Key Quotes: 

Good follow up is the result of good pre crusade training.

Don’t seek to be great. Seek to preach about a great Jesus.

Please subscribe to The Evangelism Podcast with

Evangelism Coach Daniel King

Transcript: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Christopher Alam was born to a Muslim family. When he became a Christian, he was arrested and imprisoned. But now he is a Christian evangelist who loves talking about Jesus.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:16):
Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies, and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:53):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King and I am always excited to tell people about Jesus. My special guest today is evangelist Christopher Alam. He was a Muslim, but he converted to Christianity. And now he goes all over the world, telling people about Jesus, brother, Christopher, tell me, how did you get saved?

Christopher Alam (01:20):
I lived in Pakistan and I, I will say Muslim man, never seen a Bible nor have I ever met a Christian until I was 21 years of age. But I had a lot of problems in my life and I was suicidal. I wanted to kill myself. And then one day I met him in Richmond on the street to begin to tell me about Jesus for the first time in my life. And you know, it was interesting because many people talk about it, period of searching and seeking. It was never that way. For me, I just felt in an instant that this is what I have been waiting for all my life. And I decided to give my life to Jesus.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:01):
Now, your family was a very significant family. Your, your father was in the military.

Christopher Alam (02:10):
My father was in general and I was an army officer, myself. My father especially was highly respected. And yeah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:19):
And so what impact did that have on your life when you became a Christian?

Christopher Alam (02:24):
Well, you know, in Muslim society, what happens is if a Muslim becomes a Christian in, you know, in their belief, apostasy is punishable by decks. And you know, there are many different reasons for that. So if it wasn’t gonna become the Christian, normally his family would kill him before anyone else got to him because it’s like he has dishonored his family. And the only way the family can receive, it’s honored by killing. And that’s called an honor killing as many different kinds of honor, and this is one of them. And so they wanted to kill me when I give my life to Jesus.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:04):
Wow. And you ended up leaving the Middle East and going to Sweden and attending Bible school at in Sweden, you met your wife there and then you came to Tulsa and went to Raymond, can tell me some about how that happened in your life.

Christopher Alam (03:24):
What happened was when I gave my life to Jesus, I was you know, I was a reserve officer in the army. I was first put in a mental hospital for psychiatric evaluation because the assumption was why would anyone do anything that would cause him to lose his life? It killed, unless, you know, there was something wrong with him. So that’s why I was in a mental hospital. I came out of a mental hospital. I was under house arrest. And then I escaped from Austin restaurant. I was preaching on the streets and I was arrested for preaching on the streets. And then they realize what was then I was in prison for almost a year. And then I came out of prison and then they you know, they did their best to get me to renounce Christianity and come back to Islam.

Christopher Alam (04:13):
And when I refused, that’s when I was threatened with execution. So I had to escape and I went to Afghanistan, the Soviet union, Turkey, Belgium. Then I ended up in Sweden where I go to asylum. And then I met my church. I met, I came to Sweden, 77, got a bit of asylum in 78, my wife at the end of 70. And I know I met her in, in, in, in church, in 78, we got married in 79. And then I got baptized with the Holy spirit. And then I heard of Rayma. Some of other agents books really changed my life. So that’s when we came to Bible school in 1981,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:55):
What a tremendous journey. And now you are an evangelist and you’re going to two nations, many different nations around the world. A lot of work in, in Africa, particularly in Zimbabwe and some of the surrounding countries. How did you become an evangelist?

Christopher Alam (05:14):
Well, I always felt a calling on my life, right from the beginning to tell people about Jesus and I started on the streets. I worked a lot in the beginning with drug addict products. That’s where I started hippies and drug addicts and drunks. And then I began to minister, to university students in Sweden after I had gotten political asylum there. And then I got brother Hagan’s books. And then I began to see the gifts of the Holy spirit in my life. I began to pray for the sick begin to see many healings and miracles and my first trip overseas. And I felt like God was leading me overseas, but I didn’t know anybody have money. You know, I had nothing, so, but God opened the door. So for a hundred dollars, I could actually go to hold him and spend 10 days there and preaching and Catholic churches.

Christopher Alam (06:08):
And we’ve got many people saved, healed baptized in the Holy Spirit. And on the last night the father of, one of the leaders in the Catholic student movement was paralyzed from his waist down. He was a paraplegic and God raised him up in an instant and that opened the door for me. So I began to go to Homeland and preach what were the Roman Catholics. And and so, you know, God began to do it. You know, a lot of what the doors that were open to me was simply because of the miraculous I saw you know, children, born deformed brain damaged, healed, blind, deaf people. I mean, huge numbers create the miracles. And then after that got up in Africa, India. So I began to all more and more crusades. Now, during this time, the early years I was actually teaching full-time at a Bible college I was at a lecture at a Bible college, and then I kind of left that as I went more and more into the mission field. So, you know, more and more crusades. So I left the Bible college after four years and I went full time into the missions field. And so my crusade ministry, you can say began in 1983 in 37, 30, 38 years now.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:29):
And tell me about what God has accomplished in the last 38 years, where have you gone? Where have you seen great fruit?

Christopher Alam (07:39):
You know, we have seen, you know, I haven’t lost count, but more than 1500 churches have been starting as a direct result of our crusades and many many people have been we’re pastors today, evangelists and pastors in Africa and Asia, and even in Eastern Europe were saved. And microsavings, I, I run into pastors with strong churches from places like Poland and and, and you know, Malawi and Zimbabwe Zambia, and also in, in, in India and Burma would have been saved to our ministry. So because the thing was that I was doing evangelism, but the thing I discovered was there was a little lasting fruit. The crusades were great. So I began to pray that God would send me some people who would work with me in that. So we began to develop a followup program and that has been very successful.

Christopher Alam (08:39):
So before every crusade, now we do it three weeks mobile Bible school in which we train the local churches on how to disciple new believers. So we do that a lot in the digital to the crusade itself. A lot of work goes into what happens before and after the, so that has really been the key to our late successful. And so, you know, because, because of that, because a lot of people have to stay in the churches, I believe that has given us credibility in Southern Africa. So the word has gotten around that if we come and do a crusade in their town, they know that the churches are going to grow. So you know what, that it takes years to build up that kind of reputation. So, you know, we do crusades in Southern Africa, South central Africa, and we work with other denominations in places where there’s nothing, we plant our own churches. Otherwise we run churches. We give them to the other fellowships and groups to run those churches. We also have a church planting Bible school. So know I’ve done a lot of things, you know, top of my we’ll call, it started Bible school. Didn’t start another one in Asia, one year Bible school with an emphasis on church, planting crusades, pre crusade, teaching post crusade. Follow-Up all that. Yeah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:00):
Talk to me about your process of doing post crusade follow up. We don’t want to just make converts. We want to make disciples. So I feel this is very important for what, what are you doing?

Christopher Alam (10:12):
Interesting? Well, the first thing I want to say is that the great commission isn’t just to preach the gospel. The great commission is to preach the gospel and to make disciples and to teach them all things that Jesus has taught. So it’s a, it’s a bigger process than just the preaching of the gospel and the alter. It’s a bigger thing. And I spoke to a problem in demand. I asked him what he did about, and he said nothing. That’s not what God has called me to do. The churches should do it. And I thought, you know, that that’s a good thought. But then I realized that most of the churches, like in places like Africa and Southern Asia, they don’t have the know how to make the second, neither do they have the motivation because they have worked for decades without succeeding. And so we realized, so we have to inspire them.

Christopher Alam (11:06):
We have to give them the know-how. So that’s when I thought, because good follow-up is a result of good training. So my thought was, how do we do that? Well, we do that by motivating them training the churches, in fact now when we do it in Africa except the church as a participating church, unless they cancel all their programs except their Sunday morning services and work together with us six days a week and let us train their people. And also, we also demand that we also require that a sizable percentage of the membership of the leaders participate in the we, you know, we call it the mobile Bible school. So when we do this, then as soon as the crusade ends, we, we handled the decision cards to the churches. And that would correspond to two criteria. We use, we divided map of the entire town grid.

Christopher Alam (12:05):
So each church would get a decision card from the immediate vicinity. We won’t give them cops on the other end of town. That’s the first thing. The other thing is that the number of cars to get to the number of workers provided to be trained. And then we teach them, we walk with them how to do the follow-up process. And we also teach the pastors how to get their first three Sundays after the crusade to welcoming the new believers, making them the center of attraction and getting them to share their stories and testimonies. And then of course, these people are visited at the church members visit to visit the new believers in their homes. It’s, it’s quite an alien, it’s this conflict.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:00):
You also see notable miracles when you preach. Tell me a story of one of the significant miracles that you’ve seen God do.

Christopher Alam (13:11):
Well okay. Now let me just say the fresh on the pops in my mind, this was in Eastern Europe years ago, and we were in an actually Roman Catholic. We had like 8,000 people inside 4,000 outside jammed. People were standing everywhere in the aisles and even in the vestry and in the back of the Jewish building, behind the alter table, there were about to be 400 people. And then while I was when I finished preaching, I began to pray. I suddenly heard people screaming and I look back and I looked over the altar table and I saw the top of the little blonde walking. And I had I remember I had 27 students on the Bible college in Sweden or with me, I was living in Sweden at that time. And they were screaming and weeping and pointing towards this child.

Christopher Alam (14:08):
I walked across across the alter table. And I saw the way that the child was walking. So I knew that she had been paralyzed. She had been laid. Now, the story of this child was she was born brain damaged. Our eyes would cross. She wouldn’t say her tongue was hanging up here drooling. She was in a fetal position. Her knees were drawn up like this. And, you know, she was totally brain-damaged. And what happened was when the power of God came on there, the mother put the child on the ground and people begin to hear the sound of bones cracking, and the fingers begin to straighten out the eyes were straight and this challenge on its own and begin to walk. And that’s why people were screaming. So, anyway, I didn’t know all this, but I, I took the child by the hand and I remember I walked to the front of the table and I immediately, my spirit knew that something immense had happened here.

Christopher Alam (15:15):
I didn’t know the details, but I just, you know, sometimes, you know, in your heart and I, and I suddenly, I felt this, this is how I felt. I felt like I, you know, there was I had, I had read somewhere, which says that no man can see God and live. And that, that moment was the Daniel. I believe that I was going to die because I have seen the glory of God. That’s how I felt. So I remember I left the child. I crawled up to the alter table and with a tablecloth hanging around this huge cement table and I was under it. And I, at that time, we had only two children, the youngest one hadn’t been born. And I pray for my wife. I begin to pray for the children that the Lord would take care of me when I be gone, because I seriously believe that I was going to die.

Christopher Alam (16:07):
Then I said, Lord, I’m ready. You can take me home. Then I heard a voice that said you hadn’t seen anything as yet get out and stand before the people. So I stuck my head out from under the alter table and what I see because the whole place was packed up. There was a space of about 10 feet wide and three feet. That was my space. I had stood. And I had preached suddenly. I saw parents bring about I think about six boys of different ages, totally paralyzed. And as they put them on the platform, each one of the six got up and began to walk. So I was, you know, then the power of swept over the crowd. And I took off my jacket and into the crowd because people were crushing me against the altar table. And I told the people, I said, we touched this jacket.

Christopher Alam (17:03):
You’ll be healed. Miracles are happening. Anyway, we ended the meeting one 30 at night. And then and then what happened was that I came back a year later. You know, I used to do one service in that church every year. And in July, I came back next July and the old men, the priest took me aside. He said, brother, I want to show you something. He opened the door and showed me a room. It was full of wheelchairs and crutches and things. He says for 90 days, for three months after you live every single day, I had a line of people outside the parsonage with crutches and artificial limbs and braces, neck braces, blesses hearing, just all kinds of things. He says. Then after 90 days, I stopped. And you know, when he finished, I saw those things. My head was spinning. I just know that there are a lot of things we don’t understand that there are dimensions. We haven’t touched, but when we preach Jesus that is when the Holy ghost comes down and God can do way beyond. We can ask a thing. And so that was probably on the most astounding and outstanding things I’ve ever seen in my life.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:26):
That’s amazing. I, I believe that God is raising up a new generation of young evangelists that will go out into the world and see a great harvest of souls. And I first met you when I was a much younger evangelist. I remember you were very encouraging to me and telling me about all the miracles and, and the testimonies of, of what you had done. What advice would you give to a young evangelist if you were coaching a young evangelist?

Christopher Alam (18:55):
The first thing I would say to them never seek to be great. Never, you know, a lot of people, our ministry center don’t see it, that seek to make Jesus exalted, make much, make much a big deal, make a big deal across on the blood and of Jesus Christ. If you do that that’s the first thing. Secondly, make a covenant with God. And I had to do that to do that 35, 36 years ago, the Lord said to me, he says, he says, I will use you. But if you make a covenant with me not to talk about the things that I have done for your life and ministry for financial brain, again, all for self promotion, this is, if you can make that covenant with me, I will take care of you. You will never let, and I’m going to use you.

Christopher Alam (19:55):
And that was, you know, a thing that really releases you because we, we live in a world and everybody wants to be known, famous to have money, to have this and all that. It’s a great thing to live a life when we are totally deliberate and free from that this desire to have enough. Another thing is a numbers game. Don’t chase numbers. I mean, honestly, since 1989, I have never put in my newsletter. So many people got saved or so many people in the crowd. I just put a photo up there and let people make their own game on. Yes, I know because I was told years ago by an older man about very wise, he says, Christopher don’t play the numbers game. And I looked at him. He says, you know what? He says, I tell you why people play the number of games.

Christopher Alam (20:43):
They think that if they have great numbers, that will bring great support. He said, you don’t want money from people by numbers. You need the support of those who join their hearts to you because let’s see the hand of God on your life. He says, that’s the first thing. Secondly, whenever you give a number, there always be somebody else who will say he had more people than you and others who would say you want to exaggerate says, don’t even go there. And I’ve seen whether it works. I mean, since 1989, never read privately. I can tell you, you asked me how many people do think I can give you a guess, but I guess as a guest, you know but, but the thing is that, you know, I tell people, I said, it’s good just to be free from these things free from the numbers game and free from the pressure of having to prove anything, because the power is not in us.

Christopher Alam (21:37):
It is impossible. So we have to wrap our lives around the cross and be in Christ. And that is the key to our having fruit and success and one man, a man of God who was a pastor, he said years ago, he said, brother, there’s a great difference between results and fruits. He says that fruits contain results, but just results are not fruit. And I thought how to that is, you know, the older you get, I’m 66. Now I’ll be 67. So you may begin to think of eternity and you think of life in terms of pleasing God, rather than the bigness of my ministry. And that’s why I’m sharing these things. It sometimes takes people to get it. You know, it took me years to get it.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:29):
Thank you for sharing that tremendous advice as we speak, you are about to go to Tanzania for another crusade. Tell me what you’re going to be doing there.

Christopher Alam (22:42):
I’m working with a brother called doctor econ. The man is a legend and been in Tanzania. I think 46 will be seven years. I’ll be doing two crusades with them, with him. I couldn’t bring my own equipment and my team because of the lockdown, but we’ll be working with buddy. So I’m glad to be able to do these two crusades because last year I couldn’t do anything in Africa. Nothing.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:07):
If one of our listeners would be interested in, in supporting your ministry, what is your website? How can they find you to find more information?

Christopher Alam (23:18):
W w w dot Pentacostal fire.com

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:38):
Wonderful. Well, brother, since you named your website, Pentecostal fire, you must believe in Pentecostal fire. W would you pray a prayer for the people who are listening and pray for the fire of God to come upon them? Amen.

Christopher Alam (23:55):
Let’s pray together. Father in the mighty name of Jesus. We come before you, we come before your throne. I thank you, Lord Jesus for the price that you paid for us, that you were you were whipped and bruised and beaten and crucified bearing upon your own self, our sins and our diseases. And by your stripes, we have been ill. I thank you, Jesus, that you have baptized us with the Holy ghost and with fire. And you have seated together who seated us together with Christ in the heavenly places on your own right-hand side. I thank you father for your calling upon our lives for the anointing of your Holy spirit, upon our lives. And I pray father that each one of us may, may walk with you and we use by you for your glory. I thank you, father, how precious it is to be called by God to do your work.

Christopher Alam (24:47):
We thank you, father in the name of Jesus, use each one, father who is listening to the sound of my voice, touch them. Father caused them to increase in wisdom and power in the knowledge of God, and then be anointed of the Holy spirit. May they all bear much fruit father confirm your word in their mouth with science forming in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen. Daniel. I want to share one little thought that came to me when I was praying, you know, we are the five-fold ministry gifts and I used to teach on the five-fold ministry gifts and generally the apostles prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. And if you look at what the apostle does, he really does a whole bunch of things and what the prophet does and what the pastor does and what a teacher does. But you know, the evangelist in interesting, the evangelist has only one message.

Christopher Alam (25:41):
His message is Christ. That’s the only prejudice he preaches Christ crucified, right? That’s his only message. He just, this one message. He’s not called to do anything else, but preach this one message Christ crucified. Now, isn’t it amazing that this one message of Jesus Christ crucified must be so important in the eyes of God, that God would designate one of the five ministry gifts to preach only that and nothing else. Just think of how precious you know, that’s why I do with the fresh policies, the glorious gospel of Christ, which was, and custard to me. So the message we have, it’s, it’s a message of God’s glory. It is it just, you know, when people talk, well, the Gloria, they talk about something out there, but the glory of God, isn’t something floating around the glory of God is in the message of the cross that does the Laureus gospel.

Christopher Alam (26:47):
And this message, the, the salvation of the entire human race depends upon the preaching of this message. This one message, nothing else, all the other things that are important, they have their own place, but this messenger price is, is a message. The, that God has put the testimony, the terminal, the destiny, the salvation of the entire human race in this message. That’s the first thing. Secondly, God has promised to confirm this message with science falling. So miracles are an integral part of the gospel. So I have pastors asking me why don’t we see miracles in America? Like you didn’t advertise it. Well, the reason is there’s many reasons, but the main reasons, because you guys go preach the gospel, you don’t preach the cross. You know, and then the fact which I began with that this message is so important to God that God has designated one of the five ministry gift just to breach this one message. So this is something we must think what a privilege, what an honor it is to be an evangelist and to preach this one message. And it’ll be an entire power of the Holy spirit, the forces of heaven, get behind this message. And when we preach it, it convicts the hearts of sinners. They just feel, they said, what must I do to be saved? And then miracles began to happen. So what a glorious gospel God has entrusted.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (28:22):
Amen. I am thankful that I am an evangelist. It is a good job to have, and I only have one message, but I just keep preaching it over and over again. So thank you brother, Christopher, for being on the evangelism podcast. God bless

Christopher Alam (28:39):
You. Keep in touch.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (28:41):
Thank you. Thank you so much for listening today. This was a powerful interview with brother Christopher Alam. Would you do me a favor? Go find the evangelism podcast on Apple iTunes and give us a review and also subscribe your review. We’ll make it so other people who are excited about evangelism can find this podcast. Thank you so much. And God bless you

Evangelism Podcast Host (29:10):
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.

Benjamin Gabriel (not his real name) is from the Middle East. He has been a highly successful businessman but now he is passionate about Jesus and  excited about telling people about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

He was sent to prison for becoming a Christian.

He was beat up for preaching the Gospel.

Key Quote: 

If you read the Koran, you will find that Islam is a very controlling religion.

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Benjamin Gabriel. That’s not his real name is from the middle East. He has been a highly successful businessman, but now he’s passionate about Jesus and excited about telling people about the father, the son, and the Holy spirit.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:16):
Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:52):
Hi, I’m Daniel King and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. Today. We have a special guest Benjamin Gabriel. Now that’s not his real name. It’s a pseudonym. He is from the middle East, and you’ll recognize from his accent that he is from over there. But I can’t even tell you what country he’s from because his family still lives there. And they would be in danger. He’s been a highly successful businessman, done very well in business, but his heart, his passion is for reaching people for Jesus brother. Thank you for joining me today.

Benjamin Gabriel (01:33):
Thank you very much. And I’m honored to be here, pastor Daniel.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:38):
So tell me about your life as a businessman. You’ve made lots of money in your lifetime, but now you have a heart for preaching the gospel and telling people about Jesus. Tell me how that came

Benjamin Gabriel (01:52):
To be my life, my whole entire life. Since 1987, it’s still, what are they called for to reach the unreached people and to present Christ as the real Messiah, the one who comfort you, the one who saved you and through, I want to, I started being in business at the age of six years old. Believe it or not. I was six years old. When my daddy took me to work for him. At the age of 12, I was running two businesses. I had a horrible childhood with my father, an absolute the worst image of fatherhood. I forgive my dad. I love him. That’s what I learned. That’s why I learned that in Christianity, that the father God, but so much healing in your heart that you can live and forgive the people that hurt you. And I found so many things in Christianity that helped me out to reach the business side and my life I’ve been in all over the country.

Benjamin Gabriel (03:02):
I mean all over the country, meeting people, I mean, billionaires, millionaires people, I don’t know the, the know how much money they have. And in the last 26 years of my life, it’s been ma I’ve been a missionary in my field and a very successful businessman. I took one of the business. I ran to number 11 over the whole entire country. And I say very humbly, nobody before me in this state, I live in and nobody after me still beat that record ever. Nobody ever. And that glory is to God because God was with Joseph. Because of that, he was a successful man. Seeing the Bible, you can see a lot of promises from God that he will bless everything you touch, just believe just except him in your heart as a personal savior. Jesus Christ is the true God. He is the one that said I am the life that there was a reaction and the who believe in me will be resurrected.

Benjamin Gabriel (04:13):
They will never die. Why? Because he saves your spirit. He saves your soul. He saves your body. He saves all of you. And then that in his day he will come and take it to the everlasting life. He is alive. Jesus Christ is alive. Then in my business, I did this and I I’ve, I’m always bald. I I’ve never been scared of anyone. I mean, none. I prayed for customers. I prayed for employees. God gives me a world of knowledge about people suffering financially can pay their mortgage. I obeyed God. And in my thigh, I obeyed God in everything I do every morning. I said, God, I want it to be with me because without you, I can do nothing. But with you, father, God, I can do everything. I was able to preach the word of God in a very intelligent way and spiritual way to them.

Benjamin Gabriel (05:15):
Iffiest to the Muslims, unbelievers, Hindu. I mean all the religions of the world. Have I seen life said absolutely, absolutely. One of my businesses that I I’m sorry. One of the places that God told me to go on work, I work for probably $3 a month, but it wasn’t the money. It was the mission that I was on. And in this particular place, God said there’s 25 souls. I have ordained them. I have anointed them. I love them. And I want you to share my love to them. I said, God, you got to teach me. And I God so much because God, the father, God, the son and God, the Holy spirit. And without the Holy spirit, this is the mechanism of the Trinity. The Holy spirit came to me and taught me wisely. How to reach the unreached people. And all of a sudden, I, you know, the lunch hour or the 30 minutes lunch, I, I started with one person.

Benjamin Gabriel (06:21):
I said, Hey, let’s pray over the food. Then let’s pray to the heavenly father. God, just God, because they believe that they’re God, it’s like art. It’s a fake God, but this is not what we’re talking about today. It’s a fake God. Please study the Koran. It’s a very controlling religion. When a religion tell you that if you ever doubt the Bible, if you ever doubt the I’m on, you’re going to go to hell. Versus the Christ said, search all the books to find a reason for your belief. Anyway, then I started working there and the guy said, I would pray five times a day. I can do this. And I told him, my faith is, God is unlimited. You will leave that. He said, yeah. I said, then you can talk to him. He said, you think I can. I say, yeah, you can watch what I will do.

Benjamin Gabriel (07:17):
And I prayed my thank God and the joy of God and the peace of God was all over me. And he go and pray because he never done that. He, the prayer is a repeating prayer. Five times a day. It doesn’t change. It’s the same prayer, five times a day. And you can talk to God because in the Koran it says it can’t, you can’t talk to God period. End of the story. And if you do talk to him by accident, he’s not going to talk to you. Who are you the thought for him to talk to you? Anyway, then I shared the shared about God, the father with him as the Holy spirit commanded me. And then I start believing that God will do something. And he one gets saved and born by the Holy spirit and baptized by the Holy spirit. Then our lunch hour, this people see us sitting together and we have a very wonderful time together.

Benjamin Gabriel (08:12):
Then two people, three people, four people. It became literally exactly what God told me. 25 people received Jesus Christ as a personal savior. Number 25 was a lady. Am I going to mention her name? Because whatever, but I told her as I discipled all of them, you can’t, you can’t. I know that you have so much joy because now you born again. And the Holy spirit is upon you and God talking to you. And you’re going to enjoy a true person relationship with the true God, God, the father, God, the son and God, the Holy spirit and the Holy spirit will fill you up with so joy that you can comprehend. And she didn’t listen. And with a sail heart that she got decapitated by her own fiance for believing in Jesus Christ. It broke my heart very bad. And at that time, the, the, the man that was the big boss of this place and he came to me to purchasing.

Benjamin Gabriel (09:19):
I said, I need human office. And I went to his office and he said, brother you’re talking about Christ to people. I said, yes, I am. I’m talking about the father God. And he said, you know that I can report you right now to the secret police and all of the brotherhood and your life will end. But the fact that your mother and father are very willing, well known in the city. And I know them personally, I’m going to just fire you and don’t ever come back here. I did that. And I lived the place that God commanded me to go there and do his work. God has

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:13):
Moved tremendously in your life. And it’s amazing where God has brought you to. And I know that your testimony is very long. You could spend a long time sharing everything that God has done, but just share with us a little bit about how God has brought you to where you are today.

Benjamin Gabriel (10:33):
I walked into church and I stood in the end of the church and the pastor was preaching and I understood zero from what he, he let us, he was afraid of me. I don’t know. The church just started one after the other leaving because it’s how I looked. And toward the end, which is, I still don’t know. I still don’t know how this happened. I still don’t know it’s the power of God because I seek the God all my life. I wanted to know where the truth is. And I did walk by this particular church so many times, and every time I walked by it, there’s people shouting and they’re happy, happy the other religion nobody’s happy. I mean, nobody has happiness in their heart, zero. I mean, they get out of bed at two in the morning, three in the morning and in their heart, they’re cussing God, why you make it?

Benjamin Gabriel (11:37):
They were doing all this. But anyway, on some of them are grateful because you know, it’s just taught. I mean, I wish I have the time to share with you about the country addiction and that book, how many mistakes and I can prove it to you from that book that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Anyway, toward the end, he he asked if you want to receive Jesus Christ as a personal savior, come to the front. Now this is, this is what I don’t understand. And I still don’t get it. How did I go to the front? I didn’t, I don’t know. I mean, I still questioning. God is like, did you push me? Did you actually carry me and make me go to the front? What happened that day? And all the, the leaders in the church and the pastor prayed for me and all the sudden I’m crying like crazy.

Benjamin Gabriel (12:31):
We’ll talk on this, this particular time. It was four hours, snot and tears. And it was like a pub under me and I’m crying. And I’m like, all the sudden I, while I’m crying, I stopped. And it was, it was a vision. I was in the desert where there is no food, no water. And I was a baby. I was just a baby. And Christ came from heaven, was amazing, peaceful, light, and amazing peace. He put upon me for the first time in my life. I experienced peace, not excit and depression. And that’s the God that I worship. He will heal you from all the depression of the past and anxiety to taking steps toward the future. That’s the God we worship. And all of a sudden I had peace that I’m not kidding you. It is overwhelming peace. And his hand that he held me, he hugged me.

Benjamin Gabriel (13:35):
And he said, you are mine. I’m going to anoint you. I’m going to be with you all the days of your life and not, you’re not going to save hundreds of thousands. You’re going to save millions of life in your lifetime. Oh, what? The experience or the presence. And I, without a doubt in my mind, without a doubt, I knew Jesus Christ is the son of man. The son of God. He is part of the Trinity, the father, the son, the Holy spirit. And they are one, not three as others belief. And my life was so touched that that night I wanted a house and I couldn’t sleep. I start like one, I have a Bible list. That’s almost 40 years old, but I’m going to stop reading the Bible. And the Holy spirit came to my room and I couldn’t stop crying about all the sins and all the things I committed in my life, including converting to Christian, to fam.

Benjamin Gabriel (14:40):
And I cried. And I said, God, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I will do whatever it takes to bring them back to you. I want it be your servant. And from that point on my life was never the same. You know, when I went to prison, I was so thankful to God. I actually praise the God said, man, this is amazing. I get persecuted for the name of Christ. When I got beat up for preaching the gospel, I was so happy because he said, come to me all your burden and have heavy heart. And I will give you freedom. I will give you peace. Jesus Christ is a personal savior and he is alive. Not like the other religion. The guy is dead. He died. He’s gone. What do you worship a lifeguard? Or you follow a dead one, dead, dead with a whole bunch of idols inside his coffin. I mean idols. Why would a guy guide sin from God, be among idols. I wish I have the time to destroy that book. I really do.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:47):
What is it that is unique about Christianity that makes it so attractive to you.

Benjamin Gabriel (15:55):
That’s a big question. And I’ll do the best to answer the fact that you can talk to God. You can talk to God any time. You don’t have to have five times of prayer. And I wish I have the time to share with you. Why it’s five times not 50 as God told the guy anyway, but you can talk to God. And the beautiful thing about it. It’s not like the other, all the other religions. Oh, I mean, when I say, Oh, I mean, all of them, all of them, none of these gods talk back to you. They have no power, none because they are the he’s alive and he’s, this is alive. And he will talk back to you. And through the Holy spirit, he will give you power to do things that incredible, super natural things that you can do. The Bible is alive.

Benjamin Gabriel (16:53):
The word of God is still alive and he wants to touch your heart. He wants to bring you to his kingdom. He was sick. All the wilderness, all the fear, all the anxiety, all, everything that is stopping you from being who called you to be, God is opening his arm today. And he wants you to come to his kingdom. He loves you so much. And I say the truth in love. He sent, he sent the part of the Trinity Christ, the son, the Messiah, the son of God to die for your sense. Then you can go through Christ as the righteousness of God, not condemned by your sins. You don’t have to work like the other religions say, you have to work for your salvation and no guarantee for Ghana, which is the garden of no guarantee. None, zero, because God is a deceiver. What a funny thing.

Benjamin Gabriel (17:53):
How will you believe that? But our God wants you. Once you receive him, your book is written in the book of life. That’s why I love Christianity. That’s why I have a passion for Christianity, the gods so much. He loved the world that he gave his only begotten son for you. Why don’t you take the step of faith right now in Jesus’ name? I break anything, stopping you from taking a step toward the things of God is study for yourself. Read for yourself. He asked us to read the books to have evidence for all. Believe he didn’t command you not to read nothing and be controlled by one book and accept them as his personal savior. I promise you life will change their happiness. You’ve been looking for all your life. That joy, that peace will never come with money, authority and power will never, ever come.

Benjamin Gabriel (18:45):
He’s the only one that said before you with the sentence, the heaven that I will leave my peace to you will not like the peace, the word give, but overwhelming peace and the Holy spirit on fire. You want the Holy spirit. You, when God started speaking to you as how you do it, you accept Jesus Christ as a personal savior. That’s what I love about this Bible is still alive. He still can listen to you. And all of a sudden, when you receive him, this is what the Holy spirit will come right with him because he said, I am leaving and I have to leave to send the helper. And the Holy spirit will assist you as why God is the father. God, the son and God, the Holy spirit and the Holy spirit is where you at right now in Jesus’ mighty name,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:33):
Brother. Thank you so much for sharing. I love your passion. If you’re listening and you have been stuck in religion, trying to make God happy through your works right now, I’d encourage you to cry out to Jesus. That’s right. Ask Jesus to save you, brother. Would you pray a prayer with my listener right now? Who wants to give his life to Jesus has been stuck in religion, but right now wants to cry out and experience a true relationship. A life with Jesus Christ,

Benjamin Gabriel (20:07):
Totally father God come to you. And the name of Jesus Christ. He said everything. Everything you ask the father in my name happened. He said if two and three gathered in my name in agreement that the prayer will be answered. And we’re praying to you, father God through the Holy spirit. Oh, Holy spirit. You are so powerful. Oh, Holy spirit. You can change lives right now. We are so welcoming you among us. Come and start moving with power. I pray right now in the name of Jesus

Benjamin Gabriel (21:01):
Through the, what they call their self Christian. And they have no relationship with you, non father, God, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ

Benjamin Gabriel (21:14):
The Holy spirit father, God will start touching their lives in a different way. Try them to your body, to the church where they can see the Holy spirit moving. God is still alive. God hears about you. Oh God. I, I see somebody, somebody right now is suffering with drugs. I mean, right now you are listening and you are suffering with drugs and God is standing you right now. Get in your knees and ask me, and I will heal you in Jesus mighty name

Benjamin Gabriel (21:53):
Jesus name. I see another woman. She is so, Oh gosh, she’s so down on herself because of all the abuse, sexual abuse G when through God is telling you, forgive your enemies.

Benjamin Gabriel (22:08):
The biggest commandment to love the Lord, your God, from all your heart, all your mind, all your understanding and love your neighbor as yourself. This will all, all the apostles, all the profits. That’s what he said. This is it all the old Testament, the new Testament. This is, and this is the greatest thing it can do. And I’m telling you for give them that you shall be forgiving and you can walk in the freedom of Jesus Christ. You are no guilt. There is no shame, father God. I pray to the nations that they don’t believe in the Trinity of God. Nothing is impossible for my mighty God, nothing. I mean nothing. And I pray right now, father God, but the nation for Africa, I see the blood of Jesus Christ is wiping the whole entire city under the blood. That is as massive at knowing thing from the head all the way to the end of Africa.

Benjamin Gabriel (23:12):
I see God right now, raising the church in America in Jesus mighty name, don’t fight God like Paul don’t fight God. You might not be Christian. You might be Muslim or Confucius or Hindu or Buddhist. Don’t fight the voice in you that is telling you read the Bible. And in the Bible, you’re going to find, answer for everything because the Holy spirit will help you to light up your mind. Like Paul, the apostle said, he said open their eyes. They are blind eyes. They can see they have eyes, but they can’t see. I pray for the God that you opened their eyes of understanding that your world will shine and the salvation will come. Nothing is impossible for you for their God, because you’re the alpha and Omega. And you are a loving God. Yes, you’re a loving God. Not in the other book. Not one time said that the God of love.

Benjamin Gabriel (24:13):
I think our book, he’s a loving God. He wants to love you. He wants to, he wants to you to love him back. He wants to trust you, and he wants you to trust him with your life. Because when you give him your life, your prosper and be in good health, psychologically, mentally, physically, you’re going to go into paradise on earth because God is with you. And when God is with you, who can be against you in Jesus’ mighty name, we pray and we expect miracles and testimonies to be happening in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen. Amen. Thank you for being on the evangelism podcast. Thank you very much, just honor.

Evangelism Podcast Host (25:03):
Hey, thanks so much for listening today. Could you do me a favor? Go to Apple iTunes, find the evangelism podcast and leave us a review. That’ll help other people who are excited about evangelism to find this podcast.

Evangelism Podcast Host (25:20):
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.

Keith Wheeler has carried a huge wooden cross in over 180 nations on all seven continents. He has been arrested, thrown in jail, beaten, and had stones thrown at him. But he has had the opportunity to introduce thousands of people to the man who hung on the cross.

In 1985, on Good Friday, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, Keith Wheeler began carrying a 12-foot, wooden cross. He has now walked over 25,000 miles, through more than 180 countries on all seven continents.

Quotes from Keith Wheeler:

The cross is a reminder of God’s love for all people.

At the foot of the cross is where the best of God meets the worst of humankind.

Evangelism is simply an invitation from the King of kings to sit on the front row to watch what the King is doing.

Questions for Keith Wheeler: 

How did you start carrying the cross?

What does the cross mean to you?

Please share some of the miracles you have seen as you have carried the cross?

