing the gospel. And I preferred missionaries to come in to learn the language and to love the French culture and to become French to win the French. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (33:14):
Amen. Powerful. Well, brother, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism podcast. If someone is listening and they have a heart for France and they want to find out more about your ministry or maybe find your book or maybe support your ministry, I’m sure you need more support. What is your website? What is a good way for someone to find out more about you?

Timothée Paton (33:45):
Yeah, well my name, so www dot t mo Payton in one word, forget the accent. The English people will be happy about that. Timothy Peyton,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (33:59):
Can you spell it for those who are listening?

Timothée Paton (34:02):
Yeah. So Timothy OTE is T-I-M-O-T-H-E-E, Peyton, PATO n.com. And you can find the book and you can write. And if you do come to France, if you leave the shore with your net to France, you will never, never be out of a job. People are waiting and people want to hear the gospel, but they want to see a demonstration as well. They want to see signs and wonders. And I have a feeling, and I just finished, I was just telling my wife when I saw the look on the face of the waitress yesterday, I said to myself, what about if I had given her a word of knowledge, personal word from God? And that’s what we need. We need signs and wonders. We need the gifts of the spirit to shake the unbelief of the French people.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (35:03):
Amen. Well, may it be so I pray that God would raise up mighty missionaries and ministers and people who are filled with the Holy Spirit have all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, words of knowledge, miracles, signs, and wonders. In Jesus’ name.

Timothée Paton (35:19):
Amen. Amen. Thank you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (35:22):
Well, thank you brother so much for speaking with me on the Evangelism podcast. It is so wonderful. I love your heart. I love what you’re doing. It’s so beautiful to see and how you’re continuing on the mission that God gave your parents and now you and your wife are doing it. It’s so beautiful to see. Thank

Timothée Paton (35:42):
You. Thank you. See you soon. See you in France.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (35:46):
Yes sir.

Timothée Paton (35:46):
Anytime.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (35:49):
Bye-Bye.

 

Subscribe to The Evangelism Podcast on Apple iTunes

Listen to The Evangelism Podcast on Spotify

Subscribe to The Evangelism Podcast on Google Podcasts

Listen to The Evangelism Podcast on Amazon Audible

The Evangelism Podcast is also available oniHeartRadio

Jeremy Gall & the Gall Family | Supernatural Faith for Evangelism

On today’s episode of the Evangelism Podcast, Evangelist Daniel King interviews the Gall family, Jeremy and Joscelyne and their son Coen.  Listen as they share stories on how God has given them supernatural faith for evangelism. Today you will learn your provision won’t come until you take a step of Faith. There’s no better time to step out into your ministry than now!  

  • The Gall family has been involved in full-time evangelism for over 20 years, traveling to 28 states and 9 countries, with a focus on Russia.
  • Jeremy Gall felt called to be an evangelist from a young age, and the family embraced this calling together. Their children have been immersed in ministry from a young age.
  • The Gall family shared testimonies of miraculous healings and provision that have sustained their ministry over the years, including a deaf man’s hearing being restored.
  • They emphasized the importance of mentorship, stepping out in faith, and relying on God’s provision rather than natural circumstances when pursuing a calling in evangelism.

Learn more about Jeremy Gall: https://www.jeremygallministries.com/ 

Transcript: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:03):
Hallelujah. Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. I have some very special guests with me, the gall family. Thank you for being with me today.

Jeremy Gall (00:16):
Oh man, we’re so excited to be here.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:17):
So we have Jeremy and Joscelyne and Coen, and you all are involved in evangelism, the whole family. So tell me a little bit about how you got started serving Jesus.

Jeremy Gall (00:33):
Yeah, so where do we start? So we’ve been 20, 22 years. We’ve been traveling full time and before that I worked with another evangelist. I’m sure we’ll get into the details of that later. And yeah, 28 states. I think it’s been in nine countries so far. Most of our overseas time has been in Russia, made a lot of trips and just excited to, wouldn’t trade places with anybody in the world. Love what God has called us to.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:58):
How did your family first know that you had a calling for evangelism?

Jeremy Gall (01:03):
Yeah, that’s good. We’ll, probably all I know myself, I was maybe eight, nine years old and my grandmother, Roman Catholic grandmother, we were going to bed at her house. I was staying over her house for the night and she said, what do you want to be when you grow up? And she gave me the classic choices, fireman, policeman, doctor, lawyer, a little bit of white collar, a little bit of blue collar. I said, I want to be an evangelist. And she’s like I said, Roman Catholic. She thought it was Roman Catholic. She thought I said Los Angeles. She said, you can’t be a city. She said, then I started to explain as much as younger, that’s not white collar or blue collar. That’s clergy collar. Right, right. A whole different collar. Exactly. She said, I was actually younger than that. I was probably closer to four or five.

(01:51):
She said, oh my God, this is in the eighties. I’m 50. So she said, you mean those guys on tv? You don’t want to do that? She said she was horrified. She was horrified. And here we are all these years later. But it was funny. That just came out of my spirit. I never thought it, I didn’t go around talking about it. And it wasn’t until I was in college that I was like, oh yeah, this is God’s plan. And it was when I was in college that I started leading. I went to secular school, I went to art school actually before ministry. We both did. We met in art school and I was doing a Bible study and God led me, I actually did, the first time I ever preached was an evangelistic campaign on the campus ever preached. And besides the Bible study,

Joscelyne Gall (02:35):
He threw his own party.

Jeremy Gall (02:36):
Yeah, threw my own party. And it was right in that season that I was like, oh yeah, this was God’s plan all along. So that’s when I realized I was about 19 years old and yeah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:46):
Wow. So Ms. Jocelyn, how long have you been married now and what is it like being called together in ministry?

Joscelyne Gall (02:55):
Let’s see. So we have been married.

(02:59):
We have been married. Is it 20?

Jeremy Gall (03:02):
It’ll be 27

Joscelyne Gall (03:04):
This year. Seven this year.

Jeremy Gall (03:04):
Yeah.

Joscelyne Gall (03:04):
26 now. 26 right now. 26 years. You asked me the wrong question. I am the one that’s worse with numbers. I feel like I am always like, how old am I? I just feel like I’m still, I don’t know, maybe 22, something like that. It just stopped right around that time and I’m like, I dunno. But yeah. So what was it, so how long been

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:25):
Married? So how have you been married and then what is it like being in ministry together as a family?

Joscelyne Gall (03:31):
Yeah. No, it’s wonderful. It, there is nothing that I could possibly suggest hire, if you’re called to it, you will not be fulfilled in any other role. I mean that’s really how it works. No matter what you try, no matter what the world has to offer, if you are called to the ministry, if you are called to be an evangelist, there is nothing that will possibly satisfy you. So you might as well just surrender and say, okay, I’m doing it because everything else will be miserable. But we love it. It was definitely a, it’s different raising kids on the road. It’s different. We had to do a little things differently than some families. We end up, I think Cohen, he was potty trained literally in our van driving from place to place. How

Jeremy Gall (04:27):
Old was he in Jamaica?

Joscelyne Gall (04:28):
He was four months old. Four for his. He was dedicated into America.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:33):
That’s the way to be raised, right? Part of the family is to be part of the ministry. Absolutely.

Joscelyne Gall (04:38):
We had him laying hands on the six since they were tiny. I think he was like three the first time he prayed over me and I saw a change. I came home from a Mother’s Day service and we just always believe you teach everybody, everybody is called to lay hands on the sick and see them recover. So I’m from the time they’re little, the simplest prayer is boo boo go in Jesus’ name. And so that’s what they knew. And I came back from a church service and I’d been standing commanding this headache to go. It just kind of came over me, but it was really serious. It was almost a migraine kind of headache. And I was laying on the couch and he just comes over and sees that I’m not looking normal and he puts his hand on me and says, boob boo, go in Jesus’ name. And instantly the headache left and that was it. And I was like, oh, so if God can use a three-year-old, he can use all of us.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:35):
He was immersed in it. Yeah,

Joscelyne Gall (05:37):
Immersed in it from the beginning. Yeah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:39):
Alright, hand the microphone to your son. Tell me what are you doing for Jesus right now?

Coen Gall (05:44):
Yeah, so recently, well I’ve been going to Rama, I’m on my second year there. And while I was there I was working at the NRC and I met somebody there who, him and his wife pastor or used to pastor a church in China and they’re both from there and it was all underground and now they’re just here going to Rama and training. And he invited me to this church that he was going to on Sunday nights and his wife was teaching Mandarin there. So I would go early and I’d do that with them. And I had been doing that for a while and they came to me and asked if I wanted to help teach their church back in China, English over Zoom. And so I was like, sure, of course. But the goal of it was to use it for ministry.

Jeremy Gall (06:41):
Evangelism.

Coen Gall (06:42):
Evangelism in particular. And I was like, sure, let’s do it. Yeah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:47):
So you’re teaching a church in China English and using it to share Jesus.

Coen Gall (06:54):
Exactly, yeah. So what we’ve been doing is we’ve been teaching it through and there’s a couple of us doing it. There’s descent, Hagen is one of ’em who’s doing it with me and we’ve been doing this for coming up on now over a year, right? Well, a little less than that maybe. I think we started a few months after I started going to the church, so

(07:17):
Probably half a year, maybe something like that. But it’s just been really great. And what we do is we are going through the Bible and we’re reading it with them and then we teach ’em English through whatever we’re reading and then I’ll preach on whatever it is that we’re reading out of. And then our goal is to have them invite people to hear the gospel and maybe it’ll kind of be teaching ’em English, but that at the same time, the real goal is to get the word to ’em and get them saved. So it’s been really great. I’ve really enjoyed it.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:50):
That’s awesome. Well you guys went to Rama and then you traveled with David Horton for a

Jeremy Gall (07:56):
While

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:57):
And then you went over to Russia and taught for Rick Renner great ministry there in the Slavic nations. Amen. Yeah. And so tell me a little bit, what has God taught you through this whole process of being at Rama and then with Brother David Horton, a great evangelist and then with Rick Renner?