Website: https://www.kw.org/

Transcript: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Keith Wheeler carries an enormous 12 foot tall wooden cross to nations all over the world. He’s visited over 180 countries carrying the cross, and he has some amazing stories to tell about how Jesus has changed the lives of the people he’s met.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:22):
Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King we’re Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:58):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I have an amazing guest with me today. Keith Wheeler has carried an enormous wooden cross to over 180 nations on all seven continents. He’s been arrested. He’s been thrown in jail. He’s been beaten. He’s had stones thrown at him, but he’s had the opportunity to introduce thousands of people to the man who hung on the cross 2000 years ago. Keith, thank you so much for being on the evangelism podcast. Thanks.

Keith Wheeler (01:31):
What a, what a privilege and an honor.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:33):
Well, first of all, tell our listeners what this would in cross looks like. Is it a little tiny wooden cross that you put in your pocket or, or what have you been carrying around the world?

Keith Wheeler (01:44):
The, the cross is this is the third cross. The, the first cross is still flying around the world someplace. The second cross is retired after 22 years. It’s it’s in my garage and the third cross is the one that’s that I carry. It’s 12 feet tall, 12 feet tall, six feet wide, six feet wide. And it’s heavy enough to remember if you carry it and it’s light enough not to be a sacrifice.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:10):
Wow. And so you have carried these crosses to nations all over the world. How did you get started carrying across?

Keith Wheeler (02:20):
Gosh, that’s, that’s a long story. That could be our whole program. I was a, a student in seminary at Oral Roberts University. And we had to write a paper on the Holy spirit who he is and what’s his purpose. And I come from a number of denominational backgrounds, some saying that the dispensation of the Holy spirit is passed and the age of miracles is gone. And on the other side those who say that you have to, everybody has to speak in tongues and so loud. And as I studied on this paper, I saw that Jesus said about the Holy spirit. He shall glorify me. He shall testify of me. In other words, the Holy spirit comes as a witness of Jesus. And then I saw that Jesus said you shall receive power. When the Holy spirit comes upon you in acts chapter one, and you shall do the same thing. The Holy spirit does, you shall speak of me. You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Sumeria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. And then I saw Jesus in Luke chapter four, as he’s standing in, in Nazareth, reading from the scroll, he says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me for he’s anointed me to once again, preach good news. Then I read, Jesus says in Mark chapter one, he says, follow me. And I’ll make you fishers of men.

Keith Wheeler (03:50):
And I had this moment, am I following Jesus? Because I’m not witnessing. I’m not evangelizing. I’m not sharing my faith. I’ve I want my life to be a witness, but my words and, and has the Holy spirit really touched my life. And so I remember laying on the floor, just crying out. This is 1984. God, I need more of you more Lord, more. And eventually after four hours, I felt like God said, be quiet. I want you to listen to me. I’m not a stock or a commodity that you can buy or sell or trade. I’m not a part. I’m not a parcel. I’m not a portion. I’m all I ever was. I’m all that I am. All that I ever will be. And when I came to live with you, all I ever was, all I ever will be all that I am came to live with you.

Keith Wheeler (04:42):
The question is not you getting more of me. It’s me getting all of you. I didn’t feel different. I didn’t look different and smell different, but I, I got my, I didn’t, I didn’t know how to do it. I had taken classes on evangelism, but the problem was when I, I learned and memorize everything I’m supposed to say, but I’d get out there. They hadn’t learned what they were supposed to say. So I just thought I’m not called. And I thought, okay, where were our last people bars? So I got my study Bible, my Riley study Bible, my gospel, well tracks that were cartoons that basically said why you shouldn’t drink or smoke. And if you do, you’re going to go to hell. And, and I showed up at the bar where everyone drinking and smoking at eight o’clock, nobody was there. I thought, man, Tulsa is Tulsa is a Christian city, but by 10 o’clock, they had started to backslide.

Keith Wheeler (05:40):
And by midnight it was full, full on backside. They were drinking and smoking two o’clock the bars close here. And I still hadn’t spoken to one person because Daniel here was my excuse. I don’t feel led. And at this point in my life I back and I say, what does feeling led? Feel like we use that so often as an excuse. I mean, does it tickle? Does it Shazam? But I hadn’t spoken to one person. It was late. My eyes are sensitive to smoke and, and I’d never been awake that late in my life. So I looked like a glaze donut out there with it, big Bible and cartoon, gospel tracks, and three o’clock. The parking lot was filled full emptied. And I hadn’t spoken to one person and this guy came around the corner. I said, Jesus, if you want me to tell some, but about you bring someone around in the next five minutes, your name, I pray a amen.

Keith Wheeler (06:38):
And the guy came around full of adrenaline, full of fear. I’ve got my Bible, my tracks, my glaze eyes. I look higher than anybody coming out of that place. So if you diary now, you know what you’re going to have, and she’s done a cross. She has blood Rose again is live praise. The Lord saved. And I can’t repeat on your program what he said, but it wasn’t very nice. And he spent on me and I knew I wasn’t called. I got in my car, put the keys in the ignition and a big black SUV blocked my path. The tinted window came down and it was the same guy. And he says, are you that guy that was trying to tell me about Jesus? Yes, sir. You really meant it. Didn’t you can we talk? And we sit down on the curb and we talked till the sun came up and I’d like to tell you his life was changed.

Keith Wheeler (07:28):
And I think it was, but only God knows those things, but I can tell you for sure whose life was changed. It was mine because as I saw that those people in those bars and those nightclubs, the people on the street corners with a sign, the guys underneath the bridges, the guys in Moscow and synagogues and war zones around the world, the guy in the, in the penthouse apartment or the guy on the other side of the fence, they’re not monsters to be feared or creatures to run away from their kidnapped royalty. And I started going on a regular basis talking to people. I started, I became the original Uber. I made cards. If you’re too drunk to drive home, call me. I’m making friends. Then with the bouncers on the front end, I’ve got a captive audience because I’m getting rid of the bouncers problems.

Keith Wheeler (08:15):
I’ve got a captive audience. They have to listen to me preach. It’s great for followup. I know where they live. And if they were too drunk to tell me how to go home, I would smuggle the men into ORU. And, and, and then I started volunteering to clean the restrooms on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. I went, I met the managers and the owners. I said, I’ll clean your restrooms for free. That’s a mess. They said, why Jesus wash people’s feet. And before long, they were having me come in and speak to the people table to table before long, they were having me speak between band sets or they would shut off the the jukebox for awhile have me speak to the people and had given invitation people give their lives to Jesus.

Keith Wheeler (09:01):
I’m seeing people that I’ve never been around. People involved in alcoholism and addiction of all kinds, prostitution and gang life and homelessness. And two of my friends, Homer and Harold, and two homeless guys got in a fight. One night, they were drunk, got in a fight over the bill and they took it outside. And Homer broke his bottle and stabbed Harold in the chest. And I’m 15 yards from him and I’d seen it on television. I’d seen it in the movies, but I’d never, I’d seen people in caskets bad, never had seen somebody die. And it shook me because he’d prayed the prayer, but obviously it was no life change.

Keith Wheeler (09:50):
And, and it shook me. And I said, Jesus, I just speak. Your servant is listening. And I just sat there. Oh God, you know the city I need, I need to do something. People are lost. People are dying. I want them to know you. And I felt like he said, son, I want you to make a 12 foot wooden cross and begin walking through the streets of Tulsa on good Friday. I rebuke you. Satan. Get thee behind me. That was the dumbest idea I thought I ever had. I said, Lord, I’m sorry. I love you speak. I’m listening. And again, it was like, like when you see an animal get branded, it was like fire in my soul. I want you to make a 12 foot wooden cross and begin walking through the streets of Tulsa on good Friday.

Keith Wheeler (10:40):
And once again, I thought, okay, I’m not going to eat fruity pebbles and pizza together. It has to be indigestion. I opened a window to get fresh air, Lord, I’m sorry. I’m distracted. Speak. And a third time, I, this time I said, Lord, if this is really you, I want you to know something. There was a guy at that time at a local Walmart who carried across. I said, I don’t want to be like another, man. I want to be just like you. Jesus. And I felt like he said, son, that’s the most religious excuse you could ever give me if I called you to preach, but called you to stand on a platform, you would be honored. You wouldn’t say, but you’ve got Billy Graham. You’ve got Reinhard Bunky. You’ve you’ve got all those pastors, all those youth pastors, you just don’t want people to think that you’re weird. And I felt like he said, son, anyone can carry across. Simon carried mine. Anyone can die on a cross. Two thieves died beside me. Thousands of others have died, but only one could die for the sins of the world. And I want you to walk in the highways and the road signs, the places where the, where there are no churches, where there are no meetings. And I want you to lift up the cross. I want you to lift me up and share my love.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:02):
That’s awesome. Matthew 16, 24 says, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. And so you have done that literally, you literally took up a cross and started to, to follow Jesus. And now you’ve gone to over 180 nations around the world. What’s your current count or what are you at?

Keith Wheeler (12:27):
Hi, as you know, there’s a lot of different places you can count nations. The, the low end is 150 for the high end is 313. And so on the ones that most people use, I’ve walked in and carried the cross. And I don’t count the country unless I’ve carried the cross and shared some about Jesus with someone. I think it’s 188 different nations.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:50):
Wow. That’s amazing. Including Antarctica. And now you you’ve walked over 25,000 miles, 26,000, 26,000 a day carrying the grace of God. And obviously the, the cross means something significant to you. And, and in ancient Roman times, the cross was a method of execution, horrible way that they, they put criminals to death. But now the cross, often people wear it on a necklace around their neck. They put it on top of their, their building, the, the church building. But what does the cross mean to you? Why, why do you carry that?

Keith Wheeler (13:33):
The cross I carry the cross because Jesus is it. It’s an act of obedience. It’s I’m convinced though, a number of years ago, I felt like God spoke to my heart and said, when I said, why, why am I doing this? You know, this is humbling. In some ways it’s, it’s humiliating all the things that people say or do and things that have happened. And I felt like Jesus said, son, I’m more interested in reaching all of your heart than I am in reaching all of the world. Because when I have someone whose heart is completely mine, I have someone I can reach all the world through. And the cross is a means of him capturing our hearts in whatever means whether it’s us coming to the foot of the cross. Whether, whether it’s it’s us embracing the cross, whether it’s us taking up the cross, you can see this, your, your listeners can’t.

Keith Wheeler (14:36):
But my collarbone has been grooved as from all the years of the way to the cross bearing down on my shoulder would, has done that to me. But the cross shapes us the cross, the way we, we walk, it changes when I walk, the cross is a message of God’s love. And you, you said it well we, we have them for necklaces and ornaments. Many times people will come up to me and they’ll say, what are you doing? And to me, evangelism starts with Jesus. Wouldn’t always give answers. He would answer questions with questions and say, when you see this, what do you think about? And they say, Jesus, as it were you thinking about Jesus before I brought the cross? No. And I’ll laugh. And I’ll say, it’s working. I said, but I didn’t ask you that to trap you. When you see a beautiful lady wearing a cross and it’s gold and silver, do you think about Jesus?

Keith Wheeler (15:39):
No. I either think it’s a decoration or I think about the lady before someone bats in baseball or kicks a goal in football, what do they do? They make the sign of the cross. Do you think about Jesus? No. He wants to. When you drive by a cemetery and you see hundreds of crosses, what do you see? Or what do you think? I think about the people who went before me, not Jesus. Right? You drive by a building with stained glass and a cross on top. Do you think about Jesus now? I think about the preachers or I think about sadly sometimes they’ll answer money or politics. I said, but the cross is a message that God loves you so much, that he was willing to go to any cost, pay the greatest cost so that you could come home and be his child.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:30):
I think one of the quotes on your website, it says at the foot of the cross is where the best of God meets the worst of humankind. And so it’s because of the cross that we can be forgiven of our sins, preach to me a little bit about the cross and what it means in God’s great plan of redemption for humankind,

Keith Wheeler (16:55):
You and Daniel. I’m a storyteller. And I’ll tell you two stories as quick as I can. And actually both of them took place in Uganda. I was carrying the cross in the Southern part of Uganda late one night. I didn’t know where I was going to sleep and walking down the road. And it’s a, it’s a dusty road and there’s not much shoulder. The cars are zipping by and they’re flashing their bright lights when they combine. So they won’t hit me. And some big trucks just bomb, blow the diesel dust out, back in the dust. I closed my eyes. I’m blinded a little bit because the light and I took my next step, but the ground wasn’t there and I was falling. I fell about 15 feet and thankfully it was soft, but unfortunately it was soft because it was human waste. I fell into a pit that was about just my waist, deep with raw human sewage.

Keith Wheeler (17:54):
As soon as I hit it, that stinks. It did. I’m pumped. As soon as I hit it, I did. I looked like a cat. You know, one of these funny cat videos, I jumped up on the wall and to get out in all my effort, I am thrashing, but the, the harder I try, the slimy or I get, and the more difficult, because the walls are crumbling. It’s, it’s red, dirt, red clay. Nobody can hear my voice. I’m yelling at the top of my voice. And then I got an idea when it fell, Anna fell in with the cross.

Keith Wheeler (18:31):
I use the cross as a ladder to get me out of that pit. And I thought, what a picture, what an incredible picture of what God did with the cross is he came in and we’re trying in every way to get out of, you know, people try everything to bring comfort, to bring hope, to bring peace, to bring meaning to their life. And it was when we use the cross. When we come to the cross, that’s what gets us out of the pit. Probably another great example. Two short ones. This is, I was in Naru, a little Island nation in the Pacific, and this guy just kept getting closer and closer. He’s an old man. And finally says, can I touch you? I said, yeah, can I in tears, start running down his face. Can I touch your cross? Absolutely. I said, what’s going on?

Keith Wheeler (19:20):
I put my arm around him and he just begins to sob. He was, I just want my sins to go away. And somehow he knew that if I come to the cross, not, not the physical cross. And I was able to explain, it’s not the physical cross that forgives us, that I just carry wood, but it’s a symbol that yes, your sins can go away. And then the last one is just beautiful. I was in Nairobi, came into the city of Nairobi from out in the countryside, been walking across that nation and I could hardly walk. I mean thousands and thousands shut down traffic in the buses. Couldn’t, couldn’t pass. There’s so many people and we would lift up the cross and I would preach invite people to come to Jesus. Then I would walk a little bit further and do the same thing.

Keith Wheeler (20:10):
And I could barely walk myself because so many people were coming. The crowd was recycling and, and that’s actually down in Uruguay. I was in the same spot for three days on this one little street corner, because so many people kept coming. There was a little hut. They would let me sleep in. But day and night, I was just preaching and speaking, because so many people were coming. So here I am in, in Kenya Nairobi, and then the crowd split, and there were two men leading a blind man. He had his cane, they had him by the elbows and they brought him to the, and the crowd just parted for him.

Keith Wheeler (20:51):
And I said, what, what can I do for you? And I, you would think he says, I want to be healed. I want to see, but what he said, I want to see the cross. I heard you had a real cross and it’ll make me cry. Just thinking about it. That man held out his hands and put my hands to his. I put them on the cross who would’ve thought that that man saw the finest treasure in the world. He every little tiny millimeter, he touched it. He touched it twice. And then he held out and his tears were just running down his face. He says, now I’ve seen a cross. And I think so often for us, we’ve just would pass by the cross. We’ve become so familiar with the cross, with the message of the cross, with, with the Jesus of the cross and that no longer do we see him no longer do we see the cross? And, and even as, as speakers, as missionaries, as evangelist, we, we have to create new and inventive ways to share the message of the one who needs nothing. All he needs is he said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. And that’s been my greatest privileges. I tell people I don’t have a ministry. Jesus does. It’s his ministry in my life to my life. And I pray through my life because for me, ministry is simply the overflow of a life lived in love with him.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:30):
I love your ministry and how you have used the cross as a conversation opener to, to just start conversations with people, talking to them about God, share with me. So some more stories of some of the conversations that you’ve had in the different countries as you’ve, you’ve traveled. I’m sure you’ve seen great miracles and tremendous testimonies of people that have been impacted as you’ve traveled around them.

Keith Wheeler (23:00):
You know, I, yeah. Let, let me start with, with one though, that has nothing to do with the cross, except I was there to carry the cross. I arrived in Lagos, Nigeria midnight found a place to stay, left everything there, to stay and went down the street. I was in a Kagia in Legos, and I thought surely something will be open. Street was still busy. It was almost one o’clock now. And I found a KFC in the middle of the night that was open. I thought, okay, I’m going in. You ordered downstairs and you eat upstairs. And there’s a big plate glass window. And you overlook the busy street. There’s two lanes coming, two lanes going, there’s a S a concrete median in between. And as I finish eating my chicken and I’m licking my fingers, like the Colonel says, you’re supposed to do. I have my iPad with my Bible.

Keith Wheeler (23:57):
And I’m just reading it. And I, I sense that somebody is standing near me and I look up and there’s a man dressed in white. He’s been to Mecca is a Muslim man. Who’s been to Mecca. And he said, I’ve been watching you all night from the other side of the road, two lanes coming, two lanes going concrete median. And he said, there’s a Holy light. That’s shining around you. And he says, our teachings are Hadith is what he said, or how these teaches us that those who have the Holy light are Holy prophet sent from a law that can teach us the way and the truth. It had nothing to do with me. And the reason I share that is because so often we think we have to do something. Ahmed give, gave his life to Jesus. He became my interpreter introduced me to other people while I was there.

Keith Wheeler (24:56):
He’s, he’s still loving and following Jesus. And, and I think so often we feel like it’s gotta be in our strength. I was, I was carrying the cross in Djibouti, which is Eastern most nation that in Somalia. And I felt like God said, next, I want you to go to Argentina. Okay. But for some reason it didn’t work out that I could go to Argentina four months later. I’m, I’m still feeling I’m supposed to go to Argentina, but it’s not working out. And I’ve shared with you before. I don’t, I don’t set things up. I don’t know anybody. I just, Mr. Magoo and I, I go there and show up, just go. I just go. And I don’t, I don’t know anybody there. I don’t have anything set up. I don’t know where I’m going to sleep. And I’ll, I’ll share that in just a moment.

Keith Wheeler (25:46):
But so it didn’t somehow it wasn’t working. And I said, Lord, I think you’ve called me to go to Argentina. And that was when the great revival was going on. And I had assumed in my heart, that’s where I was supposed to go. And I felt like God said, son, you didn’t ask me where you’re supposed to go, or when you’re supposed to go or what you’re supposed to do. Okay. Who, what, when, where, why [inaudible] at the end of November, I had to look up a schwa on a map. It’s the tip of Antarctica. And there will be a boat waiting for you. And I want you to get on that boat and take the cross to Antarctica. So I fly to when a Cyrus fly to a schwag, go to the port with my cross. Sure enough, there was a boat, the disco D I S K O.

Keith Wheeler (26:37):
It was a national geographic expedition going to Antarctica, but they couldn’t set because it was a Danish ship. And because Denmark is a Christian nation, they had to have a chaplain on board. They needed a chaplain. I needed a boat. It was a match, literally made in heaven. We volunteer, I even brought my own crowds. They had, they saw the cross. They said, you’ll do, I didn’t even have to ask. And so I know more about penguins than anybody you’ve ever met yet. And, and so I get to Antarctica and the continent, because we, we went to the Falklands or the Malvinas. We went to the Stanley islands South Georgia Island other islands, and then made it to the continent of Antarctica. And in Antarctica, there are military bases. There are scientific research stations, the there’s, some of them quite large.

Keith Wheeler (27:43):
They have hospitals there. They have schools, post offices. So the first place we went, the Polish scientific research station was, was there. And we, we were the first boat of the season to come in. And the two Polish guys, we get on a Zodiac off the boat. We go to the actual continent set foot on, and I put the cross together. I put it on my shoulder. And these two Polish scientists said, what is this? But is a meaning of cease. We saw you 1987, Lisa Zs cross in crack of Poland. Now’s, he’s cross follows us to the ends of the earth. You must explain. And the first two people I meet in Antarctica say they want to follow Jesus. They want to know it. Wow. Praise God. And so literally the ends of the earth, and, and there were other groups stories there.

Keith Wheeler (28:39):
But, and you really, you name the country and I’ll say, Oh, we, yeah, I’ve got a story there while you’re just telling me about Hong Kong and okay. There were lots of protestors to tell me some of that stuff. I went to Hong Kong last year, I had just had a bicycle accident, broke your ribs, three in front, one in back punctured. My lungs broke my hand and tore ligament in my hand. And the doctor told me not to fly for a long time because my lung could collapse. And a few days later, I felt like God said, I want you to take the cross to Hong Kong. That flight is 17 and a half hours. So we arrived. I, a friend of mine born in Hong Kong had given his life to Jesus years before flew up from New Zealand to walk with me. And we just walked around the first day.

Keith Wheeler (29:38):
I could barely walk. I’m holding my side and I’m thinking, how can I put the cross on my shoulder? And Matt says, Keith, what’s your plan B. I said, it’s the same as plan Z. It’s God doesn’t change. It’s always referred to plan a because God didn’t give me another plan. He told me to carry the cross. He’ll give me grace. We walked that first day or this that second day with a cross. I walked about seven miles, extremely painful. This news crew came up and began to talk to us. They said, we want to do a, an article, but we have to get permission by our supervisor. They called back and they said, sorry, we can’t do it. But good news. Our supervisor is sending over their 18 and they want to meet you at 10:00 AM at the place you’re staying. And we want to follow you around with cameras.

Keith Wheeler (30:37):
This particular news outlet has 43 million monthly subscribers to their video newscast. And so they, they delayed it. They got back about they said, well, we can’t be there until noon. Okay. I I’ve committed to them, but I know that because of the protests that I’m on the other side of the Bay, I have to get over to the other side, either by subway or by very boat. And I’m thinking that if those shut down the taxis probably won’t take us either. Sure enough. I was, I was correct. So there’s no way to get over there. Except these guys find a sketchy van. It looked like a Scooby-Doo van, but we put the cross in it and they take us over there. But because it’s also not just protests and streets are shut down. It’s there’s a typhoon level three. So we are eight miles away from where I wanted to start.

Keith Wheeler (31:38):
And we’re five hours later than what I wanted to start. And we’re under this underpass because the rain is falling so hard. I put the cross together. I laid down in prey, stand up. People have gathered around. Many of them give their life to Jesus, I think, okay, what a, what a great start. And then everybody runs to the street. I mean, it’s, it’s hundreds, maybe a thousand people or so. And I can’t see what’s what’s happening. So I go out into the rain at the street corner and there’s a protest March of 1.7 million people starting right there and they see me. So they stop. They were just starting. I could not have planned it better. Five hours later, eight miles away, a man’s heart plans, his ways the Bible says, but the Lord directs his steps, Proverbs 16, nine, and I’m standing there and they look at me and they see the cross, they stop.

Keith Wheeler (32:33):
And they said, you lead us. I said, I don’t know where we’re going. They said, that’s all right, lead us. First of all, that’s, what’s wrong with a lot of leadership. You have leaders that don’t know where they’re going, leading lots of people. But more importantly, more importantly was the media. All of a sudden came around. There were over 70 media outlets from all around the world. So they start the March. And I I’m, I’m there with the media for an hour and a half answering all questions about Jesus things, as simple as why the cross, what does the cross mean? Questions? Just like you’re asking. And it’s going out around the world, especially across China, but this one particular media kept following me. And eventually I joined the people and I was stopped five other times that day for more media interviews, different media outlets.

Keith Wheeler (33:27):
People say, what’s it like to walk with 1.7 million people? It’s about like walking with 200 people because you can’t see the front. You can’t see the back. It it’s forever, but the people are there. And all day long people walking, coming to the cross, crying, not understanding, but being drawn and saying, I want to give my life to Jesus. After I would explain who he is, why he came, what he did, how you can know him, that report, that, that media did. They aired it on their website. It’s been viewed 2 billion times. Wow. That’s amazing. How much money would you have to pay? And, and it’s, I mean, it’s not an evangelistic video, but it’s a video about the cross that Jesus died on a cross because of he shed his blood. There can be peace. It was pretty amazing video that, and it was a seven minute video, six minute video.

Keith Wheeler (34:22):
So I never know exactly what, what God is doing. You know, I go a lot of times to war zones, I read in Jesus’ words, blessed are the peacemakers, not the peace lovers, not the peace waters, not the peacekeepers peacemakers. I went into Iraq when, and I became the guest of Saddam Hussein. Wow. That’s a story. I couldn’t. I tried for two years to get a visa. Couldn’t get a visa. Every door was closed. And, and again, I hear Christians so often say, Oh, the doors are close. Daniel. Where’s that in the Bible. So you keep knocking. Yeah. Jesus said, he said, behold, I’ve said an open door before you, he says he is the door that’s end. He said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Not just the parts that are friendly, but all the world and preach the gospel. And he says in Psalms that the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.

Keith Wheeler (35:22):
So he owns it. He said, go into all of it. I’m just trying to obey. So if there’s a war and Iraq was about to have a big war, they’d come out of Gulf war one, number one. So there’s an embargo worldwide against Iraq. The only open border was Jordan. So I flew to a month after I got this idea. That’s where they get all their supplies. So I flew to a Mon Jordan. The first guy I meet, I explained what the cross is. He says, I think it’s my destiny from a lot to help you get the cross into Iraq. He said, I was born there. I’ve made the trip over a hundred times. We show up at the border and I’m leaving out a whole lot of details, but I leaned across there’s. There’s a tall statue of Saddam Hussein, as far as you can see to the right and the left there’s barbed wire, 20 feet high with razor wire, five feet on top of that at the bottom of the statue.

Keith Wheeler (36:19):
There’s two tollbooths. If you have your proper paperwork documentation, the arm goes up, go in. The only documentation I have is God’s word that says, go into all the world and preach the gospel. And so I come up there and before they can do anything, I lean the top part above the crossbeam. So two and a half feet above. Have I leaned that over? And that is now in to Iraq before they can do anything. I laid down so that my waist up I’m laying on the ground. That much of yeah. Is in Iraq. And I began to pray. God blessed them. May they know the things that make for peace. May they know that your son is more than a prophet. May they know him that he’s not just the son of God, that he’s God in the flesh at prayed the blessings of God on these kids and the war, the soldiers.

Keith Wheeler (37:12):
And I notice as I’m praying boots, so soldiers are gathering and I was thinking, I’ll pray longer. They’ll get tired, more boots. So I think I better stand up. I stand up, dust myself off and they’ve got weapons. They’re pointing at me. What are you doing? Why are you here? What is the meaning of this said, Oh, praise the Lord. Thanks for coming in and welcoming me. And I’ve got these little stickers that say, God loves you. And I’m putting them on all the soldiers. Hey, you need one on the back. End of your gun case, you die. And it’s got a cross in the middle. And I said, that’s good to remember that God loves you so much. He died on that cross. My friend is giving them sugar daddies. They can’t talk. Their mouths are kind of that they’re liking them.

Keith Wheeler (37:55):
I share who Jesus is. Yes, he’s a prophet, but he’s more than a prophet son of God. But more than that, Emmanuel God with us died on a cross. So we can be forgiven risen so we can know him. Two of them start crying. They said just a minute, they go back and get on the radio and they come back and they say, good news. You are the most honored guests of Saddam Hussein. Wow. We walked into Libya a few years ago during the, the Arab uprisings in the Arab spring. When Qaddafi was falling the day before, I’d nearly had my head cut off by one of the well-known groups that we talk about the world and a knife to my neck, they urinated on me. And that’s a whole other story. I ended up spending the night with them. They brought me back the next day, the general of the Egyptian army carried my cross to the border.

Keith Wheeler (38:51):
We walked through no man’s land. And now we’re, we’re walking in there’s tanks pointed at us. There’s gunman pointed at us and my friend, his name is David. He said, Keith, what do you feel? I said, David, I feel the glory of God. We’re walking into the arms of Jesus. And really Daniel. When I talk about evangelism, I’m really talking about Jesus, because if we’re not careful, we can, we can love evangelism more than we love Jesus. We can love ministry more than we love Jesus. And for me, evangelism is simply an invitation from the King of Kings to sit on the front row center stage people worldwide pay high dollar to sit on front row center stage, whether it’s at a football stadium at a basketball event at a, at, at a music event. And, and they will stand, pay all kinds of money to sit there and watch.

Keith Wheeler (39:53):
And the King of the universe, the King of all Kings has said, come and sit and watch me. And it’s us. The Bible tells us we’re co-laborers together with him. That’s why I say, it’s not my ministry. I say, how can, how can I describe the feeling of going to another country and not knowing anybody except Jesus? I don’t know. Who’s going to interpret for me area, if anybody’s even going to speak my language except Jesus. The only one who knows for sure, where I’m going to sleep is Jesus. And sometimes he wants me to meet somebody. He might want me to share about him. So they invite me into their home. I stay in the first home that invites me. I preach in the church first church that invites me. I’ve got a whole lot of funny stories about that. Sometimes he wants me to meet the prime minister or the King and share with them about him. But sometimes he gives me a bus stop or a park bench. Sometimes it gives me it’s raining and I’ll find a park where children play and I’ll hide under the slide. And I have shelter. Sometimes he’ll give me a bridge to sleep under sometimes.

Keith Wheeler (41:11):
And how do you describe this? In those moments? Some nights, he doesn’t want me to have a place to sleep because he wants to visit with me. And so I get to walk all night long, all through the night and talk with him. How do you describe that? How do you describe when you’re in a prison cell with who knows how many people and it’s a tiny little cell and the can for the toilet is overflowing long before I ever got there. And waste is all over the floor and you don’t lean against you. Don’t lean against the wall because same thing’s happening upstairs. And it’s leaking through, how did he describe the presence of Jesus in those moments?

Keith Wheeler (41:56):
I think there’s only one ways. It’s, I’m walking into the glory of God. I’m walking into the arms of Jesus. I, I do what I do because I believe that Jesus is crying. How can he not 3 billion people nearly in our world. Who’ve never, ever, ever heard his name. I’ve walked into villages. I remember one village I walked into and I said, they’re all there. Forgive me for, I won’t tell you the place, but it’s their language sounded to me like one little moment, a moment, a wall. And through the interpreter, he said, they want to know what you’re doing. I said, ask them what they think. I’m doing Lehman, a woman in one room. We know he’s a sportsman like LeBron, James or Michael Jordan, all the while they’re drinking their Cokes. They know those men, they other Cokes. I said, there’s a lot of ways. I’m not like those guys.

Keith Wheeler (42:54):
I said, if they ever heard of Jesus this time among themselves, and they run to all the little houses, all the little stores and they come back out of breath. No, sir, nobody by that name has ever been here. Nobody by that name has ever visited this place. How can he not cry? When those people who don’t know him, can’t come to him. But how can he not cry for those of us who do know him, who won’t come to him? I want to wipe away the tears from his eyes. I want to put a smile on his face. Daniel. I think I’ve heard there’s. My favorite verse in the Bible is John 1323. It says there was leaning on Jesus’ chest. The disciple that he loves when you lean your head on someone’s chest, you hear their heartbeat. But I don’t think I’ve heard his heart go. Bump, bump, bump, bump. I think his heart goes people, people, people, and it’s heartbreaking.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (43:52):
Keith, thank you so much for joining me on the evangelism podcast today. I so love your passion for God. I can see that you really love Jesus. I do. And you really love taking his story to people all over the world. And it’s just so beautiful to see what God has done through your ministry. Thanks. If you’re listening and you want to know more about Keith Wheeler, you can visit his website, K w.org and see all the pictures. There’s lots of pictures there of all the different countries, the beautiful faces of the people that he’s been

Keith Wheeler (44:32):
Able to, to minister to. And so brother, Keith, thank you so much for being on the program. Thanks for the honor. And thanks for the way that you lift up Jesus. I’m very honored to be a part of you, including me in this. God bless you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (44:50):
Thank you so much for listening today. I love the stories of Keith Wheeler and I’d like to ask you, who’s listening to do me a favor, go to Apple iTunes and find the evangelism podcast and leave us a review. This will help other people who are interested in evangelism to find this podcast. Thank you so much. And God bless you

Evangelism Podcast Host (45:15):
More information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

Daniel Patterson is only twenty years old but he feels called by God to be an evangelist. Today he interviews me and asks me questions about what it means to be an evangelist.

Questions Daniel King Answers:

How did you get started in evangelism and crusades? And how did you know that God called you to it?

Who did you look up to when you were young?

How do you raise support?

How do you learn to walk by faith in order to do crusades?

What advice would you give to younger evangelists?

Please visit The Evangelism Podcast on Apple iTunes and leave a review.

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Daniel Patterson is only 20 years old, but he feels called by God to be an evangelist. Today, he interviews

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:09):
Me on the evangelism podcast and asks me questions about what it means to be an evangelist.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:17):
Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King we’re Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies, and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome to the evangelism podcast.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:55):
I’m Daniel King and I am always excited about leading people to Jesus. Today. I have a very special guest Daniel Patterson. He is a student at victory college here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and he has a calling on his life to be an evangelist. And so day today, he came over to ask me some questions about how to be an evangelist Daniel, welcome to the evangelism podcast. Awesome.

Daniel Patterson (01:25):
Thanks so much for having me on Daniel. Yeah,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:27):
It’s great to be here with you. So tell me a little bit about yourself, first of all, how do you know that you have this calling to be an evangelist? How did you discover that?

Daniel Patterson (01:38):
So so when I was younger, I actually had a speech impediment and stutter. And then my sophomore year at Victory youth group, I actually gave my life to Christ. And then, so at victory Christian school where I went to high school on the third floor, there’s the old pastor of victory Billy Joe Daugherty. And on that third floor, it’s some lean crusades of like thousands and tens of thousands of people. And I felt as I was walking down that hallway, my sophomore year that I thought this like soft whisper from God that, that you’re going to do this one day. And the reason I knew it was from God, the call to be an evangelist and to speak was because I would never ask for that myself. I avoided speaking opportunities before that. So I knew from that moment on that, like, God actually called me to this because it was something that, that it scared me and that I at at the beginning didn’t want to do.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:38):
So pastor Billy Joe Daugherty was my pastor ever since I was six years old. And not only was he a great pastor, but he was a great evangelist. He did tons of evangelistic crusades. I remember when I was 14 years old, I had the opportunity to go to St. Petersburg, Russia. And he had decided to do a crusade every single month for 18 months in the Olympic stadium there in St. Petersburg. And one of the memories that that really impacted me was in this stadium filled with thousands and thousands of people, probably 30,000 people up to the rafters when he gave the altar call, the people came running as fast as they could from the front to the back in order to give their lives to Jesus. It was just so right. Well, Daniel, how can I help you? You, you have some, some questions that you’d like to ask. What, what type of questions would you like to

Daniel Patterson (03:36):
Yeah. Also honestly, thank you so much for having me on and the opportunity to talk to you. I it’s a real honor. Yeah. So these are some of the questions that I have for you. So the first question is how did you get started in evangelism and crusades? And how did you know that God called you to it?

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:54):
My father pastored a small church in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. When I was five years old and one day he invited a prophetess to come and speak, and she was woken up by God the night before. And God told her tomorrow, there will be someone in church wearing a blue shirt. And you are to prophesied that this person wearing a blue shirt is called to be an evangelist and to go to nations all over the world. So, so he came to church the next day, looked around the audience and there was no one wearing a blue shirt. And then she remembered that all the kids workers were downstairs. So she thought maybe one of them would be wearing a blue shirt. So she turned to my dad said, could you, could you bring all the kids workers up? And so they came up and none of them were wearing a blue shirt, but there was a long line of kids at the end of the line was a cute little five-year-old boy wearing a blue shirt.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:44):
And she said, God, is this the one that God said yes. And so that cute five-year-old boy was me. And she prophesied that day. You’re called to be an evangelist and called to go to nations around the world. And so I didn’t waste any time. I started preaching when I was six years old preached in my father’s church. And we still have the cassette tape from one of those sermons. And I preached like for 45 minutes, which is pretty good for a six-year-old. But one of the things I say on that sermon is if you are saved, stay saved. If you aren’t saved, you better get saved. And so even as a six-year-old, I sounded like an evangelist. And my father told me stories about how, at one time he was doing a revival in Cloudcroft and we, we went out and we were passing out flyers.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:34):
It’s a touristy town. So all the tourists come and we’re passing out flyers, inviting people to come to the, the revival. And I was only five or six years old. And I gave a flyer to one man. And he looked at it and saw that it was religious and tore it up into a bunch of pieces. And, and through the confetti into the wind. And I went to my father and my father thought, Oh, why did you get Daniel Little Danny? Did you get your feelings hurt when that man rejected your flyer? And I was through cheers. I said, no, it wasn’t that he rejected the flyer. I said, daddy crying, because I don’t want that man to go to hell. And so from a very young age, God put this desire in me to, to be an evangelist. And then when I was 10 years old, my parents became missionaries in the country of Mexico.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:29):
And so they, they, my, both, my mom and dad went to victories, mission training school. And then they went down to Mexico and were, were missionary sent out by victory. And I was only 10 years old, but since they were my legal guardians, I had to go with them. And, and so to be part of our family was to be part of the ministry. I just grew up on the, the mission field there in Mexico ministering, right alongside my parents. I, I helped to set up the sound system. I sat out the chairs. I helped to pass out beans and rice. I helped to stuff newsletters every single month to send to supporters so that we could raise money to be able to stay on the mission field. I was basically the slave labor of the ministry, but throughout it all, I loved every second of it because I loved seeing people give their lives to Jesus.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:21):
And I remember that when I was probably 13 or 14, we’d be driving past a soccer field in Mexico. They, they love soccer down there and I’d grab. And my dad by the army said, dad, dad, we can fill that soccer field up with people, preach to them about Jesus. And so even when I was very young, just had, this does desire to be an evangelist. And then when I was 15 years old, I was reading a success book. As if you want to be successful, you need to write down your goals. And one of the goals that they said would be good for young people is to try to become a millionaire by the age of 30. And I realized that because of my upbringing as a missionary in Mexico, that money was not what was important to me. What was important was souls.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:03):
And so at the age of 15, I wrote down, I, Daniel King wants to lead 1 million people to Jesus. Before I turned 30 years of age, instead of trying to become a millionaire, I wanted to lead a million heirs into the kingdom of God. And so God started opening up doors in different nations. I actually did my first crusade in Honduras with my friend Rigo Galvez. He opened the door for me to do that first crusade. And then the next year we did another couple of crusades and then the next year. And so that, that first crusade was while I was still a student at oral Roberts university. And it was a huge step of faith to try to raise the money, to pay the budget for that crusade and everything, but God provided. And I remember that first crusade in Honduras, we, we ministered to 43,000 people that week. I took a team of 10 people from ORU and it was, it was magnificent what God did there.

Daniel Patterson (09:03):
That that’s so awesome. And so like obviously like growing up preaching and doing evangelism and stuff like that, you had to have somebody who you looked up to who you’re like, I want to do that one day. I want to be like him. Who was that person growing up?

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:18):
Well, we already mentioned Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty, who was my pastor. And of course I loved watching the crusade videos of what Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty did. And then growing up, I really admired the ministries of TL Osborn, great missionary evangelists from here in Tulsa, oral Roberts. My father went to oral Roberts university. So I grew up hearing the stories of, of oral and his tent crusades. And I also loved Billy Graham. And so I would look at the pictures in their books, you know, T.L. Osborn, If you read any of his books, he always puts pictures of all the different crusades that he did and the people being healed in his books and I’d see those pictures. And that would put a vision in my heart that I could do that too. And so I didn’t know how to make it happen. I didn’t know how you organize a Crusader. Anything. All I, all I knew was that I saw this picture of someone preaching to thousands of people and dream that I could do that someday too.

Daniel Patterson (10:23):
That’s that’s so cool. So has cause you, you minister in Africa a lot, correct? Yeah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:31):
We go to Africa quite a bit. Just this last month I was in Ethiopia. We did a great crusade in a little village in Ethiopia. It was a nine hour drive over bumpy roads. No pavement, we got out there, no plumbing. So you just have to use the outhouse. And we did a crusade and, and our biggest crowd, we had about 10,000 people in this little village and, and God did tremendous miracles. And then the month before I was in Tanzania at the invitation of Daniel Kolenda with Christ for all nations. And he invited me to participate in operation to capitalists, which they did five crusades in five different cities, over a two week period. And so Daniel Kolenda went and he preached one night at each of those crusades, but he invited other evangelists to come and preach the other nights. And so I was privileged to be a part of that. So yeah, we love Africa a lot.

Daniel Patterson (11:30):
That’s so cool. And so you do this all the time. You’re, you’re preaching other countries, whether it’s in Mexico or in the countries in Africa, how do you continually raise support? Because it’s not just like you go there and have no money. You have to raise support.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:46):
Yeah. I remember the first mission trip that I ever went on. It was with pastor John Tasch, who was the children’s pastor at victory at that time. And they were going on a missions trip to Venezuela. And I think the, the cost of the trip was about $800, which I was maybe about 14 years old at the time. And of course for a 14 year old $800 looks insurmountable. That’s a huge amount of money for a teenager. And I decided that I really wanted to go on that trip to Venezuela, to, to help,ureach people out in the jungles of Venezuela,uout on the Amazon river. And so this is the way I, I raised money to be able to do it. I made a list of all of the friends that I had, every single friend I could think of family members, friends, anybody I’d ever met, any, any adult that I knew, I made up a list.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:56):
And then I wrote a simple letter, said, hi, I’m Daniel King, son of Robert and Susan King. And you know, they are missionaries in Mexico, but God has called me to go on a missions trip to Venezuela, and I want to go and to preach the gospel in Venezuela. Could you give something to help make that happen? I, I need a total of $800. And so if you could get $50 or $20, whatever you can give, that would be a huge blessing to help me go to Venezuela. And so I took all these, these envelopes and stuffed the letters into them, put stamps on them, prayed over them. And it was about 45 or 50 envelopes that I sent out and I mailed them out. And I remember probably about 15 people responded and some people gave $20. Some people gave $50. One person gave about $200, but after it was all added up, the, those 15 people paid the cost of the $800 that I needed to go to Venezuela.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:05):
And so I said, praise the Lord. That that’s awesome. And so then the next year there was another opportunity to, to go on a missions trip. And so again I, I sent out letters in and I think the second mission trip was about $1,200. And so that was a huge amount bigger than $800. But what guy was doing was he was stretching my faith to believe him for miracles. And so God provided for that second trip. And then the next one, and then, and the next one, and then the time came for me to do my first crusade. And I had heard about an evangelists here in Tulsa who was doing large evangelistic crusades. And so I want to learn how to do it. And he was doing a crusade down in El Salvador. So I called his office and said, can I come down to El Salvador with you to participate in, in the crusade and to see how to set it up?

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:58):
And he said, sure. So I, I actually went down two weeks early and watched, as they’re putting up the posters, passing out flyers, building relationships with all the churches, all the process that it goes into organizing an event. And the crusade director for that crusade was, was Regal Galvez in El Salvador. And it was in San Miguel. It was a magnificent crusade. I think they ended up with over 40,000 people filling up a soccer field. It w it was just powerful, lots of miracles every night. I learned so much just being there and Rigo, he, I was telling him about my desire to do crusades. And he says, why don’t you come next year and do a crusade in Honduras with me? And so, like the biggest faith that I could have, I, I thought, and I said, well, maybe if I work hard all year, I could raise $5,000.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:02):
And he laughed actually. And he said, well, I don’t do such small crusades like that. And he says, could you, could you raise $10,000? And so instantly he doubled the size of my faith. And so I said, yeah, I’ll go, let’s go for it. So I set to work. I was still a student at ORU and I was still needing to buy school books and, and pay for school bills and all of that. But I did the same thing I’d done when I was a little kid. I got a list of all the people that I knew, anybody I could think of that would be interested in missions. And by this time the list was a little bit longer and I sent them letters. I called some of them. I followed up with some emails and over the course of a year, I was able to raise the $10,000 budget.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:56):
And actually, I think it went a little bit more than that. It ended up being probably about $14,000 and we took 10 students from, or are you down with me? And in that week, we managed to minister to a total of 43,000 people in Honduras. And so that was how the first crusade happened. And then the next year I decided I wanted to do two crusades. I went from doing one to two and each of the crusades had had bigger budgets. One, one crusade was in Panama. And I remember that one had about a $20,000 budget. And we, we worked hard to, to raise the money to make it happen. And when the, the, the crusade was over, we managed to pay every bill. And I remember we’d received an offering from the people and we counted up the offering and we were counting out like little coins and stuff.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:54):
And I took all those little coins to go pay the hotel bill. And they’re like, well, this is the last hundred and $50 that I owe in coins. And so they had to count them all out. But the point is that God provided for that crusade. And so that’s kind of how we have built our ministry. We have never had any huge donors who just give us an enormous amount. We have mostly been supported by individuals and churches who would give $20, a hundred dollars partners that would partner with us on a regular basis. And over time, that amount adds up and we’re able to do crusades, but still to this day, every single crusade is a walk of faith. When we put the crusade on the calendar, we rarely have the money to, to say, yes, we can do this. And we have all the money in the bank and we’re going to do it. It’s, it’s a walk of faith. We put it on the calendar and then we start trusting God. And in tens and twenties and hundreds, and sometimes thousands, the, the money comes in and we’re able to do, do the crusade.

Daniel Patterson (19:15):
That’s so cool. How you, so you said that you walk by faith, every ship, every crusade, believing God to make a way for it.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:24):
Yeah, absolutely. Every single crusade is, is a walk of faith. And what’s really interesting is that we started small. So, so when you take a walk of faith, the first step is probably a very small step. And then you see God prove himself faithful with that first step. And then you can take a bigger step and then you see God faithful. Then you take a bigger step in a bigger step. And so I think one of the things that discourage people sometimes when they’re first getting started out in evangelism is they look at the pictures of, of Reinhardt Bunky, who was a great evangelist. And they see a crowd of a million people, and they want to start there preach into a crowd of a million people. But in order to do that, it requires a huge budget and people get discouraged because they start trying to raise this huge budget.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:18):
And not only does it take a huge budget, but it also takes you know, a reputation and, and, and Reinhard Bonnke. He took 40 years building a beautiful reputation in Africa as an evangelist who preach good news. And he spent 40 years developing his partner base. And so you, you can’t look at the, the big crusade that Reinhardt Bonnke did. And, and think that you can start there, you’ve got to start with a village or going on a mission trip, just start with where you are. And then you’ll find that God will increase your faith. And eventually you can get to the point where you could do huge crusades with a hundred thousand or a million people, but you don’t start there. You start with a small step of faith and then you take another step and then you take another step. And eventually you become a giant striding across the land, doing wonderful things for the kingdom.

Daniel Patterson (21:24):
Oh God. That that’s really cool. That kind of reminds me of Billy Graham. Like people look at him and he’d preach and packed out like a stadiums, whether it’s in New York or in the cotton bowl in Dallas. And people look at that and like, Oh my gosh, she had this immediate success. Like he did so good. And like, like, I want to be like him. But before that, he preached for, for years to just smaller to smaller groups and eventually gotten made away from him in Los Angeles and so forth. So being faithful in the small is important.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:55):
Yeah. Billy Graham worked for youth for Christ when he was young and traveled around doing youth meetings and, and God honored that. And as he traveled, he started to build his team. And so then when it came time for him to do crusades, he had the team and some of the resources to be able to make that happen.

Daniel Patterson (22:16):
And like, I know for me, you know, I wanna, you know, I want to lead crusades one day. And for me know, I’m trying to start faithful in the small just last week, I, I coached basketball on the side and I was helping a basketball camp and I got to preach to the basketball camp in 15 to 20 kids gave their life to Christ glory to God is amazing. So I know being faithful in the smallest is really important. And so, especially for people who are my age and people wanting to be evangelists full time one day, what are some of the lessons that you’ve learned over the years that, that you would tell yourself when you were younger, that you would tell us a younger evangelists. Now,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:58):
I think I would share two words. The first word would be the word boldness, just be bold. And going after the promises of God, be bold preaching to basketball players, be bold, praying for sick people, be bold in asking for money to go on a mission trip, be bold and, and going on missions trips just don’t be timid, be bold, go all out full speed and do everything you can to do something for God. And so be bold in that. And then the second word I would probably share is, is patience be patient because it doesn’t come overnight. I think God rewards faithfulness. And so you remember the story of the, the, the talents where Jesus told the story about how the rich man, he had three servants, one servant, he gave five talents, another servant. He gave two talents, third, certain he gave one talent.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:56):
Then he went on a long journey. And after he came back, the guy with five talents says, I, I invested the money and now here’s 10 talents. And Jesus said, well done, my good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful with small things. Now I’ll put you in charge of many things. And then the servant with the two talents, he doubled his money and he had four talents. But the guy with one talent, he took his talent. He went and buried it in the ground and he says, I know you’re a rough taskmaster. And so I’m bringing this back to you. And so what did the rich master do? He took the talent from that one and gave it to the man who had 10 talents. And it was because the, the servant who only had one talent, he was not faithful with what God had given him.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:43):
And so if you will be faithful with what God has given you with this, this desire that God has placed in your heart to be an evangelist. If, if you will look for every opportunity to share the gospel look for opportunities to go on missions trips, to even start doing crusades, then God will prove himself faithful. And so you, you, you, you take what you have. You’re faithful to God. Then God will be faithful to you and he will multiply what you have. And in the end, God will trust you with doing big things for his kingdom, but it all begins with, with starting where you are and being faithful with, with what God has given you,

Daniel Patterson (25:32):
Man. That’s so good. Thank you for having me on today. I really appreciate it. I’m definitely going to be listening to this podcast again and, and taking it in. So

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:42):
Daniel, it is wonderful to have you on the evangelism podcast. I love coaching evangelists. I love helping young evangelists like you to get started. One of the things that, that God put in my heart, I want to lead a million people that Jesus, every year of my life. So that’s one thing I’m going for. But another thing is in my lifetime, I want to raise up a hundred evangelists who would each lead at least a million people to Jesus. And so I think you can be one of them. You can lead a million people to just Reinhard Bonnke. He once told me, he says, Daniel, that which is considered great today will be normal tomorrow. And so I think the greatest harvest of souls in history is still to come. Jesus is coming soon. And I think we need to make every single second count for God.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (26:33):
And we’re going to see the greatest harvest of souls right before Jesus comes back. And you are part of that generation that is going to, to experience that. And so despite the great things that Billy Graham and Reinhardt, Bunky and teal Osborn saw in their ministries, I think that in ministries today started by people like you. We can see an acceleration and even greater things than what we have seen in the past. And so I encourage you as an evangelist. I believe in you. I believe God’s hand is on you. And I believe that God is going to do tremendous things through you. I forgot to ask you how old are you? I’m 20 years old. You’re 20 years old. So you’re already getting started in your calling. Well, let me pray for you really quick. Yes, sir. Your heavenly father, I thank you for Daniel Patterson.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (27:29):
And I thank you for this calling that you have on his life for him to be an evangelist. And Lord, I pray that you would open up opportunities for him to preach the gospel. And I pray that thousands and even millions of people would come into your kingdom because of his voice. And Lord, I pray that as he’s faithful with the small things that you give him, that you would open up greater and greater doors of ministry to him in Jesus name. Amen. And amen. Daniel. It’s great having you on the evangelism podcast. Thank you. Thank you, man. Thank you so much for listening to the evangelism podcast today. I want to ask you to do me a favor, go to Apple iTunes, search for the evangelism podcast in subscribe, and then leave us a review. Your review will help other people who are excited about evangelism to find this podcast. Thank you so much

Evangelism Podcast Host (28:27):
For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

David Grams is only twenty-two years old but he has already planted Valiant Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Today he shares his strategy for impacting a neighborhood in North Minneapolis that is stricken with crime and poverty. In the midst of riots, a rapid increase in violent crime and homicides, and calls for defunding the police, David Grams’ church is making a real difference in the lives of real people.

Key Quote from David Grams: God doesn’t change the world with converts, He changes it with disciples.

Website: https://valiantmi.com

The Evangelism Podcast is for anyone who is interested in Evangelism Coaching. Subscribe today.

Transcript: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
David Grams is only 22 years old, but he’s already planted Valiant church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Today. He shares his strategy for impacting a neighborhood in North Minneapolis that is stricken with crime and poverty in the midst of riots or rapid increase in violent crime and homicides and calls for defunding the police. David Graham’s church is making a real difference in the lives of real

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:32):
People. Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:10):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. And today I have a very special guest pastor David Graham’s from million Annapolis, Minnesota. He pastors the Valiant church here, pastor David. Thanks so much for being on the

Pastor David Grams (01:28):
Podcast. Thank you for having me. I’m excited.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:30):
Now, one of the very unique things about you and your ministry is that you’re, you’re very young. How old are you now? 22 years old right now, 22 years old. And you’ve already written some books. Tell me about how many books have you written? I’ve written four books. Wow. And you’ve started a church here in Minneapolis. How old were you when you started the church?

Pastor David Grams (01:53):
I was at the ripe young age of 20. When we started Valley in church, my dad would call me a young whippersnapper

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:59):
Young whipper snapper. And so God put it on your heart to start a church, kind of walk me through that process. Why did you start your own church and, and what prompted you to do that at age? That a lot of young people are still trying to figure out what they want to do in life?

Pastor David Grams (02:16):
Yeah, so it all started at around 10 years old. That was when my parents first started telling me that I was called to ministry. Cause my mother had known actually from the time I was in the womb that I’d be in ministry and I wanted to reject that call. I had no interest in it. And then by the age of 16, I finally yielded to the Lord. I had just recently made a personal decision to surrender my life to Jesus. And I had a number of different experiences in prayer where the Lord just kind of seized me and got me on the right track and shook me up a little bit. So I decided I was going to start a church at some point in my life. I didn’t know it was going to happen that soon. And so then at about 18 or 19, I had some experiences later, which made it clear to me that I was supposed to start church in the near future.

Pastor David Grams (03:00):
And originally I had assumed I would be, you know, either hired at someone else’s church or maybe I’d be closer to 30, 40 years old before I’d even think about starting a church of my own. And the main reason it became clear as B was because I just kind of developed a God-given dissatisfaction with what I believe to be a timidity and complacency in the body of Christ in the United States. And there’s a lot of local communities and churches that have kind of caught wind of that revelation and are making necessary changes. And I felt like the Lord wanted to make me a part of that movement in the body of Christ in America to kind of wake up to the call and the body of Christ to really answer the great commission, to obey it with fire and with passion. And so I decided that I needed to start a church and a court, the way that the Lord communicated it to me was that I was to do so before my 21st birthday.

Pastor David Grams (03:52):
So at the time I was 20 and it was July of, I believe it was 2018 and I was walking out of the parking lot at my home church. And the Lord spoke to me in a way that was so, so clear. One of the few times in my life where I knew it was God, it was almost audible. And he said, you need to start a church before your 21st birthday. And he said, the reason why is because in the book of Deuteronomy, it says that you reach the age of war as a young man, when you’re 20 years old. And as soon as you turn 20, you go to war and you don’t wait any longer. And so he said, if you wait any longer, I’m going to have to get somebody else basically, you know? And so he made it very clear.

Pastor David Grams (04:29):
You need to start a church before you’re 21. Cause you’re, you’re at the age of war now, you know? And, and so I said yes to the Lord and I had no idea how to start a church. I had never looked into it. I had delayed any study really into that, that particular topic. But I told my parents, we had kind of a vision meeting and a interest interest meeting. And then we started in February of 2019, which was two months before my 21st birthday. So I feel like I made it in the Nick of time, you know? And and, and we were all ready. I didn’t completely expect to be, but everything just kind of settled in and fell into place. And it was exactly what the Lord wanted me to do when we feel right about it. We know we’re being led by the spirit and where we need to be. So that’s the story.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:10):
And so you have spent a lot of time studying God’s word, spending time with God getting a message for people, and then you actually started a podcast and that started attracting attention. Tell me some of, of what God has been speaking to you about the time that we’re in.

Pastor David Grams (05:31):
Yeah. So when I was first really thinking about this, I was probably 15, 16 years old. And I, like I mentioned, I had spent a lot of time in prayer in my prayer closet personally, it was just being out in the woods. I loved being outside. And so I would pray. And the Lord from the time, you know, as alert as early as I can remember, the Lord had inspired me and actually woken me up to a relationship with God through the story of King David. And so, like I mentioned, as early as I can, I was so interested in the story of David and Goliath and I, and I read through first and second Samuel many, many times. And that was actually the first thing I ever studied in the Bible. I had brushed through scripture before, but first and second Samuel was really what did it for me is what inspired me.

Pastor David Grams (06:10):
And so the Lord used that scripture, specifically that story of David and Goliath to show me the stage that the body of Christ is in around the world right now. And he told me that through the story of David and Goliath, that just as King Saul was not equipped to face Goliath or encourage or inspire the army because of his timidity and lack of obedience, God had to raise up somebody else. And he showed me that King salt represents kind of a fading or falling away a floundering generation or paradigm of Christianity that’s ineffective. And he said that he’s restoring the church back to what he called the rock from which we were hewn or the, the, the kind of origins of, of, of the church being the acts of the apostles and what the church was like. Then he said, he’s restoring us back to that.

Pastor David Grams (06:53):
And that, that represents the, the rising of David to, to take the throne in other words, to take kind of the forefront of ministry. And he said that one of the things it says about David in first, Samuel is that as Saul grew weaker and weaker, David grew stronger and stronger. And it also says about King David, that though Saul has slain his thousands, David, his 10 thousands. And it talks about David having an effectiveness because of the spirit of God that caused him to get more attention than King Saul. And the reason why it was because it says that David was the one seen going out to battle and coming back and saw was just stuck in the palace. And so the church, the body of Christ right now is, especially in America, is kind of in a condition where it’s stagnant, it’s complacent and the work’s not being not getting done.

Pastor David Grams (07:41):
We’re focusing on the palace, the buildings, the infrastructure, making things look, kingly, making things look more Regal. And instead when David showed up on the scene, it says that people loved David because he was the one going out and coming in. He was the one going, getting work done and returning with the spoil. And so the spoils, the souls, right? It’s the people coming into the kingdom. And it’s the people who are not just making disciples or not just becoming disciples, but making disciples themselves. And so he said that this is about inspiring this generation to return to our roots of the acts of the apostles and to start realizing every single one of us are called to be ministers. Every single one of us are called to be evangelists in a sense, and that we’re all knowing that we’re soul winners and that we understand that that’s the purpose of our life and our existence, and that we’re called to walk like Jesus and represent him.

Pastor David Grams (08:29):
And he said specifically with David, it was about inspiring courage and others. It was about removing that barrier, the giant of fear, and cause often by ignorance and, and religious to see and, and division and, and schism in the body of Christ and putting all those things aside and putting those we’re stepping into what we’ve always been called to. And so that’s how the Lord originally communicated the calling for Valiant church to me. And then when we started the church, that was the foot we shared off on. And so I used that story of David and Goliath, and I referenced it frequently to our congregation here to make sure that we’re staying reminded of that original story or, or illustration that catalyzed the move of God in this.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:11):
Amen. Well, God used David at a very young age to kill Goliath. And I believe God will use you to slay many spiritual giants here in Minneapolis. The city of Minneapolis is a very diverse city. There’s people here from many different parts of the world. You’ve got a lot of people from Somalia, a lot of Hispanic people. You’ve got a lot of people from Asia and the eyes of the entire world really we’re focused on Minneapolis recently when George Floyd was killed here. And so there were riots and it looked like there was a lot of, of need here in Minneapolis. And so you have been placed here by God, in such a unique capacity to, to, to speak into people’s lives during a time where there is a lot of need for, for, for, for help from God. And one of the things I really like about your church is you’re focusing on North Minneapolis. And there’s, there’s a lot of need in some of the areas in North Minneapolis. Kind of tell me about that and what you’re doing in North Minneapolis.

Pastor David Grams (10:27):
Absolutely. So, yeah, with the killing of George Floyd, it caused a lot of unrest in Minneapolis, started in South because that’s where the incident took place. Some of it’s spread to North Minneapolis and there were a few riots, there was a couple of buildings that were broken into some of them were burned very severely. And so we knew immediately after having been now settled in North Minneapolis, my wife and I recently moved in there. We stopped doubting the fact that God wanted us to be there specifically because there were so many events that unfolded that just totally woke us up to the reality that we’re called to be in this area. And so it’s caused us to realize with the interactions we’ve had with other people that, that the mainly the residents of North Minneapolis are hungry for community. And for all of, they may not say so directly, they’re hungry for people to help them feel like they belong to really, to someone which we know that someone is Jesus and there’s that together with natural needs that people have.

Pastor David Grams (11:28):
There’s a lot of poverty in North Minneapolis. People are hungry for food. A lot of people are even asking for water bottles of water. There is a most of the violent crimes in North money or in Minneapolis Metro take place in North. And so there’s street corners that sometimes we do evangelism on and, and people will come up to us and we’ve had several times people come up to us and tell us to get off the corner. You know, they’re saying, you guys shouldn’t hang out down here. You know, because there’s a lot of, a lot of crime and stuff and there’s gambling outside the gas station and all kinds of crazy things. And, and so I’ve just grown to just really grow fond of the people there and to realize that they’re family to us. And so that realization of the need that’s in North Minneapolis had awakened us to our call to be family, to them, to love them.

Pastor David Grams (12:19):
And so that caused a series of events in a domino effect, if you will. Well, that brought us to the opportunity to make a house in North Minneapolis and a particular street available for what we are not calling, calling a ministry house. You could sort of say that it’s kind of a household community center. And so a few members of our church were so generous and, Oh, I’ll be the obeyed, the leading of the Holy spirit. And they purchased this home and essentially donated it to family and church for usage. And so now we’re using this place as a location for blocks parties, open houses, and we serve neighbors in North Minneapolis by giving them food. We serve meals to them. We also give away winter wear in the colder months in Minnesota, we have discipleship groups, Bible studies, worship nights, all kinds of things.

Pastor David Grams (13:09):
And we’re working on developing it because it’s fairly new. And it’s allowed us to establish ourselves in the neighborhood as a place of refuge and a place of just familial care for the people in the neighborhood. And people are starting to kind of catch wind of this are starting to know why we’re there and just that we’re there in general. And so we’ve had, we’ve had a lot of great responsiveness from, from people in the neighborhood, appreciating what we’re doing. And we know that God is using us to bring redemption to North Minneapolis and not just in getting people to say a prayer of salvation, but really about actually removing violence from the city to the best of our ability, which we know is going to be in the, in the power of the Holy spirit. And we’re there to yes, to preach the gospel, to heal the sick, to set captives free deliverance, restoring families, marriages, and we want to actually see the city rebuilt.

Pastor David Grams (14:03):
And it’s actually inspired by a passage in Isaiah 61, one where Jesus quotes in, in Luke about the spirit of the Lord upon him. And there’s one passage in that where Jesus says that the captives that he sets free actually will go and rebuild ruins and restore ruined cities. And so he told us through that passage that we are in this neighborhood to set captives free, to see that the body of Christ built in this community from the inside out and turning those people who are saved into Rebuilders of this ruined city, which is really what North Minneapolis is. And neighbors are realizing this, that, that, that we care about them, that we love them. And there’s a, an amazing responsiveness because we’re not there for religious purposes, but we’re there for restoration, which is really what the heart of the gospel is. And so that’s, that’s what we’ve been doing primarily in mania. I think

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:58):
This is so beautiful, what you’re doing evangelistically to identify a neighborhood where there’s great need, where there’s high crime in the area. There’s a lot of poverty there and you didn’t just go there for a one day outreach or a one-week mission strip, but you and your wife actually moved into the neighborhood so that you can live there as a redemptive presence to be able to, to minister on a regular basis to the people there. And then now you’ve, you’ve also have a ministry house where you’re starting to, to reach out to the neighborhood and you’re, you’re, you’re reaching out to people. And so today in church here, as I was preaching, there was a young man that you had picked up and brought here. His name is Robert, how old is Robert? He’s 11 years old, 11 years old. And during my message today, I grabbed him and used him in some of my illustrations. And I was just so impressed with young Robert, because he was just shouting the verses out and saying, amen, and, and getting people excited about Jesus. Tell me some about how you met Robert’s family and kind of what God is doing in his life.

Pastor David Grams (16:19):
Yep. So Robert and his family is kind of an example of really what our heart is for the neighborhood. And it began because we went door to door with food, and we were working with another church that was kind of a drop-off site for food, for churches all over the place. And so we drew drew on them. We’re able to get boxes of meals, prepared meals. And so we brought some meals to this random house on Logan Avenue, which in North Minneapolis is it’s actually Lowery and Logan Avenue. And that particular corner has the most violent crimes in the area. And so there’s cop cars all the time. There’s always sirens, gunshots, most nights we can hear gunshots. And so on this particular street, we decided to walk down and just knock on doors and give food to people. And so we stopped at this one house and mom came out her name Shaniqua.

Pastor David Grams (17:07):
And we asked her if she needed food. She said she didn’t need food at the time. But she said that she would let us pray for her. Cause we wanted to pray for people as well. And so we were prayed for her, just really basic prayer of just the love and the peace of God. And she was touched enough that she said she specifically wanted us to come back again just to pray for her. And so she was very, very touched by that. So he came back the next week and, and prayed for her again. And then we asked if we could bring some chicken Alfredo to her house and eat with her. We kind of invite her, invited ourselves over for dinner. And so she said yes to that. And which was unusual because she, she made it clear to us that the people in this neighborhood don’t generally trust each other. You know, there’s, there’s a lot of unrest, a lot of cynicism going on, but the Lord us an open door. And so we w

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:51):
So you took, you cook some chicken Alfredo and took it over there and had a meal with them.

Pastor David Grams (17:57):
Yup. Yup. So my wife and I cook the chicken off chicken Alfredo, and we talked to her and her children and Robert was one of them. He’s the oldest one, 11, and w his mom allowed us to come and pick him up every week to bring them to church. And so we now have an established relationship with her where there’s trust being built in relationship and community. And so we’re able to, to reach that family. And Robert is one, who’s been one of the most responsive and that particular household. And so we’ve been able to do a lot with him.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:24):
I noticed this morning, one of his cousins, a young lady also came with him to church. And, and I think that’s so beautiful. And, and, and seeing how responsive Robert was this morning. If I want to step into the shoes of our profit for a minute, I just say, God is calling Robert to be a preacher. And to, I think that through his life many lives will be changed in the years to come. And you guys are, are having a a tremendous part in, in making that happen. Tell me some of the future plans for you. You have for, for Valiant church. It’s still a relatively new church, but you have a very healthy congregation people of, of many different ages and backgrounds in the congregation. What do you see God doing in the future?

Pastor David Grams (19:15):
Absolutely. So one of the things I think sets Valiant church apart from what is the way that church has generally done, typically done the United States is that we’re not about the kind of growth that is generally expected. We’re not necessarily looking for numbers in a congregation to attend on Sunday mornings. What we’re focusing on. And this is the way that the Lord called us is to make our community a value in church, both in new hope, where we’re meeting it. And in the North Minneapolis community, a model to the body of Christ in the United States for reaching their neighborhoods in a real organic, authentic way. And so the Lord is calling us to focus on providing the body of Christ with training, material, videos, lifestyle, examples of what it means for the average everyday, everyday believer to reach the person beginning with the person across the street from them. And so there’s a lot, there’s been a lot of talk when it comes to the message of evangelism around sending people overseas. And although that is so, so important, and we stand with that wholeheartedly, we genuinely believe that if the Lord wants us to reach the world and ultimately save the planet, we’ve got to start with the people who live on our block, you know? And so the Lord has had us really

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:37):
Jerusalem then Judea, then some area then to the uttermost ends of the earth. Yeah. And I’ve heard it said that the light that shines farthest shines brightest near at home. So I think you’re, you’re exactly, we need to reach it America. And in many ways, America is just as much of a mission field as any of the places that I go. I mean, percentage wise, there are a huge percentage of people right here in America that need Jesus

Pastor David Grams (21:05):
Huge. Yeah. Especially in Minneapolis, because the demographic is very diverse. It’s the most culturally diverse city in the United States, Minneapolis. And so we’ve got people from all over the world. Many of them have never heard the gospel. I mean, I was a bite squad driver for awhile delivering food. And I talked to a few guys at restaurants, or I go to pick up food. And there’s a young man. I talked to once who worked at an Indian restaurant, knew a little bit of English enough to understand me. He had never heard the name of Jesus before. He, all he said was that he had seen crosses on the top of churches and things like that, but never heard the gospel. And so there’s lots of people in Minneapolis who need the gospel. And I think that the Lord has established the United States as kind of a hub where missionaries evangelists are trained and then sent out into the uttermost parts of the earth. And so for that reason, the calling on the United States has compelled us to then reach those people that live here, knowing that there’s a call on them to, to, to go out into all nations. So that’s what we’re about.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:00):
Well, I’m so impressed with what you’re doing, especially at such a young age. I’m very honored to be invited to speak here at the church this morning. And I believe that God has amazing things in store for Valiant church. So pastor David, thank you so much for being a guest on the evangelism podcast.

Pastor David Grams (22:19):
Thank you. I really appreciate it.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:21):
Thanks so much for listening to the evangelism podcast. Could you do me a favor, go to Apple iTunes, find the evangelism podcast and leave us a review. Your review will help other people who are excited about evangelism. Find the evangelism podcast. Thank you. And God bless you for more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

Having conversations about race in America in often uncomfortable. Today Daniel King and Evangelist Will Jones discuss some of the issues plaguing white America and black America. Michael Brown, George Floyd, the Tulsa Race Massacre…we talk about it all and discuss what God wants to see happen among the African American community.

Notes: God has given Will Jones a vision to conduct the “Ten Most Dangerous Cities in America Tour.” He wants to do an evangelistic outreach in each of the ten cities where there is the most crime and poverty in America.

How does the sin of racism continue to impact America?

What impact did the Tulsa race massacre have on the African American community in Tulsa?

Why is it important to confess the sin of racism?

Learn about Will’s plan to launch the “Ten Most Dangerous Cities in America Tour.”

Website: https://www.awakeningmintl.org/

For everyone who loves evangelism, The Evangelism Podcast (hosted by Evangelism Coach Daniel King) is a great resource.

Transcript: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Having conversations about race in America is often uncomfortable. Today. I talked to evangelist will Jones and discuss some of the issues. Plaguing white America, and black America, Michael Brown, George Floyd, the Tulsa race massacre. We talk about it all and discuss what God wants to see happen among the African American community.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:24):
Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:00):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King. And I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. My guest today will Jones is an evangelist who is African-American. He grew up in East St. Louis. He went into basketball, got some scholarships, which pulled him out of that area, where he grew up in, and then he found that he was called to be an evangelist. And so now he is full time preaching the gospel, but he has a heart for reaching the African American community. So brother will thank you for being on the podcast with me today.

Evangelist Will Jones (01:39):
No, it’s awesome. Privileged to be on Daniel. Thanks so much for having me

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:43):
Right near East St. Louis, where you grew up is where the, the Ferguson riots took place a few years ago, after a young man named Michael Brown was shot by a policeman. And of course, everyone was upset about that. And right after that happened, do you, you participated in, in doing so some outreaches in that area, and then over the course of time, God brought you to Minneapolis, Minnesota. That’s where you live now. And right when you got here George Floyd was killed by some police and they had riots here. And so it seems like you are right in the middle of some of these areas that God has brought you to. And there’s a, a ferment of discontent sometimes that between different communities. So, so talk to me some about what you think is happening in the African-American community and what God wants to do among the African-American community here,

Evangelist Will Jones (02:47):
Here in America. Yeah. You know, I, as you think about all that’s happened since really, I mean, you can’t even look at just 2014. I think our country has almost been plagued with the, of injustices toward the people group of African-Americans. And it, it goes back to even the constitution of being three fifths of a person and having to man to page slavery, all the history that we can see. And these are, these are true facts about our history as a country. And so I heard one prominent preacher mentioned that the things that are happening today is really just kind of a, the fruit of the root in our country. I think it was Bishop TD Jakes who said that, and I love that the analogy he uses there because everything that that’s planted well, we’ll have some type of growth to it.