Jeremy Gall (08:19):
Yeah. What do we got? Six hours. Alright, let’s do it. So

(08:25):
Right, so we come out to Rama. I was in art school and it was in art school. We met and then that was when I was like I said, I realized this is God’s plan for my life. He’s called me to be an evangelist, come to Rama, went to the evangelist group, graduated second year, so I’m getting close to the end of second year and we’re scheduled to go home. I was preaching a little bit before I went to Bible school, so I’m itching to get started talking about learning things and I’m itching to get started and my dad had vacation time to come help us move home. This is like I said, 2000 and I worked downtown at the One Oak Building downtown Tulsa, and I was a security guard. So I’m watching monitors, had a lot of time to walk around and pray and I’m looking at these monitors and God spoke to me and said, fellowship with evangelist and mentoring, just these random words.

(09:12):
Wasn’t even a sentence, wasn’t even an idea. What do I do with that? Right Fellowship with evangelist and mentoring. I was still in school about to graduate, go back to school and another student named Charlie Elliot comes up to me and he says, you ought to check out this David Horton guy. He’s starting a fellowship with evangelist and he’s big on mentoring. I’d never heard of David. He wasn’t at the school anymore, it was 2000. He had his own ministry. I’d never heard of him. I’d heard of his dad, but he wasn’t teaching there anymore. I didn’t know who he was, but he says, you ought to check out this David Horton guy. He is starting a fellowship with evangelist and he’s big on mentoring, so of course I’m like, yeah, I better check him out. We went, he had a school at the time called Priority one out on Skelly Drive here in Tulsa.

(09:54):
I think there was, I don’t know, seven or eight of us in the class, and several of us have gone on to full-time evangelism and we were just in tears as Jerry O’Dell would come and teach there and Stephen Steinle and David would teach of course. And it was just a great time of, it was something I really needed and learning. It was something like, I know you’re doing some mentoring and it was that finishing step that I didn’t realize I was ready to just launch out and do it. But working with another evangelist, closely interning, if you will, with another evangelist, it was essential.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:30):
What were some of the things that you learned?

Jeremy Gall (10:32):
The spirit of faith, you know, it could learn the concepts of it. You could understand that you could check the boxes, but just being around it and watching it work, just seeing somebody do it.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:48):
Yeah. There is something special about the faith of an evangelist.

Jeremy Gall (10:51):
Yeah, yeah. And to see somebody operate in the gift that you’re called to operate in, I think it’s essential. You get around it and it’s already in you, right? But you’re like, yeah, that’s it. That’s right, that’s right. Yeah. Yeah.

Joscelyne Gall (11:04):
There’s nothing like it. We sat in the first class, we had never met him. We had never seen him preach. We just knew from

Jeremy Gall (11:10):
That word. First time we heard him preach was in his school and we were in his school.

Joscelyne Gall (11:14):
We were like, we have to be there. So we just sat in that first class and we heard him start speaking and we just sat there with tears just pouring down our face, just tears

Jeremy Gall (11:23):
Said, this is right.

Joscelyne Gall (11:24):
This is where we’re supposed to be. This is we’re supposed to be, this is what we’re supposed to be doing. It was just so supernatural and so much of it’s like the practical, how toss do you, yeah, that sounds all good and nice. You feel called to do something and then you go out and you preach to everybody and it’s like, but how do you go from step A to that? There’s so many parts to fill in there and I just think that can look so big and so daunting to people and they’re like, I’m just praying in my little room and I’m supposed to go preach to millions. It’s like how do you get from there to there? I think that really helped

Jeremy Gall (12:02):
Us fill

Joscelyne Gall (12:03):
In those details and go from step to step to step.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:07):
What do you think are some of those steps that someone who’s listening who feels called to be an evangelist has that vision to reach millions and they’re starting to say, okay, what are some of the steps I need to go? What are some of the things you’ve learned over the years?

Jeremy Gall (12:22):
Yeah, I think that working with an how it is, there’s always going to be some exception. There’s going to be some person that God raises up on to make a hard, fast rule. But I think mentoring, we see it with Jesus. We see it with Paul and Timothy, and I just think that working with somebody for a while who’s called to do what you do, I know I needed it. And to grow up a little bit in that, see how it operates before you launch out. I think that’s a great step. And then just principles of just determine what God’s called you to do. And then Oral Roberts used to say, seek no more the confirmation of the flesh. Just confer, no, I forget his exact wording. Confer not again with flesh and blood. Something to that effect. And once you’re called to do it, just

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:11):
Basically don’t let anyone talk you out of what God told you to do.

Jeremy Gall (13:14):
Right. Once you’re called to do it, come hell or high water, do it

Joscelyne Gall (13:18):
Because they will. They’ll try.

Jeremy Gall (13:20):
Yeah. And trust God as your source for all of it. For finances, for open doors, for guidance, for connection, learn to leave heavy on God. Evangelism is miracle work. Every aspect of it. Conversion is miracle work. It’s not like teaching in a school like in an academy teaching somebody math. It’s conversion is miracle work. Evangelism is miracle work. Every aspect of it is miracles from open doors to not just the signs and wonders, not just the signs that confirm the word, but a lost person getting saved. That’s miracle work. So just get comfortable walking on water.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:59):
So you’ve been traveling around the United States here and you’ve seen God do some tremendous miracles. Share with me some of the miracles that you’ve seen.

Jeremy Gall (14:09):
Something with evangelism, and I always try to really make this an important point. I grew up here and I grew up in the church like you and I grew up here. Well, miracles really happen on the mission field. You want to see miracles, go to the mission field. I just always had a problem with that. I thought, well, if miracles happen on the mission field, then sick people in the western world, we better buy ’em plane tickets. If you need a miracle, you better get to India or Africa or Pakistan. Why are we even praying for people here? Let’s get ’em to wear miracles happen. The other thing is, where is the mission field? Can you show me on a map? Is there a border that once you cross, you’re there? So we always make it a point that miracles don’t just happen on the mission.

(14:51):
Miracles happen where Jesus said, whosoever believeth in me the works that I do what they do also. And where you believe in Jesus. And I think this is important now that Jesus said to a man in the Bible, he said, you people will not believe unless you see signs and wonders. And we need to turn things around in our nation. We need in the western world in general. And there is no other model than preaching the word with signs following. That’s not a developing nation model. That’s the model. So anyways, we’re preaching to the choir here. I know with your evangelist group. But so some things we’ve seen, I haven’t seen anything. And we’ve ministered in Vietnam and Honduras and Jamaica, a lot in Russia and haven’t seen anything in another nation that out was greater than things we’ve seen here. Once we were ministering up in years ago, ministering up in New England, conservative staunch New England.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:43):
It’s a mission field up there,

Jeremy Gall (15:44):
Right? Yeah. Rhode Island. We’re in Providence, Rhode Island, and a woman got out of a wheelchair who hadn’t walked in 43 years, pushed her own wheelchair in Rhode Island and we were ministering in Des Moines, Iowa. A woman was there who had had a stroke. Her name was candy. And we prayed for her on a Sunday night and she walked in and she shuffled. She shuffled in. She couldn’t see very well. She had had the stroke four years earlier. Somebody was guiding her up to the front. She’s just shuffling all the mental things that come with stroke damage. She had short memory problems and things like that. She shuffles up to the front and we pray for her and command in Jesus’ name. And she says, yeah, I feel a little better. She says, I feel like I could move a little better. She’s picking out people on the front row.

(16:29):
I could see people on the front row and she’s naming people she could see. I said, God’s working in your body. Can you come back tomorrow night? This was a Sunday night. Can you come back tomorrow night? She says, well, I can’t drive. Well, who would give her a ride? Somebody raises her hand, bring her tomorrow night. She shuffles out and they’re helping her. She walks in the next night, 100% whole. Her vision is whole. She’s walking. She had seen her doctor. It was perfect timing for a doctor’s visit. We prayed for a Sunday night. Monday, she had a doctor’s appointment. He tested her. She went from 95% nerve damage to 0.001% nerve damage. And his name was Dr. Palmer. He was so shocked that he called her pastor. The doctor called her pastor and said, this is a miracle that took place. So she walks in whole normal. Well, Jesus is the same here as he is in Pakistan or India. Praise God. One that one more. We share one more. Go for it. One that I love to share just because of the dramatic of it and it just kind of illustrates how we need it right now in this country, is we were ministering down in Augusta, Georgia where we had actually seen Matt and Susie Judge Church in Augusta, Georgia, a good news church. And we’d actually seen a revival breakout there. We went down for a week and ended up staying two months. Wow. And it’s interesting. Preaching

Joscelyne Gall (17:51):
Every night.

Jeremy Gall (17:51):
Preaching every night. The church was started out of a David Horton tent meeting, and Susie Judd, her maiden name’s Kennedy, Ralph and Martha were on Brother Hagen’s board. So they got a lot of history, this church down there and in Augusta. So we went down to do a week of meetings. It ended up being two months. We came back the next summer and did two months, and this might’ve been our third year down there with them, that this story happened third

Joscelyne Gall (18:13):
Or fourth year.

Jeremy Gall (18:14):
And it was an amazing thing. There was people going out on the streets and there was just as many miracles happening on the streets as in the services. There was a woman who got a 14-year-old girl, got a guy out of a wheelchair on the street. It went out in street teams, but

Joscelyne Gall (18:30):
Deaf ears opening on the street,

Jeremy Gall (18:31):
On the streets. In Augusta. In Augusta, Georgia. So one of the stories that happened though, I think it was the third year we were down with him, that pastor’s daughter had invited, a pastor’s daughter, had invited this young guy, 21-year-old guy to go jet skiing with him and come on, he’s living in Charleston. Come into town for the weekend, go jet skiing. So they drag him to church on Sunday morning. They wake up, he came in Saturday night, they wake up Sunday morning to go to church. He’s like, I don’t do that. He’s an atheist. I’m agnostic maybe. And he says, I don’t do that church thing. That’s your thing. They said, no, you’re going to church. They drag him to church. Almost literally. You’re going to church. He comes Sunday morning. I wasn’t speaking Sunday morning. They were doing a conference. It was another guy, a friend of mine, Greg Barber. He was pastoring in Colorado at the time. He talked about how he got filled with the Holy Ghost and this made an impression on this. The guy’s name was Vinny, this 21-year-old guy who came, made an impression on him. He’s like, my god, these people really believe this and

Joscelyne Gall (19:30):
You guys are crazy.