Evangelist Will Jones (03:40):
And unfortunately the fruit that we’re seeing in our country with this group of African-Americans is just the, the root of what’s been planted. And so with that though, I think out of the African-American history there are a lot of great things. You have a lot of people from WWII, the bullies to Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman to, I can go on and on that understood about perseverance. They understood that challenges were going to come because of not just where they live, but who they were. And so with that being said, I think the, the, the foundation of God has been in the black community even tracing back to slavery. That’s how a lot of the slaves got through they got through. And because of that faith in God, there was always some type of great orator that Rose up, you know, Martin Luther King and several other leaders of our day that Rose up to be a prominent voice for black community no way shape or fashion saying that to me, but I do, I do feel God has put on my heart almost to be a Moses.

Evangelist Will Jones (04:53):
You know, Moses went back to his people and had great success with the, reaching them with the leading of the Lord. And so as you look at today, the decline of the church in the African-American community a lot of the churches that exist that were prominent back then 40, 50 plus years ago, maybe are not prominent now they don’t have influence to reach their community. You look at our, our justice system of incarceration. You know, the majority percentage of that is African-Americans, which leaves it a deficit in homes of a lack of fathers and sons grown up to be criminals. And so these are things that didn’t just happen through a people group. These are things that were that happened social economically and, and their systems of injustices that has caused it. And so the one thing I know and believe that can help change the heart of people is the gospel. And, you know, I grew up in the city that was full of crime, full of corruption. We moved to a city that was mostly white, but it had a flight of blacks in it. So then there was a white flight. And so there were a lot of injustices that I experienced as a kid gunpoint been pulled over by cops, been frisked, been roughed up. Like, I can give you so many stories

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:17):
And you’re a nice guy. Yeah, yeah. Let’s, let’s talk a little bit about the sin of racism, which racism is absolutely a sin. And we’ve dealt with this in the city where I’m from I’m from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and in Tulsa, one of the stains on our history is the Tulsa race riots, which now they’re saying it should really be called the Tulsa race massacre, because what it was, was a bunch of white people that went and murdered black people and burned down what they call black wall street. And so at that time there were businesses, they were very successful. The black community was doing really well in Tulsa. And then that entire area got burned down. And now there is, there’s a lot of poverty where an area that could have developed economically and brought hope and a future for people, it got burned down.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:18):
And so we’re still dealing with the injustice of that. And, and, you know, God loves everyone. I think that racism is absolutely a sin. We, we go over to Africa and Asia and, and, and, and, and South America. And part of our message is you are creating an image of God, God created you. Wonderful. God created you. Beautiful. You, you are valuable, you are special. God has a plan for you. But I, I think that sometimes that the African-American community here feels like people don’t think that they’re valuable and that sin of racism has caused a lack of trust between people. What, what do you think that we can do as ministers to help bring healing where there’s been hurt?

Evangelist Will Jones (08:15):
Yeah. You know, I would say, you know, as we look at the sin of racism that word even today has been, become so polarized and the nuances of it as to how people view it. You know, when, whenever you mentioned that word, many Christians get very defensive because we feel as though it’s an attack against our morale, but we also have to remember we’re, we’re Christians only because of God’s grace. And so we, we all were centers in some, in some circles, they say we still are centers, you know? But the reality of it is it still exists because since still exists. And so, you know, as we look at healing, I think, you know, you look at the scripture first, John one, one nine talking about the power of confession and a confession. A lot of times it’s only viewed in the context of when we’ve done something wrong, but we can also confess the good thing.

Evangelist Will Jones (09:10):
We can also confession a form of something that’s decorative. And I think when we look at addressing the sin of racism many leaders in our country have done a good job at this, but unfortunately it hasn’t permeated throughout the country as a whole, the evangelical church. I think we just have to really confess and acknowledge. I love that word confession first, John one nine, because it talks about to agree with God. And I think once we agree with God, that’s where healing really comes from that we can agree with God that we’ve done something that’s not in his sight morally, right. And his standard of righteousness has to live in our hearts as Christ followers. And like you said, we all are valuable. We are created an image of God. And regardless of how our culture, our socioeconomic narrative has brought us to believe about a certain group of people.

Evangelist Will Jones (10:03):
We can’t believe that based on what God says as Christians, we have to believe what God says as Christians and give people the benefit of the doubt to know that we’re all really have the same baseline regardless of where we come from. So I think acknowledging and confessing our sin of racism as a country is very, very huge. And then I would say also Daniel becoming aware not only of our sin, but of our blind spots. There’s a great resource by pastor miles and MacPherson out of California, that wrote a book on the third option. And it talks about the blind spots that we all have as people. And so I think being coming aware of our blind spots that, Hey, you may not be a racist outright overt, but you may be prejudice. You may have some prejudices that came from how you grew up in the narrative that was shaped of black people that was polarized on media, in different outlets as blacks being criminals or less than a lot of people have that narrative as white.

Evangelist Will Jones (11:09):
And it just really, it wasn’t even their fault. It was just the social economic aspect of the socialization that we live in. And so I think acknowledging our sins, becoming aware of our blind spots and then building relationships with people that don’t look like you don’t vote. Like you don’t think like you don’t live where you live which is a challenge for most of us because we live rather homogeneously. We only connect with people that look like us, think like us vote like us have the same type of things we have. And so I would say those are a few things that I would leave. People can take a step toward addressing the sin of racism in our country.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:50):
I think it takes a lot of humility to admit prejudice within oneself. And, and then to also say, I’m sorry, please forgive me. Yes, injustices have been done. Please forgive me. You know, I didn’t do it, but maybe my ancestors did it, you know, but despite what’s happened in the past, I think that we can live together. We can love one another. We can value and esteem one another, lift one another up. And I also think that God has a great plan for the African-American community here in America. And there needs to be new voices that rise up in order to, to speak into the African-American community and, and, and to pull them back to God. And, and we’ll, I think that you are one of those voices that, that God is rising up because there are some things that you can say as an African-American that I could never say that would not be accepted. And even sometimes things that you can communicate in ways that, that, that an evangelist like me who happens to be white would sometimes it would be difficult to earn the trust of the community to be able to, to really communicate. And so God’s put it on your heart to do outreaches in, in different parts of America. Tell, tell me about that and what you see that, that God wants to do.

Evangelist Will Jones (13:30):
Yeah. You know, I agree with you, I believe God is raising up key leaders that are African-American pastors and evangelist. And there are so many that have been doing a great job. I mean, we were just talking to one in Tulsa, pastor Mike Todd, and I can name several others, pastor Earl in Dallas, and just so many people. But particularly with the gifting of the evangelist these are communities that I’ve been processing and praying about probably for the last seven years. God put a vision on my heart back in 2013 to target the most 10 dangerous cities that in dangerous meaning the most crime and the unlikely places that people would want to go live. And several large publications, Forbes magazine times, you know, have statistics to FBI statistics, put these things out every year. And instead of people actually not wanting to go toward those communities, I think it’s the responsibility of the church to infiltrate those communities and not isolate them.

Evangelist Will Jones (14:37):
You know, there’s a lot of gentrification trying to happen in those communities. Well, these are just all forms of pushing out the issues of what’s happening in bringing in money as a solution. We know money is not the solution, it’s the gospel. And so we don’t demean, you know, other organizations that work socially and are doing a great job that are already being an asset in those communities. But yeah, so we’ve been processes at as a ministry team. What would it look like, you know, to go into the most 10 dangerous cities and do unique outreaches? What I mean by unique is African-Americans, don’t just come to large gatherings you know, we can throw stadium events that we’re kind of used to as evangelists in different countries or cities, but usually the attendance is very low for African-Americans. Part of it is because of a lack of trust.

Evangelist Will Jones (15:25):
And so I think I do have an advantage being black, being from some of those types of cities where I could identify. But I’m really excited because this year we’ve started to kind of really take an action step toward visioning and planning what would be our first city. We don’t know yet what that is, but we’re going to be praying as a team and we’re taking action steps to really assess how we can lay out this campaign. It could be a year what we do one a year in one major city for a tenure plan, or it could be two a year, four five-year plan. And so we’re just processing, but we’re really excited. My friend cause these churches that are there, they, they they’ve lost influence with the community. The youth that are coming up have a lack of resources in the education system.

Evangelist Will Jones (16:10):
And so we’ll have great partners that are partnered with us. People like convoy of hope different education organizations there’s abortion that is high in those areas as it has been in history for African-American communities. And we’re going to partner with a great organizations that want to come in and stop the abortions and, and help give women hope that have children. And so we’re really just really, really excited to go and reach these communities, but with an effort to also be a catalyst for church planting orcs, there are some church planting orgs we’ve been in talk with that want to send planters to those areas, to plant and do, bring something fresh and new to reach those new families that are arising in those communities.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:56):
So you want to do the 10, most dangerous cities in America and do evangelistic outreaches in those areas. What you’ve done some research, where are some of the places in America where there’s high crime, high poverty, where there there’s the greatest need?

Evangelist Will Jones (17:12):
Yeah, I mean, one is where I was, I used to live St. Louis St. Louis, Missouri is, I mean, I was just there recently and they’ve passed their, their, their most historic moment of homicides is almost 270 homicides in the city. That’s 350,000 people. So that’s very hot. You know, you got cities like Stockton, California which is, you know, maybe a couple of hundred thousand, 150,000, but a hundred plus murders a year homicides. You got cities like Baltimore, Maryland. Those are just to name a few. And these are cities that again, the police force and the government man, they’re working hard and, and attempting to make a great change and they’re doing it. But they’re, they’re, they’re wanting more partners to, to come in and help. And we’re just going to provide that spiritual component with the people that are already there, the churches and the leaders to again, be a catalyst for God to bring about a movement of seeing the African American community come to the forefront of being missional leaders.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:14):
Well, thank you will for being on the podcast, if someone’s listening and wants to help to support you. And in going into these 10, most dangerous cities in America, what is your website?

Evangelist Will Jones (18:26):
Yeah, they can find us on awakening M as in Mary, I N T l.org. So that again, that’s awakening M as in Mary and then I N T l.org. So awakening what we call mental dot org.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:42):
Well, I believe that God is raising you up to be a voice and an evangelistic voice, and your voice is much needed and valuable. And so I value you and Jan and, and my friendship with you. And I’m just so excited about what God is doing through you and your ministry. Thanks for being on the podcast.

Evangelist Will Jones (19:00):
Thank you. Daniel was always a privilege to spend some time with you, my friend.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:05):
Wow. It was so good to have will Jones on the evangelism podcast today. What a tremendous ministry he has. If you’re listening, I’d like to ask you to subscribe to our podcast. And also if you could go to iTunes and find the evangelism podcast and leave us a review, those reviews help other people who are excited about evangelism. Find this podcast. God bless you

Evangelism Podcast Host (19:33):
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.

Will Jones had the talent to become a professional NBA basketball player. But instead he felt called by God to become an evangelist. Now his ministry is having an impact in nations around the world. On today’s podcast, you will learn about the strategic process Will uses to reach a region for Jesus. Every step begins with the letter “P” so listen closely so you don’t miss any…

Awakening Ministries International exists to reach the lost, to develop leaders, and to be a catalyst for church planting in unreached places of the world.

Website: https://www.awakeningmintl.org

If you believe the whole world needs to be saved, check out The Evangelism Podcast hosted by Evangelism Coach, Daniel King

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Will Jones had the talent to become a professional NBA basketball player, but instead he felt called by God to become an evangelist. Now his ministry is having an impact in nations around the world. On today’s podcast, you’ll learn about the strategic process we’ll use is to reach a region for Jesus. Every step begins with the letter P so listen closely. So you don’t miss any.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:31):
Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies, and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome to the evangelism

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:09):
Podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. I’m with a very special friend in snowy, Minnesota will Jones. Thank you for being on the podcast.

Will Jones (01:24):
Ju it’s a joy to be here and Daniel Love you. My friend

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:27):
Will, and Jennifer Jones have been close friends with me and my wife, Jessica, for several years, we’ve had the opportunity to do several international trips together and participated in, in crusades and different parts of the world. And will is the founder and the president of awakening ministries international, a ministry that’s dedicated to evangelism into awakening, helping the church arise and helping the church get activated in their mission. So a brother will tell me a little bit about how you got started as an evangelist.

Will Jones (02:04):
Yeah. You know wow. It’s, it’s a crazy story. I mean, in short, basically I was born and raised in an area called East St. Louis. one of nine children. Mom took us to church. You had one or two options go willingly or be rolled in. So we chose the first option to go willingly and then came to the Lord as a, as a 14 year old and really didn’t follow Jesus until post high school almost post-college. And I had a radical encounter with Jesus, my junior year of college, and just really set me on a path to, to grow and be discipled. There was a local passion, the community in my college that helped disciple me and other athletes. And after that I pursued professional basketball. I didn’t really want to go into the business world, which is what my degree was in and pursued professional basketball for a couple of years went over to Europe and was there in the country of Belgium.

Will Jones (03:03):
It was a great opportunity to play and was radically living for Jesus sharing my faith in Europe, which was, it was awesome. But there, I hit a crossroads to really figure out what God had designed me for, what was his purpose of my life. And so set out for the seven day fast. I think anytime we fast and pray, then you’re going to hear from God. And so at the end of that fast I really heard from the Lord about prayers, I’d prayed as a kid growing up in a really impoverished city growing up with a lack of things, welfare just a crazy gamut of things. And the Lord really spoke to me about his purpose and call on my life. And he said, very clearly, I want you to preach the gospel.

Will Jones (03:51):
And I had no clue what that meant. I had a backslidden preacher, that was an uncle. But at that point in time, my athletic professional career was really trajecting. And so at the end of that fast during that fast, I asked God not to let any teams call me no agent calls from my agent, and I just wanted to hear him and sure enough, he did speak at the end of that fast very clearly. And then also at the end of that fast, I got another call. That call was from my agent who informed me that two NBA teams were very interested in my profile as a player. And I was asked to get to the NBA summer camp like the next week I decided to go. I decided not to go. But I decided to go and follow the call on my life to follow Jesus. And so I gave up that lucrative career of possibly playing professional basketball to become an evangelist. And just a couple of years after that the Lord led me to start AMI, which is awakening ministries international. And since then, we’ve just been preaching the gospel in countries that God has opened up the door, particularly focused on unreached groups in this season now. But it’s been a joy.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:00):
So as you’re going to these different countries, you are doing evangelistic festivals, you’re also developing leaders and you’re being a catalyst for church planning. So, so talk me through some of the countries that you’ve been doing that in and, and tell me what that looks.

Will Jones (05:19):
Yeah. So right now we are looking in to West Africa. It’s, it’s really kind of an untapped region. You know, it’s, it’s predominantly Muslim. A lot of those countries are Muslim by law. And so one of the countries we’re actually going to be focusing on is Sierra Leone. It’s a phenomenal country, great country of about 8 million people, but it’s about 60 plus percent Muslim. And the other 20 plus percent is probably animistic. And so Christianity is less than 5% there. So there’s a great opportunity. It’s open door. We’re really grateful to partner with some national organizations there, and these are going to be the really driving sustainable factor. They want to plant churches in some of the groups of people. You know, you have the mandate group you have to, Timne, you have the Kisii, you have several different major people groups that are really unreached there. And we’re partnering with these national organizations that want to plant churches and we’re coming alongside them strategically to help train believers and the contextual evangelism learning from them. What they’ve done, what they’ve done well what’s not working it. Didn’t really partnering with them with resources and training to be able to go and reach those people groups along with the national leaders. So that there’s a sustainable movement of disciples making disciples

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:40):
In 2017. You and I had the privilege of working together in the nation of Belize, doing a massive festival of hope for the entire nation of Belize. We did 10 crusades simultaneously in the 10 population centers across Belize. And it was just amazing what, what God did. And you participated by doing the, the Orange Walk district and one of our key coordinators to help, to organize all that was pastor manual. And I’m really excited because now pastor Manuel is on the staff of Awakening Ministries International. And it’s neat because God’s continuing the fruit of what happened there in beliefs. Tell me some of what your ministry is doing in beliefs and then what your plans are for Latin America.

Will Jones (07:34):
Yeah. You know, one of the other regions that we feel like the Lord is it’s really opening the door to as well as Latin America. It’s almost like the forgotten region. I would say. You know, there’s been a great history of revival and Argentina and Brazil and other countries, but there are still quite a bit of unreached people groups there in Latin American. So one of the countries that we’ve been entertaining as Ecuador there’s a large group of people that are called the Afro Ecuadorians that we’re privileged to learn about understanding their context and socialization there’s missionary partners during the ground through a national organization there as well. And so we’re really excited. And then what, what our goal was years ago and, and manual has been helping this he’s our Latin American director is we have an actual office in Belize, even though it’s central America.

Will Jones (08:26):
It kind of exists as a hub. And so, you know, we’re raising up some leaders that are from that central American country, but these it’s kind of almost like a melting pot because it has people from Ecuador and Honduras and other central or Latin American countries that’s in it. And our offices there we’ve got a small team that’s been built there and they’re really helping to mobilize for our evangelist mission festivals throughout Latin America. And so our goal in the future, like to really infiltrate areas and pockets of Latin America, that hasn’t been touched really just as well as some areas in Africa and eventually the middle East and continue to go where there is an unreached population that’s open and we can get into, to do the type of ministry that God’s blessed us to do through our festival model.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:15):
One of the things I really like about you will is that you are a very strategic thinker and you’re thinking about missions and how to impact different areas, how to really make a difference. And so talk me through your, your festival model and how that works in conjunction with some of the other elements of being really strategic about making an impact in a nation.

Will Jones (09:40):
Yeah. You know, I would just start off by saying Daniel man, I have to give honor towards do, because the late Reverend Billy Graham was like the father of this, and you can even go back to, you know, Billy Sunday and moody. And so many John Wesley, I mean, a lot of these men, great men of God paved the way for us to even think through strategy today. You know, even yourself, you know, I learned so much from you and, you know, the Palau organization and, and people that are years ahead of us. And so this model is almost it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s no point in reinventing the wheel in a sense there’s some tweaks and things that we needed to do contextually, but really we start out with, you know, I love alliterations cause I think they’re, they’re easy. So it’s a lot of P’s, but we start out with a really a prayer you know, as you can see, we’ve got this map behind us and we just kind of look for areas in the world through research and things that we can begin to pray about.

Will Jones (10:35):
And once we feel like God lays something on our heart there, we, we kind of moved toward organizing what we would call a pre-trip or an advanced trip in the, in that in that whole process, man, we’re looking for persons of peace. And so I was taught to do ministry best through relationships. And so a lot of times it’s not who, you know, is not what you know, but it’s who, you know. And so, and I know people that know people, but I also don’t know people that know people. And so once we can find what we would call a person of peace we, we usually try to land a pre-trip in that country and they’re not pre-trip we just try to figure out meeting with key leaders, key fathers and mothers of the city, spiritual fathers, governmental leaders, civic leaders that are Christian and even non-Christian and look at the spiritual state of that community.

Will Jones (11:26):
Look and see if they’re a good people groups there that are considered still unreached and, and see how we can partner with the heart of the nationals. I think that’s always the key, you know, our friends at Palau talks about, you know, and I, I’m probably going to Badger this quote, but it talks about how we work with the church in the church and through the church to some extent that quote was, and I would say that’s really our heart. If isn’t an established church there, then we try to partner with other organizations, which partnership is one of our values here at AMI to find if they’re planting, if they’re looking to plant new churches. And so we work with the locals, we work with them, we work through them. And with that, we lead from this pre-trip to really deciding, is this a place where we can be invited to partner with our, our brothers and sisters, once that partnership phases established, we then really move into the planning.

Will Jones (12:24):
And that’s when we began to plan established like committees and things like that. And you’re familiar with that as seasoned evangelists and look at really the socialization of that group, of people in that community, how are they functioning? What do they believe? Why do they believe it? What are the things that, that they worship is that animism? Is it, you know Islam, is it whatever, and, and look at what are the bridges to the gospel. And then we kind of find the barriers to it. And then we figure out, you know, prayerfully partnering with locals. What’s some of the best ways that we can contextually reach this group of people through a festival model. And so we began to plan that festival, that planning usually leads into what we would call the proclamation phase. And so based on that proclamation phase, that’s when we blitzed the region there we, we sent outreach teams out.

Will Jones (13:14):
We do conferences for pastors and leaders. We’ll do you know, if it’s conducive to that area, we’ll do business conferences whatever we need to do to blitz that community with the gospel and, and partner with those nationals. And then finally based on our festival happening within that week we move into what we would call the preserve phase where we really be getting, try to follow up with the churches, with the evangelism efforts discipleship to really begin to sustain the harvest. And then those organizations that we’ve partnered with we’ll plant they’ll plant churches or new or existing churches will be strengthened with new disciples. And so that’s, that’s pretty much what we’ve been doing,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:57):
Do it all with the power of the Holy spirit. So you gotta bring some, some power from, from the Holy spirit, in every single phase of the strategic planning. That’s so tremendous. Will I, I’m just so excited about what God is doing through your ministry and how God has been promoting you. And, and when we first met, you really hadn’t done anything international. I remember we, we went together to, to Honduras and, and just had a did a an event there. And you were asking questions, how do you do this? How do you do that, that? And so it’s just so exciting to see what God has been been doing through your ministry. And I believe that the best is yet to come. If some of the, the, my listeners would be interested in supporting you and helping you out, what is your website that people can go to and find out more about you?

Will Jones (14:54):
Yeah. it’s, it’s awakening the word awakening. M as in Mary, I N T l.org, again, awakening M as in Mary, I N T l.org. All of our information is on there. You know, we love to send teams we love to equip churches and partners to go on mission with us. And so we love to have people that may be your audience and listening to come along and be, you know, a part of some of our missions teams and some of the countries that we’re going to be going in. And we’ve got opportunities for volunteerism, all of that. And so we’d love to have people we love to develop and grow people here at AMR.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:30):
Wonderful. Thank you for being with me on the evangelism podcast.

Will Jones (15:34):
Awesome. Thanks my brother. It’s just awesome. Keep up the great work, man. Love you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:37):
Wow. It was so good to have will Jones on the evangelism podcast today. What a tremendous ministry he has. If you’re listening, I’d like to ask you to subscribe to our podcast. And also if you could go to iTunes and find the evangelism podcast and leave us a review, those reviews help other people who are excited about evangelism. Find this podcast. God bless

Evangelism Podcast Host (16:05):
For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

Tamryn Klintworth was studying to be a lawyer, but then she attended a Reinhard Bonnke crusade and caught a passion for soul winning. Now she is a full-time evangelist traveling all over Africa to preach the Gospel.

Questions: 

Can God use a female evangelist?

What advice would you give to other female evangelists?

Website: https://www.inhisname.global

If you are excited about evangelism listen to the Evangelism Podcast, with Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach.

Transcription:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Tamryn Klintworth was studying to be a lawyer, but then she attended a Reinhard Bonnke crusade in Nigeria and caught a passion for soul-winning. Now she’s a full-time evangelist traveling all over Africa to preach the gospel.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:17):
Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King we’re Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:54):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I love telling people about Jesus and today we have a very special guest with us, miss tamarin, Clint worth from in his name ministries. And she is very unique as an evangelist because she is female and a powerful woman of God preaching the gospel. Thank you so much for being with me today.

Tamryn Klintworth (01:16):
Thank you, Daniel. Very excited to be chatting with you for these few minutes. Look forward to seeing what the Holy spirit unpacks.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:23):
So tell me, how did you become an evangelist,

Tamryn Klintworth (01:28):
Daniel? You know, the, the Lord likes surprising one, you know, he knows why he formed each and every one of us. I did not have crusade evangelism on my radar at all. And when I was growing up, grew up in a wonderful Christian home, received the Lord as savior at the age of five and loved the Lord. All my life pulled at the spirit. And as a young goal and fell in love with Jesus as a teenager, desperately in love with him, felt a pull to ministry, always assumed that it would be to believe us because in my books I’d never been an unbelievable, I’d only ever known Jesus. I’d never known the darkness. I’d only ever known the light and all the evangelists who I knew were men who had some checkered past some scary history, some testimony. And in my mind, I had no testimony.

Tamryn Klintworth (02:17):
I had no story to share with the lost and how would they come to Jesus if I didn’t have a story to share. And so I remain sensitive to the Lord’s voice and wanted to know from him what he wanted me to do with my life receive no specific direction. So went to university and was in the third year of a four year law degree and Johannesburg, South Africa. And I had the wonderful privilege of going on a crusade of evangelist rhino. Banca in Nigeria, in aperture. And that is where the Lord spoke to me. I’m looking out at a crowd of 500,000 people. The Lord spoke to me and said, tamarin, this is what I’ve called you to do. This is what you will do for the rest of your life. I was actually shell because until that day, and I say the shamefully, but until that day I had not one, one soul for Christ.

Tamryn Klintworth (03:06):
I didn’t even know how to do one-on-one evangelism, let alone crusade mass evangelism. I returned home and had a very honest the station with my dear father, who I love very much. We agreed I would finish the law degree and then I could launch out with his blessing. And while I studied, I learned how to evangelize. I would go between law classes, to the schools, the local schools teach the kids about Jesus. I would go to the gas stations, speak to the gas attendants there in South Africa. We have people who fill up our calls with guests. We very spoiled. I would witness to them minister to them, learn how to share the gospel, how to break it down into bite size pieces, word, preached to whoever I could find to preach to, and just started finding my feet. Hello. I own the tall crusade on a local university campus which was very exciting.

Tamryn Klintworth (04:01):
I was absolutely thrilled. A tiny crowd. I mean, gosh, if there were 50 people, there would have been a lot, but in my mind, I was finally having my first crusade and I was just bursting with joy. I finished the degree that last test paper I put down my pen and I have never looked back at the law game. I’m evangelist rhino. Banca often used to say to me, tamarin, you no longer preaching the law. You preaching grace. And I will preach until the Lord takes me home, bought my own tent, started tent evangelism, a thousand seat tent. And I went from location to location, having 10 crusades it’s didn’t know what I was doing. Didn’t know how to plan crusades, but I was doing my best. The Lord saw my heart. He took pity on me, I think. And I got a phone call from the Southern African direct of Christ, all nations.

Tamryn Klintworth (04:53):
So I kept in touch with after 10 in the crusade of evangelists, Reinhard Bonnke and the Lord must have put it on her heart. She phoned me and said, tamarin, come, come work with us. Learn, learn how to run a crusade, evangelistic ministry. I prayed about it. Grabbed the opportunity possible nations for, yeah. That’s where I met my wonderful husband. And then after that, I launched out into NSA ministries, having gospel crusades. We went from community hall to community hall to start off with in sort of having open air meetings. Few hundred people been a few thousand people gathering. Now we see tens of thousands gathering and we look forward to seeing hundreds of thousands and then millions want to go bigger and bigger, not because of our egos, but because the more people who are in a crusade service and the more people will get saved, following a single message. And isn’t that the thrill of massive Angeles, some one message can win thousands for Jesus. And that is what we live for. So this is now what I eat, breathe, dream, sleep, and talk. I have no hobbies. We’ve planned crusades. And that is what we do. We want to see Africa saved. Our focus is Africa. Africa is our heartbeat. I am a South African born and bred, and I want to see my continent safe and sound in the embrace of our savior King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:15):
I say amen to that. We are actually in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia right now sitting at the five loaves restaurant. We’ve had a wonderful time fellowshipping together and talking about evangelism. And you’ve been doing many crusades here in Ethiopia, and you were doing a crusade here this week. And I also had the opportunity to come and do a different crusade in a different city is tell me some of what God has been doing here in Ethiopia through your ministry.

Tamryn Klintworth (06:49):
Gosh, Daniel is such a special nation, you know, with a population of 110 million people. That’s a lot of people to get through a lot of room for lots of evangelists, evangelists, come hear me now come to Ethiopia. The harvest is ripe. The people are hungry. They are desperate. They all many different religions in this nation and we need to lift on high. The name of Jesus. It is only he who can save. He is the only path to our father. And when the people here hear that message, they grab hold of it with everything that is in them. And the response to the gospel here is absolutely fantastic. When you preach, the people are so quiet. You can hear a pin drop. As the saying goes, they listen and they grab hold of Jesus. We pray for the baptism of the Holy spirit, teach on the baptism of the Holy spirit.

Tamryn Klintworth (07:49):
We are seeing thousands upon thousands becoming filled with the spirit of the most high God miracles popping up like popcorn, Ethiopia. They always eat popcorn with their coffee. They know popcorn, the miracles. Gosh, one cannot stop them here. You pray in the name of Jesus. Even before you’ve prayed for the sick, the miracles are manifesting blind. Seeing deaf hearing the lame walking, just an avalanche of salvation and healing and deliverance just manifesting it at every crusade. And he had, there are so many, so many remote locations. You know, the population is spread out so many towns to head and we need a lot of evangelists to hit all of these towns. You know, I, I often say to my husband, when we drive into a crusade location and no, you know, Daniel, what the roads are like, you can take hours and hours and hours to reach your crusade location.

Tamryn Klintworth (08:45):
You drive past village after village town, after town, and often say to my husband, who’s going there. Who’s going there. You know, because one ministry, a handful of ministries cannot impact every town. We need an army, you know, so we need an army of crusade evangelists here to, to raise the battle crime, to win the lost. We need evangelists here who will equip the saints for soul-winning teach the believers how to do one on one evangelism, but it really does seem to be a need here. The saints don’t know how to witness. So we always make sure in our crusade preparation, we teach the saints how to witness the congregation members, the believers, we teach them how to do one-on-one evangelism. We need people who can teach those things. So this is yes, only one nation in Africa, but it is the second most populated nation in Africa. So they can own it to Nigeria. So when in Ethiopia for Jesus, it has winning a good chunk of Africa. So we need to get to work. There is

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:47):
A lot to do here in Ethiopia. And Ethiopia is found all throughout the Bible. It says in Psalms that Ethiopia shall quickly stretch out her hands to God. And that is true. The people here are ready to stretch out their hand. When the salvation call is given. One of the very unique things about your ministry is that you are a woman. And it’s amazing that when a woman preaches the gospel, it works exactly the same as when a man preaches the gospel. And I believe that God wants to raise up many more female evangelists that are bold and ready to go out and preach the gospel. And what would you say to women who maybe feel a calling to evangelism?

Tamryn Klintworth (10:36):
Go for it? There’s there’s no other advice I can give step out, start. You know, I started, you know, as I’ve just shade one-on-one and then small gatherings, you know, 10 people, you know, 50 people in a thousand seats attempt to crush the automated evangelist, but I got going, you have to start if you start, if you step out, if you speak to people about Jesus and we must not use the excuse of being an introvert, you know, I am an introvert by nature. I am not an extrovert.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:14):
Very interesting. I’m an introvert too. And like Daniel Kolenda is also an introvert. So, so God can use people of every different.

Tamryn Klintworth (11:22):
And I think he almost does it on purpose because as introverts, we need to rely on him even more. When speaking to people, we really have to be reliant on the Holy spirit. You know, just for the courage, you know, to open up our bowels and speak, you know, let alone the words that are meant to come out of our mouth. So we have to step out. We have to share about Jesus. We have to lay hands on the sick. We have to pray for the sick. You have to start. Ladies, if you feel cold called to ministry, we’re all called to win the loss. I’m speaking to ladies or call to specifically, those are culture evangelism, even crusade, evangelism start. If you’re not doing one-on-one evangelism, yet you start with that. You get out on the streets, you go into the highways and the byways, and you start after that, have your first crusade approach a local church.

Tamryn Klintworth (12:11):
If they won’t let you hold a crusade in the venue, ask to hold a crusade with a youth group. Pastors are amazingly liberal with a youth, fill it pretty much. Anyone speak to the youth, even a woman. So asked to hold a crusade with their youth on youth nights, print a bunch of flyers, get the kids to hand it out to their friends at school. Just start, you have to start. And if you start, I promise you, the Lord will build a team around you. He will give you wings to fly. When I started, I had no team. I was a one-woman show. I was pitching the taint. I was unpacking the chairs. I was organizing the ashes. I was preaching the gospel. I was doing everything. Was it fun? No. The joy came when I got that microphone and I could preach Jesus. And when I could lay hands on the sick that’s when the joy came.

Tamryn Klintworth (13:05):
But around that joy was a lot of pain and suffering, but I pushed, I worked, the Lord saw it and he started to build a team around me. Now we are registered as a ministry in South Africa, Ethiopia, the United Kingdom, the United States on crusade. I am with a bunch of main, my team men, and we work together. We work together. The Lord has built a team around me, men and women, very capable called in their own right to do different things. Things that I can not do. But if I had not started with the one-on-one, if I had not started my own little crusade with one pastor who wanted to work with me, then two passes, then three passes. It’s tough being a crusade evangelist. When you start open, it’s even tough being a woman because pastors look you up and down. And they, they, they don’t see much, but if you can possessed, I promise you, the Lord will raise you up.

Tamryn Klintworth (14:01):
His hand will lift you up. No man will to lift you up. God will raise you up. And the world will see that you are called and anointed and appointed, but don’t give up. The devil will make you want to give up a million times every day. And doesn’t make sense. They’re not even a million seconds in every day, but I know what it feels like to want to give up a million times free day. But I am so glad that I did. And now giving isn’t even an option. So ladies and men, men, I’m speaking to you as well because the gift of evangelism is for men and women. The Holy it’s the same. The gospel is the same. The power is the same in any the S male or female young or old, we have to rise up. We have to stop playing church.

Tamryn Klintworth (14:58):
We have to stop playing this week, water down waste and Christianity that runs from suffering and wants to be hip and cool and have a following on social media. God forgive us. May we crave to suffer for him to bleed for him to sweat for him one day to die for him, let us be the Christians who Jesus died to form. He died to form Christians who are Christ, like who wants to lift his name on high, no other name, no other names should be elevated, but his name. And I am very glad that he made me a woman because men do underestimate me. But I like it because when they underestimate me, they see Jesus and they look at me and they say, okay, this must be God. This must be God. And God gets all the glory, which is the way it should be. I have no muscles to show off. I have no swagger. I have no Strat. I have to have Jesus. I have Jesus. And he is more than enough.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:07):
That’s awesome. I love your passion for Jesus. I love your passion for evangelism. It’s so wonderful. If someone wants to find out more information about your ministry, what’s your website

Tamryn Klintworth (16:20):
In his name, dot global in his name dot globals. They welcome to connect with us. They’re also welcome to connect with us on social media. It is a wonderful platform when used in the right way, Tamryn Klintworth. I told my husband when I married him, I said, I’m keeping my maiden name because it is unique. And people will be able to find the ministry on social media. So Tamryn Klintworth is only one of me on social media, which is a blessing. And I post on social media, all the buttock crusades, what’s happening, what the Lord’s doing, where we going next, you can pray for us. You can stand with us, but we are going full steam ahead. When in Africa for Jesus. Yes. So we would love, we would love for you to share in the joy that fills our hearts. When we see the loss come into his arms,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:08):
Well, I’d encourage you to go and follow Tamryn Klintworth and see all the pictures of the crowds, the miracles there. They’re always wonderful. I always read your emails and pray for you, and it’s always wonderful to see what God is doing through your ministry. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Tamryn Klintworth (17:27):
Thank you, Daniel. Thank you very much. It’s been an absolute place. And to check with you

Speaker 2 (17:32):
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.

Jonathan Shibley is the son of David Shibley and the President of Global Advance. Under his leadership the organization has multiplied their efforts to train front-line leaders around the globe.

Notes: 

What was it like to take up the mantle of leadership from your father?

What does it mean to “ignite change makers worldwide?

Why are kingdom entrepreneurs the sleeping giants of the Christian world?

Website: https://www.globaladvance.org/

If you are excited about evangelism listen to the Evangelism Podcast, with Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach.

Transcription:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Jonathan Shipley is the son of David Shibley in the president of global advance. Under his leadership. The organization has multiplied their efforts to train frontline leaders around the globe.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:15):
Well, Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies, and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome to the evangelism

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:53):
Podcast. I’m Daniel King. I’m excited about evangelism and telling people about Jesus. I have a very special guest with me today. Jonathan Shibley who leads global advance. Thank you for being with

Jonathan Shibley (01:05):
Me. Hey, it’s awesome to be here. Thank you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:08):
So recently on the podcast, we featured your father, David Shibley and heard some of the story about how global advance got started. And he was telling me about how his father was a pastor and because of his influence, he went into ministry. And now I assume, because of your father’s influence, now you are involved in ministry,

Jonathan Shibley (01:30):
Kinda crazy. Maybe some people can relate to this, but growing up, I never thought I would be doing what I’m doing today. Now I loved and honored my dad and all the work that he was doing, but I never actually had a chance to travel with him overseas to see what he was doing with global Vance until after college. And so growing up, I had a huge heart for the Lord. I did feel a call to ministry, but I also thought, you know, I may go into business as well. I had an interest in it. I actually majored in business at Baylor university. And so I kind of had a little bit of an internal tug of war going on and it wasn’t till 1998. So I was out of college in my early twenties that I went to the nation of Congo, democratic Republic of Congo, which, you know, very war torn nation, went with dad, solid global dancers, doing actually firsthand and saw all these pastors that had come from all over the nation and how God was just digging deep into their hearts. And I could, you could just tell it on their face, the impact that it was having. And I knew that on that trip, God was speaking to Mesa and Jonathan, this is what I want you to do. And I want you to help take this organization to another level. And before that time, we had never even discussed the idea of me working alongside my dad. If something he founded, I wanted to blaze my own trail. And so, but I yielded to the Lord and there’s been no looking back since then. So how ago was

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:00):
That trip that you went to college?

Jonathan Shibley (03:01):
So that was 1998. We actually took two years before I actually officially came on staff just to make sure that this was God. I was always really a little bit hesitant about people’s perceptions of nepotism. You know, like I said, I wanted to blaze my own trail, but it was clear that God was calling me here. So I came on in 2000 year, 2000. So now I’m in my 21st year serving here and it’s been, it’s been amazing.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:28):
And it was about 10 years ago that your, your father took a step back and you took a step forward and your father really hasn’t slowed down. He continues to minister and is still passionate, but it seems like now you get to do all the work and he does all the funds.

Jonathan Shibley (03:45):
Oh yeah. You know, it’s been in may, we’ve had an incredible relationship, both father, son, and a working relationship, but it was in the early two thousands. When I, about two years in, when I was here, God began to give my, give me a vision that was unique to me, that fit within the overall vision of Global Advance. And that was to raise up an army of kingdom minded marketplace leaders all over the world, especially in the developing world. And very few people were doing that in missions back then. And so that began to kinda get, give my own distinctive a little bit. It complemented our work with equipping pastoral leaders in developing nations. And God has just done unbelievable things. It’s opened incredible doors since then.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:30):
So tell me some of what Global Advance is doing. I know you work in many different countries. What are you doing in those countries?

Jonathan Shibley (04:39):
Yeah, so we believe our, our tagline. We say we ignite change makers worldwide. We believe that God has strategically positioned, amazing, capable leaders on the ground and very hard areas of the world. Some of the darkest spiritual areas of the world, some of the hardest economic areas of the world. So we believe that our calling is a junior partner to come alongside leaders. And God’s came to them that have a vision to move the needle forward, to advance the gospel and their nations to do kingdom work and those nations. And so we come alongside them. We help them fulfill the great commission as a junior partner. And we’re learning a lot. We’ve been doing this for 30 years. So a lot of that looks like training events resources in their language. But now we’re going beyond that. We’re starting kingdom business networks around the world that are focused on not only alleviating poverty, but also it’s a way is which something very close to your heart, evangelizing a bank, salt and light they’re in the community.

Jonathan Shibley (05:43):
They’re already integrated into the fabric of culture and society. We’ve got, we want to see kingdom business, raise that around the world, that create jobs that are able to fund the work of the kingdom around the world. Wouldn’t it be great that one and Africa, it’s the African businessmen and women who are funding your crusades. I say amen to that. They’re African businessman and woman who are putting the roof on the church that are helping to bring in the orphans. And that’s beginning to happen. We’re beginning to see that on a global scene. And if you think about a missions force in the world or an evangelistic force in the world, there may be around half a million full-time missionaries right now globally, but there’s probably hundreds of millions of believers that are in the marketplace every day around the world. And as we see globalization happen, it’s an incredible open door for the kingdom through the marketplace.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:41):
Yeah. Years ago, God spoke to me and says, Daniel, that the mission field will become a mission force. So those places that America used to view as a mission field, now we’ll raise up a mighty missions force. That will

Jonathan Shibley (06:56):
No doubt. And we’re saying that, I mean, we’re working with guys for instance, in Pakistan who take the gospel into Afghanistan or guys in Tajikistan that could go into other nations like Iran or from Russia to Zika San it. So it’s all this stuff. It’s creative. It’s kind of a fun season that we’re in. There’s all types of strategy that God is using. I don’t think there’s one size fits all strategy for missions in the great commission. It’s interesting. Jesus never really gave us the total blueprint. He just, he gave us the big picture. Right. But here it is, I’d go. Yeah. He didn’t tell us exactly how to do it. And I think that’s part of, you know, he gifts the body of Christ, right? With creativity, with talent, all of us have different abilities. And that’s part of the spirit of God at work around the world.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:46):
So tell me some of the different strategies you’re using to reach people.

Jonathan Shibley (07:50):
So we, we equip leaders that are on the ground. So we work with church planters, pastors and church planners that are taking the gospel to unreached or least reached regions of the world. One of the strategies that came about was, and it really wasn’t our idea, but one of the guys in Pakistan that we work with, he identified a lot of unreached villages, a lot of tribal villages there and Pakistan and sin province. And so he said, look, they don’t have clean water. Now we didn’t typically do water projects, but we said, you know what? We believe in the vision that God’s given you. So we’re going to get behind you. We’re going to start to drill water Wells. Well, that opened the door for the gospel. Now, all of a sudden three fast forward, three years later, there’s new Christ followers. Now there there’s been 11 churches planted as a result of this. And it’s all by just meeting needs on the ground. And now we’ve got a business network in the large city of Karachi of guys who are committed to help fund kingdom work and the villages. Wow, that’s

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:56):
Tremendous. And you, you often do marketplace ministry. Talk to me about that. What does that look like?

Jonathan Shibley (09:02):
I say that they’re the sleeping giant in missions that kingdom entrepreneurs around the world. A lot of times they’re underdogs. I mean, you think about it in developing countries, especially the corruption is such a massive, massive issue. So we have mobilized hundreds of Christian CEOs and business leaders from the West that have gone all over the world to pour into business skills, training and kingdom, biblically based worldview for business and entrepreneurship and to thousands of entrepreneurs and business leaders throughout the developing nations. So we’ve been doing this for a long time now for about 18 years. Well, what has happened now is God has just blown that thing up. And so we’re, we, we have a vision over this next decade to start 100 kingdom business networks around the world. And those K we call it a KBN he’s KBN’s will do all types of things, community outreach programs, helping support local churches go into the end, reached meeting needs there and their local cities and regions. So it’s an awesome, awesome thing.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:05):
That’s awesome. Now I noticed that right now you have a matching gift challenge of up to half a million dollars. And so if someone wanted to donate to global advanced and they wanted to go to your website to do that, how would they find your website

Jonathan Shibley (10:19):
Global advanced.org? And there’s a way simple ways that you can give, but we’re, we’re grateful that the Lord has provided that opportunity and you know, to him be all the glory.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:30):
What are some of the future projects and visions that you have for global events?

Jonathan Shibley (10:35):
Well, we see Global Advance we’re we’re working right now and 35 nations. And some of these are the hardest, most persecuted nations on earth for believers in Jesus. We see that work continue to expand where it now we are creating nation teams where there’s a lot of collaboration going on. So we don’t work with just only one person or one ministry. We’re actually work with teams that represent different regions of a nation, and they come up with a strategy to effectively advance the gospel together. And those are the types of projects that we get behind as an organization.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:11):
That’s tremendous. Well, Jonathan, thank you so much for being on the evangelism podcast. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.

Jonathan Shibley (11:18):
Hey man, thank you for the work you’re doing. God bless you

Evangelism Podcast Host (11:22):
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.

Adam and Julie Culp took their five kids and went to the nation of Nepal as missionaries. In today’s program, Adam talks about the challenges and rewards of taking your family to the mission field. He has also done missions work in India and Myanmar. Listen to his stories about what God is doing on the other side of the world.

About Adam Culp: 

Adam Culp was saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit at five years of age. He first knew that he would minister worldwide when he was ten years old. God called him in a vision and prophesied to him that he would help bring “hope and healing to every nation through their children and youth”. Since that day, young people and issues concerning them have been his consuming passion. Adam graduated from Oral Roberts University in 2000 with a degree in International Community Development and from Rhema Bible Training College in 2001 with a specialization in Youth Ministry. He is now an ordained minister through Rhema Bible Church and Kingsway Fellowship International. He has been a full-time minister, along with his wife Julie, since 2002. He first started ministering in India and Asia in 1992. Adam has been an instructor in many seminaries and bible colleges, a youth and assistant pastor at Jubilee Christian Center in Tulsa, and a professional project manager. He is currently the International Director of Leadership & Ministry Training Center – Nepal and Harvest Bible College – Myanmar.

Questions: 

Hear the story of how Adam and his wife decided to go to the mission field right before they found out she was pregnant.

What is it like raising your children on the mission field?

What is going to happen in the body of Christ in America in 2021?

Key Quotes:

Sometimes you have to go through a closed door with faith and trust that God will open the door.

The Greek word “ekballo” ἐκβάλλω means “to cast out.” It is the word used when Jesus commands his disciples to “cast out” demons. But the word is also used in Mathew 10 when Jesus said, “Pray that the Lord of the Harvest would “send out”  laborers into the field.” The word translated as “send out” could be translated as “cast out” or “violently throw out”.

Website: https://www.fhgttn.org/

Interested in Evangelism? Listen to the Evangelism Coach, Daniel King on the Evangelism Podcast.

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Adam. And Julie cult took their five kids and went to the nation of Nepal as missionaries in today’s program. Adam talks about the challenges and rewards of taking your family to the mission field. He’s also done missions work in India and in Myanmar listened to his stories about what God is doing on the other side of the world.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:26):
Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome to the evangelism

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:04):
Podcast. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. And today I have a very special guest with me. Adam Colt has been a missionary for more than a decade. He spent 10 years living in India. Then he took his entire family five children to the nation of Nepal. And so he has been on the front lines of what God is doing in the 10 40 window. Some of the greatest on reach nations on earth. Adam, thank you so much for being with us today. Pleasure. I’m really happy to be here. So Adam, tell me a little bit about how you got called into the ministry. Well

Adam Culp (01:46):
When I was a kid, I would always listen to stories from my grandparents. They were missionaries in what was then Belgian Congo became Zaire. I always thought that those were like the most exciting stories and probably the most exciting thing you could do with your life. But I really didn’t know if I was called until I was 10 years old. I was in a revival service at our assembly of God church. And the evangelists gave a word and said, if there’s anyone here who wants to know what the call of God on their life is, come to the front. I believe God’s going to tell you and being 10 and having complete faith that what the evangelist said would happen. I went to the front and I had a vision. And then this vision, I saw myself preaching in a country.

Adam Culp (02:34):
It looked like it was India. And all the adults had on blinders and ear muffs. So they couldn’t see or hear anything I was saying. And I remember in the vision that I was very discouraged, but then I looked down at the front of the platform that I was preaching from. And I saw these children playing with the lamb, no blinders, no earmuffs. And they’re laughing and singing and dancing this lamb and completely full of joy. And the vision ended and I stood up and the evangelists pointed at me from the stage and said, son, God’s called you to bring hope and healing to every nation through their children and youth. So I had this vision I had a confirmation from that, a, a prophetic confirmation from that evangelist, like right after the vision took place, I knew it was from God. So from that moment on, I set my face like a Flint towards accomplishing, you know, that that vision that God gave me.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:32):
So then you, you went to, to, Oral Roberts University. Yep. And tell me, how did you, you meet your wife, Julie?

Adam Culp (03:40):
Huh? That’s a good story. Well, I had never been West of the Mississippi river. I grew up in Michigan and God called me to ORU. I had scholarships to other universities, but I think it might’ve been run loose. I don’t remember who was preaching, but I went to a youth conference that totally messed up my life and this youth conference I think it was Ron Luce, but I can’t say a hundred percent. He said that you’ve probably been told that God calls like leads people through open and closed doors. And he said, that’s not correct. He said, if you look in the Bible, you see time and time again, women of men and women of faith who got a word from the Lord for a door that looked like it was closed. And when they went towards that door and faith that opened and his altar call was, I want you to come to the y’all to the altar.

Adam Culp (04:35):
And I want you to take everything you think, you know about your life and lay it at the foot of the cross and let the Holy spirit give you his plan. So I did that that night. Within a week I was broken up with my girlfriend at the time in high school. And I had also decided that I wasn’t going to go and take the scholarships at the universities that I had gotten. But I took a day, three days to fast and pray for three days. All I heard was Oklahoma. And so as I was praying and researching, I found out, you know, the, the, what the Lord was leading me to was oral Roberts university. So I packed up all my stuff. I came here while I was in registration line I was standing behind this girl and for four hours and back then, I don’t know how it is today, but like, you’d stand four hours in one line to get a piece of paper to take it and hand it into another line. So for four hours, I talked to her and she’s my wife today.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:40):
Well, that is a good line to stand in for hours is what it took. That’s wonderful. And so what I really like about you is that you took your entire family to the mission field. And so I was a missionary kid when I was growing up. Parents were missionaries in Ciudad Juarez right across the border from El Paso, Texas. And so I grew up as a, as a child and then as a teenager working right alongside my parents. And I’m a big believer that God does not just call individuals, he calls entire families. And so tell me, what was that like taking first year wife, and then you start having kids you’re your whole family to the mission field?

Adam Culp (06:22):
Well we faced a lot of persecution over at first persecution from who well from people that knew us because when we were preparing to move to India for the first time, full-time I had a really good job and we had kind of purchased everything that we dreamed of having, we had a small farm in Quita and we had, I had my sport motorcycle and all these things, and we were finishing up our our education at Raymond Bible training college. And we’d gotten really comfortable, but this fire permissions kept burning on the inside of us. Financially we felt like we were reaching every milestone that we had set or that we desired, but there was one thing that we didn’t have that we desired more than anything that was that my wife and I had gone almost seven years with no children.

Adam Culp (07:23):
And we were praying for a child and years were going by and a child wasn’t coming. So there was a miss, there was a pastor from India who came over. I met him for 15 minutes. He asked me to be assistant director at his Bible college in Northeast India. So my wife and I went out and prayed and we felt like we had peace. So we said, we’re going to come. And two weeks later we found out she was pregnant with our first child. As we were preparing to go to the mission field we didn’t get there until she was seven and a half months pregnant. Wow. So selling off everything taking what looked like security for our family and for our friends and they were looking at the secure life we had and in their eyes, we were just throwing it all away. So when we sold everything, when she went to India with me full time and she was pregnant with our first child and we’re going to meet a pastor that we had talked to for 15 minutes, it looked pretty crazy. Wow. And so tell me

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:36):
Some of what God did in your ministry during that time in India.

Adam Culp (08:43):
Well the Bible college that we were working with was getting ready to close God moved to bring partnership and finances. And he anointed me to my right, my first college level curriculum. I had never written a curriculum in Mali, in my Y in my life. But then I wrote to renewing the mind in two and a half weeks as we got ready to start. So the school is still going today. And then he put it on our heart to start an orphanage, which we did in South India. We started with 10 kids in a one-room church building. It grew to over 50 kids and we saw God provide land. And like over 20 acres of rice Patty to provide for the orphanage God put it on my heart to start a 40 day pioneering school because as I would go around evangelizing we had I think it was around 300 villages where in our altar calls, we’d had more than 50 salvations and years were going by.

Adam Culp (09:53):
And there was no pastors going to pastor those flocks. And one day I is, I was teaching a different seminaries around India. I’d always give the call. If you feel called to an unreached village, I know a village where you can, there’s a, there’s a flock ready to be pastored, and I could never get anybody to go. So one day I was praying and I was saying, Lord, I feel like that fruit is you know, how, if you have an Apple tree the fruit that’s really ripe will fall to the ground. If you don’t pick up that fruit, that’s on the ground it’s going to get trampled or worms are going to eat it. So the most vulnerable fruit is the ripest fruit. And I said, Lord, this is the ripest fruit in each of those villages. Like those are the first people who came in.

Adam Culp (10:42):
We didn’t have to shake that tree. They, you know, fell from the tree and if we don’t get someone to pastor them soon, I feel like we’re going to lose them. And that’s when the Lord spoke to me. And he said, if you can’t find the qualified, just take the willing and obedient. So he put out a call to if you feel called to start a church and unreached village, we’ll train you. And we got a one room church building and we trained them for 40 days. Our first batch of students was 15 half of them couldn’t read and write. Most of them worked in Patty fields were Rick Shaw polars, but every single one of them started a church. And over the 40 day pioneering school is we’re doing it in different sessions. Over 150 pastors were trained all, but one of them started a church in unreached village. The youngest was 15, the oldest was 76. So that was probably

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:34):
Amazing fruit. That was awesome. Wow. And so now you don’t have just one child, you have five kids and all of them have been on the mission field with you. What, what has that been like raising your kids on the mission field? Well

Adam Culp (11:52):
It can be difficult, especially when you have kids who feel like they’re pulled between two different cultures. It can also be difficult in that. A lot of missions kids end up leaving the church. I mean, I was born to a mission kid. He professed to be an atheist for a long time. And I’ve met a lot of mission kids over the year, over the years. And a lot of them fell away from the Lord. So to raise kids on the mission field, you have to be very intentional about making sure that you minister to your family, that you in part the vision, not just to the people you work with, but to the people you live with. And to make sure that you pastor your family, just as much as you pastor the flock that’s outside your home

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:46):
And are your children involved in the ministry with you?

Adam Culp (12:50):
Well, we had a season where we were not on the field full time. It was 10 years long because our middle child while we were in India and all these awesome things were happening our third child was finally born. And when he was born, he had major birth defects. His eyes didn’t fully develop. He didn’t have a soft spot in his skull. He had his features were a little disfigured and he had a hole in his spine. It looked like he had spinal bifida. So we ended up medically evacuating and moving back to the States. For 10 years I worked a month in Tulsa and then I would go overseas and do missions work for a month. And one thing I did to try and keep my family connected with our family vision was every time I would go on a trip, I’d take one of my kids with me. And if you talk to my teenagers, they’ll probably tell you that those were life changing for them. That one side they were there and they were on the front lines of ministry that it kind of changed their heart.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:04):
Tell me about the ministry that you you’ve done in the nation of Nepal. My wife, Jessica actually lived in Nepal for a six month period. And at the time that she lived there, it was a very closed nation, very difficult to minister. They actually prided themselves on being a Hindu kingdom and so very difficult. And, and the capital of Nepal was very cold where she, when she lived there still is still is. And so, so tell me what w what was it like doing ministry there in Nepal? What did you do?

Adam Culp (14:39):
Well, I would say that it’s, it was extremely exciting. Up until recently, Nepal had the fastest growing church in the world. I was recently surpassed by Iran. I think Iran has the fastest church growing church now, but you had all these people who got saved very quickly. All these people in ministry. A lot of them didn’t have much training. So as someone who does a lot of ministry training works a lot with Bible colleges, equipping people for the ministry. It was really exciting for me. The students that I had, I had I was teaching in a seminary there, the oldest one in the country. And one I had about 70 students. I’ve taught in seminaries all over the world. And in India, when I would teach in seminary and ask people, you know, how many of you are, are were born into a Christian family?

Adam Culp (15:40):
A lot of hands would go up because a lot of the people that are in Bible college or seminary are pastors kids. I asked this to my students in Nepal about 70, and I said, how many of you were born into a Christian family? And four hands out of 70 went up. And I was thinking, wow, this is very different than, you know, I’ve, I’ve ministered, what are considered unreached areas, but still the people you’re working with are fairly churched. But in Nepal, it’s different. So then I asked another question. I said, how many of you are the only believer in your family? And over 60 hands went up?

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:20):
Well, so many of them are first-generation Christians. They have no foundation in the Christian faith. So you’re starting much more basic.

Adam Culp (16:29):
Exactly. But it also is a wonderful opportunity because you can put a very good foundation. You don’t have to deal with a lot of false beliefs or things that are unbiblical that creep in. So you’re really laying the foundation, you know, kind of like Paul was talking about how he didn’t want to build on another foundation. Nepal, Nepal is a great place to build your own foundation of Christ in someone’s life.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:57):
Yeah, a few years ago, we, we did a large evangelistic festival in Nepal, had a wonderful time. We’re able to, to build a church that is still there. That’s awesome in that place where we did the festival and saw a lot of Hindus that heard about Jesus, a lot of Buddhists. And we had a lot of a demon possessed people cast the demons out. It was a very beautiful people, absolutely wonderful beautiful people. And so I’m really excited about what God is doing there and the nation of Nepal. And then you’re also working in, in Myanmar as well. W what are you doing in Myanmar?

Adam Culp (17:41):
Well we’re partnered with the orphanage there and we also help start a Bible college outside of, so yeah,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:51):
Come back here to the United States during COVID, because it’s very difficult to do, to do ministry when you’re stuck, locked up in your house. And so I know a lot of missionaries that have come back to the United States during this time, because they’re able to accomplish as much on zoom as they would be just, just living there. So tell me what, what comes next? What, what do you think is going to come next for you for your ministry and family?

Adam Culp (18:19):
A really good question. Like you said, during the lockdown, in, in Nepal, it was difficult to minister, but I took that four months that we were in our house. And just to give you an idea of what our house was like in Nepal they don’t build wide, they build tall, so you would have a bedroom on each floor and then a hallway, a stairwell. And if I put one arm out this way and the other arm out that way I couldn’t stretch them out fully before I would touch my neighbor’s house. And my house so tells you how small our yard was. And we got really stir, crazy being locked up in our house for four months, but I took that time to pray and ask God about the next season. And for four months he just kept talking to me about the United States and about this next season that we’re going into. And speaking to me about what, why even this whole COVID thing was allowed and, and what God’s plan is through it. So when we came back, I feel like I really have a message for America right now. And the big thing, if I had to put it in one word of what God’s doing in America right now is the Greek word Kabbalah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:42):
So explain to our listeners, what does the word egg Caballo mean?

Adam Culp (19:47):
Well, at Caballo BOLO, little Bible teaching Balo means to throw or to cast. It’s easy to remember because you throw a ball

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:56):
And act means out. So EQ Balo means to cast out, like to cast out demons. Yes.

Adam Culp (20:02):
So if you borrow something, you throw it. If you ever, Caballo something, you throw it violently with all of your energy. And we see that a Kabbalah is used for casting out demons. The man who was in the marriage supper, but wasn’t clothed correctly, he was echoed hollowed out. But then when Jesus went around preaching and teaching and healing, and after doing everything he physically could do in ministry and just pouring himself out completely he looked and he said, it says that he looked upon the people and they were like sheep without a shepherd. And so Jesus, you know, I can just him, after putting in everything he had in ministry, there was, it still was not enough because there were still were lost people that he couldn’t reach. He said, pray to the Lord of the harvest, to EC BOLO workers and to the harvest

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:05):
And to cast out workers to, to, to cast out or violently throw out workers into the harvest field. Correct. Wow. That is a unique insight. I, I didn’t know that that Greek word was the word that’s used there,

Adam Culp (21:17):
That’s the Greek word that’s used there. And the amazing thing is for us, we, we listen to that and we’re like pray for the Lord to send workers into the harvest. And it seems very like gentle. And, but the way that Jesus prayed that prayer and the, and the heart cry that he prayed it from was not gentle. It was almost violent. And if God would take his beloved ministers and workers and children and violently cast them out into something that tells you a little bit about the urgency of what he’s casting them out to do.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:55):
Wow. So you’re, you’re praying that God would violently throw out laborers into the harvest fields here in America.

Adam Culp (22:06):
That’s why the things that are happening in our country and in the world right now are happening. And I can give you a new Testament example of it, give it to me. Okay. So in the first seven, six, seven chapters of acts, yeah. How many people were murdered?

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:23):
Tell me zero. Okay. Then you have Steven and the seventh, correct? End of the seventh chapter. So before Steven,

Adam Culp (22:31):
Yeah, no martyrs before Steven everybody’s needs are met. It said that there was no one who lacked anything in the church before Steven, they, even when they get arrested, they can’t keep him in prison. They are living graced like amazing grace, amazing. It’s like they, they are untouchable. Even the people that are, their enemies are afraid of them.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:57):
And then Steven gets martyred and then people start getting persecuted the assault.

Adam Culp (23:04):
Yes. So it says Saul entered every home in Jerusalem and arrested people. Every Christian home had a family member who’s in prison. And it says that those who escaped. And if you imagine like the police are coming to every Christian home and this citywide raid and the people that climb out the window, or, you know, right away with just the clothes on their backs are the only Christians who are not in prison. That, and the 12 disciples, they weren’t imprisoned, but every like family and the church, someone, or even the majority of their family was in imprisoned and being in a Roman prison. You’re going to be sold into slavery, horrible conditions, Coliseum, you know, all kinds of things. It says that those who escaped went everywhere, preaching the gospel. And then we start to see entire cities being saved,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:04):
Acts chapter eight, Philip, the evangelists goes down to some area, preaches the gospel and people are, are saved. They’re baptized, correct. Peter and John come, they’re filled with the Holy spirit

Adam Culp (24:16):
Signs and wonders, but it, it changed because in the, in the first six chapters, we see a possible centered ministry. And when you see the Kabbalah wing or the casting out of the church from Jerusalem, you start to see people like Phillip who were not the 12 apostles. You start to see the ekklesia or, you know, the entire body being mobilized into ministry.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:48):
I’ve always found it. Interesting acts one eight says you shall receive power after the Holy spirit comes upon you, and you should be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea Sumeria, and to the outermost ends of the earth. And so the first seven chapters of acts is all in Jerusalem and Judea. And so acts one eight says you’re going to go to Samaria and to the uttermost ends of the earth, but you don’t get there until acts chapter eight, verse one, where the they’re scattered because of this persecution, they go preaching everywhere. And it’s in acts chapter eight that we see Samarria being reached by Philip. And then Ethiopia being reached by the Ethiopian UNIC, that Philip is able, which for them, that was the, the uttermost ends of the earth for their day. I mean, that was as far as they could think of as Ethiopia is so far away.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:41):
And so they, so it took that time of persecution for that prophecy that Jesus gave to, to really start to be fulfilled. So, so the church here in America is being persecuted in many ways in California, churches are not allowed to meet and some churches are anyways, but some churches have completely stopped meeting. And other States have some, some have freedoms, some, some don’t, but there does seem to be a lot of verbal persecution of Christians in America. So far we haven’t seen people being killed, but you, you think that that more persecution is coming before we

Adam Culp (26:23):
We’re getting a lot more intense. Wow. And we have a youth group that we partnered with in Nepal. There, you know, how churches will have prayer for bringing in the new year. We have a youth leader named Paul who had a prophetic word for 2020, which he said, brother, Adam, I feel like the Lord’s telling me that 2020 is going to be like the sifting for Gideon’s 300. Mm. And if you look at what God used to sift out, the 300, you started with 30,000. And then everyone who was afraid was told to go home. And I feel is like in that four months of lockdown from March to July I felt like the Lord was telling me that all of this fear is the first sifting and everyone who’s afraid. And they say, you know what?

Adam Culp (27:21):
I don’t want to be persecuted. I don’t want to take this hard path. I don’t want to pay the cost that it looks like it’s going to cost me to do what God’s called me to do. God’s saying, if you’re afraid, if you want to quit, go home. And that’s the decision so many people are in right now. And 2021 is I believe is going to be the second sifting. If you look at the second sifting, Gideon took his men on military exercises. It doesn’t say this explicitly, but we know from if you’ve ever been in the military, you know, someone who has, when you go on a March in the military, you’re carrying your equipment, your hot they were in a you’re tired. They were in, in Israel, which is a pretty air-dry place. So you can imagine they’re hot, they’re dusty, they’re dirty, they’ve got grit and you know, their color.

Adam Culp (28:16):
They’re hungry, they’re tired. They come to a stream. Gideon says Addie’s. And I believe that we are going to have a season. That’s going to say Addie’s where it looks like everything that we’ve gone through finished, we’ve got a reprieve. And it says that the soldiers went down and the Lord said to Gideon to look and see how they responded to this season of ease, where they were able to take off their equipment, where they were able to wash their face and wash their neck and drink. And it says that all of them went down and just put their face in the water. They’re splashing water over their head. They’re washing their face, their neck. They’re totally focused on on rolling that hunger that fleshed need. Cause our flesh has been such trouble getting comfortable again, after a time of discomfort, but 300 with their spirit, their sword in their hand, we’re still alert like a soldier, bringing the water up to their mouth. And that second sifting, which I believe is going to be taking place after this new year is going to see if people return back to where they were before we went through all this. And those who returned back to the way they were and life is normal. And they don’t learn any lessons from this are not going to be a part of the 300,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (29:44):
But there will be a remnant. There will be a remnant that will, that will continue to fight for God, continued to evangelize, continue to be bold and sharing their faith. Even in the midst of difficult times, times of persecution, it will stay on watch. And I believe we will see a time of revival in America. Again, we’re, we’re where thousands and thousands of people will turn towards God. Amen. Another great awakening. That’s what I’ve been praying for asking God, God send our nation a a great awakening. And I I’ve been very concerned about America too. In the beginning of this year, I’m going to launch a brand new book called proof. God is real. And it’s a book I wrote specifically to attack the atheistic mindset that you often find on YouTube and on Twitter. Many atheists on both those platforms are very aggressively coming against Christianity, mad at Christianity. And so, so I wrote this book proof. God is real in order to attack that atheistic mindset, that that has attacked our nation, because I do think that God wants America to turn back towards him. Yup. You know, America for many years has sent missionaries out all over the world. Yeah. And now it’s time for America to have missionaries. I mean, we need people, we,

Adam Culp (31:10):
Or missionaries coming into America now than we’re sending out by a large number

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (31:15):
W which is exciting. We need it here in America. Well, I’m so glad that you have dedicated your life to serving God and really sacrificed in your whole family sacrifice, being in different parts of the world. For, for those who are listening, if they wanted to, to support your, your ministry and find out more about you, what’s your website?

Adam Culp (31:39):
Well, the name of our ministry is for his glory to the nations.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (31:57):
Well, I’d encourage you to, to go to Adam’s website, find out more about their ministry and thank you, Adam so much for being on the podcast.

Adam Culp (32:06):
Thank you. I had a great time and God bless all. Everyone who’s listening and watching

Evangelism Podcast Host (32:11):
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.

Michael and Christina Lusk train evangelists in the developing world and give them sound systems to help them amplify their voices. Today Michael shares how some evangelists are like massive container ships and how some evangelists are like tiny canoes. Are both types of evangelists needed? We find out on today’s podcast.

Website: https://www.vanguardevangelism.com/

If you are excited about evangelism listen to the Evangelism Podcast, with Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach.

Transcription:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Michael and Christina Lusk train evangelists in the developing world and give them sound systems to help them amplify their voices today. Michael shares how some evangelists are like massive container ships and how some evangelists are like tiny canoes are both types of evangelists needed. We find out on today’s podcast,

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:26):
Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome to

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:02):
The evangelism podcast. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus and I’m joined today with a very special guest. Michael and Christina Lusk have been close friends of ours, and we really admire their passion for Jesus and their heart for evangelism brother, Michael, thank you so much for joining us today.

Michael Lusk (01:22):
Well, thank you for the opportunity. I really am glad to be here and looking forward to our conversation.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:27):
So your ministry is very innovative. You are taking sound systems and giving them to evangelists in different parts of the world and also training them what to say, how to preach the gospel. Tell me a little bit about what you’ve been doing

Michael Lusk (01:48):
Well just to give you a little bit of background, and I know you probably know some of this, but for those that will be hearing we founded our ministry about 15 years ago and we started in Argentina in South America and always with the passion to share the gospel, just a simple focus on the message of the gospel. And so as we began to do that initially in Argentina and then in other nations around the world, we began to discover that there were national evangelists in those nations that really had a desire to fulfill their call as an evangelist, but maybe had never had any type of training, very few resources and often a sense of being disconnected. They didn’t feel like they had a network of other people that really understood what they were doing and, and got in there with them. And so as we began to meet these individuals, the Lord began to put a burden in my heart to help them the frontline of Angeles. And so that’s kind of where the name of our ministry came from Vanguard evangelism, Vanguard being the frontline of an advance, a frontline of a force. And so we began to help these evangelists in different ways. And one of the primary ways that we do that, and that’s certainly not the only one, but the primary one that we’re kind of known for is providing portable sound systems to these evangelists.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:06):
Now, I remember I first met you at a TL Osborn crusade in Costa Rica. And I remember that Dr. Osborne really liked you because you played violin and he played a little bit of violin. So he said, Oh, we have an evangelist here from Argentina, come up here and play some violin for us. And, and tell me what type of influence did TL Osborn have on your ministry?

Michael Lusk (03:36):
It’d be impossible to measure. I really became familiar with his ministry long distance through his books. And I think that’s a story. A lot of people share with brother Osbourne. He was a very prolific writer, very good writer, and his books are translated in over a hundred languages and they would ship them out literally by the ton daily, all over the world. And so his books are all over the globe and and that was the case for me. I found a copy of his book. It was a small book, not even one of his major books. It was called you are God’s best. And it was on my aunt’s bookshelf. And I just was poking through her books. One day I was about 11 or 12 years old and found this book. And of course, if you’re familiar with Dr Osborne’s books, they have an inset generally with some black and white pictures of their big crusades, big open air evangelism events around the world.

Michael Lusk (04:29):
And I saw those pictures and I saw for the first time that I can remember somebody that was doing what God had been putting in my heart to do. I didn’t know that anybody did that. And so there an immediate connection, this affinity. And so we began after my wife and I married, we began to support Dr. Osborne’s ministry. And then right about the time I met you in Costa Rica, just prior to that I met him at an event in Des Moines, Iowa miracle life conferences, a week long event. And it was like he was talking straight to us. We were already in Argentina at that time. And so we’re just freshly started new missionaries. And it was like he was answering the questions that we had about miracles, about evangelism, how to do the ministry of Jesus. And so through that, then the invitation to Costa Rica, where we met you and we’ve been friends with you ever since. And so, yeah, his, his connection was a heart connection, right? From the beginning, he was a mentor for us and a privileged to have known him. He’s he’s in his reward now. But still very connected to the ministry through his daughter, Dr. Ladonna, I was born that continues to lead and I’m on the board of directors there and also the global events director for houseware ministries. And one of the other hats that I wear.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:50):
Yeah. I remember some of those pictures in T.L. Osborne’s books where he would line up preachers from different countries and next to them would be this big Bullhorn with a sound system and a microphone, and he would send them out, preaching the gospel. And you’re essentially doing the same thing. Now, how many sound systems have you planted into the world now?