Jeremy Gall (19:31):
Yeah, you guys are kind of crazy. Believe in speaking in tongues. And he was really disappointed that he didn’t get to hear somebody do it, praying the Holy Ghost

Joscelyne Gall (19:42):
Because they ushered everyone out to do it in a back room. Yeah, just

Jeremy Gall (19:46):
Property.

Joscelyne Gall (19:48):
And he’s like,

Jeremy Gall (19:48):
What? Get he disappointed?

Joscelyne Gall (19:50):
See it? What is this speaking in tongues thing? What’s it sound like?

Jeremy Gall (19:53):
And then they announce a miracle service for Sunday night. So he gets dragged Sunday morning, he asks to come Sunday night. So he comes Sunday night, 21 years old, cool guy about 10 years ago, right? And so he is sitting there and we’re praying for people and people are bending over doing things they couldn’t do before. And he’s seeing things happening. I preached on, what did you come for that night? They came to Jesus to hear him be healed. So what did Vinny come for? He came, he wanted to hear somebody speak in tongues and he wanted to see what these crazy people actually believed. They really believe this stuff. So we’re praying for people and we hear later, he tells us this story. He’s thinking in his own mind, he says, it seems like these people are sincere, but it’s not enough to change what I believe is his private conversation.

(20:43):
In his mind, if God’s really speaking to this, he’d know I was here and he’d know what was wrong with me. He said, and what he was thinking of specifically that was wrong with him was he was deaf in his left ear. Doctors had removed a tumor when he was 15 years old. It left him deaf. They knew it would leave him deaf in his left ear, and he had no feeling it was numb to the touch because of nerve damage. So he says, if God’s really speaking to this guy, he’d know I was here and he’d know what was wrong with me. Now at that moment, of course, not knowing any of this, I said, wait, I forgot to minister to ears. Now this will help you got a lot of ministers listening. I’m telling you, it was not like thus sayeth the Lord. I’m just thinking, oh, it’s like, oh, I forgot to turn off the oven or something. That’s just how it came to me. It seemed very natural at the time.

Joscelyne Gall (21:28):
Well, and you were in the middle of a closing prayer,

Jeremy Gall (21:31):
Literal. I was wrapping up the

Joscelyne Gall (21:32):
Service. You literally were saying, Lord bless ’em as they get home that there’s just keep ’em safe driving. That’s the kind of prayer he was praying. And then he is like, wait a minute.

Jeremy Gall (21:41):
Wait. I forgot to minister to ears. Got to kind of dealt with me about ears earlier during the day. And I said, oh man, I forgot to do that. And it just came to my memory, seemed very natural, very normal. But then I started, well no, there’s somebody here and there’s another aspect of it. There’s somebody here and there’s something blocking your right ear. I said, now Vinny, like he said, it was his left ear. I probably said right ear like three or four times and just how perfect God is. I don’t know what happened between me saying right ear and the skeptic who is deaf in his left ear. He’s not the guy who’s there saying, oh, I hope it’s me. He’s a skeptic. He’s basically kind of like, well prove it. If it’s real, you

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:16):
Got the wrong ear.

Jeremy Gall (22:17):
Right, right, right. And he did not think, well, this guy’s not me. He’s got the wrong no. He’s like, yeah, he’s talking to me. He’s talking to me. Right. And so I said, well, I’m just going to command in Jesus’ name, and those ears will be open. And didn’t ask anybody to come up, just prayed commanded in the name of Jesus’ ears, be open. And he said later we heard the story. He said at that moment it was like static on a radio coming in. And he just heard a little bit of static in his ear and he said, pop, his ear popped open. He said he was chewing gum. He was so shocked that he swallowed his gum. He was so blown away by what happened. And I give an invitation for people to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. He got born again. He didn’t come forward. He just did it in his seat and he prayed. He’s terrified. He doesn’t say anything to anybody. Not to the people who bring him to the meeting or anything. We go,

Joscelyne Gall (23:05):
Did you say what he heard?

Jeremy Gall (23:06):
Oh, the first thing he hears when the hearing came in, he said, was the woman sitting next to him praying in the Holy Ghost out of his ear that was formally deaf

Joscelyne Gall (23:14):
When he came.

Jeremy Gall (23:15):
That’s a Pentecostal story right there, man. He wanted to know what it sounded like. First thing he heard when his deaf ear opens was so he’s terrified. And I go back to the pastor’s office, the pastor Matt’s office, Jo, he finds Jocelyn finally. He’s like, I got to tell you what happened. And he tells this story. She comes and gets me. She says, you got to hear this.

Joscelyne Gall (23:36):
I’m like, pause, please.

Jeremy Gall (23:37):
He’s

Joscelyne Gall (23:37):
Going to want to hear this.

Jeremy Gall (23:38):
You got to hear this. She comes and gets me from the office. I come out, I said, Vinny, that’s incredible. He tells me this story. I, God opened his deaf. I said, can I pray for you? And I don’t mean just can I pray just about for God’s doing something in your life? He said, no, no, no. He holds out his hand. It’s like this. He’s shaken like a leaf. He’s terrified. He said, this is a lot for me. I said, yeah, I guess you woke up that morning an atheist and went to bed with your deaf ear opened up. That’ll shake up your

Joscelyne Gall (24:07):
Worldview. That’s a lot.

Jeremy Gall (24:09):
Yeah. Well, he went on with God did get filled with the Holy Ghost himself. But yeah, that was in Augusta. That wasn’t in Pakistan or Moscow or Yeah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:19):
Well God works the same no matter where he is.

Jeremy Gall (24:21):
Same Jesus. Same Jesus. Amen.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:24):
Alright, I got another question for Cohen here. It’s been said that God does not have any grandchildren. He only has children. And so when you’re young, you serve God because your parents drag you to church. And a lot of people have drug problems. They got drug to church a lot.

Jeremy Gall (24:44):
That’s good.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:46):
But then at some point you have to make a decision to choose to follow God. And so where were you in your life, where you made that decision that you’re going to serve God? Not just because your parents are but for yourself?

Coen Gall (25:02):
Honestly, that’s a great question. Honestly though, for me it was really early. I really believe that they did a great job making it so that we had a relationship with God ourselves. Like they said, they made us a part of everything with ministry and things like that. And because of that, I believe it really made it not even be that drastic of a thing. Like, oh, I’m choosing to follow God. It was very much like I had a relationship with God very early on. And with because of that, even feeling called was very, very early on and all that sort of stuff. And I believe that that’s really the key to it, is making sure that they have a relationship with God themselves by having them involved. And I think that was something that was with me. I was always involved. And so I don’t really know if I really have a specific point where I’m like, oh, this was when it happened. Talk

Joscelyne Gall (25:58):
To me. When did you get saved though?

Coen Gall (26:00):
Well, I got saved when I was like

Joscelyne Gall (26:02):
Three.

Coen Gall (26:02):
Three. And I got filled with the spirit when I was like four.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (26:07):
That’s a great testimony. I’m very similar. I’ve got saved at three. I was filled with the Holy Spirit when I was four.

Jeremy Gall (26:13):
Praise

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (26:14):
God. Called into the ministry at five, preached my first sermon at six, became a missionary with my parents at 10. I wrote my first book at 14 What? And then started doing Crusades when I was about 20. And so I love it. It’s great. I love because I got a headstart on everybody else. That’s good. Alright, so talk to me a little bit about what you feel God is doing among generation Z and then the younger generation, the generation alpha. It seems like there’s been a shift where like Gen X, which I’m probably Gen X, there was a lot of skepticism towards the things of God, but it seems that with Gen Z, there is genuine hunger for real spirituality. Not necessarily what we find in the church, but people are hungry for something. What do you feel God wants to do among your generation?

Coen Gall (27:15):
I really believe that, that people are getting excited. Just like you said. I think that people there, they’re done with just plain old empty religion and they’re ready for something real and going to Rama meeting like-minded people. I’ve really seen that. And I’ve met a lot of people that are just ready to step out into ministry and do what God’s called them to do and really be real with it, not just some empty religion. And I really believe God’s doing something. I really believe that everyone’s been saying we’re getting close to something big with God. And I believe that people are starting to feel that. And God’s starting to place people into the positions they need to be. And I believe that’s starting to happen with this generation and even the generation after. And honestly, I mean people are as excited, like you say. I could just tell. And I’ve got friends who are also feeling called to be evangelists and stuff. And I’m hearing this and I’m like, this is great. Other people who want to see miracles and the loss saved. And I’m like, that’s awesome. That is awesome.

Joscelyne Gall (28:27):
What about the lost? The Lost? Have you

Coen Gall (28:30):
Noticed that among the Lost?

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (28:31):
What about the Lost?

Coen Gall (28:32):
Yeah. No, I mean I feel like it’s the same as every generation that when it comes down to it, some people are going to resist it. But when it comes down to it, miracles are what always cut through. And I think miracles work, they always have. They worked in all those healing revivals and they’ll work today. And I believe that this younger generation, it’s not going to be some new thing that’s going to reach them, but it’s going to be being the Bible kind of believer and being the Bible kind of evangelist pastor, et cetera, et cetera, which is bringing miracles, which is bringing healing, which is bringing what God wants us to do. I mean, we see the great commission, we see go into all the world and preach the gospel. And then what do we see? We see the plan for how we should carry that out. And that’s miracles. That’s miracles. And then we see the disciples acting out on the Great Commission. It says that signs and Warners confirmed the word Jesus was with them, with signs and Warners confirming the word. And I believe that that’s what’s going to reach this generation. And I believe that’s what springs up that hunger for them. Amen.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (29:41):
Alright, give the microphone to your mom. You mentioned miracles and one of the things that every evangelist needs is miracles of provision. It always takes a lot of resources in order to be in ministry, to do ministry. What are some of the divine miracles of provision that your family has seen?

Joscelyne Gall (30:01):
Well, I’m going to start with when we first stepped out into ministry. So I had my daughter. My daughter was a 1-year-old, and Jeremy was working night shift and he was interning with or working with David. David, but it was like a volunteer position. And so he would go out here and there and do a weekend with him somewhere and then come back or teach in a conference all the morning sessions or something. And so anyways, David came to him. So we’re working with him, we’re doing all of that. And David comes to him and he says, I’ve got a specific meeting that I’m going to,

Jeremy Gall (30:52):
This is April, 2003.

Joscelyne Gall (30:55):
And he says, I would love for you to come, but it’s just not in the budget to get you there and all that. He’s like, but if you can get there, if you can fund your own way, you can preach in all the sessions and everything.

Jeremy Gall (31:08):
We were in Tulsa and the meeting was in Roanoke, Virginia.

Joscelyne Gall (31:13):
And at this time when Eden was about one, I started seeing, it’s getting to be close. We’re getting to be about at the time, just sensing it, sensing it, just sensing it. That in prayer and everything that we’re going to be stepping out full-time pretty soon. And so just every time he would leave for work, I would just claim and I would say, thank you, Lord, that we are in full-time ministry. Because you could start seeing the grace starting to lift. You know what I mean?

Jeremy Gall (31:43):
Which is important for an evangelist, easier to have, be bivocational as a pastor, a little more difficult when you got to leave for large amounts of time. But

Joscelyne Gall (31:53):
Yeah, yeah. So he invited us to go, you get back from that meeting with him and you come and tell me, and you are sitting at the couch, maybe kneeling at the couch, praying, laying

Jeremy Gall (32:04):
Something, laying on the couch. Yeah, I remember.

Joscelyne Gall (32:06):
And I’m like, what is he doing? So yeah, tell that part,

Jeremy Gall (32:09):
Just how that, so we were invited to go do this meeting, and at the time if I had stayed home and worked, we probably still needed God to really help us to have enough miracle to pay all the bills and without leaving and adding this trip across the country. This is 2003 where Yeah, new baby and were, so he asked me, he said, you could go, like she said, but you’ll have to pay. So it’s just not in our budget to cover it. Excuse me, travel expenses. So she sat out and praying on the couch, and you came out and said, what am I praying about?

Joscelyne Gall (32:42):
And he told me, and I was like, is it just money? Is money the only thing that you’re like, why haven’t you said yes to this? And he was like, well, yeah. And I’m like, no, money’s never a good reason to not do ministry. And it’s still the case, right? I mean, it’s never a good reason. I mean, if the God of all of the universe, the God that created the stars, we see the mountains. We see if he really is God and he is telling you to go do something, money should not be the thing to get in the way of that. I mean, that’s ridiculous. So we were just like, right. And so he’s like, okay, I’m going to call him. I’m going to tell him

Jeremy Gall (33:21):
She inspired,

Joscelyne Gall (33:21):
We’re going. And so yeah, you called to tell him. And then we went out and found our tires. Were flat.

Jeremy Gall (33:30):
It is just a funny thing. So she inspired me and I

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (33:33):
Said, you’re right. That was the devil. That was the devil. So then I go to work trying to deflate all the air out of your tires, deflate your spirit, tell you it’s true. Man, that’s a very real problem.

Jeremy Gall (33:46):
That Flat Tire was a real illustration of the devil’s attack, and I had to drive that car across the country. So yeah, she inspired me though. I’m

Joscelyne Gall (33:55):
Sorry it into one tire specifically, but yeah.

Jeremy Gall (33:57):
And that was that thing. She’s like, yeah, money’s not a good reason not to do ministry. I’m like, bless God. You’re right. We’re going. So I call him, I said, put me on the schedule. I’ll be there. We’re going then the flat tire. So

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (34:10):
A lot of people have that excuse. I’m too tired to be in ministry.

Jeremy Gall (34:14):
Yeah, yeah. No, it’s God or he is not. And my God, it’s a lifetime journey to realize how big he is and how much he’s able to do. And so the tire’s flat. I take it to a tire shop in town. They’re like, it’s fixed. Alright, great. Praise God. Then next night I go to work, I wake up in the morning, it’s flat again. Take it to another tire shop. They say it’s fixed. Same scenario, two times, two different tire shops. Two times my tires flat. I said, my Lord, not only have we committed to go across the country, I need new tires now. So we’re believing God for

Joscelyne Gall (34:47):
It to

Jeremy Gall (34:47):
Get us across the country to get us to this meeting. So we’re just praying. And my mom calls me, thank God my mom’s a believer and out of nowhere, and she says, what’s going on with your tires? Just that’s all. She says to me, what’s going on with your tires? I said, why do you ask? I’m, you’re not just taking a survey here. Why do you ask?

Joscelyne Gall (35:06):
We’re careful not to tip our hand around. I’ve just been

Jeremy Gall (35:08):
Praying for you in your tires. I’ve been thinking about your tires all week. And I said, well, mom, here’s what’s going on. And she said, well, I’ll get back to you. She called my grandmother, who was alive at the time and calls me back and says, well, we want to buy you a new set of tires. And I said, well, praise God. So then I saw, well, God’s in this. He’s helping us. It was a great encouragement to me, far greater than the value of just the tires. It was just the knowing that God is with this, he’s in this.

Joscelyne Gall (35:33):
Yeah, God was working. He was making things prepared for us. Do the trip.

Jeremy Gall (35:38):
Yeah. So we went out, drove out, packed up Eden and went out with David Horton and did this campaign with him. Yeah,

Joscelyne Gall (35:44):
Yeah.

Jeremy Gall (35:46):
Go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah, yeah. But then we went out there and did the meetings and it was hard getting out there, but it was good meetings. And then it was after we finished on a Sunday night, I preached a couple day sessions, helped minister to the sick and the Knights, and then we preached. The last meeting was on a Sunday night. Then we went out to a Pizza hut in Bradford, Virginia or Radford, Virginia, near Roanoke. And we’re sitting there at the table having pizza. It was David and Joseph, bro is crusade director at the time. Jocelyn and I were there and our daughter Eden and Cohen wasn’t born yet. And he says, well, how was your trip out here? And I start talking to him, well, it was pretty rough and this and that. And then he interrupts me while I’m answering his question. He interrupts me and he says, wait, I want to talk to you about your ministry. And just by the spirit, just by the posture and the intensity, I knew he was by the spirit. He said, I want to talk to you about your ministry. What are you waiting for? Why don’t you step out and see what God will do? And he exhorted us for an hour and a half. And we knew at that minute that we were supposed to step out into full-time ministry. He

Joscelyne Gall (36:48):
Said a few key things that were very, very pivotal for us. It was, what’s holding you back? You’re at this place now. He’s like, if it’s your couch getting in the way, you have a couch payment. Take your couch out in the backyard and burn it out. Burn it. He was just meaning, don’t let anything get in the way of what God has for you.

Jeremy Gall (37:08):
Yeah. He said a couple things just in that supernatural time of exploitation that I think would help any evangelists. One, you only need one meeting at a time. He said, you kind of think, well, I need a hundred or what I need. And he said, you only need one at a time. And then he said, there’s never a perfect time to step out. There’s never a perfect time. And he says, you guys, you’re young. You don’t have some kind of career. It’s easier for you than a lot of people. What do you got to lose if anything went wrong? You just go back and get another job. He is like, there’s never a perfect time to do it.

Joscelyne Gall (37:38):
And the step of faith always comes before the provision.

Jeremy Gall (37:40):
The step of faith always comes before the provision. And he just exhorted us for about an hour and a half. And I said, all right. I said, this is it. Jocelyn and I were both in a hundred period. We sat in the car, remember we were walked out. The crusade director, Joseph bro, gave us a Pentecostal handshake as we call it, a handshake with I think $20 in it, right?

Joscelyne Gall (37:59):
I don’t remember.

Jeremy Gall (38:00):
50 maybe.

Joscelyne Gall (38:01):
Yeah, maybe.

Jeremy Gall (38:01):
And that was the first offering to Jeremy Gall Ministries. And

Joscelyne Gall (38:06):
He hadn’t even talked about it yet.

Jeremy Gall (38:07):
Hadn’t even talked about it yet. He just felt led to do it. And so we sat in the car and I said, well, are we doing this? We’re sitting in the car and Yeah, I’m going back to Tulsa. I’m putting in my two weeks.

Joscelyne Gall (38:19):
And I said, that’s exactly what I was going to say.

Jeremy Gall (38:20):
Yeah. So we go back to Tulsa from this meeting, put in two weeks. And those, yeah, I still live by those phrases. Step of faith always comes to, before the provision, there’s never a perfect time to do what God tells you to do. And so we go back, I put in two weeks. I’ll never forget, my boss, my manager at the time, he said, will this decision be financially advantageous to you? I said, absolutely. Absolutely. I quit my job, put in that two week notice without one meeting on paper, not one. I didn’t have family in ministry. I didn’t know anybody in ministry. I mean, I knew people in ministry, but I mean some network that I could rely upon,

Joscelyne Gall (38:58):
There was no one close. You could be like, Hey, would you do me a favor? I

Jeremy Gall (39:00):
Knew David. And in fact, so I put in those two weeks, I get a week into that two week notice, and I’m starting, fear is trying to get you put in your two week notice. I’m one week into two. I’m still at zero meetings one week into two. And I remember I was sitting at work at that desk working security, and I started to write down the names of the three pastors I knew, and I wrote ’em down. And in my mind, human reasoning is so ridiculous. I’m thinking, how many times would I have to preach for these three guys to be in full-time ministry? And so I write down these three guys names, and as I do, the Lord spoke to me distinctly, one of the strongest ways he ever has. And he said, I mean these words, I did not call you to make a decision based on natural circumstances.