Michael Lusk (06:17):
So far we’ve done over 400. So we’ve been able to train right around 800 specifically evangelists, you know, in addition to believers, but just speaking strictly of evangelists close to 800 that we’ve trained in face-to-face meetings. And then through that primarily that’s the main method we use. We, we supply these sound systems and over 400 now, in fact, just before I got in here to record talking with our director over in French Africa, and we’re getting a shipment of another 60 or so units. And so it’s just really taken on a life of its own. I mean, when it first started it was just one evangelists and Honduras central America that is a great friend of our ministry. In fact, he’s our director in Latin America now Elvin Serna just saw how he was going up into these village places, mountain villages and Honduras and planning churches and going, you know, sometimes on a dirt bike or even on foot or on mule back to take the gospel to these villages. And I thought, you know, we’ve got to help people like that. Somehow, if we could just give to him, you know, maybe what would be an insurmountable at that time, a huge financial undertaking to get a portable sound system, but we could just give that tool and it would instantly multiply the impact of his ministry, the, the reach of his ministry. And so we, we think of ourselves as multiplying, amplifying the voice of Jesus in the earth.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:50):
So, on average, what does it cost to put one of those sound systems in the hands of an indigenous evangelists? Yeah, the price varies

Michael Lusk (08:01):
Is of course different countries, but basically anywhere in the world for about $250, we can put a system in the hands of a national preacher man, woman out there plant planting churches. And it just, you know, one testimony I like to share with people from an Indian evangelists that were able to sponsor. He said, before I had that sound system, I could go and preach in the village. And a few households around a few families would be able to hear my voice. And he said, now with that sound system I can preach and the people and the other village can hear me. And so it just ultimately, you know, how many times we don’t know, but you think that evangelist he’s going to be out there. She’s going to be out there preaching anyway. And so you’re really just taking someone that’s already proven themselves. They’re already making an impact. They’re already producing fruit and you’re just instantly for a small amount of money greatly amplifying their reach, greatly multiplying their impact. And so it just, it makes sense to do it.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:03):
And so you’re also coaching these evangelists and, and training them. How do you go about doing that? What’s the process? Well, we, we initially

Michael Lusk (09:13):
I start by w I really believe in as we’re able to do in-person events and obviously this year with COVID-19, that’s been an unusual situation for everybody, but generally speaking, we like to have that initial connection be in person. And so we do, face-to-face in person training. That’ll last about three days. And where we, where we do that is when we go into a city and one of the nations of the world to do a big open air miracle festival evangelism festival. Those are typically in the evening. And so in the daytime, the morning of those days, we will train evangelists. And so we do morning sessions, and then that kind of culminates in the distribution of these portable sound systems. And so it’s kind of a real powerful dynamic that happens. These evangelists will travel in sometimes even from neighboring countries, they’ll come to receive that training formerly be part of the, kind of the real organic relationship-based Vanguard community of evangelists.

Michael Lusk (10:16):
And then through that, you know, they’re getting that training. They’re able to go out in the afternoons with other evangelists that maybe they’re getting to meet for the first time, share the gospel, invite people to the evening event, and then participate in that evening service as well. So all together, it’s just a total saturation in their calling relationships that are being forged. I mean, there’s no better way to build relationships in evangelism than by doing evangelism. And so we’re a testimony to that. We’re still here today after you know, 15, 20 years. So that’s okay.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:52):
Powerful dynamic. And then continuing, you know,

Michael Lusk (10:56):
Well, obviously we, we come back to the United States where we’re based and go to other nations, but we are building of touch points if you will, to keep that community going. So some of the ways that are developing, and this is all very much in a growing process, you know these evangelists that meet one another, a lot of times they’re seeing their foreman kind of chapters, if you will, local groups of evangelists that they can actually be face-to-face, we’re providing opportunities through zoom and other technology to allow these evangelists to connect long distance and receive further training. We’ve got a Facebook group that they can be part of shared their testimonies and also see what’s going on with their, their colleagues around the world. So we’re working with a lot of different tools to really build us an continuing sense of community.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:49):
So of these approximately 800 evangelists that, that you’ve have you been able to keep track of how many people they’ve been able to impact?

Michael Lusk (11:59):
We don’t have real hard numbers. It’s, it’d be very difficult to do that, but we, we get enough of these snapshots to know that it’s a very significant impact. And just the, the thing that strikes me over and over again is just the sense of gratitude, you know, for for an evangelist, maybe in the developed world in the West, maybe, you know, a $250 sound system, it’d be something they’d be grateful for, but it maybe wouldn’t be the world shaking event that it is in the life of these frontline evangelists in the developing world. But the sense of gratitude, I mean, these evangelists, they just can’t hardly believe that somebody even notices them, that someone cares about them believes in them, wants to you know, propel them in their ministry. And really when I go as an evangelist my goal is that when I leave that place, that they’re not thinking, wow, what a great ministry, Michael Las Kaz, but really that they would say, wow, I’ve discovered what a great ministry I have with my people, the place I’m working. And so, you know, they, they don’t need passports. They’re already in country. They know the culture, they know the languages of these areas, they know the needs, and they’re able to work in a very sophisticated way, a very nuanced way that can kind of roll with the punches if you will, and have an impact in the face of changing circumstances. So it’s a very powerful dynamic that comes into play.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:38):
I heard you share an analogy of the difference between a massive ship coming into Harbor and a small canoe that can go up maybe a small stream. Talk to me about that in relationship to evangelize. Sure.

Michael Lusk (13:56):
Well, I think it’s a picture of the Holy spirit gave to me, and it seems to really resonate with people, you know and I’m not saying this against any big international ministries, I believe in international ministries, they do have a role, but I compare it to a huge ocean freighter, a cargo ship, you know, the draft, th the amount of ship that’s under the surface, you know, below level on these ships is sometimes, you know, 50, a hundred feet. And so you can’t just pull an ocean freighter up in any Harbor, any port of call, you gotta have real specific criteria. Everything’s gotta be in line for that to work. Now, when it does work, you can move a lot of material with it. You can get a lot done, but there’s a lot of places that you couldn’t get a ship like that.

Michael Lusk (14:43):
And, you know, to bring that down to the level of ministries like ours, and that do international evangelism, you know, a situation COVID-19 who could have predicted that that what that would look like and what kind of, what dampening effect that had on, on our ministries. And we’re overcoming it. We thank God for that, but it was a real deal breaker, if you will, in terms of doing some of the type of events that we do. And the, the contrast to that would be the dugout canoe, you know, the dugout canoe they’re used all over the world and primitive settings. And you know, you only have to have about six or seven inches of water to take one of these canoes in, and they can go into these backwater unreached places, the places in the we’d call the Backwoods where maybe the name of Jesus has never been mentioned. Nobody’s ever heard the gospel before. No evangelists maybe has ever gone into these communities. And these dugout canoes, these national evangelists can go and penetrate deep into these nations places where an international ministry could never go. And so I think it’s not an either or proposition. It’s not a criticism of one versus the other. It’s just simply to, to recognize the unique role and to validate it and to empower these nationals and what they’re doing, the only they can do in that way,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:09):
Love what you’re doing with doing evangelism coaching of these indigenous native evangelists in the countries that they’re, they’re used to, that they’re working in, and they can have such a potential to reach a huge harvest of souls. You know, Jesus went to every town and every village, and they can literally do that. They can go to every small town, every village and have an impact. If someone who’s listening wants to sponsor a sound system for one of these preachers that you’re training and wanted to give a gift. You said it was average of about $250. How would they be able to do that? Yeah,

Michael Lusk (16:50):
The easiest way is just to go to our website. It’s Vanguard, evangelism.com and Ray in the give tab. You can give right there online. You can mail it in if you prefer, but the easiest way is just right there in line. And you can just leave a memo in there to designate it for sound and put PA or sound system, and we’ll, we’ll know what to do with it. And we’re actively, this is an ongoing program. We obviously ramp up the fundraising when we’re doing a distribution, but it’s a continuing initiative that we’ve got going on year in and year out. And there’s just no limit to the amount of money that we could put to good use by empowering these national evangelists. So what, whatever gift you have is going to be put to good use. So we would definitely appreciate,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:36):
Well, I’d encourage you to, to go and donate to Michael Lusk and to Vanguard to help them train evangelists that are in-country preaching the language that the people speak. They are going often with with very little, they don’t need to have a huge salary, but they’re going everywhere preaching the gospel. And so if you have a heart to help evangelists like that, then I encourage you to go and give Michael, thank you so much for being on the evangelism podcast. You guys are a tremendous blessing and we pray for you all the time. Well, thank you. And same to you. We love you, and we love what you stand for. And we’re in this together. We’re winning together with Jesus

Evangelism Podcast Host (18:24):
For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches, visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

Dr. David Shibley is the founder of Global Advance, an innovative ministry that trains front-line leaders to reach people for Jesus. He is also the author of many books about missions and evangelism. In today’s podcast, he explains how his ministry is advancing the Gospel around the globe.

Questions:

How do you train marketplace leaders?

How did you develop a passion for reaching the world for Jesus?

What are some of the things that you think our generation should prepare for that God wants to do in the years to come?

Website: https://www.globaladvance.org/

Read David Shibley’s Many Books About Missions: https://amzn.to/3aT31OA

If you are excited about evangelism listen to the Evangelism Podcast, with Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach.

Transcription:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Dr. David Shibley is the founder of Global Advance in innovative ministry that trains frontline leaders to reach people for Jesus. He’s also the author of many books about missions and evangelism and today’s podcast. He explains how his ministry is advancing the gospel

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:57):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. And today I have a very special guest, Dr. David Shibley, who is the founder of global advance. Thank you for being with us today.

Dr. David Shibley (01:11):
Daniel it’s always a privilege to be with you, and it’s great to be with your audience as well. Thank you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:16):
Global Advance is an extremely innovative ministry. Can you tell us some about what you do and what your vision is?

Dr. David Shibley (01:25):
Our vision is to equip national leaders on the ground for the advance of the gospel in their nation. We exist to ignite what we call Changemakers worldwide to help fulfill the great commission in each of their respective locations to help turn that national church, wherever we happen to be itself into a missionary sending church. So we equip pastoral leaders. We equip marketplace leaders women who many times, even in Christian contexts are subjugated in one way or another in in many nations. And then also the next gen next gen leaders. So we are an equipping ministry for the purpose of bringing people to Christ evangelism and of course discipling them in the context of that national church.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:23):
I think one of the things that you do, that’s very interesting is the marketplace ministry going in training national leaders who are involved in, in business or in the marketplace. How are you reaching Christians who are involved in the marketplace?

Dr. David Shibley (02:37):
That has been an amazing open door for us. Even in areas where the training of pastoral leaders has been somewhat limited because of political situations in different nations. Always we have an open door to train people in the marketplace. And so we simply bring biblical economics to bear best practices, outcomes expected outcomes. And we see tremendous openness. I think of a one West African nation where seven Muslim businessmen came simply to hear businessmen from America and their principles of effective business. And they all went away believers in Jesus. And so we’re particularly thankful for how the Lord is using this marketplace outreach. That was really the vision of our current president. Our son, Jonathan, who heads the ministry of global advance and is just doing a tremendous job along with a great team.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:49):
You’ve been doing ministry for quite a few years now, your whole life, I believe. Tell us some about how you got started in ministry and how you really caught a passion for reaching the world for Jesus.

Dr. David Shibley (04:04):
You know, I had a very evangelistic father an evangelistic pastor dad who pastored in Tulsa, Oklahoma, his heart was to see people come to Christ, 50% of every offering, every tea ever taken at that church where he pastored went straight to missions and a huge mission heart. And he went to be with the Lord when I was 15 years old. Of course I was a very traumatic experience for me and for our family. And yet the Lord sustained us in such a magnificent way. And out of the heartbreak of all of that, and I was 15 years old searching whereas as Michael w would say my place in this world and the Lord just met me in, in those days in a marvelous way. And when I was 16 years old, he called me to preach. And the pastor of our church at that time, after my dad had gone to be with the Lord, I shared that with our pastor and he said, well, why don’t you speak next Wednesday night at the prayer meeting?

Dr. David Shibley (05:17):
And after I do give a quote sermon at is what he called it. So I did, but there happened to be a Methodist pastor who was in the audience that night and he had compassion on me or whatever, and invited me to preach at his church the next Sunday. And it just began to snowball. And I began to speak at youth camps all over the the, the middle part of our country in Kansas and Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Daniel, it’s just never stopped. I’ve I’ve always had a vision to reach people for Christ. I’ve had the privilege of ministering as an evangelist, but also pastoring churches in Arkansas and Oklahoma. But I started preaching when I was 16 years old. That was 54 years ago now. And the Lord has sustained me. I’m deeply, deeply grateful. I’ve preached in the world’s largest church.

Dr. David Shibley (06:10):
I’ve also preached in little huts in the middle of central Africa as have you. And always just the joy of standing as a representative for the Lord. Jesus Christ has, has always been the same, no matter the context I’ve been privileged to preach to thousands of men and a promise keepers events and large stadiums. One night in Minneapolis at a promise keepers event, I was privileged to be the, the gospel presenter that first night. And we saw a thousand men that night make professions of faith in Christ, just deeply grateful for all that the Lord has done. And I, I just stand back and on and say, this is the Lord’s doing it’s marvelous in our eyes, never lacked for places to preach, but some of those are because I’ve made opportunities for preaching at rest homes. And Sunday school classes never saw any occasion for the ministry of the gospel to be smaller in consequential, all of them count and all of them are important.

Dr. David Shibley (07:22):
And now I just love more than anything else passing on to the next generation and peripherally some of that evangelistic fire that is on you and that by the grace of God, I have received a portion of that as well. Over the years of imparting that to the next generation, to get the gospel out. That’s got to be our great, great passion, the overarching passion of the church to get the gospel to every person. I love the watch word of of different mission movements the gospel for every person and a church for every people group on earth. That’s my heart as well.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:04):
Well, I remember when I was just starting out in ministry, I was very young. You had something that you call days with David and you invited me and a group of other young evangelists, young preachers here to Rockwell, Texas to, to spend some time with you. And some of those principles that you shared with me have really helped me in, in building the ministry and in helping me to, to do what God has called me to do. And I, I just so appreciate your, your leadership and your wisdom and how you, you have a passion for passing on the principles you’ve learned to the next generation. What are some of the, the, the leadership principles that you think are really important to pass on?

Dr. David Shibley (08:52):
I think this generation in particular is a very committed to authenticity. And even though they may violate that principle themselves they certainly want to see it in their leaders, particularly spiritual leaders. And so everything that we do Daniel has to come out of this overflow of personal intimacy with Jesus. And so foundational to everything is I try to impart to younger spiritual leaders. Christian leaders is that daily time of intimacy with the Lord getting into his word, letting God speak to you through his word letting the Holy spirit minister to you, and then intercession and prayer and praise and worship all of that together. The reading of classic Christian books. I love many of the, the wonderful authors today, and I read several of them, but this generation also needs to be familiar with Oswald chambers and men and women Elizabeth Elliott and her writings, and those that have really shaped a Bible, believing Christians, evangelical Christians over these last 50 to 100 years.

Dr. David Shibley (10:10):
So I, I’m just very grateful. I I’d say, just keep walking with Jesus. I love what Dr. Bill bright taught. He, he said it was a transferrable concept of keeping short accounts with God, what he calls spiritual, breathing that any time the Holy spirit in any way shows you anything in your life, any thought, any action, any words that dishonor the Lord in any way that you immediately confess and forsake that acknowledging with the Lord that this has no place in my life as a believer. That’s what that word literally means in first, John one nine, if we confess to the Greek word homologeo, if we say the same thing about this sin that God says about it. In other words, if we don’t try to excuse it, but we fully own up to it. We say that’s not to have a part in my life as a believer. If we confess our sin, then God is faithful. And just to cleanse us from all sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, Dr. Bright said that by the confession of sin and repentance he called that spiritual exhaling and then inhaling by receiving the forgiveness of God and a fresh fullness of the spirit of God to do our assignment, not in our own capacity, but beyond our best efforts in supernatural capacity, the power of God’s spirit within us,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:38):
You are really a visionary looking into the future at, at what God wants to do in the world. What are some of the things that you think our generation should prepare for that God wants to do in the years to come? I do believe that

Dr. David Shibley (11:54):
The Western world in the United States in particular, the church in America will no longer escape persecution. We have experienced harassment but certainly not. Frontal persecution as have so many of our brothers and sisters around the world. I think there’s going to be a stronger affinity of the global body of Christ. The one for the other scripture is clear if one member suffers, we all suffer. And I think that now the Western church, the American church in particular is going to have a stronger sense of identity with our brothers and sisters who have suffered for the cause of Christ around the world. I’m grateful that during this very challenging season that the whole world has gone through with the COVID virus, that there has been a degree of, of a repentance and cleansing in the church.

Dr. David Shibley (12:54):
I don’t know to what degree the Holy Spirit himself measures that, but I do believe it’s preparatory for a greater work that the spirit of God will do in our nation, as well as many nations of the earth. Again, a great sweep of the spirit of God. And, you know, it’s interesting, I, as a teenager, myself, and as a college student, I lived through the Jesus movement and the amazing release of creativity in the church and systemic change in the church, which wasn’t a rebellion. It was just all of this freshness and newness of new born young believers coming into the church and asking the legitimate questions. Well, why do you do it this way? And could we do it another way? And that I, God used that for amazing transformation in the last rate, a national sweep of the spirit, which was the Jesus movement.

Dr. David Shibley (13:55):
Now I believe that God’s going to do it again. And I believe he has young people postured right now. And that’s why I want to get with a young people. I started in history, Daniel in youth ministry. I’d like to go full circle and finish in youth ministry as well, just pouring a want. The Lord has given to me into the lives of young men and women who are themselves passionate for Jesus Christ. I think martyrdom is going to go up. And I, I don’t want to say that in any particularly morbid way, Paul gave us a full assessment of all of that, that to depart and be with Christ is far better. That’s not any kind of death wish we want to fully fulfill all that God has for us in our day, but we need not fear death we’re to be bold and winsome at the same time loving the loss to caring about a broken world and ministering the grace of God by the power of his spirit.

Dr. David Shibley (14:57):
And I see that coming on men and women, young men and women around the world now and in our own nation as well. And I’m very, very grateful for that. God always has people in the wings who are ready, and those of us who have maybe been on the road for a little longer can encourage and strengthen. I want to be the, the Baton runner that is still at full strength when I pass the Baton to the next runner. And then I want to be there to yell, encouragement, and, and to strengthen him and inspire him in his leg of the race. So I’m very thankful. I have no regrets. Boy, I’ve got a magnificent wife who has stood with me for 48 years. She came from a very mission hearted family herself grew up in something of what was then the Citadel of evangelicalism in Winona Lake Indiana, and heard many of those great old preachers like Harry iron and others who would come through proclaiming the gospel.

Dr. David Shibley (16:04):
So it’s a rich heritage, and I want to pass that heritage on if, if in the banking world, if with something as neutral as money. And I realized that there are demonic things that can attach to money, but money itself is a neutral. But if in the banking world, there is this Nayana miraculous thing called compound interest. Should we not see the same effect with our own sons and daughters over two and three and four generations, a compound interest of the impact of the gospel on individuals on nations, on families in particular. And I’m deeply, deeply grateful for the impact of the gospel on our own family, thankful for that preacher in in Bristow, Oklahoma, that whoever he was, and I’m looking forward to meeting him when I get to heaven that was the man who was preaching when my dad came to faith in Christ, thankful for that preacher in Oklahoma city who was preaching when my mom came to faith in Christ in the 1920s all of that has had amazing ramifications, thankful for a great praying grandmother there in Bristow who prayed for me as well as for her son, my father.

Dr. David Shibley (17:21):
So I, I, I’m just grateful Jesus Christ has literally changed everything. I, Daniel I couldn’t be more grateful to the Lord. I only wish that I would have been more fruitful that I would have been more sensitive to the promptings of the Holy spirit bolder in obedience to the Lord. But if the Lord gives me more time and I think he will, I want to ramp up the game and be more fruitful than I’ve ever been. I think we have even an illustration in nature, Daniel here in, in the fall of the year that we have just experienced leaves are at their most pungent and beautiful and brilliant right before they die. And I think it should be the same way with us. We shouldn’t get a weaker in faith or weaker in, in any way, other than a physical body that has a shelf life, that the Lord himself again, is going to resurrect in mighty glory and power. But that our most brilliant work, our most colorful, refreshing, beautiful work for Jesus ought to accelerate toward the end of our lives. And that’s what I’m praying for me and for others of my friends.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:42):
And I, I think your organization is so beautiful because now your son, Jonathan is leading a global advance and forging in new directions. And, and, but still continuing to take the love of Jesus to people around the world. And so you see in your father who is a pastor and in your life and in your son’s life, and then into the generations to come, that God is a, a generational God. He’s the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he doesn’t just see one generation. He has a viewpoint that encompasses many generations and continues. And so I’m excited about what my generation gets to do for Jesus. Global advance is continuing to go to many nations around the world, raising up leaders, training leaders in many different spheres of influence. If someone wanted to go to your website and make a donation to global advance, w what’s your website,

Dr. David Shibley (19:40):
Thank you, Daniel, it’s simply globaladvance.org. And I would just thinking here at this very table, just a few minutes ago, we concluded a an online meeting with Christian leaders in, in Indonesia. And I’m very, very thankful that the Lord has allowed us to live in a day where there are tremendous communications possibilities. I feel that we can say, as Paul said, from a jail cell, he said, you know, I’m personally bound, I’m personally isolated, but the word of God is not bound. And we see that in the same way. It’s been a very strange and prayerfully untypical year. And yet, even though we ourselves have been limited in, in our own capacity to to go, and the word of God itself is never bound. And I’m so grateful for the gospel getting out on many platforms and new platforms that are even this very day being conceived and worked on, and they will be vehicles for the gospel.

Dr. David Shibley (20:51):
The gospel Daniel has always traveled as you know, on roads and the PAX Romana that allowed a a fairly safe passage of people throughout the Roman empire and believers who were going on those roads built by Rome or by that empire were carrying the gospel as they went. We have a pox technology GEA today where we have all of these opportunities to get the gospel out rapidly. I say to young men in ministry, you realize that starting today, you can have a worldwide ministry simply by the click of a few buttons. And so there’s all these opportunities. And I just want to appeal to your listeners because I know they’re listening because they’re interested in getting the gospel out. Let’s take every Avenue possible to get the gospel out. Billy Graham in one of his final addresses to the evangelists that he had convened at one of his great meetings in Amsterdam for itinerate evangelists said let’s use every legitimate means and every ounce of our strength to get the gospel out. That’s my appeal to us as well. Every legitimate means every ounce of our strength, animated and breathed on by the life-giving spirit of the living. God, let’s get the gospel into the minds, into the hearts, into the years of people around the world. And then the spirit of God himself will do what only he can do in taking that wonderful, good news and drawing people to a real relationship with God through faith in his son. Amen. Thank you for joining me on the evangelism podcast. I appreciate it. Thank you, Daniel migrate privilege

Evangelism Podcast Host (22:52):
For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches, visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

Per Akvist leads the Ethiopia Joshua Campaign. They believe it is a human right for every person to hear the Gospel at least once in their lifetime. Over the last twenty years, Joshua Campaign has been responsible for leading millions of people to Jesus across Ethiopia and other parts of Africa.

Notes:

Joshua Campaign Website: joshuacampaign.nu

Mercy House Website: familymercyhouse.org

If you love evangelism listen to the Evangelism Podcast, with Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach.

Transcription:

Missionary Evangelist Daniel King (00:00):
Per Akvist leads the Ethiopia Joshua campaign. They believe it is a human right for every person to hear the gospel, at least once in their lifetime. Over the last 20 years, Joshua campaign has been responsible for leading millions of people to Jesus across Ethiopia and other parts of Africa.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:23):
Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome to

Missionary Evangelist Daniel King (01:02):
The evangelism podcast. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. We have a very special guest pear fist from Joshua campaign in Ethiopia. Pare, thank you so much for being with me. Well, thank you for having me. Now. We are in a Buena Ethiopia. We have been having a crusade this week and God has been doing great miracles. Tell me a brother pear. How did we decide to come here to a Buena? Oh, well the leadership from the local churches have asked us for a long time to come here. And as, as of now, it was a real good opportunity to do this and we took the advantage. And so what are some of the things that God’s been doing here? Well, of course I think you know, we have done crusades in Ethiopia for so many years and our strategy is to come in and work with the local leaders.

Missionary Evangelist Daniel King (02:06):
Give them a training, encouragement tools to work with. And in that’s in the, in the leader seminars and at the crusade itself, we demonstrate the power of God by signs and wonders. Now you, along with Joshua campaign have been working here in Ethiopia for, for many years. Can you tell us some of how Joshua campaign came to be and, and what Joshua campaign has been doing here in Ethiopia? Yeah, we, we soon celebrated about 23 years here in country. My my good friend called Tom started the Joshua campaign 1997. And yeah, at that time, the gospel were quite unknown. If you hope as being indigenous and, and eh, through the many years of communism, the wa the border has been kind of locked and the gospel hasn’t had very much exposure. So starting doing crusades around 97, we have seen a tremendous fruit in this country. I mean, we speak just through our own crusades for 23 years, we have seen millions of people coming to the,

Per Akvist (03:29):
And approximately how many crusades has Joshua campaign done

Per Akvist (03:33):
Or K here we need to calculate. But eh, in average, every year we have been able to do between five to seven every year for 23 years.

Per Akvist (03:47):
So that’s well over a hundred crusades and close approaching, 150 crusades that have been done

Missionary Evangelist Daniel King (03:53):
Here, I would say yes, yes. And

Per Akvist (03:55):
I’ve read some statistics when communism fell in Ethiopia, the country was about 3% evangelical Christian.

Per Akvist (04:04):
Oh, no, no, no. You had four to 5 million people in this country in 1992. That’s when the communism were more kicked out, you had 1.8% evangelical believers.

Per Akvist (04:21):
1.8% were evangelical believers. And today how many percentage is evangelical?

Missionary Evangelist Daniel King (04:29):
Well, w you have to have the perspective that if the population has grown from four to 5 million people till today, 110 million people, and the today’s, the statistic is 20% evangelical believers.

Missionary Evangelist Daniel King (04:45):
So in this time period where Joshua campaign has been doing crusades in the country, the growth of the VI evangelical church has gone from 1.8% of 45 million up to 20% of 100 million, a hundred and 110 million people. What a tremendous thing to be excited about this, this, when, when church history is written, I think this qualifies as one of the greatest revivals that has ever happened in church.

Per Akvist (05:17):
Exactly. I, I, far as far as my knowledge, I, I think only South Korea, I’ve seen this kind of growth gone from zero till 30% as, as you can see in Korea. And for the last 13 years, I’ve been the director of the Joshua campaign. And I have seen within this, within this period of time, how even the local church has grown up and take a responsibility, and we really see how the gospel has been established in this country. And you see you denominations up to 708 million people in this country today.

Missionary Evangelist Daniel King (06:04):
That’s tremendous. Now, one of the sayings that has formed the basis for Joshua campaign is one chance for every person. Tell me, what does that mean? One chance for every person.

Per Akvist (06:18):
Yeah. That’s when Karl Hargestam started Joshua campaign, that, that came to him, that it should be a human right to hear the gospel at least one time in your life. And seeing so many unreached people. I mean, we speak people who have not even heard that there is a God that the Jesus have paid the price for their sins, and they were shipping the river. They worshiping the stone or the rock. I mean that came to him that it should be, you know, in the world today, we speak about human rights a lot, but the number one basic human rights should be to hear the, be able to hear the gospel at least one time in your life. And

Missionary Evangelist Daniel King (07:10):
I would add to that one chance for every person, one task, for every believer to share the gospel. Now, another saying that you have in Joshua campaign is that you want to help the helpless and reach the unreached. What does that mean?

Per Akvist (07:30):
That’s this is me and my wife even long ago, 30 years ago, when we got married you know, my wife, she is from here, she’s born here. She grew up here till she was about 15 years old in a, in a situation, almost like a, I mean, she was a domestic slave, a non-paid housemaid but basically a slave. She came to Sweden. It’s a long, long story. As a 15 year old, she got restored. God did miracles and delivered her from bitterness and unforgiveness and so on. And when we met there in the end of eighties, we, we start to pray and ask the Lord for a vision for our lives. And, and very strongly, we felt out of our own personalities and lives together. Reached unreached. That’s my side of it help the helpless that’s her side of it because she had this kind of growing and she was left as an orphan.

Missionary Evangelist Daniel King (08:45):
Father died, mother was unable to take care of her, and she was given to this if European family, as a domestic worker. And I mean, she had a really, really hard life. So our vision and what we felt the Lord wanted us to do was to preach the gospel to the unreached people and help this helpless people who are bounded in, in power T and not unable to raise their children. So with that vision first, we worked for about 14 years in Soviet union, because that was the time when God really opened up Soviet union. Then we came here 2005 and started working with church planting. We met Carl Hargus STEM, and we felt how we would merge our ministries together. So to the one chance for every person, we added reach down, reach and help the helpless. And we built my wife’s side of the ministry, which is the family mercy house, where we now take in in poor women. Mostly many of them have children. So we take them in, we give them vocational education in the same time we add their children into our sponsored children program. So even if the mothers fails, the children will still be secured having a somehow a good upbringing. I mean, we pay for their schools and, and some of the school material and make sure that they have nutritious food as well. But most of the time, the, the mothers also take the opportunity and change their lives.

Missionary Evangelist Daniel King (10:44):
So you have the, the mercy house, which is to the family mercy house. And the purpose of that is to, to help the helpless, you take these women off the street, very poor women and give them skills to help them in life. And then you also want to reach the unreached. And so to do that, you do these large evangelistic crusades, but that’s not all you do. You are also planting churches and starting Bible schools. Tell me some about that.

Per Akvist (11:14):
Yeah, of course the the crusades, it’s one of the backbones then together with a local church planter and evangelists actually he’s an apostil with a passion of, of starting churches. We, we formed this new denomination and within four years we have, we started with three churches. They, of course there is a background history to that as well, but about four years ago, we started with three churches and today we have 65 churches, all in, all on a average Sunday morning, we get her 25,000 people among these churches. And one of the most important thing is to give them education. So we we see a lot of growth, but in the same time, you’re in numbers, you have also, you have to secure the quality of, of these believers. So we, we we run the Bible school program.

Per Akvist (12:20):
I have in Joshua campaign. I have two staff that works mostly with the Bible school coordination. So we do that remotely sending teachers to all the different remote areas. We have this program that we got from the Pentecostal church of God in America called Veritas. And that helps us a lot to coordinate that from the headquarter in Addis Ababa, we send the teachers out, they have a program, we know what they teach and, and, and they can go to every remote area. And, and we have a secured doctrine and good Bible teaching that is given to them.

Missionary Evangelist Daniel King (13:10):
Well, it’s such an honor to be here with you. I think this is now my seventh crusade that I have done in Ethiopia with Joshua campaign. And we always see such tremendous results in just a few minutes. We’re going to go to the field and preach for the last time here in a Buena it’s Sunday morning, lots of people are coming and they’re there, they’re dressed in their Sunday best. And so the choirs that the choir is going to come and sing and dance, and, and it’s just so wonderful to, to see what God has done through your ministry here. So if someone who’s listening wants to invest in Ethiopia and wants to help reach people for Jesus here, or they’re interested in supporting the, the, the mercy house, how can they find you? What’s your, what’s your website,

Per Akvist (13:59):
But Joshua campaign that, and you will be up running with Swedish and English language,

Per Akvist (14:08):
Joshua campaign.in you. If they’re interested in, in helping you with what God is doing here in Ethiopia,

Missionary Evangelist Daniel King (14:16):
Add in that it has been a great privilege to work with you. These seven crusades together, we have partnering very well with the King ministry. And I do appreciate your friendship and the ministry that we’re doing together. And yeah it has been a good, good relationship that we are built for for many years.

Missionary Evangelist Daniel King (14:43):
Praise the Lord. Well, it’s so exciting to see what God is doing here in Ethiopia, and we believe that God will continue to use you to reach many

Per Akvist (14:52):
People here. And of course, we do have the mercy house that is FamilyMercyhouse.org That you have in Swedish and in English. And there you can make any donation to the mercy house. Wonderful. Thank you, pair. All right. Thank you very much

Evangelism Podcast Host (15:12):
For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches, visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

Bishop Emmanuel Array Gewe pastors World Harvest Church Assemblies of God Church in Kahama, Tanzania. He served as the crusade director for a Christ for All Nations crusade in Kahama. He considers Reinhard Bonnke to be his spiritual father even though he never met him. In today’s podcast, Bishop Emmanuel talks how his church plans to follow up on all the new believers who get saved at the crusade in Kahama.

Notes:

Bishop Emmanuel talks about the huge impact Reinhard Bonnke has had on his life.

One of the methods Bishop Emmanuel uses to follows up on the new believers is to host a twenty-one day seminar for the new believers in his church.

Also, you will learn how Bishop Emmanuel deals with witchcraft in his city.

If you are excited about evangelism listen to the Evangelism Podcast, with Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach.

Transcription:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Our guest today pastors World Harvest Church in Kahama, Tanzania. He served as the crusade director for a Christ for all nations crusade in comma. He considers Reinhard Bonnke to be his spiritual father, even though he never met him. In today’s podcast, Bishop Emmanuel talks about how his church plans to follow up on all the new believers who get saved at the crusade in

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:31):
Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome to

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:07):
The evangelism podcast. I am here with Bishop Emmanuel, from world harvest church and the nation of Tanzania, the city of Kahama. Bishop. Thank you so much for inviting us to come to this city.

Emmanuel Array Gewe (01:23):
Thank you, evangelists. It’s a pleasure to have you here in Kahama.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:29):
Now we are here for the Christ for all nations gospel crusade with evangelist Daniel Kolenda, and you have been working to help to organize everything for the crusade. And so you tell me your position

Emmanuel Array Gewe (01:47):
With Christ for All Nations here is I am organizing the crusade. I’m the, I’m the leader of crusade organizing team.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:57):
And so you’ve been helping to organize all the pastors helped to get to permissions for all of the, the permits that are required to be here in the city. Tell me some of the preparations that have gone into preparing for this crusade.

Emmanuel Array Gewe (02:14):
Preparation is started from early August. When, when we, the team Stefan team came here and Urrutia, we had Jacko, we had Lucas and later came my ma my Clift on. Then we started moving church to church and we also went to the government offices to have permits, to have field permits, to have the crusade permits and promotion permits. So we move all around the city and we have been meeting pastors on September three. We also had 450 pastors meeting together. And they were told about the crusade and the sea fan teams were there. And for sure it was a good day and still go from those days everything was going well. And then later the see fun. And as we have been doing some other things, at least to promote the crusade, we had the youth promotion day. We promoted the crusade to the youth and more than one, 1000 youth gathered together. And it was very good. I tell you, and we also had prayers as well, and everything was going good. And we have about 12 committee preparing the crusades. So to now, every committee is doing good. And with ongoing, everything is going on. Well,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:42):
So a big part of doing a crusade is the promotion and all over the city. I have seen posters and banners. People passing out flyers. Does everyone in Kahama know what is happening this week?

Emmanuel Array Gewe (03:55):
For sure. It’s like everybody in Kahama knows because I don’t think if something like this one has happened before. I know there were many preachers around Kahama who came from America, from Europe, from Korea, from everywhere. But I think this one has been different because there were flyers. Everybody’s having a flyers. There were billboards everywhere. There are banners everywhere. And we have trucks moving around everybody. And it’s like, for two weeks I was moving one to one place to another. I want it’s like, I wanted to know if there’s somebody who do not know that there is crusade. So for the two weeks asking if there is somebody who do not know that there’s crusade, I only found one old woman, old woman, and I don’t blame her because it’s like, she’s not good in hearing. She’s also not good in speaking. And because of her age is like, she doesn’t have the company with other people. So I can say every body in Kahama knows crusade. And last day, when we were to the field, one guy say, if I want to be saved in this crusade, I think I won’t be saved anymore.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:13):
Well, I believe he will be saved. Amen. And so tell me about some of the needs here in the city. As, as we were coming here, you told me that Kahama is a city of witchcraft. What do you mean by that?