(39:52):
I called you to take a step of faith to activate a miracle. And I was like, okay, A miracle’s different. You can’t figure it out. You can’t reason it out. It’s a miracle. So I said, all right. This is a miracle. I’m not going to write down and try to reason it out. This is a miracle. So we’re in miracle territory here. I said, all right. I made the adjustment in my heart, in my mind. A couple days later, a guy calls me. He went to Rama with me, and I told him that I was stepping out into ministry, but I didn’t tell him that I, I talked to anybody about it or anything. I just said, Hey, we’re stepping out. We made the decision. We’re excited. He was a real close friend of mine.

Joscelyne Gall (40:30):
He was in the evangelist

Jeremy Gall (40:31):
Us, Jeremy Kna. He was in the evangelist group with us. So I had told him, he calls me a couple of days after the Lord spoke to me when I was writing down, trying to reason out the miracle. And he calls me and he says, Hey, I talked to my pastor. He’ll have you in Never ask him. He was working at a church in Elkins, West Virginia, church of God. And he said, my pastor said, I’ll have yin. He said, what do you have open? I said,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (40:54):
Well, let me check my calendar. Exactly. Right, right, right, right, right. How’s next weekend?

Jeremy Gall (40:59):
That’s exactly what I said. That’s exactly what I said. And I approached it exactly like you did. Well, let me look, brother and see, I think I could squeeze you in. So he says, what do you have open? I’ll never forget that. What do you have open? I have nothing, but I only have open at this time. It’s only open.

Joscelyne Gall (41:18):
The rest of my life is open.

Jeremy Gall (41:21):
It’s all open. And I said exactly what you said. How about next weekend? He said, I’ll ask him. Yeah, yeah. Come on out. So that was it. I finished my two weeks. We left with one Sunday morning, Sunday night meeting. You worked all night meeting on paper

Joscelyne Gall (41:34):
Before we left.

Jeremy Gall (41:35):
Yeah. Yeah. And just drove out

Joscelyne Gall (41:37):
All night. And then instantly we had to drive right out right afterwards. And

Jeremy Gall (41:42):
That was it.

Joscelyne Gall (41:42):
It was a bit crazy. I mean, we didn’t even stop till we changed Eden’s diaper in the car. We did everything in the car on the, to just get to that first meeting,

Jeremy Gall (41:52):
Flying. Yeah. And so we get there Sunday morning, Sunday night. There was some things that, it was funny. First thing that happened, I had a little bit of detail. We’re praying for the sick. I gave an invitation the morning. It was a decent 70, 75 people in rural West Virginia. My point being that there was definitely somebody there that needed healing, gave an invitation for people to come forward. Nobody comes forward. I talked to the pastor between services, and I’m like, well, nobody came. Nobody wanted ministry. I’m like, everybody’s fixed up. I said, praise God. I said, that’s good. I said, I am laughing with them, trying to get a feel for what’s going on. He says, well, my people are backwards. Nobody wants to be first. So I’m praying in the afternoon before the night service, and I’m thinking of TL Osborne Prayer and Mass. I’m like, well, I’ll just pray for ’em in their seats.

(42:39):
Nobody wants to come forward. We’ll do that. So night service comes, and again, who wants to be ministered to? Nobody moves, nobody comes forward. I said, alright, plan B, we’re going to pray a mass. I’m going to pray for you right in your seats, right where you’re at. And we ministered to people and testimonies. Then, oh man, I was in a car accident five years ago or whatever, and I couldn’t move. I could move my neck. And then now, who would like to have hands? Like now people are coming down, we’re praying for people. And pastor. Then after towards the close of the service, he said, old school who would come back tomorrow night, we’re only scheduled for Sunday morning, Sunday night. He says, who would come back tomorrow? People raise their hands. So now we got a Monday night meeting. And so we preached that Monday night meeting, and this is before we had a cell phone. Some people did, but we didn’t have a cell phone yet in oh three. And we get back from that Sunday night service or Monday night service, the one he added. And we get these calls from these pastors that we had never heard of, that we never, Hey, when could you come and preach for me? And it was somehow through my friend and his family and that word, this

Joscelyne Gall (43:44):
Family that knew other people, that knew other people. I mean, we still don’t know the exact line of how it all happened.

Jeremy Gall (43:51):
When can you come and preach for me? How about next Sunday? Sure. How about another pastor? How about Sunday after next? Yeah, that was Mother’s Day, I remember. And it was a miracle. It was God say, I didn’t call you to make a decision based on natural circumstances. Take a step of faith to activate a miracle. And that would be to share. This isn’t just for us. This isn’t, oh, how special the galls are, but God backs whoever he calls and whoever’s listening today,

Joscelyne Gall (44:15):
He’ll

Jeremy Gall (44:16):
Back you up. If he’s called you to do something, he’ll help you. And don’t figure out your own resources or what you could do. Me writing down the names of those three pastors, it’s like, well, how much money do I have to do what God’s called me to do? How much connections do I have? How much ability do I have? We can’t depend on our own ability. I can’t do what’s required of an evangelist and myself that’s not in the physical makeup of Jeremy Gall. That’s from God. And if he’s called you to do something, he’ll provide. He’ll open the doors, he’ll make the way. He’ll back you up. And I could testify. He’s faithful to those he calls. Amen. Praise God.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (44:53):
Amen. Well, if someone’s listening and they want to invite you to come to their church or maybe support your ministry, how can they find out more information about you? What’s your website?

Jeremy Gall (45:05):
We’ve got jeremy gall ministries.com. Right? Is it.com? Yeah. I should know better than that. And Facebook’s great. We’re on Facebook. Jeremy Gall Ministries is on Facebook, and we could keep on contact with that. No problem.

Joscelyne Gall (45:17):
Instagram.

Jeremy Gall (45:18):
Instagram. All of the above.

Joscelyne Gall (45:20):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (45:21):
Awesome. Well, let’s finish by praying for those who are listening. Yes. Would you just pray that God would give those listening, the spirit of faith to be an evangelist, praise God, and to trust God for provision, to trust God for miracles and to just have that spirit of faith that it takes to stay in the ministry?

Jeremy Gall (45:43):
Yes. Let’s pray. And thank you so much for having us today. This has just been an honor and a blessing to be with you. Yeah. Father, we just thank you that you are faithful. God, you are such a faithful, faithful, father Lord. You are still calling people into the ministry today. You’ve not stopped and you’ve not stopped calling Evangelist. I’m sure there’s young and old men and women from all different races and nations out there listening today and whenever they’re listening to this, that Father, you’ve called them, you’ve called them, and you’ve got a plan for them. And Lord, we ask you to rise up big inside of them by your Holy Spirit and Father to help them, empower them to believe you for great and mighty things. Father, we ask you to be seen in their life in a mighty way. Lead and guide them.

(46:33):
Father, encourage them, Lord, in the call that you’ve called them to do. Father, I thank you that you don’t have a plan for destruction or embarrassment or just failure. But Father, you’ve got to plan for their success. You’ve got to plan for them to be fruitful, and you’ve got to plan for them to be fulfilled. And Lord, I thank you that they can trust you because you’re trustworthy. They can rely upon you because you’re reliable, and they could depend on you because more than anything in this world, more than any natural framework, father, they can count on you. And Lord, we thank you that those listening today, that feel, yeah, I’ve got a call. I know God’s called me to do something. I know God’s called me to evangelism, specifically, Lord, we thank you that you’re able to bring it to pass just like Abraham.

(47:20):
It may seem impossible for them today. They may be looking at the circumstances of their life and they look like Sarah’s womb and they look like Abraham’s age. And it looks like there’s no way that what God has spoken to my heart could come to pass. But we count you faithful today, father, we say you’re well able to do that what you promised you would do. And Father, we just come on. And Father, we just know on behalf of the loss that we need every one of us to be in position doing what we’re called to do. We need to fulfill our part to the lost and dying of this generation. And Lord, we thank you that you’re able to bring it to pass in our lives in Jesus name.

Joscelyne Gall (47:58):
Lord, I just ask you, father, that you would just deal with these people right now. Just give ’em the steps, the next step that’s right in front of ’em. They might not see just the whole entire staircase yet. They just might see maybe that next step that they have to take, whether it’s, I’m going to volunteer with this ministry. I’m going to hook up with this church. I’m going to join this prayer team here. I’m going to start going out and evangelizing just on my own on the street, whatever that might look like. Lord, give them the steps. Just cause them to see what’s next. In Jesus’ name. I thank you, father, as they continue to obey, as you keep giving them specifics, that next step, they’ll get the next one and they’ll get the next one, and they’ll get the next one, and they’ll get the next one. And they’ll look back 20 some years down the road and they’ll be like, wow, look where I am now. Look how God did this. Look how God put us in the ministry. I thank you, father for just supernatural

Coen Gall (49:01):
Grace.

Joscelyne Gall (49:02):
Hallelujah. On those called to be evangelists. I pray Father, for grace on families in Jesus’ name. Family is so often the reason that people don’t step out and do evangelism. And I just pray for a supernatural dose of grace, supernatural ability, Lord, to come that just all of a sudden things are just lining up. All of a sudden people’s thoughts are changing and oh, maybe I would like to travel more often. Maybe I could teach, maybe homeschool the kids if necessary. Whatever needs to happen, Lord, to get them there, I pray, God, you do what needs to be done. Hallelujah. You prepare every family member, because every family member is perfectly placed in that family. They will each be grazed for what you have called them to. And I ask you, father, for just, I thank you, Lord. They will be safest in the path of your will, Lord,

Jeremy Gall (49:51):
Thank you Jesus.

Joscelyne Gall (49:52):
They will be safest in the path of your will, Lord, get them to where they are supposed to go. Give them boldness to preach your word as they ought to preach. Lord, stretch forth your hand to heal. And Lord cause signs and wonders to be done by your holy child, Jesus, in their life, in their ministry. In Jesus name,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (50:11):
Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, thank you guys for being on the Evangelism podcast. Thank you. Thank you so

Joscelyne Gall (50:18):
Much. Thank you so much. This was a joy.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (50:20):
Thank you very much. All right.

 

John Wentz | Alpha Groups Impact the World

John Wentz leads Alpha USA. Alpha is in over 150 countries and in the past thirty years about 35 million people have participated in Alpha groups. Last year over two million people went through their program. Alpha works in a prison cell, a refugee camp, a bar, a school, a neighborhood home, or a church. The secret to their evangelism success is asking questions and caring for people. On today’s episode of The Evangelism Podcast you will hear some amazing testimonies about what God has done through Alpha.

Learn more about Alpha: https://alphausa.org/

Alpha is a global ministry that has reached over 35 million people in 150 countries over the past 30 years. The program creates a safe, non-judgmental space for people to explore the Christian faith through meals, short talks, and open discussion. Alpha has been effective at reaching people outside the church by genuinely listening to their questions and struggles. Testimonies show how the welcoming community and focus on relationship rather than doctrinal correction can lead to life-transforming encounters with Jesus, even among the most resistant participants. Alpha’s approach of empowering ordinary believers to invite friends and create this kind of environment has enabled its rapid global expansion and lasting impact.

Questions we talk about:

  • What is Alpha?
  • What are some of the hard questions that people talk about in Alpha groups?
  • What are some testimonies of how people are being reached through Alpha and perhaps you could share some statistics about the impact Alpha is having?
  • What is your testimony? How did you come to know the Lord? How did you get involved with Alpha?
  • Describe the philosophy behind how Alpha functions.  How did Nicky Gumbel change Alpha from a course for new believers into a course for people outside the church?
  • What is it about our culture today that makes Alpha’s approach so effective?
  • If someone wants to start an Alpha group or support your ministry, what would be the best way for them to get connected with you?

Transcript: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
John Wentz leads Alpha USA Alpha is in over 150 countries. And in the past 30 years, about 35 million people have participated in alpha groups. Last year, over 2 million people went through their program. Alpha works in a prison cell of refugee camp, a bar, a school, a neighborhood home, or in a church. The secret to their evangelism success is asking questions in genuinely caring for people. On today’s episode of the Evangelism Podcast, you’ll hear some amazing testimonies about what God has done through alpha.

Evangelism Podcast Host (01:00):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies, and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary, and evangelist,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:22):
Daniel King. Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus the day I have a very special guest with me, John Wentz from Alpha. Thank you so much for joining me today.

John Wentz (01:38):
Happy to be here.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:40):
Hey, it is so wonderful to get to spend some time with you. Alpha is having an amazing impact around the world. Could you tell us a little bit about Alpha and what God has called the ministry to do?

John Wentz (01:55):
Yeah, absolutely. Thanks so much for having this podcast too, because I think it’s so important that people feel like they are equipped to share the good news about Jesus. He makes all the difference in the world. Alpha started in London 30 years ago in the heart of London at a small Anglican church. And at the time the church was really struggling and they had a beginner’s course for just how to explore Christianity. And a few people came, they had another course that was called Agnostics Anonymous or something like that. And even fewer people came to that. And at the Alpha, a guy named Nikki Gumbel took over. And the first time that he did it, there was, they had a meal, there would be some short talk on some element of Christianity. And he sat in a small group and noticed that almost all the people in that small group that were invited to come had really no background with faith at all.

(03:00):
And so they just asked some questions, they listened, they were fascinated. And because they were listened to and fed well, I think they came back, they said, this is great. We’ve never had a chance to talk about spirituality before. And almost every single person in that group came to faith. And Nikki had this realization that maybe there was a way to do this Alpha Basics course, repost it and aim it towards people outside the church. And so they began just inviting people from the community to come and have a meal, hear a short talk, and then it was open discussion and anything was fair game and they wouldn’t be corrected, they wouldn’t be judged, they’d just be listened to. And that grew and it exploded. And all over London, the Church of England began running this. People started coming to Faith, and then it went global.

(04:00):
And in the mid nineties, early to mid nineties, alpha began to spread all over the world. It just caught, and I think so many people saw it as a way to equip ordinary people who maybe don’t have a gift of evangelism and give them a simple way to invite their friends to dinner and create a safe place for them to explore faith. That now has spread to where we see alpha in over 150 countries. We estimate about 35 million people have gone through Alpha. And just in this past year and 2024, we had about 2 million people over 2 million people go through Alpha globally. And so it’s something that works in every context all over the globe, from a prison cell to a refugee camp, to a bar, a school, a neighborhood home, a church, wherever it may be. So that’s a brief snapshot of what Alf is.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:03):
That’s absolutely amazing what tremendous fruit God has given you. And I think one of the secrets to the success of Alpha are the questions that people come and ask. What are some samples of some of the hard questions that people are asking these days?

John Wentz (05:24):
Yeah. Well, two nights ago I was in Alpha on the first week of Alpha. So Alpha goes over multiple weeks. And the first week we posed the question, if it turned out there was a God and you could ask anything, what would you ask? And it’s always amazing to hear what people ask. Some people come with really intellectual head focused questions, mind oriented, they want to make sense of certain things and what’s our transition to the afterlife going to be like? And then there’s these heart level questions that you can’t explain for people. I remember this one guy right across the group from me. He’s like, I want to know why God took my 18-year-old cousin who was perfectly healthy and nothing wrong with him. Why did he have to die when he did? He was my closest friend, and he’s tapping into this place of grief and there are deep whole life heart level questions that people bring to these groups.

(06:29):
Another person had had 10 miscarriages and she wanted to know why. Another person was a police officer in that group the other night, and he served for 25 years. He said, I’ve seen the most evil things you can imagine. He’s like, I don’t even know if I have questions. I’m just angry that God would allow stuff like that to happen. Why doesn’t he step in and stop it? And people in this group feel so comfortable on week one, we had a meal, they heard this talk, and then they’re just opening up and really sharing. To me, it’s not the intellectual questions about theology. Those tend to come from Christians. It’s the heart level questions, the real life lived experiences from people that are wanting to know how in the world does faith intersect what I’m going through? Those are the toughest questions. And that’s where an approach like Alpha says, look, you just come back next week. Let’s eat together. I want to hear more. And we go on the journey with them. And in the process we pray like crazy behind the scenes. And God, through his spirit is able to open up their heart. And as he’s able to open up their heart, he moves in and does incredible things and people come to faith left and right when they feel loved and heard and seen.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:53):
Those are not easy questions to talk about. What did you say to these people that begin to open up and share these very deep, painful questions that they have?

John Wentz (08:06):
Well, I think the first thing is they just need to be validated. Their question is as important. I mean, everybody carries a question. Everybody carries things that we wonder about. And it’s a really vulnerable thing to reveal what that is. And so when somebody is brave enough to be vulnerable and share something that is on their heart that most people never see, I think you just have to encourage them and say, you have to respond in an emotionally appropriate way. So if somebody is like, I want to know why God took my cousin, you’re not like, okay, great, let’s go on to the next person. You have to feel it. You have to absorb that. You have to sit in that grief for a moment. And on Alpha, we don’t give answers. So we’re off the hook for having to answer their question. They don’t need my answer to their question.

(09:08):
What they need is space to find their answer to their question. And when we can love them and create that safe place, maybe they hear some other people’s perspectives and experiences. It’s like a baby learning to crawl, and then they pull themselves up and then they start to take a few steps on their own and they’re encouraged. Once they’re given space and encouragement to do that, then they’ll walk. And so I think that’s the most important thing is just to hear their question, honor it and say, what do you think? Let’s process that together and help give them the handrails to find their own answers. And what you’re doing is strengthening their ability to walk spiritually. They don’t know that’s happening, but if you do the work for them, they’re never going to learn to walk. And they may never take it anyway, because what they want is they want to walk, they want to know how this works.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:05):
I think often there’s temptation to want to give people the correct answer, but someone said that people don’t care how much until they know how much you care. And so just by listening to people, you show that you care for them, and that has a tremendous impact on their lives. And so you’ve had millions of people go through the course. What are some testimonies of lives that have been impacted?

John Wentz (10:33):
Yeah. Well, I think of the very first course I was on. She’s now a friend of mine, her name’s Victoria. And I remember she was very hesitant to even come to church. She met her husband on a dating website and they fell in love with each other. They got married and she found out her now husband was a Christian and wanted to go to church. And so she’s like, well, I don’t want to be a bad wife, so I’ll at least come along on Sunday mornings. She would hang out in the lobby, didn’t want to have anything to do with the church service. So I struck up a conversation with her and I was like, well, let’s grab lunch after church, you and Marco, I’d love to hear your story. So we went out to lunch and she began to share all the pain full experiences that she’d had with church growing up, just a few experiences, but really deeply marked her.

(11:26):
And I said, well, we’re doing this thing called Alpha where people can explore faith, share their perspectives. You would be really fun to have in a group because you’ve got great experience to share and just really unique perspectives. And she’s like, no thanks. And I was like, all right, well cool. You ever interested? Lemme know. Well, I saw later that night, she had signed up. I got an email notification and I was like, okay, sweet. So Victoria comes week one, and we do a meal from six 30 to 7, 6 30 rolls around. I’m looking down the hallway. She coming? Nope, she’s not there. 6 45, no show. Seven o’clock we’re wrapping up all the food. And she walks in and people are like, oh, you want some food? And she’s like, no, no, no. And she just stands in the back of the room. So we turn on the video, we do all the opening comments, turn on the video.

(12:18):
She just stands back there. And then we usually take a small little break for some dessert before we move into the discussion groups. She doesn’t want to have any of it. But then finally we get into a small group, she comes over, I was like, Hey, it’s great to see you. And she’s like, thanks. And she’s not friendly. She’s clearly agitated, super anxious, which can happen. I mean, it takes a lot of courage to show up to something like this. And anyway, we get through the groups, how and why did you come on Alpha? And she’s like, look, I think this is all BS just so you all know. And she’s like, I’m not eating the food. I know you guys are putting something in the food. You’re trying to brainwash everybody. And everyone’s like, wow, she’s a live wire. And anyway, she was semi offensive that first week and she came back week two and week two she was full on offensive and people were sharing the topic was Who is Jesus?