Emmanuel Array Gewe (05:33):
Kahama is having this demonic worships. We can say did this kind of demonic worship people. They are witch doctors, witchcraft. I mean these people who are watching the evil, that the kingdom of darkness, these are the people who are worshiping the kingdom of darkness. And truly speaking. This city is four of these kind of demonic activities because the city of gold, I, we don’t understand, you know, gold mines are many here. So people love that people are doing many business is like they’re doing their business. It’s like they, they, they are relying to the witchcraft thinking that the witchcraft will help them. So that’s how, what they are doing. And it’s not easy. It’s not easy. Even here to start a church. It’s not easy. When we started the church here, 2003, 2000, and 2013, it was not easy.

Emmanuel Array Gewe (06:29):
It was not easy because this place was known to be the darkest place in the city of Kahama. And people are not even building the houses because when you build a house, when you build a goose house, you can die. But even other pastors were opening the churches here somewhere, somewhere, even running. When I came here, we had some pastors, one came here. He is having his family. He is married. But when he, when he got, when he came, he started a church. You know, he left his family. He ran away. He left the ministry. The other one came the same. When I came here, 2012, they told me the same story that my friend, you cannot open the church here. So in 2012, I spent the whole year praying for this place so that when I planned the church, that the ministry will grow and it was not easy. We have been praying, delivering people from demon possession and everything. And from them, there was broke through. I want to tell you, since I started the ministry here, many churches are being open around here.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:32):
There is tremendous breakthrough and your churches full on Sunday morning. Oh yes. And many miracles go,

Emmanuel Array Gewe (07:40):
God has been doing goddess. Open the blind here. God has opened the diff God has, God has helped heal. Many people who are having deadly diseases. You see God has helped in him and are men. The church is full of testimonies. If you come around the church and look to the church and ask who is healed from demonic oppression, you will see them rising the hand that they are healed and they are totally free. So

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:09):
Reinhard Bonnke had a profound impact on your life. Tell me, what have you learned from Reinhard Bonnke?

Emmanuel Array Gewe (08:19):
Reinhard Bonnke is really interesting. It was 2009, 2009 to eight. When I got saved, it was on March. When I got saved. When I got saved I had a friend called Ezekiel came and brought me a book. I was just a new convert and say, the book of, from evangelists written by Bonnke “Evangelism by Fire.” So he gave me that book. And by that time, you know, I got saved and it’s like, my family has separated me. I was like, I was chest from home. And just because I got seven and I was Holy spirit field, and the spirit of God was really moving around me and I was ready to die for Christ in those few months. So this man came, he brought me a book. I started reading the book when I started reading the book bonkers book, evangelism by fire.

Emmanuel Array Gewe (09:16):
It’s like I found I was burning from inside, outside. I was burning and my heart was full of joy. I was courageous. I was to preach. And there were pictures of Reinhard Bonnke to the middle of the book. When I look at the book and I see the multitudes Bonnke had been preaching and it’s like, I was drinking. I know, I know if Bonnke is preaching, I will also preach. And I become passionate for the gospel. And I finished the book evangelism. I finished reading that book and I started looking for the books. You can even see right now, I have this one mighty manifestation, the gifts and the power of the Holy spirit. I bought many books. It’s like, I’ve read almost all the books of Bonnke. What happened is I become full of God’s fire. When, when with this, with that fire, you know, because of how, because of faith, it’s like, I was fiery my life.

Emmanuel Array Gewe (10:13):
I spend my life to the church. I preaching people all around the villages. My brother is like, he was angry. Say, this one here is going to be a pastor instead of being a student. So he took me and he sent me to the boarding school. So I went to boarding school is it’s like, he wanted me to go to boarding school because there is no church. But truly speaking, when I entered to two school, they choose me to be the CEC chairman of student fellowship. I started preaching the gospel from three students to 20 students.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:47):
Wow. So, so you never had the opportunity to meet Reinhard Bonnke, but still, what, what did you consider him to be in your life right now?

Emmanuel Array Gewe (10:57):
Bonnke, I have never met him and I was praying that one day I met Reinhard Bonnke and sometime I have even written him an email. If at all he can allow me to see him. And even I wrote that in one of his book, I think many books Bonnke wrote the story about George Jeffrey, George, different and evangelists from British. So it’s like I was telling Bonnke because George Jeffrey agreed you to go in and he blessed you. Please allow me as well to come to you and bless me as well. But the problem is when he died to that point, I’ve never seen. And the email was not replied 2017 is like, I think [Daniel] Kolenda, I was told that Bonnke is coming to Dar Es Salam and I was preparing to go, but I did not see him, but it was called Kolenda.

Emmanuel Array Gewe (11:51):
So by that time, I did not, that Kolenda is going to be the president of Christ for All Nations. So Bonnke has made me passionate. If you see the ministry growing is because of Bonnke. If you see everything going on spiritually with me, that is Bonnke. Bonnke has made a big impact to my life. My choice lie right now, full of preachers because I’ve been preaching to the streets. Everybody here is to the church is a preacher. So they, we used to go to the street preaching. The same passion I got from Bonnke is the same passion that the church is having from me. So it’s like the church is full of passion and my heart is really for the harvest, really for the harvest. And, and as the church, we have mission. As you see, we are really having a mission to plant a missionary church in South Sudan. That’s our mission that we have,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:47):
Amen. That is such a wonderful vision, and God will make that come to pass. And so one of the important parts of doing a crusade is the followup of new believers. What is your church planning to do to help, to disciple those who get saved at the crusade?

Emmanuel Array Gewe (13:07):
Oh, yes. I’m, I’m prepared, prepared to use this opportunity to, to have a soul that will go that will be saved from Stephan crusade tomorrow from tomorrow. What we are prepared is to the church. We have prepared 21 days for the seminar. So we’ll have different preachers. They will be here doing deliverance, praying for the people, helping the new converse to grow spiritually. So the church you know, the church is right now excited for the concern. And after the crusade, we are also prepared for the seminar. Not only that, but every church member of weld harvest is given flyers and they are inviting their friends. Everybody, not only that, but also we, we, we, we prepare an invitation later. We have sent many invitation letter to the people so that they come to the church. And you can’t imagine the day before yesterday, I received a call from a Muslim teacher. He said, pastor, I have got the flyer. I have got the invitation letter, M as a Muslim, as a share, am I allowed to come to the seminar? I told you, yes, you are allowed to come to the seminar. Not only to the seminar, start with the crusade, then come to the seminar. So for sure, we are prepared our deacons. Last week, we did an election, we added more deacons. We added more deacons and church elders so that they, we have the team of followup. And we are really prepared for that.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:36):
You are prepared for, for growth here in the church. And you’re going to do a 21 day seminar starting after the crusade begins 21 days of preaching, healing, deliverance, teaching the new believers, the basics of

Emmanuel Array Gewe (14:52):
The gospel. What are some of the things that you’ll teach them? Of course the first thing is will be, they will be believe they be teaching how to overcome the challenges of the world. They’ll be told how to preach others as well. They will be told how to grow in Christ. Those are very important things and they will be towed the do’s and don’ts that they should observe is as new Christians. Yes. So tell me, what do you expect God to do here in this city this week?

Emmanuel Array Gewe (15:32):
Evangelist? I tell you, every pastor is excited as a crusade organizer. You know, I’ve told pastors to prepare. Every church should have a seminar. Every church should have a seminar so that we have with the city, this opportunity comes, comes come doesn’t come. Always Stefan. When Steven comes it’s can take 20 years again for Stefan to come back because Stefan is moving all around the world. So by grace, you know, we, we, we, we have got this grade, but for sure, what I am seeing is God is going to do great things in this city that everybody nobody has ever seen. And if you go, even to the city, even people of the offices, they are saying we will be going to the concert. So the impact is going to be very big.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King

Awesome. Bishop Emmanuel, thank you so much for all of your work, helping with the crusade. We could not do it without you. You are a great blessing, and I can say you are a great man of God, so God bless you, sir. Thank you, evangelists. God bless it. You are also welcome to come

Evangelism Podcast Host (16:37):
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.

Jessica King helped to organize six massive crusades in cities across Tanzania. She made many wonderful friends in Tanzania and today I interview Pastor Fredrick Andrea about her impact. We also talk about how God is moving through crusades in the village areas of Tanzania.

Bishop Fredrick Andrea pastors Light Worship Center in Mwanza, Tanzania. He has planted over two hundred churches by doing mini-crusades in the villages of Tanzania.

Questions: 

What does a village crusade look like?

What are some of the big challenges of ministering in Tanzania?

Is witchcraft a problem when you go into the villages to preach the Gospel?

How has God protected Tanzania from the Corona Virus?

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Jessica King helped to organize six massive crusades in cities, across Tanzania. She made many wonderful friends while she was in Tanzania. And today I interview pastor Fredrick and Draya about her impact. We also talk about how God is moving through crusades in the village areas of Tanzania.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:24):
Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome to the evangelism,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:02):
Some podcasts where we talk about everything about evangelism. I am in the nation of Tanzania with Bishop Fredrick from Mwanza. And it’s so good to have you here. God bless you, brother.

Bishop Fredrick Andrea (01:16):
Oh, thank you so much. Pleasure to meet you today.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:19):
So the reason that I know you is actually through my wife, Jessica, she came to Tanzania 13 years ago in 2004 to arrange a great gospel festival for evangelists, Peter Youngren. Who’s an evangelist from Canada and she was actually the organizer for that event. And you also participated in that it’s. So tell me a little bit about what you remember about my wife from before I even married

Bishop Fredrick Andrea (01:54):
Holistically speaking Jessica was very amazing because I remember that crew said was one of the biggest crusade in one’s at Tanzania. And she came and they stayed there probably longer preparing for the meeting. And she heard your heart to work with the pastors from many different denominations. And she’s a down to us, women of God. And I could see the real missionary spirit in her the way, although that time she was still noted, maybe married, she was looking young, but she could walk well with even there, all the pastors and bishops and hopelessly. Everybody loved it so much because of the heart and the P was spirit.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:44):
So what impact did that crusade with pastor Peter younger and have on ones in the surrounding region,

Bishop Fredrick Andrea (02:53):
The crusade was one of the biggest and it impacted many churches because their harvest was so big. Many people, God may not go to saved and many churches got there. I mean the converts and even until now, people are still talking about that meeting. There’s never been any meeting like that. I remember so well, that’s why the meeting had a very big impact. And even Jessica is a witness to this.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:26):
Talk to me about evangelism in Tanzania. What are you doing in your church to evangelize?

Bishop Fredrick Andrea (03:34):
A is X actually in Tanzania is very much important because Tanzania is one of the countries in Eastern Africa with many Muslims and many non Christians. So in our church, we have evangelism programs. We have BI, we sometimes train the people and then we send them for pastoral evangelism. And also as a ministry, we organize crusades, especially in the villages because many many preach us. They come to the cities and I realized that the villages are neglected. Many people don’t want to go there. So that’s why we always organize as a nomination, as a church, we reach out to the people and preach the gospel to open air crusades and people have been getting saved.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:24):
So your church has been going into the villages, doing crusades in the villages. And then you are also planting churches in these villages. How many churches have you planted

Bishop Fredrick Andrea (04:37):
Prove the evangelism outreach. I’ve planted 200 churches,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:42):
200 churches, mostly in the village areas, but places where a lot of Americans don’t go because they go to the big cities, but you’re going from village to village.

Bishop Fredrick Andrea (04:52):
Do you have any to learn? That’s why I could also realize that even the Africans, we we also are able through the supportive and all the American evangelists, if they can have some system whereby the native people maybe partnering together. So when they come, they can preach in the big cities and then the Africans, we can go to the villages that could be very much impacted.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:19):
What a, what a tremendous blessing that is. Tell me about what a village crusade looks like. Do, do you have a team that goes, do you have a sound system? Do you bring a generator? What, what does it take to do a crusade?

Bishop Fredrick Andrea (05:35):
Actually, the village even dealing with some are handy because they are no instruments. So we have to take the P S system with generators to the villages. So we go with a team and sometimes because of the transportation, maybe we hire some trucks. Then you put this S P a system. We hire in the cities and then we to the villages and the many people have been coming because they have never heard about these crusades. Then just hearing the crusades in the cities, but not in the villages. So they’ve really, [inaudible] a lot of impact.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:10):
How big are these villages that you’re going to, how many people would come to a village crusade?

Bishop Fredrick Andrea (06:16):
B village crusade depends on the also preparations. So, you know, one village could said, sometimes we have like a 100,000, even to 20,000 because people are so many, they have never heard about this. That’s why, even if we have Americans and even the fallen preachers, if they can go there, they can have a lot of harvest than in the cities, because people have never heard about even the Americans and with these kind of crusades.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:46):
That’s tremendous. Tell me some more about your church. Tell me the name of your church and, and when you planted it.

Bishop Fredrick Andrea (06:53):
My church is called the Light Worship Center. It was planted now about six years ago. We are in the ones that CT. But before that, I have been working over 25 years in ministry working to plant churches in the villages, but the church is six years old. Now,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:16):
What are some of the big challenges of ministering here in Tanzania? I was talking to one Bishop here in Kahama, and he told me that witchcraft is a big problem here. Do you find that also in the villages,

Bishop Fredrick Andrea (07:31):
In the villages, their headquarters. So which kind of, because most of the witchdoctors, they stay in the villages, they have their homes there. So also sometimes we have the conflict between the Christians and the Muslims. So that’s why sometimes it’s very hard. When we try to reach the Muslims, they have some resistance, they bring some conflicts.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:52):
And so what do you do to overcome that resistance?

Bishop Fredrick Andrea (07:55):
So what we do, we try to make some friendships, some corporations, we have personal friendship with them. We sometimes invite them in some foods. So that’s the key that we try to do. Some of them, most of the leaders of the Muslims, we try to have possible friendships. And then we have some corporations to bring peace in the country.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:20):
When my wife, Jessica came to Tanzania, the main person that she worked with was Bishop Isaiah. And tell me he’s now gone on to heaven. Tell me some of how his ministry impacted you and what you learned from him.

Bishop Fredrick Andrea (08:39):
Actually. Yeah, the late Bishop Zenobia’s Isaiah actually is one of the great men in Mwanza. And also in Tanzania, I remember I knew him since 2000 and we were walking together in his church. He could invite me to train, walk us in this church and also do some evangelism and also some crusades. So when Peter Youngren had a plan for the con for the crusade and conference in Windsor, it was one of the main organizers. And that is why we worked together together with that. Jessica was the coordinator of that meeting. So through him, actually, my ministry had been impacted because of though he was older than me, but he was a good man who was very much encouraging and trying to help the people, even who are not from his nomination.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:39):
I heard that when Corona virus came to this nation, or it was announced that was coming around the world, that your president declared a time of fasting and that Corona virus has not attacked the nation of Tanzania. Tell me about that testimony.

Bishop Fredrick Andrea (10:01):
This is one of the areas whereby which may cause us to love our precedent. And that’s why even recently we had general election and the people I mean, us elected him overwhelmingly because when [inaudible] came here, he declared the free days fasting and the praying all determinations and even with the holiday. So people prayed and even also you participate in the prayers and even after the prayers and then God intervened. And actually he declared, it tends to near as a coroner virus free. And after that I know many people died in, in, in Tanzania and even homeless different. Now we have no money. We have no any cases. So even after that, he declared the three days, Thanksgiving days to thank God for the intervention. So we really thank God for sparing Tanzania from coronavirus. Well, thanks

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:56):
God for a president who declared three days of fasting and prayer, and then three days of Thanksgiving. And thank God for protecting this nation from Corona virus. And it’s amazing because now we are here this week, we are doing a crusade and no one is worried. No one is scared because Jesus is protecting the nation of Tanzania, Bishop Frederick. It’s so wonderful to see you. God bless you. And it’s wonderful to re-ignite this relationship that my wife, Jessica started many years ago, and now I am here and we can be friends.

Bishop Fredrick Andrea (11:32):
Welcome so much to Tanzania. Feel at home. This should not be your last day. When you go back and say hi to your wife, Jessica, she’s really amazing woman of God. And she’s a real, a missionary. She has pioneer spirit. So we welcome you so much to Tanzania. Thank you so much.

Evangelism Podcast Host (11:54):
Thank you Bishop, 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.

At our recent crusade in Kahama, Tanzania a team of students from the Evangelism Bootcamp at Christ for All Nations worked to organize the event. Because of their efforts, a total of 13,457 people filled out decision cards. Today, I interview Joshua Hall, Michael Seth Clifton, and Jacob Ebersole about their experience in Tanzania.

Questions: 

What are some of the biggest challenges of working in Africa?

What are some of the cultural differences between the United States and Africa?

What did you learn from the Evangelism Bootcamp at Christ for All Nations?

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
At our recent crusade in Kahala, Tanzania, a team of students from the evangelism bootcamp at Christ for all nations work to organize the event because of their efforts, a total of 13,457 people filled out decision cards. Today, I interview Joshua Hall, Michael Seth Clifton in Jacob soul about their experience in Tanzania,

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:29):
Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King we’re Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:06):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. We are excited about telling people about Jesus. I’m here in Coahoma, Tanzania. We’ve just finished a great gospel crusade with Christ for all nations. And there have been a team of people here on the ground working to prepare this for several months, actually. And so today I am joined by three friends, Michael, Seth, Jacob, and Joshua. Welcome you guys. Tell me a little bit about what it’s been like living here in Coahoma and what God has done.

Jacob Ebersole (01:44):
Yes. So my name is Jacob. It’s so good to be with you, Dr. Daniel King. Thank you for inviting us, finding us. I’ve now been in Coahoma, Tanzania for going on four months now and it’s been a privilege and an honor to, to work with fan. I got here four months ago and I started to, to gather all the pastors. I was going from church to church trying to unify the body of Christ leading up to our all pastors meeting. And that’s something I could talk about a little bit later. But my time here has been wonderful. I always say that day by day, week by week, month by month, I fall more in love with this city. These are my people and I love Gahanna. It’s been a privilege. Yeah.

Joshua Hall (02:31):
Yeah. So I, I haven’t, my name is Joshua. I have not been here for three months. Like Jacob, I got here a couple of weeks ago and already I’ve fallen in love with the people of Kahala and the people of Tanzania. It’s been a real privilege to go from church to church. A lot of what I’ve done is promo and in getting ready for the crusade as we were kind of wrapping up all of the work that they’ve been doing for the past several months. So I got to preach in several churches in a, a youth meeting

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:00):
And yeah, already it’s been life changing life altering for me just to be in this whole new place and see the love and passion for Jesus and these people.

Jacob Ebersole (03:09):
Yeah. As soon as Joshua got here, I think you preached in the biggest church with the biggest crowd. It was our, it was our youth event. It was what over. Yeah, it was a big crowd. So we, we, we throw them into the lion’s den pretty quickly.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:26):
So how many people came to the youth event? About 1200, about 1200 and just fresh off the plane you jumped in and had the opportunity to, to speak to to 1200 young people. Many of those young people participated in the crusade. Michael Seth, tell me what a involvement we’ve seen from the local churches here. Has everyone been excited and, and participated and in what God’s doing here in Kahama?

Michael Seth Clifton (03:54):
Yeah. Jacob did a great job of creating unity in the church. I was just inviting everyone. He is a, just a gift for a gift for that. Uit was incredible to see the bishops and the pastors come together. I mean, nothing is ever perfect, but they sacrificed and they came together and they gave of their time. They gave of their efforts in order for the crusade to be successful. And it turned out really well.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:21):
So how long have you been here in Kahama?

Michael Seth Clifton (04:24):
Well, I actually came in, in Jacob’s story at the all pastors meeting. So he had been going around delivering letters to hundreds and hundreds of churches and inviting all these bastards and bishops to come together. That was like the first great work of the crusade. And then I came in at all pastors in like September 2nd was our all pastors meeting. That’s when I started, I met all the Bishop, started forming relationships at that point in time. And I’ve just been working on all the different projects that we’ve had for the crusade since then.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:55):
So what are some of the biggest challenges of working in Africa?

Jacob Ebersole (05:01):
Yeah, I would I would say that for the most part it’s been, it’s been really wonderful. There’s a lot of cultural differences, you know, sometimes we Americans, we like to, you know, one step at a time we’d like to pick up the pace. Here in Africa, it can be sometimes a little bit more laid back. So we’ve had to navigate through some of that, but, you know, we’ve had a lot of angels Brett C Peck, our campaign director the executive campaign director. He always says, when you do this, you’ll find angels here and there. And we’ve, we’ve had many of those come, come in to help us. So for the most part it’s been great. But the cultural differences is what we’ve had to navigate through as far as you know, we, sometimes, sometimes we, you know, we want to meet at eight, eight o’clock and, you know, Africa is a little bit different. So if we say eight to them, it’s more like eight 30, eight 45, nine o’clock. So, so you’ve, you’ve got to calculate that as you move forward, but it’s, it’s been great for the most part. Yeah. Yeah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:12):
So tell me, what did you, you feel as you started to see the crusade grounds fill up with people because you’ve put a lot of work into it. You’ve worked really hard to make this happen. And then what did you feel as you, as you saw people come onto the crusade grounds and, and the music finally start, and then what emotions did you feel as you saw people raise their hands for salvation and give their lives to Jesus? Yes,

Jacob Ebersole (06:41):
For me the first night was, was life-changing. I, I cried on stage multiple times, walked down behind the stage was in tears. Cause our first night was, was phenomenal. I don’t know. I think we had what, 20,000 plus maybe it was a full, almost a full field. Uit surprised me because the night before I could hardly sleep, my heart was beating out of my chest. Cause I didn’t know if anybody was going to show up,uall of these things go through your mind because you know, I’ve, I’ve been here for four months leading up to this. So I think the one,uone word to sum it up is, is, is tears. Tears were running down my face and it was a beautiful day. Yeah.

Joshua Hall (07:27):
I think for me it was just complete excitement and just seeing all the people come, it’s like all the work that you put into it, it becomes a reality. And you know that so many of these people are going to get saved that night and you’re going to get touched by God and going to get healed. And so for me, I, I dance with the people I sang with the people I got to celebrate and got to rejoice with these guys over what God was going to do. So

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:52):
What a miracle that you saw really touched you and really impacted you? Because we had lots of miracles every night. Was there one that, that really touched you?

Jacob Ebersole (08:05):
I think it was Saturday night when, when you preached,uthere was this one younger girl that came up and I could tell she had art, she had been touched and you, she couldn’t hear. And so you, you turned her around and you clapped and when you clapped, you would have her clap and you clap once she clapped, once you clap twice, she clapped twice. And as she was going through that process, I saw her break down in tears because this is the first time she could hear this way. And you could just see it all over her face,uhow God had touched her. And it, it, it brought tears to my eyes as well. It was, it was amazing. Yeah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:47):
Last night Daniel Kolenda asked you to do the testimony time. What was that like to, to actually have an opportunity to, to interview the people that were testifying and being touched by God, up on the platform?

Jacob Ebersole (09:03):
My two really good friends, Joshua Hall, And Michael Seth

Jacob Ebersole (09:08):
Nominated me to do that, kind of threw me on, threw me under the bus there. But that was my first time doing that. And I learned a lot, it was extremely difficult. It was more difficult than I thought it was going to be, but I had a blast doing it. You know, we had some trouble with security you know, in vetting people that were coming through that got healed. So there was a little bit of chaos off the stage. But I learned that every person that I interviewed, I learned something that I shouldn’t do that I should do. I got advice from you. I got advice from Paul. So it was kind of a, a chaotic situation, but it was, it was definitely something on, I’ll never forget. I think I was up there for what, 20 minutes. Also the band left the stage. So I didn’t have any transition in between but I, I think it was good. I, I, I tried my best and I can’t wait to do it again

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:08):
Next time. You’ll be great. Okay. So that for all three of you, this is your first big crusade. So tell me a little bit about what you thought about crusades now that you’ve seen a big crusade like this. Yeah, I think for me

Michael Seth Clifton (10:31):
Being able to see the ground for the first time I mean it changed my life. What really surprised me was how comfortable I was being in front of all these people. You know, you think in a lot of ways that you’ll be nervous or, or that you’ll feel some kind of a different feeling than when you’re just talking with, with people on the road. But I, I felt so comfortable with the people and they were still responsive. And, and just seeing all the sea of faces, I think for me, it, it, it actually made me more excited for crusades than ever before. I only done one in the past in Bolivia. It was much smaller. So to, so t o see all these people, it was like I was living out what you’ve seen on YouTube and on these videos, it’s like for it to become a reality, it really touched my life. Yeah, that’s good. So, so for me, you know, there’s, there’s some people that criticize crusade evangelism. But what I saw was, you know, if you, if you prep properly people, I mean, people from Monza came to Kahala. People from all different kinds of villages came to Oklahoma from different regions. And if it’s prepped properly and done properly you can really see a region set free. And, and so what I learned is, you know, every face matters. And when I looked out in, into that crowd these are, these are, this is

Jacob Ebersole (11:54):
Generational curses that is going to break all over, come all over Tanzania. And so what I learned is, is, is this, this is probably the most effective way to change a city to change a region to shift nations. And so it just got me more excited to, to do it again and again and again. And it was, it was a life-changing experience all the way through. Yeah. Yeah. I know when I had my first crusade, I got addicted and now I love doing crusades and it’s almost an addiction, hut, but, hhn a good way, a spiritual thing that I’m always anticipating the next one, like when’s the next time I get to preach to people and, and lead them to Jesus. And so, Michael, Seth, what, what are your impressions seeing your first big crusade?

Michael Seth Clifton (12:45):
Let’s see, for me, it’s everything leading up to the crusade is all this preparation. We’re pouring all these efforts into it. And then, you know, even as we pour, you know, our efforts in the work with our hands into it, like our hearts are really involved and just really engaged, our hopes are high. And you know, you struggle through it’s late nights and, you know, early mornings for a long time. So when crusade day comes and you start to see the people like coming, like in streams onto the field, you know, and it’s like, until there just develops this flood of people, like I can’t draw anyone to the crusade. All we can kind of do is like throw a shingle out and pray that the Lord will touch somebody’s heart and that he will draw them. If we lift up the name of Jesus, that, that Jesus will draw.

Michael Seth Clifton (13:34):
And so when you see Jesus really drawing people to the crusade, then you get to see like the unfolding, like glory and goodness of God. And for me, that’s, that’s everything because God’s goodness is so, he’s so amazing. And he’s so wonderful. And so when you get to see that, that tangibleness, like when you see heaven coming to earth and manifesting the glory of God in him touching people’s hearts in a way that we can even see with our, our eyes that that to me is it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s just the best thing in my life. It’s, it’s the joy of my life to see God’s goodness. So all three of you

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:17):
Graduated from the evangelism bootcamp with Daniel Kolenda Christ for all nations, and in the evangelism bootcamp, there was a lot of theoretical instruction in the classroom, and now you have taken that instruction in and put it into practice. So, so what are some of the things that you learned in the evangelism bootcamp that you’ve now really put into practice and you see, wow, my instructors really knew what they were talking about. So the easiest

Michael Seth Clifton (14:52):
One is, is engaging with the crowd is, is getting them to respond to something that you’re doing. So immediately coming out and, and, and waving and saying, hello, if you can hear me in the back, let me see your hands wave. And then also, like, I think when you were doing the call for salvation, you were like, okay, you over there on, in, in the tree or you over there on under the umbrella and things like that, if you can hear me, you know, and it just really engages everybody in, in what you’re doing. So if anybody’s attention to somewhere else there, they’re really focused on the message that you have.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:29):
Yeah. When it comes time for the, the alter call, you don’t want spectators, you want participators in. So some people think it’s just a show and they’re sitting back with their hands folded. And so I try to, to pull them in and say, guys, this is your opportunity to give your life to Jesus. Yeah. I think for me, voice projection was definitely a huge thing. It’s hard to replicate when you’re in a classroom and you have closed walls. And, but we had a whole section in the bootcamp dedicated to learning how to build your voice and push from your stomach and, and really be able to project and then not lose your voice, doing all of these things. So I think once I got in front of all those people, I realized why we train so much for it, because you don’t want to have a weak voice when you’re up there.

Joshua Hall (16:13):
Like it’s so easy to lose the attention of the crowd. And so, and then also connecting with the crowd was another big thing we learned. Even when you came, how do you engage with these people? And, and I think that was probably the biggest thing I learned from the crusade as well, is that this is a sea of individuals. And even being able to hear their testimonies and see God touching specific people like during the salvation prayer, you look, and you see that one person who’s weeping and really feeling the presence of the Lord. And you realize this is not just a group of, of faces it’s it’s individuals there specific people that, that Jesus wants to touch that night. So I think being able to see that the altar call was another big thing in, in bootcamp that I think applied here you don’t realize how dif ficult those can be until you’re really in front of a group of people and they don’t respond.

Joshua Hall (17:05):
And I, I think we all, we all had our initiation here where we’re learning the culture, we’re learning how to engage and you give the altar call and they don’t understand, and they don’t respond. So learning, learning here and, and being on field, I think all of these things have, have been really beautifully applied. So, yeah, so I would echo what both of Michael and Joshua said, you know, the altar call, the sermon prep, the voice projection, all these different things. I mean, it was, it was awesome to learn these things in bootcamp, but I’d like to take it a different route for me, there was a class that Daniel taught, I think it was the one of the last classes and it was on integrity, Melinda, Daniel Kolenda on integrity. And I remember

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:50):
That session, like it was yesterday, it was, it was really life-changing. And I think that has helped me a lot through this whole process. Especially being in a crusade director’s position, integrity matters most. And that, that session, I still have it recorded on my, on my iPhone. And then sometimes I’ll go back to it. It means everything, especially if you’re, if you’re, if you’re leading something, if you’re leading a crusade, if you’re directing something, if you’re over this section or that section, or if you’re doing seminars without integrity and without integrity things fall apart very quickly. And so that’s, that’s something that I learned from that, that session, but it’s also something that I learned watching you, watching Paul Mauer, watching everyone in Christ for all nations. I think without that we have, we have nothing in the ministry. And so that’s, that’s one of the most powerful things I learned.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:37):
Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s actually one of the characteristics of Christ for All Nations that has allowed them to operate at such a tremendously high level for over 40 years now is they have operated with absolute integrity in reporting of numbers, in how they deal with, with people. Because if you don’t have integrity, you can get away with that for like a week or a month, or, you know, one crusade, but word will spread. And so the reason for the success of Christ for all nations is, is that they have maintained a very high standard of integrity throughout their

Michael Seth Clifton (19:24):
Ministry. And then, and, you know, before that class, you know, I had been trying to model integrity for Jacob for awhile. So it was just, it was really great to see him come into his own, you know, after that we had a discussion and, you know, he was a little bit weepy. I was consoling him. Yeah, man, I love you, bro. But I wanted to say that as far as like the bootcamp and like how y’all prepared us can I get a little spiritual for a second? Is that okay? Okay. So I had so even Josh hall and I, we came from like lifestyle Christianity before we came to the evangelism bootcamp and in lifestyle. I mean, I would say that it’s 90%, annointing, you know what I mean? It’s 90% drawing on that and just surfing kind of with the Holy ghost.

Michael Seth Clifton (20:07):
And when I came to the evangelism bootcamp and we started to look at the craftsmanship of preparing sermons and seeing how important that these things were, I was like, Oh no, I was like this entire understanding and way of approaching this thing is so different. And I actually, I had a dream and I was driving a semi-truck right. And so I’ve heard, and I’ve seen it played out this way that, that often these vehicles are, are a sign of ministry. And I pulled up to this this shop and on the outside of the shop, it actually said oral Roberts university. And I looked inside and looked at some stuff. And then when I came back out, my was was a a bicycle. I hope this is going, it’s going somewhere. So my semi, so my semi was a bicycle. And what I understood from the Lord was is that you, before this anointing thing that you’ve been doing has been this big truck, but here’s the thing.

Michael Seth Clifton (21:00):
You have to become a child again. And you’ve got to learn about what ministry is from a completely different perspective, and it’s this education and it’s this craftsmanship. So you’re going to be, you’re going from this, this big truck to this little bicycle, but you need to do it and you need to start over and you need to learn things this way. And I think it’s just a very important message for many of us, because I think the anointing, you know, you, you drag on that, but you just don’t realize how important preparation is. And watching you, even in the way that you interacted with people on the stage, the way that you worked with the band, these details are incredibly important. Like the backstory, the backside of a crusade, like I had no idea, you have no idea, you just figure it all works.

Michael Seth Clifton (21:43):
And that’s just not the case. Like every single detail matters because any place, any little gate that you leave open, something can run through that and can cause a disturbance and can mess things up. So that preparation, whether it be sermon preparation, whether it be the fact that you just don’t want to have any even words that are unnecessary, you really want to know exactly what you’re going to say to get the response that you want to get from the crowd, because salvation is on the line. And I just, that was a completely new perspective for me. And it’s, it’s not just answer it’s foundational.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:18):
Yeah. The Holy spirit can be in the preparation just as much as he is in the moment. And in God’s a planner, he planned the marriage, supper of the lamb, thousands of years before it’s going to take place. He knew, he knows when it’s going to take place. So he’s planning it. And so I think that, that you need the anointing. If you don’t have the anointing, you’re not going to go far, but if you don’t have organization, you’re not going to go far either. And I really think we see this with Christ for all nations, because Reinhardt Bunky was so tremendously anointed, but then you also have the genius of Peter Vandenberg who came and brought organizational structure and, and brought just the, the, the other element that’s needed. And I think that CFAN has gone far because you have both the anointing and the, the organization.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:15):
And what’s really neat. I was talking to Peter Vandenberg the other day in, in, in CFAN is very close to going over the 80 million decision card being filled out Mark. And it may have been, I know he needs to check all the numbers and stuff, but it’s either this week or next week that they’re going to go over that Mark. And so it may have been Kahala that took, see fan over the 80 million market. And I hope it is when they figure everything and add up all the, the final numbers. But isn’t that amazing 80 million decision cards filled out. He said they started recording them. And in 1987. And so since 1987, what a tremendous privilege. And of course, Daniel Kolenda is now going for the decade of double harvest, 150 million souls. They started at 75 million souls. And so now they’re going for, for the double portion.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:15):
And I think that, that you guys are a very important part of bringing in that harvest because it’s going to take an army of evangelists to reap a massive harvest like that. And so let’s finish up the podcast just by praying for the people of Kohala here and praying for the fruit. Jacob, would you like to pray for the precious people of Kahala Lord, we love you so much. We give you all the honor and the glory and the praise. And Lord, I ask that you would continue to work here in Oklahoma, continued to work in all the pastor’s lives, continue to unify them like never before Lord, we thank you for what you did in this crusade. Thousands of people were set free, delivered and healed. Lord Lord. I asked that the heavens would continue to open and rain down on Coahoma, Lord touch every soul touch, every new believer and Lord, if there’s anybody else that hasn’t given their lives to Jesus, Lord, I ask that you would convict their hearts. Save them. Lord Joel, every man, Joel, every woman, Joel, every boy drawl, every girl drawl, every mother, every father to you Lord in Jesus name. I pray.

Joshua Hall (25:33):
Yes, Lord. We thank you for all of the souls that were saved here in this crusade and in these churches and in the streets, father, I ask that you would bless them, that you would keep them Lord, that they would become part of the church and the body of Christ that they would be United. We pray for the churches of Coahoma and of Tanzania. And we ask father that you would unify them, Lord that as they bring in all of these new Christians, would I ask that you would give them wisdom and discernment on how to disciple them? Lord, we pray for all of the people who are healed. We thank you for all of the miracles that you’ve done. Thousands and thousands were healed and were touched by you. So we pray blessings over Coahoma. We pray favor in Jesus’ name.