(13:17):
And people would share. And she was like, that’s stupid. And she was pretty offensive to some of the people in the group, and I had to talk to her afterwards. I’m like, Victoria, this is fine. I’m super excited you’re here, but you got to cool it and be nice to people. Share your perspective. Well, she came back week after week and she was so abrasive. And then we get to week seven, and at week seven there’s this day away experience where we get out of the ordinary routine and we have some time to just relax, play some games. There’s a couple sessions on who’s the Holy Spirit, how can I be filled with the Holy Spirit? There’s a chance to be prayed for actually in a very simple, low key way. And so we get to the end of this talk and it’s like, Hey, Victoria, would you like to be prayed for?

(14:07):
She’s like, Nope. And she just walked out of the room and we’re like, oh my goodness. She is a hard nut to crack. But I knew God was at work. She kept coming back every week. Well, then three hours later, literally she vanished. I thought she had left, didn’t know where she went. We were all playing a game in the little common area. And she opens the door and she starts coming in and just her presence, she was like Godzilla in the room. Everyone had been abused over the last several weeks by her. And she walks up to the group, we stopped playing a game and she’s like, look, I’ve been coming here for the last seven weeks and I every week have tried to make every single one of you not like me. And then all of a sudden, a tear rolled down her cheek.

(14:56):
And she said, but the truth is I don’t have anyone like you in my life, and every week you put up with me. And she started to cry a little bit more. She said, I need this and I need all of you. And then she just started to cry and we’re like, oh my gosh. She’s human, her heart. It has flesh to it. And there was another guy in the group who then Shely said, well, Victoria, can we pray for you now? And she said, yeah, I need Jesus. And we prayed for her, and the dam just broke. I mean, she just opened her heart, opened her life. And I have rarely ever seen a moment where someone physically changes in front of you, like her whole countenance. It was like just this rough exterior was stripped off and she was smiling and joyful and fun loving and just hung out.

(16:03):
And everyone was so relieved. And so she gave her life to Christ that day. And then the next week we prayed for her a bit more. She actually had shared that her and her husband Marco were trying to have kids and they were having some difficulty, and she just really wanted to have a child. And so we prayed for her and we get to the end of the course. I think we had four more weeks to go. So a month later at the end of the course, we were recapping the significance of Alpha. And she said, you guys are never going to believe this, but I’m pregnant. And everyone was like, what? We were all celebrating with her. And through those last four weeks, she was a totally different person. And I was like, Victoria, you got to come back and help us on the next alpha.

(16:53):
And she did. So a few months later, I think it was three, we got through the summer and then the fall came and we’re doing our training. And she came up to me, she said, John, you’re never going to believe this. She said, I’m pregnant with twins. And we’re like, whoa, double bonus. This is awesome. So she wound up coming on this next alpha. She brought a few friends who basically filled an entire small group, 12 people. She came back another alpha after that, she invited and she came to Alpha, came to Faith on Alpha, and then her ex-wife family started. Victoria, just started inviting all kinds of people. Then it was basically three years after that initial Alpha, she started in a group. She was just helping inviting people. Then she was hosting a group. Pretty soon, three years later, she was in charge of Alpha at our church.

(17:56):
And she wound up running Alpha for many years. Good, four or five years, three times a year. She helped so many people discover a relationship with Jesus. It was amazing. And I just go back to that moment where that first week she was so hardhearted and kind of semi offensive. People could have just been like, eh, move on. But we embraced her. We ate with her, we listened, and because of that, it was the sense of community that she needed. Jesus was able to show his love, and she wound up helping so many people was a part of a church plant. I mean, it was incredible story.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:39):
Wow. That is a great story. Actually, the story of how I met you is a cool story. I was at the Uzon Conference in South Korea with Desmond Henry and Greg Steer. They organized a group of evangelists, the real hardcore missionary evangelists that were there to go out witnessing on the street in South Korea around the conference center. So we were out there, and so Greg steer from, he’s got a great ministry, dare to share. We were in the park, and he looked over there and was like, Hey, look at that guy. He looks like he needs Jesus. Let’s go share. And we went over there and it was you and you’re out there preparing. I think you were doing a session that day, and so that was a cool way to meet you. But you’ve been involved in Alpha in Asia for quite a few years, and now God’s promoted you and you’ve taken over leading and serving worldwide. But tell me some about your testimony and what brought you to this place. How did you come to know Jesus and what’s been the process that’s brought you to where you are now?

John Wentz (19:50):
Oh, well, I definitely need Jesus. So maybe he led you to me in that perk for a reason.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:56):
Yeah. Greg was like, man, that’s one of the, look, I got him saved and now he’s leading this huge ministry.

John Wentz (20:03):
Wow. Quick turnaround. I

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:05):
Know it’s grapefruit.

John Wentz (20:07):
Well, my journey began, I grew up in the carnival in central Illinois. My family, we sold food funnel cakes in the carnival, and we traveled around week to week all summer long and did not have a faith background. We never went to church. And my senior year of high school, I was filling out a scholarship application for college, and there was a section for religious activities, and I had no religious activities. And I was wondering, what are we going to do? The closest thing I could ascribe to is Zen Buddhism, because I’d read a few books and meditated and fasted, but I’m like, there’s no zen temples. I lived, so there was a French foreign exchange student in my Spanish class who invited me to go on a Catholic retreat. And I was like, huh, a religious activity, this would be perfect. So I actually went on that Catholic retreat simply because I needed a religious activity to go to college.

(21:09):
They gave me a New Testament. I’d never heard any of the stories of Jesus. I couldn’t have told you five details about Jesus. And at this Catholic retreat center, they listened to me. There was a moment the first night was Confess your sins to a priest night. And I was like, no way. This is ridiculous and it’s brainwashing and I want to have nothing to do with it. So I was getting ready to leave this little chapel, and my small group leader stopped me in the lobby and tiny lobby, 10 by 10, I mean super small. And we sat down and he’s like, Hey, where are you going? And I was like, I think I’m leaving. This is a cult. I don’t want to have anything to do with it. It’s weird. And he’s like, and I just began to gush all these things that I didn’t like about this particular religious experience.

(22:01):
And he just asked me a question that changed the course of my life. He said, I’m just curious. What issues do you have with Jesus? And I was stumped. I had had loads of Christians tell me I was going to hell. And that ticked me off. I didn’t want to have anything to do with them. Nobody had ever asked me a question, and I didn’t know. He gave me space to think about it. He was patient. I very quickly realized I didn’t know Jesus. I didn’t know anything about him. And then he challenged me. He’s like, well, I just you to have an open heart, open mind. And at the end of that retreat, somebody was sharing from upfront and they said, yeah, I know there’s some people here who don’t believe in God, and I just hope that one day if God reveals himself to you, you’d have an open heart and an open mind.

(22:56):
And I looked out the window and central Illinois, there’s these just flat cornfields as far as the eye can see, and the sun was going down, and there was this beautiful sunset. And I remember thinking the light bulb went on. It was literally this epiphany moment where I thought, the thought in my mind was, how do I have the ability to recognize beauty? What is beauty and how is beauty universally recognized by all people? Nobody’s going to look at the sunset and say, oh, that’s ugly. So in my mind, I was like, there has to be a creator to hardwire this idea of beauty into us. And I turned to my small group leader and I said, I think I get it. There has to be a God. And he got all excited. I was like, no, I’m not saying he’s Jesus or anything so cool, but

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:49):
There’s got to be something out there.

John Wentz (23:53):
This created world is too good. There’s too much to it. It has to be created. It can’t just be chance. And they said, well, why don’t you come back on the next retreat we’re going to do? And I’m like, no, you don’t want me. I don’t even believe in this stuff. They’re like, no, come back. So in the preparation for that next retreat, you had to go weekly meetings and stuff, and they taught me how to pray. They shared a rosary with me, and they started reading my Bible, and it was this community that I could explore spiritually. Well, I got to the place where I wanted to go deeper. They had a sign on the wall that said, let go and let God. And I knew one girl who was a born again Christian who I’d met at a carnival. And we were writing letters back and forth to each other.

(24:42):
And I reached out to her and I said, Hey, I’ve been doing some spiritual exploration. I know you’re a Christian. Could you meet me at this park? We walk around, I want to know how to let go and let God. And she’s like, oh my gosh. So she met me at this park. We walked around and I said, yeah, I feel like I want to let go of something, but I don’t even know what it is inside of me. And she said, well, let’s figure it out. And I said, well, one day I hope I can. And she said, one day, why not today? And I said, because I don’t know what it is I would. And I changed the subject. And we kept walking through the park. Well, we got back to the lodge starved rock State Park, and she’s like, I’m going to go use the bathroom.

(25:28):
I said, cool. So she went into the bathroom and I’m sitting on a little bench outside the women’s bathroom, thinking to myself later today, I have to drive into Chicago for work. It’s about an hour drive. If I get in a car accident and I die, literally, this is the thought in my head. If I die, I’m going to be so ticked that I couldn’t figure out what I could let go of and let God, she comes out of the bathroom and I tell her, I’m like, Jackie, today’s the day I’ll do whatever it takes to figure out what I need to let go of. Well, I come to find out she was in the bathroom, not because she had to go to the bathroom. She went in there to pray for me, and she was praying for me when I had this spiritual awakening moment.

(26:14):
So we went to Hardee’s and got some peach cobbler, and she walked me through some verses in Romans, which made absolutely no sense to me. And I remember going home later that night, I bought a brand new Bible. I bought some candles. I lit the candles, and I read through Romans six, seven, and eight, she told me to do. And it was like staring at a wall. The words would bounce off me. It didn’t make any sense. And I just remember crying out to God saying, God, I don’t know what it inside of me that I need to let go of, but I want you to take it. And all I knew at that moment was I needed to feel really emotional, somehow feel guilty for all the things I’d done wrong. I didn’t feel anything. I just yelled at God, went to bed frustrated.

(26:59):
And the next morning I woke up and I went to my community college. And as I was driving there, I drove the speed limit. There was this sense of peace over me. And I came back later that night and I felt different. I called Jackie up and I said, Hey, I feel I can feel something. There’s this peace. And she said, well, you know what happened to you, don’t you? And I said, no, what? She said, you’ve been born again. And I was like, oh, no. I didn’t want to sign up for that. I just wanted to let go and let God. She said, well, welcome to the family. You’re a born in Christian now. And I looked back at that journey and that a year after that, God put on my heart to give my life to helping people come to know him. I was at a cornerstone music festival and talking with some people from YAM, they gave me a little book entitled One Way God’s Way.

(27:59):
And it talked about how people all over the world die with no opportunity to hear about Jesus. And that literally broke my heart. It felt like God was just pinning me down. I could feel the weight of him on my chest saying, you’re going to spend the rest of your life helping people come to know me. And I gave him six weeks to convince me, prayed every hour I bought an Iron Man watch that would beep every hour to remind me to pray. And he made it so clear that this is what my life needed to be oriented around. And then the story. So I went to college, seminary, got a degree in evangelism and church planting and church history, and did campus ministry finally found my way to Alpha in 2015. And it’s been an incredible ride ever since. And now I’ve seen God’s faithfulness to that call that he put on my life to help people all over the world have the opportunity to explore and discover a relationship with Jesus.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (29:01):
I think the little known witnessing tip there is you got to have candles. If you light the candles while you read Romans, it gives you that extra little bit of peace.

John Wentz (29:14):
I don’t know what happened, man. Nothing seemed to happen that night,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (29:18):
But maybe. So. What is it about our culture today that makes Alpha’s approach so effective at reaching people?

John Wentz (29:28):
Well, I mean, you said it earlier, people don’t care what you know until they know how much you care. I really do feel that our culture, and we’ve done studies with Barna and others globally, that all the data comes back. Young people, old people, what they want. They do want to explore spiritual things, but they want to do so in a way that doesn’t put them in a corner. They don’t want to be cornered. They don’t want to be judged. They want to be loved. They want to be heard. They want to be seen. And that requires that we take a posture of listening, and it means, I think culture. Think about the pandemic globally. Everyone went through this collective trauma and was so isolated, and there was a sense of an epidemic of loneliness. The rise of TikTok comes about because young people are longing to be seen, right?

(30:36):
And they want to be expressive. And that’s nothing new. I mean, young people have wanted to do that for years, but the cultural shift has taken place where if we could just listen to people, I think we had a real opportunity coming out of the pandemic for churches to really shift our posture, to embrace people, to listen to people still sharing the good news, never, never, ever letting go of that. But it’s the good news in a good way, in a way that feels good to the person who’s exploring. So it’s less about sharing our faith with others. It’s more about how can we create the space for them to come and explore. So it puts the ball in their court, it empowers them, it gives them a sense of agency, as some people would say, and they’re in the driver’s seat. Of course, we can help.

(31:34):
We become guides. We become helpful. And I think what our culture is looking for, I mean, they’re so hungry. I talk to people almost every day. They are open to having spiritual conversations if you’ll listen to them. But if it’s all about you, it’s a very self-centered approach. It can feel very self-centered. And people have grown increasingly intolerant of selfish. They can smell that there’s an agenda they can smell. You’re trying to pin them down or get them in a corner. But if you’re really there to serve them, to love them, to listen to them, they’ll open right up. And I think there’s just a wave of genuineness that is sweeping across culture, and that’s what all the data shows. They’re happy to go on a spiritual journey. The Gen Z labeled the open generation, they’ll totally have the conversation if they feel like you’re willing to listen to them. And that’s where I think, man, what we’re doing on Alpha is perfectly designed to meet people right in that.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (32:39):
That’s awesome. Well, if someone’s listening and they’re interested in starting an Alpha group, what would be a good way for them to find out more information about what you do and get connected with you?

John Wentz (32:54):
Yeah. Well, alpha usa.org, if you’re in the United States, you can go to alpha.org if you’re international, and I know you’ve got a massive global audience, Daniel, but if you go to our website, alpha USA, we’ve got a whole team of specialists. We’ve got about 70 people on our team here in the US and a whole network of churches and coaches, hundreds of volunteers all over the country. And we serve about 8,000 churches across the country, all denominations. So it doesn’t matter what denominational background you are, if you call yourself a Christ follower, you want to share Jesus, we can help and our team can help you. We’ve got all of our resources for free. So you come to our website, sign up, people have seen the impact that Alpha has. They want to pay that forward and make that available to others. So all of our resources are available at no cost. All the training material is on there. And if you have any questions, just click on the little chat window on our website or reach out to one of our specialists and we will assist you. Our whole mission is to equip you in your mission to help people discover and develop a relationship with Jesus. So we’re happy to help.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (34:08):
Well, John, thank you so much for what you do. You’re having such a tremendous impact for the Kingdom of God listening to people, one conversation at a time, making a difference for Jesus Christ. So thank you and thank you for what Alpha is doing, and thank you for being on the Evangelism podcast today. I really appreciate it.

John Wentz (34:32):
Absolutely. God bless this podcast. And may we see a movement of people all over the world carrying the good news in a good way.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (34:41):
Amen. God bless you.

John Wentz (34:43):
Bless you.

Evangelism Podcast Host (34:44):
Is there evidence for God’s existence? How do we really know Jesus was raised from the dead? Can we trust the Bible? Do miracles happen? Does God care about me as an individual? In Dr. Daniel King’s book, proof God is real. You’ll find the answers to these three vital questions and more Is God there? Does God care? And do I dare to follow him? In his powerful, easy to read book, Daniel provides seven convincing proofs of God’s existence. You’ll learn about the evidence of cause. Design, logic, morality, scripture, miracles, and religious experience with proof God is real. You’ll read about topics like, was Jesus the son of God or just a crazy preacher? If God does exist, is he interested in your life? If God is there, why do bad things happen to good people? In proof, God is real. Daniel King shows you, God is there and he cares for you. Plus, how to take a leap of faith and start a relationship with a God who deeply loves you. Order proof God is real today by calling 1-877-431-FOUR 2 7 6 or find the book on Amazon.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (35:47):
Thanks so much for listening today. I am excited about telling people about Jesus, and I want to invite you to be a part of helping us to rescue people from Hell and take them with us to heaven. There’s two things you can do to help. First of all, can you go find the Evangelism podcast on Apple iTunes and leave us a positive review By giving a review, you will help other people find these valuable resources about sharing our faith. And second, would you become a financial partner with King Ministries? Every single dollar that people give us enables us to lead at least one person to Jesus. And so that means for only $1, you can help start a party in heaven. And so today, I want to invite you to become a monthly partner. You can start out for just a dollar, but if God puts it on your heart to do more, of course you can do more. But please go to king ministries.com and become a monthly partner with us today to help us to lead more people to Jesus. Thank you so much, and God bless you.

Evangelism Podcast Host (37:08):
For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches, visit king ministries.com. Again, that’s king ministries.com.

Subscribe to The Evangelism Podcast on Apple iTunes

Listen to The Evangelism Podcast on Spotify

Subscribe to The Evangelism Podcast on Google Podcasts

Listen to The Evangelism Podcast on Amazon Audible

The Evangelism Podcast is also available oniHeartRadio

Pray for Manipur | Developing a Theology of Suffering

Since May of 2023, the Christians in the state of Manipur in the nation of India have experienced persecution. Churches have been burned down, people have been attacked, and the Federal government of India has turned a blind eye to the violence. On today’s episode of the Evangelism Podcast I speak with Khamthianmang Thangsing (Mang) from Manipur about how the church should pray for our brothers and sisters in Manipur and we talk about developing a theology of suffering.

Key Points: 

  • In the state of Manipur, India, Christians have faced severe persecution since May 2023, with over 500 churches burned down and hundreds killed, tortured, or displaced.
  • The conflict is largely between the Christian hill tribes and the Hindu-majority Meitei people, with the federal government of India accused of not protecting the Christian minority.
  • The guest, Hmong from Manipur, describes the suffering of his family and the need for the global church to stand with the persecuted Christians of Manipur through prayer and solidarity.
  • He discusses developing a theology of suffering, emphasizing that suffering for the sake of Christ is good, as it allows one to draw closer to God and that the cross represents both the depths of human evil and the heights of God’s love and forgiveness.
  • The guest encourages praying for the victims, especially the children, and calls the global church to be intentional and consistent in prayer for Manipur.

Continue reading

New Year’s Resolutions

It is traditional to make resolutions for the New Year. Usually people make a resolution to lose weight, or to earn more money, or to stop doing a bad habit. But what are some good spiritual resolutions to make? Below are ten resolutions that will help your walk with God in the coming year.

  1. Grow Closer to God
    “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” – Matthew 6:33
    Spend more time in prayer, reading the Bible, and worship to deepen your relationship with God.
  2. Love Others More Fully
    “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” – John 13:34
    Commit to showing kindness, forgiveness, and grace to everyone you encounter.
  3. Share Your Faith Boldly
    “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 28:19
    Be intentional about sharing the Gospel with others and living as a light in the world.
  4. Serve Others in Humility
    “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” – 1 Peter 4:10
    Use your talents and resources to bless others and glorify God.
  5. Strengthen Your Family Relationships
    “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” – 1 Peter 4:8
    Invest time in your family, showing love, patience, and forgiveness in your interactions.
  6. Practice Gratitude Daily
    “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:18
    Keep a gratitude journal or make it a habit to thank God for His blessings every day.\
  7. Be a Good Steward of Your Resources
    “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops.” – Proverbs 3:9
    Budget wisely, give generously, and steward your finances, time, and talents in a way that honors God. If you want to give a first fruits offering to help us lead people to Jesus click HERE. 
  8. Pursue Holiness in All Areas of Life
    “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.” – 1 Peter 1:15
    Strive for purity in your thoughts, actions, and relationships, reflecting God’s holiness.
  9. Trust God in Every Circumstance
    “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” – Proverbs 3:5
    Rely on God’s wisdom and guidance, even when life feels uncertain.
  10. Take Care of Your Body as God’s Temple
    “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.” – 1 Corinthians 6:19
    Commit to healthy habits like eating well, exercising, and getting enough rest, recognizing your body is a gift from God.

 

 

Recent Episodes