Michael Seth Clifton (26:20):
Lord, I just thank you for what you’ve done here, Lord, I just thank you, Lord. I want to pray Lord for the shepherds and for the sheep, Lord, Lord, it says in this day, Lord, that will have no need for a teacher, but will be taught by the Lord. So I thank you, Lord, that you would instruct Lord the pastors Lord and how to pastor the sheep, Lord God, and how to raise them up. Lord providing for them, Lord, everything that they need in order to seek and to continue to follow you, to have perseverance in the faith. Lord, ask you for gifts of faith, Lord God, for each of them, Lord, for what can be Lord in their families and in their homes, Lord and in their churches, God coming together. Would you just impart vision to them, Lord vision to the sheep Lord for their lives and for their walk with you vision Lord for the pastors and the bishops Lord for what you want to do Lord in their denominations Lord and in their churches.

Michael Seth Clifton (27:12):
God, I just thank you, Lord God that you would impart Lord your heavenly plans, your blueprints and your ideas. Even showing them Lord bigger things, the greater things that you have for them. Lord God, give I just thank you that they would begin to open their eyes Lord and see Lord what you see even as you see it, Lord God. And I thank you Lord for grace Lord, for them to believe and to begin to take these steps of faith, Lord God, to reap an incredible harvest for you, Lord God, so that they can walk Lord in the good things that you have for them from the foundation of the world, Lord, in the meaning and purpose that you created them for Lord, they can walk in those things, enjoy Lord and bless each other in Jesus name

Evangelism Podcast Host (27:53):
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.

Jared Horton loves calling those far from God to repentance. He spent three years as a missionary in Nicaragua and now he is traveling the world telling people about Jesus.

Notes: Jared Horton shares his testimony of getting started in evangelism, Missions in Nicaragua, Evangelist Steve Hill’s influence on his life, how God confirmed his call to be an Evangelist, a recap of the 3 week on-field CFAN Bootcamp initiation in Tanzania, calling the lost to repentance and much more.

Website: https://jaredhortonministries.com

Jared was challenged by listening to Evangelist Steve Hill preach over the internet during college.  Jared prayed a prayer and said, “God I will go wherever you send me, I will go to Africa, I will go to China, just use me lord!” The Lord spoke back, “Jared, IS YOUR NEIGHBOR SAVED?”  It was that question that provoked Jared to start sharing the Gospel with those in his community. Eventually he became a full time missionary.

• Calling sinners and those far from God to REPENTANCE.
• Expecting people to have their own personal ENCOUNTER  with the POWER God and be Baptized in the Holy Spirit.
• Challenging every believer to keep their eyes focused on ETERNITY.
• Challenging every  believer to DO SOMETHING for the Kingdom of Heaven.

Transcript: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Jared Horton loves calling those far from God to repentance. He’s spent three years as a missionary in Nicaragua, and now he’s traveling the world, telling people about Jesus.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:13):
Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies, and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:48):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m here with my special friend, Jared Horton, Jared. It’s great to have you on the podcast. Hey, it’s great

Jared Horton (00:56):
To be here. Thank you for having me on this podcast.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:59):
So tell me a little bit about yourself and about your ministry.

Jared Horton (01:03):
Well, my name is Jared Horton. Have a ministry called Jared Horton ministries and we just preach in churches, help equip them to do evangelism outside the four walls of their church, as well as help in a crusade evangelism. I recently connected with the Christ for all nations and I’m helping them. I actually moved to Orlando and I’m working with a Christ for all nations, helping them produce more evangelists for a vision that evangelist Daniel Kolenda calls the decade of double harvest.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:37):
That’s so exciting. What a tremendous thing that is for the body of Christ to go after millions of souls in this next decade. So tell me some about your, your background and your history in ministry.

Jared Horton (01:51):
Well, I gave my life to Jesus at 15 years old and I begin to begin getting involved in ministry. When I think I was 19 years old, I was listening to Steve Hill preach on the internet. He’s one of the most influential men of God in my life, as far as evangelism goes. And he challenged me through listening to him, preach to start doing things for God. And so I prayed a prayer. I said, God, I want you to use my life. God, if you want me to go to Africa, I’ll go to Africa. If you want me to go to China, God, I will go to China wherever you want me to go, God, that’s where I’ll go. Just speak to me. And I was thinking about, you know, traveling many miles to win people to Jesus, but God spoke back to me and he says, Jared, is your neighbor saved?

Jared Horton (02:46):
And I thought, I don’t know. He says, go see if your neighbor is saved. And so, you know, I grew up in rural Arkansas and in rural Arkansas, you don’t walk to your neighbor’s house, you to your neighbor’s house. So I got my car and w took off down the road and knocked on a man’s door about a mile from my house and never met this man in my life. And he opened the door and he said, can I help you? And I had never done evangelism for it. Didn’t know anything about it. So all the words that could come out of my mouth is I’m Jared. I live about a mile down the road from you. And I want to know, do you know God? He said, he said, well, son, when I was your age, I used to do the same thing you’re doing right now.

Jared Horton (03:34):
But when God turned his back on me, I turned my back on God, this gentlemen was drinking. He was an alcoholic. And he had been through some hard times in his life, but he ended up coming to church on a Wednesday night. He did not accept Jesus, but he did come to church. So my first evangelism encounter resulted in somebody, you know, at least coming to church, I followed up with him and I don’t know if he ever got right with God, but that’s how I got started in evangelism was starting with my neighbor. Yeah. And then

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:06):
You had the opportunity to go down to Nicaragua and to learn Spanish down there. Tell me about the evangelism that you did in, in that part of the world.

Jared Horton (04:15):
Yeah. So after I went through when I, I listened to Steve, he’ll preach a lot. So he talked me into going to school of ministry. I went there for two years and when I graduated from there, I thought what’s next on my agenda.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:30):
You feel that was with the Brownsville revival in that great time of repentance.

Jared Horton (04:35):
Yeah. Brent, Steve Hill preached the Brown hole. Browns of revival lasted five years. My mom and dad went down there, got their lives, radically changed in the year, 1997. So I’m hungry for God, want to do more for God. And I started listening to Steve he’ll preach. And so he talked me in through his preaching to go to his Bible school. So I went to his Bible school for two years. And after those two years, I thought, okay, what’s next? And I remembered a commitment that I made with the ministry at Chi alpha college campus ministry to give one year of my life, to missions and pray about giving my whole life to it. So I contacted a mission sending organization, assemblies of God, and they connected me with a missionary Nicaragua. And I went there and I did, I, I ended up spending three years in Latin America.

Jared Horton (05:22):
I lived in Costa Rica for six months and I learned the Spanish language. And then I lived in Nicaragua for another two and a half years and admissions work. We helped plant a church. I became the youth pastor of a church of about a thousand people. Actually the first church I ever pastored was in my second language in Spanish. So I got to speak the language, learn the language. And 50% of the ministry that I, that I do is in the Spanish language. So it’s yeah, so that’s what we did in Nicaragua. Seen a lot of people get saved, a lot of people baptized and the Holy spirit and it was powerful. And then I from Nicaragua in a year, 2016, I believe.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:03):
And so we are actually in Tanzania right now at the invitation of Christ for all nations, Daniel [inaudible] ministry. The ministry started by Reinhardt Bunky, the great German evangelist. And it is a strategy that Daniel Kolenda has to call. Decapolis going to multiple cities at the same time. And you’ve actually been here for several months working to organize and, and set up everything that’s happening here. And also there has been students from the Christ for all nations evangelism bootcamp that have been here. And I had the privilege of teaching some of them last year, and now they’ve come here and, and been going from school to school marketplace to marketplace, preaching the gospel. Tell me some of the testimonies of what God has done already here in the nation of Tanzania.

Jared Horton (06:55):
Yeah. You know, we had a, we all, there was 50 students that come through the bootcamp and they had to do an initiation. And so a part of them come down and they completed their initiation in three weeks. And I think in those three weeks we saw at least 150,000 people give their life to Jesus. And even more, there are still bootcamp students on the ground preaching in schools, in different places. And I think we’ve succeeded the number of 200,000 people. That’s given their life to Jesus since they’ve been here. But basically the, the bootcamp students that come through the bootcamp, graduated on the initiation. What they guide to do is they got to put in practice what they’ve learned and not just put in practice what they learned, but they also was able to receive feedback on their ministry. We would take them out to a place, put them on a gospel truck, preach in a marketplace and they would preach the gospel message.

Jared Horton (07:54):
And then we would give them feedback. You know, one thing that is different about the Christ foundation’s bootcamp that I’ve seen from any other school of ministry that I’ve been a part of is that, you know, you don’t just, they don’t just graduate them and then send them off and say, okay, have a great ministry. We actually get the, we put them on the field and then we give them feedback and we’re, we’re we’re with them. We help walk them through this call, you know, where God’s called him to be an evangelist. And it’s really cool. I’ve just seen I’ve seen in a full written, and I shared this with you at breakfast this morning, but I I’ve seen and a full RITI and a soup, something supernatural has come up on those that have graduated. You know, they say the anointing is not taught.

Jared Horton (08:40):
It’s caught and I’ve just, I’ve seen it. And you can see it like in the spirit. It’s nothing that you can’t see it in the flesh. It’s just something you can tell. But these students are walking in a supernatural authority that I believe they, they caught being at the bootcamp, just being there with an open heart, open mind, you know, the, the mantle of evangelists Reinhard bunkie, and then even evangelist Daniel Kolenda is just powerful, but something has gotten on these students and they’re walking in great authority and doing powerful things for God. There were great miracles as well. We seem blind eyes open. There was a lady at one meeting. She had a tumor on her chest. And during the prayer time, I watched this miracle, this lady, you could see her face. She something was happening. She kept rubbing her, rubbing her, her chest area. And it got done and we asked what happened. And she said she had a tumor and it disappeared during the prayer. So, you know, those are the kinds of things that’s taken place through the bootcamp graduates.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:40):
So you’ve actually been coaching some of these young evangelists. Tell me, what does that coaching look like?

Jared Horton (09:47):
Well, they, they preach the gospel. They get up there and preach. And one thing that I try to do when they’re preaching is I try to listen for that crystal clear gospel message. And so sometimes you hear it and sometimes you don’t. And so sometimes when you don’t really hear a crystal clear gospel message, you just kinda have to give some feedback. You know, you could have, could have said this. She could have got through this a little quicker and just try to help them restructure their message to where the gospel message comes across really clear.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:21):
Jared, you’re a great evangelist. You’ve been preaching the gospel, many different parts of the world. What would you say to someone who feels called to be an evangelist? What should they do

Jared Horton (10:32):
If you feel called to be an evangelist? Number one, I would say, take the steps necessary to see that call fulfilled. It’s one thing to have a call of innovators. There are many people that say I’m called to be an evangelists. And one day God is going to use me. I know one day it’s going to be powerful. The Lord has shown me how many people I’m going to win to Jesus. It’s going to be amazing. And you say, well, what are you? What are you doing about that? Well, I, I, I don’t know, but I know that one day God is going to use me. Here’s what you need to do. If you have a call on your life to be an evangelist, you need to go tell somebody about Jesus. Just like I did. I did not. Daniel. I didn’t know that I was called to be an evangelist until it was 150% confirmed for me in the year, 2018. Okay. This is year 2020.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:38):
So only two years ago that you knew for sure, you’re called to be an Evangelist?

Jared Horton (11:40):
With out a doubt. And I could walk in that confidence that this is what I’m supposed to do. Now. People had told me that for years, you’re an evangelist. You’re an evangelists, but there was, and I could go through the stories, but I had about four encounters with God when I was in my home. And I’ll, I’ll just share one, very try to be brief. I was listening to Steve Hill breach and as he was preaching on YouTube in the year 2004, I was watching a video on 2011. And he was talking about how God had spoken to him to charts to start a church in Dallas, Texas. He said, out of this church, I’m going to start a school of ministry. I’m going to start a school of ministry. He said, and I, he said, and God told me, he said, Steve, I want you to duplicate yourself.

Jared Horton (12:30):
And I kid you not. I was watching a YouTube video. I was not worshiping Jesus. I was not going after God. I was just watching YouTube video, almost drinking a Pepsi and eating popcorn. And I was just in my own normal non worship atmosphere. But when he said that, he said, Steve, I want you to duplicate yourself. The power of God came down from heaven and knocked me off the back of the stool that I was sitting on. And I fell out on the ground and just begin to groan for like 20 minutes something supernatural happened. And that happened to me again in 2015, when I was in Nicaragua, Steve Hill, he was watching him preach on the internet. And he said, I’m asking Jesus for thousands of evangelists. And God is starting to answer my prayer. And when he said that, the power of God hit me again.

Jared Horton (13:28):
Another time I was in my house in Fayetteville, Arkansas, I’d come back from the mission field. I was watching him preach and the power of God hit me again. And some other times, but in 2000, in April, 2018, I went to the school of evangelism and Michael kuleana Rose was preaching. And he said, everybody on the front row stand up, we all stood up. He said, he any prayed for us. And he came around with the microphone. He said, what are you feeling? What are you feeling? What are you feeling? Did a little interview. And he gets to me and he says, what are you feeling? And before I could answer, he pulls the microphone back and he says, hold on. He said, I know everybody here thinks they’re an evangelists. He said, but you’re a real advantage. You’re a genuine evangelist. And the power of God hit me.

Jared Horton (14:11):
And I vibrated for about 45 minutes while he was preaching under the power of God after that moment. And all those encounters when Steve Hill was preaching, talking about raising up advantages. I think I finally got it. Daniel. I think I finally got to figure it out, okay. This is what I’m called to do no doubting. So if you are called to be an evangelists, God will confirm it. He will make it clear to you. And I would say, don’t stop. I know there’s many people. You’re not sure if you’re called friends, just go forward. If you are called to be an evangelist, if you have a burning desire in your heart to win souls, if you’re telling people about Jesus and you’re doing things, you know, are real, evangelists is not going to sit home and say, one day God’s going to use me. The fact is, is that person may not really be an evangelist. I don’t know. Or maybe it’s the evangelists that if you don’t go, you’re not an evangelist. You just need to get up and go do something. And for me, I think my evangelism started whenever God spoke to me and he says, Jared is your neighbor saved. And so I went and talked to my neighbor and then it’s just been history every since then.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:25):
That’s awesome. I think it’s really cool to see the influence of Steve Hill upon your life, how the anointing that was on his life somehow got caught by you. Just, just watching those videos and seeing the passion. And I believe that as people listen to this podcast and listen to you, that, that, that same anointing that’s on your life for evangelism will fire them up. So just pray for everyone who’s listening that God would use them in a mighty way.

Jared Horton (15:53):
Amen. Amen, father, I just thank you for every person that is listening. God, Lord, I pray for those God that are just struggling. Oh God, am I called me in evangelists? Am I not? You know, God, what is my part in the body of Christ? God operate that you would make it clear. God and Lord, just as Steve Hill prayed that prayer. And he said, I’m asking God for thousands of evangelists, God, we need more evangelists in this world today. I pray God that you would wake up that gift of an evangelist in their life. Maybe there’s somebody listening today that maybe, maybe you don’t know, God, maybe you’ve never accepted Jesus to be your Lord and your savior today. We’re talking about evangelism, friends. You, you would find so much joy. If you would give your life completely to God and do something that’s out of this world that will have eternal value.

Jared Horton (16:48):
I would encourage you to give your life to Jesus today, ask him to come into your heart. Be your Lord. Be your savior, be your best friend. And he will give you a life that is very joyful. Maybe you’re listening and you’re in your backslidden. Maybe you’re away from God. Maybe you’ve just came across this and he’d say, well, evangelism, I I’ve told people about Jesus before, but now I’m away from God friends. You can come back to Jesus today and get an interesting life back again. Friends live in, in the world, living in the sin. It sounds fun, but it’s really boring. You come home every night, you’re depressed. You’re sad. You don’t like the decisions you’re making. That’s boring. If you’ll give your life completely to Jesus, he’ll make your life exciting again. And so I just pray God that everybody listening in Jesus’ name, that you would call them to you and God that you would just raise up these laborers. The Bible says the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. I God, that the laborers would rise up and I encourage every one of you to go tell somebody about Jesus today. We bless the evangelists and we just pray the hand of God. Be upon all of them. And may we all, as Christians, pastors, teachers, profits, everything apostles, may we all do the work of an evangelist in Jesus name? Amen. Amen. Thanks for being on the podcast.

Evangelism Podcast Host (18:19):
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.

When ministering in a foreign nation, one of the biggest challenges is working with a translator. In today’s podcast, I talk with Pastor Flora Maira who did a great job translating for me at a crusade in Kahama, Tanzania. We discuss the worst mistakes people make when using a translator and explain ways you can avoid making those mistakes.

Notes: How to Work with a Translator

1. Sit down with your translator before ministering and tell him about your sermon.

2. Use short sentences and pause in-between each sentence.

3. Speak in complete ideas; not bits of sentences.

4. Use the time the translator is speaking to think of your next sentence.

5. Give the translator time to translate.

6. Don’t allow a bad translator to kill a service.

7. Speak slowly and distinctly with good pronunciation.

8. Don’t use puns, idioms, colloquialisms, or slang.

9. Stop using “Christanise” vocabulary.

10. Be sensitive to cultural differences.

11. Be cautious about telling jokes.

12. Be careful using illustrations from an affluent Western culture.

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
When ministering in a foreign nation, one of the biggest challenges is working with a translator in today’s podcast. I talk with pastor flora, Myra, who did a great job translating for me at a crusade in Kahala, Tanzania, we discussed the worst mistakes people make when using a translator and explain ways you can avoid making those mistakes. Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King we’re Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:03):
Yeah. Evangelism podcast. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. I’m in Kahala Tanzania right now. And we are going to talk about translating because often when you go to preach the gospel in a different country, you have to work with a translator and we have had a excellent translator this week. Her name is miss flora, Ms. Flora, thank you so much for joining me today.

Flora Maira (01:30):
Thank you so much evangelist, Daniel. Thank you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:33):
Now you have done a good job working hand in hand with me in, in translating during the great gospel crusade, thousands of people were there. Thousands of people gave their lives to Jesus. And so what would you say are some of the things that make a preacher easy to work with when you’re translating?

Flora Maira (01:55):
Thank you for what you need to share my experience. Who’s there many factors, but one of the things which I have experienced, especially we had time to talk for you to tell me about what the message is going to be about. And of course, because it involves some dramas as well, we released. So it’s kind of gives you a head start of what to expect. And even when you know, like the passage of the scriptures that is going to be read, you can go and read it already. So it’s kind of refreshes you, but also it does help that when the speaker or the preacher, if they’re not very fast, if they are, if they peace, they are talking to that as a help because it gives the translator the chance to translate the words in their mind and get the right words to speak in that language that we would understand.

Flora Maira (02:45):
So of course it takes a lot of experience because once you have worked with many preachers or many speakers, then you build up that experience. And every, every time you get a different experience, but I find getting time to share what the messages is going to be about. It helps to prepare, but also cause praying take a lot of time to pray because as we all know that in all of sense, the translator is just as important as a preacher. If not more, because if you interpret wrongly, then the whole message is distorted. So it’s extremely, the job on their translator is extremely important. So I find that those things that I’m the person who’s preaching as well, once they are experienced with a translator. So they face are talking. So they’re not too fast to allowing the translator to translate, but also taking time together before talk about the message. It helps it as well. They translate that well.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:43):
Yeah, I think there’s two mistakes that beginning preachers make. The first one would be to speak too short. So just do one word or two words instead of doing a full phrase or a full font. So that’s one mistake. The other mistake that sometimes people make is they just start talking and they don’t stop. They’ll do a paragraph or two paragraphs and it’s very difficult for the translator to, to catch up. And so I try to give a full thought with each sentence and then stop and allow the translator the time to, to translate. So tell me, how did I do in, in, in working with you this week,

Flora Maira (04:22):
You did extremely well because I don’t remember one single incident where I felt like I’m struggling to concentrate because when you are translating you, you, you you’re concentrating harder because you have to get the words clearly what the preacher’s saying. And when you are listening to them, you are finding the right words to speak. So, but your pace was absolutely perfect. I didn’t feel stressed at all. Sometimes you work with some preachers and you feel less stressed because they are very fast and also they speak a lot. Like, as you say, they’ll speak it all paragraph or two. And it’s like, ah, what am I going to do? So sometimes of course, because I’m an experienced translator. What I do, I speak things in context. So sometimes what I ended up doing is I don’t translate word to word. I take the message and kind of paraphrase to make sure I don’t lose the context because of course, what is important for what to get the message rather than to get every word. So I work with people depending on who, how the preacher goes, if they are, they speak a lot of words before they give me a chance what I do with these four 50 words, I’ll tell you two 30 words just to make sure I don’t lose the message. So that’s how I cope with different types of preachers.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:35):
Okay. I have a list here of some ideas for working with translators. One idea which you have already mentioned is to sit down with your translator before ministering into tell her about the sermon. And so that way you can already look up the scripture, be prepared to know where the sermon is going and helps with what you’re doing. So if you have time, sit down with your, your interpreter. Another thing is to use short sentences and to make sure you pause in between each sentence, speak in complete ideas, not bits of sentences. Then here’s another thing that is nice about speaking with a translator. You can use the time that the transmitter is speaking to think of what your next sentence is going to be. So you actually don’t have to think as fast as if you were just preaching, you have time to think, and that gives you the chance to pick very carefully the right words that you’re going to say. And then you must give the te the translator time to translate. Talk to me about that. Sometimes people don’t give you enough time to, to say what you’re, you’re trying to say.

Flora Maira (06:45):
I have actually had that many, many times where people who say they are not used to speaking through a translator. So what they do is like, they go, boom, boom, boom, boom. And it’s like, whatever I taught business, it’s up to you. What do you do with the people? But you know, they kind of continue speaking and speaking. So while you’re translating, they also speaking. So in that situation, it means I am supposed to be what I’m talking. I’m also listening to you. I’m also at the same time trying to find the right words for that. So it becomes a little bit distrustful, but I’ve been through that situation many times before, but by the grace of God, because I’m also very fast to speak up, I talk very fast. So I think I also think very fast. So that helps me to kind of manage with different situations. And yeah,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:29):
Like my wife, she’s very good at speaking. And anytime we have a disagreement, I can never win because she always speaks more and faster than I can.

Flora Maira (07:38):
Good for you. You’re you’re right. And to be honest, I’ve translated for many, many minutes preachers before. And the, this is actually my first experience of having a preacher, asking me to sit down with them and for them to tell me what they are going to talk about. It’s my first time ever. So in my, all the previous times that I’ve translated, I’ve never actually had the chance of sitting with someone, for them to tell me what they were going to talk about, et cetera, et cetera. So it was like, whatever is going to happen is going to happen. But as I say, because by God’s grace, I, I talk very fast and I also am a preacher myself. So that also helps. And then a, yeah, just, I cope with it that way. And so far, I’ve never really had an experience where I felt I was terrible translation or it’s been okay so far.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:31):
So another idea is to speak slowly and distinctly with good pronunciation, especially when you go to another country, maybe they have a different accent or a different way of talking. And so you have to speak with good pronunciation. Also, it’s important not to use puns and idioms, colloquialisms or slang, you know, in America we have many different ways of saying things. Then they say them perhaps in great Britain, which you’ve spent some time in great Britain and it may be different than how they learn English in school here in Tanzania. And so have you ever had a chance where a speaker said something in in any of them that you had never heard before?

Flora Maira (09:18):
Probably has happened, but not that many times is you’ve just mentioned that I’ve had the privilege of being in England for 20 years. So, and I’m always like English was my medium of communication every day at my workplace, et cetera, et cetera. So I am quite good at English. So that’s not been a big problem as far as a concern. And of course it was the accent as well, because sometimes it was an American accent. People can have difficult hearing, but because of the experience I’ve had, I’ve really not had any problem with you or with Paul in the, you know, kind of what, what did he say? So it’s been okay so far.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:54):
Okay. Let me give you a test. Let’s see. I’m going to give you some things that people say in America and you tell me what they mean. Okay. The lights are on, but nobody is home.

Flora Maira (10:07):
The lights are on, but nobody’s home. You want me to say, what does

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:12):
That mean? What does it mean?

Flora Maira (10:18):
I’ve never heard of that Zane before.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:20):
Okay. So let me tell you what it means. It means that a person is alive, but it’s not very smart. So the lights are on in their house, but there’s nobody here. There’s nothing up here. Interesting. Yeah. So, so when pigs fly, if someone says, when pigs fly, what does that mean? Okay. So that means that something is totally impossible because if you say, when it’s flying, it means they will never fly. So that is totally impossible to pig out. What does to pick out?

Flora Maira (10:55):
No, I have no idea, but I’ll,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:57):
This is something said in America, lots, maybe not setting great Britain or in Tanzania, but to pick out means to eat like a pig, eat lots and lots and lots of foods. So this is, this is an example of some things that people would say in the United States that would maybe not be understood in all parts of the world. So you have to think about what you are saying, just because they understand it in one area. Now give me an example of maybe a saying that they would say it in great Britain and see if I can figure out what this means. What would be something unique? The way that people say in great Britain?

Flora Maira (11:40):
Typical,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:41):
One thing they say a lot is, Oh, that’s really good. You hear that? Which of course means it’s very smart or something, but we wouldn’t say that so much in America.

Flora Maira (11:54):
Wow. That’s interesting. Because I would think that that probably is very common, common thing to say. So, yeah. That’s brilliant. Wow.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:03):
So I’ve got a whole list of things get down to brass tacks, put a sock in it to drink like a fish. Do you know what to drink? Like a fish? It means you drink like a fish. You drink lots of alcohol, someone who drinks like a fish, it means they’re always getting drunk. You know, bet your bottom dollar, it’s a dog eat dog world. It just means that the world is very tough that everyone is like barking dogs. They’re always fighting over everything. Yeah. So there’s many different sayings that would only really apply to maybe one area of the world. And so it’s very important to use clear common language that would be understood everywhere. Another thing is to be careful with using Christianese vocabulary. So by Christian names, what I mean is the language that Christians use. It’s okay to use language that Christians use.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:58):
But if you’re speaking to non-Christians, you must define the word. And so I don’t know if you noticed this, but when I was preaching last night, we talked about sin. Maybe someone who’s not a Christian doesn’t know what sin is. So I explained sin is when you disobeyed God’s commands or say, you talk about repentance. Of course, everyone in the church understands what repentance is, but someone who has never been to church or has never gone to church, they don’t know what repented. So if I talk about repentance, I mean, I say repentance means to turn away from your sin and to turn towards Jesus. And so that gives a clear picture of what it means to repent. And so sometimes you just have to be careful with using Christianese vocabulary. Like people often talk about the former and the latter house or the Valley of dry bones or the Rose of Sharon. Well, of course, if you’re familiar with the Bible, you know, those things come from the old Testament, but if you’re not familiar with the Bible, you may not know what they mean. Also it’s important to be sensitive to cultural differences. Also be cautious about telling jokes. Sometimes telling jokes is very hard when you come to another country, because a joke that’s funny in one country, maybe they don’t really understand this. Have you ever had someone tell a joke that was just impossible to translate?

Flora Maira (14:25):
Yeah, not very many times, but I, I think probably for most people who are kind of international, they’re kind of getting to learn that you do have to be very, very careful with the jokes because not only that people might not find funny. Sometimes it may be offensive. So if you are preaching, the last thing you want is to offend people, because then you’re putting them off. It’s like, Oh, this person is not appropriate. So you’re right. That when we are giving jobs, when they’re giving examples, we have to be very careful and cultural sensitive because we have such diversity in cultures from one place to another. So one thing that might be funny, one community in one society might be completely offensive to others.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:10):
I, I find that one humor that seems to work well is humor. That is laughing at the preacher. And so like yesterday, I said some words in Swahili and of course I do not speak Swahili. So I am sure that I mispronounced pronounced all the words. I could not say them properly and everyone started to laugh, but they were laughing at me, which is okay. They can laugh at me. But if you make a joke about a person in the crowd, then everyone might be offended or something like that. So it’s always safe to tell a joke about yourself, but maybe not tell a joke about how someone else looks or something.

Flora Maira (15:51):
Absolutely. It wasn’t like me. I just, maybe I don’t know what to say to correct is the right word, but let me be, make you understand. They were actually not laughing at you, but they were actually very impressed that you are actually training. Yes. So that laugh was like, wow, he’s trying really hard. So it was not laughing at someone that they failed, but he was liking the laugh of finding it. Wow. This is hilarious. He’s trying. And some words

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:16):
Would like to learn what he leaves a beautiful language.

Flora Maira (16:19):
Well, if you spend a few more leads, I’m sure you will, because everybody speaks to you in this country. So the more you spend time is really people. You will definitely catch up some swear words. So welcome to stay.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:32):
Thank you. Now, at the beginning of this interview, you said something that I really believe is the number one key to being a good transplant. And what you said was that the translator must also be anointed. And I think that is really the most important thing that that is so important that not only is the preacher anointed, but the translator should also be prayed up, should spend time in prayer, should spend time listening to God. And the translator must also be anointed because it is the translator’s words that are actually being heard by the, by the people. And so it’s not just the preacher that God uses. God uses the preacher, but God also uses a translator. So talk to me a little bit about your, your spiritual preparation and how important it is for you to be anointed as a translator.

Flora Maira (17:34):
I think for me, because I have the privilege of being a minister myself and apart from translating, I also do teach, I do preach and speak in corner conferences, et cetera. So I am very well aware when you are going to minister, you have to take them to prepare. And for me, like in this Crusader, I understood the magnitude of the burden that is on my shoulders, that I’m not taking it, that I’m just going there because you know, I’m just a medium of communication for people to understand for me to know, I really took me that I’m coming into ministry, I’m coming to a Butterfield and by God’s grace like some of these crusades I’ve had at least two hours of prayer every morning, I would wake up three o’clock in the morning and would have two hours of pray until about five o’clock in the morning, every morning with the crusades.

Flora Maira (18:24):
So for me, that’s given me that preparation time, I’ll be prepared for praying for, for people to come and pray for this food of God, to be present, to be able to deliver, to save and pray for the weather because they know this is a rain season. So I’ve been praying for all that. They’re grateful for the preacher. And everybody in the team, I took really time to prepare, because I understand this is a spiritual warfare and anywhere where there’s a weakness the devil can come through. So I wouldn’t be, I wouldn’t want to be that person that the devil comes through me to, you know, to cause anything to happen or not to work well. And I understand that everybody’s at war. So he’s looking for anywhere where there’s a chance to distort to the crusade. So it is very, very important. It’s actually my, my goal upon all the, maybe the pastors and the bishops who are supervising judges to make sure that the groom and the, they have moody translators and they’re not, they shouldn’t just pick somebody because they just speak the language, but they should be ministers in themselves.

Flora Maira (19:24):
They should be people who are spiritual. They understand this is a ministry it’s not just about translating from English is why he was waiting to English or to whatever language, you know, but they are, they should be people who have to buy. Then they understand this is a ministry. This is a platform they want to minister just as the preacher. And then they take it serious. They take time to prepare, you know, spirituality to feel they’re part of that ministry. So I think for me, that helped for me to, to, to do what I did. And I thank God for all the feedback that I’ve heard from everybody that you have been absolutely good at to giving me the feedback. And I am very humble. And I appreciate for the, all the feedback that I’ve had about what I did in this crusade.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:13):
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.

Peter Vandenberg is the organizational genius behind the largest harvest of souls in history. He is the Executive Vice President of Christ for All Nations, serving first under Reinhard Bonnke and now under Daniel Kolenda. Not only has he helped to organize massive crusades, he is also an adventurer who loves to hang glide, fly and airplane, and scuba dive. Today he shares about the many adventures he has experienced while serving God.

About: Peter Vandenberg is the vice president of Christ for all Nations. He has been an integral part of the ministry for almost 40 years, first ministering alongside Reinhard Bonnke and now with Daniel Kolenda.

Peter was born and grew up in Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia. After completing his studies, he took on the position of General Manager of the large family motor dealership. He married Evangeline Raper in 1969 and together they were very active in the local church in Harare where, for a number of years, Peter served as youth leader and Evangeline as choir director and worship leader. When the Lord called them to full-time ministry in the mid 70’s, he gave up his position in the family business and they left Zimbabwe, together with their three young children, to go to Elim Bible College in the UK. When Evangeline’s brother joined them at bible school, they launched a music ministry, traveling thousands of miles preaching and singing all over Britain for seven years.

In 1981 they once again felt God speak to them, this time to become a part of the then fairly new ministry of Christ for all Nations, led by Reinhard Bonnke. Since that day Peter has traveled the world, both in his administrative capacity and preaching at CfaN Fire Conferences where the Lord continues to use him powerfully. His focus has been and remains the equipping of pastors and church workers for their ministries, challenging them to boldly take a hold of all that the Holy Spirit wants to do through them.

Buy His Book: Into the Unknown: Recklessly Following the Call of God

Questions I ask Peter Vandenberg

How did you join CFaN?

What were the early days of CFaN like?

What made Reinhard Bonnke such a great leader?

How did CFaN develop their methodology for doing evangelism?

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

Transcription:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Peter Vandenberg is the organizational genius behind the largest harvest of souls in history. He is the executive vice-president of Christ for all nations serving first, under Reinhardt, Bunky. And now under Daniel Kolenda, not only has he helped to organize massive crusades, he is also an adventurer who loves to hang glide, fly an airplane and scuba dive today. He shares about the many adventures he has experienced while serving God,

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:31):
God Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Welcome to the evangelism podcast with dr. Daniel King we’re Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:10):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. We are in Kahala, Tanzania for a great Christ for all nations crusade. Last night, many people were saved and we were absolutely delighted when Peter Vandenberg came to the crusade. We’re so honored to have him here, and he has agreed to join us for this podcast today, brother Peter, thank you

Peter Vandenberg (01:34):
For being here. It’s great to be here. I mean, we’re just so happy to be back in Tanzania, back in Africa, inaction, seeing people saved, seen people healed, delivered the power of God being demonstrated while most places and most ministries seem to be paralyzed by this pandemic. But you know, by God’s grace, here we are in full action with five crusades going on right now in Tanzania. It’s wonderful.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:59):
Peter Vandenberg is the executive vice-president of Christ for all nations. And he has been part of Christ for all nations ever since the very early days. And it is really because of his organizational genius, that Christ for all nations has been so successful in, in so many nations. Tell us, how did you first come here?

Peter Vandenberg (02:20):
The Christ for all nations? Well, I felt a calling to the ministry. I was an engineer all my life motor engineering and aviation running a family business. And I felt the Holy spirit speak to me about going into full-time ministry. So being an engineer, I figured if you, you have to train, you know, if you’re going to do something, you got to train. So I said, I’m going to go to Bible school. I had a wife and three children way back in 1974. We lived in the little country of then Rhodesia Zimbabwe now, and the only theological schools or Bible colleges around were in South Africa where they spoke Afrikaans. It’s a derivative of the Dutch language, which I didn’t. So I needed to get to somewhere where they spoke English. So we applied to United States where people from that our country went there.

Peter Vandenberg (03:02):
So from our own church, couples have gone to apply to a Bible school in Zion and design Institute. I think it was in, in who knows where Rhode Island that’s right. And the president, this is 1974 wrote back to me and said, this cannot be the call of God. You can’t go to Bible school. This was 1974 with a wife and three children. The baby was 10 months old. She said, you need to re-examine. This is not the call of God. Well forgive me. But I said to my wife, this, this, this Dean is an idiot. God has chorus. You know, so we have applied just really by default to a bottle school in England. And you know, we were at war with England at the time our country had declared unilaterally independence. The way the Americans did, the Americans were much more successful than we were.

Peter Vandenberg (03:48):
We, we failed, but we applied to England and believe it or not, they accepted me. And we went, they said we never had a family here ever, but if you feel goddess spoken, then they’d come. And so I went in and it was during our time in the United Kingdom, we started ministering. We were singing gospel musicians. We were evangelists. And we had heard of this guy called Reinhard Bonnke. He was a young German missionary in Africa and he was doing something interesting things we’d heard about it. And we were in the city of Birmingham, the second largest city in, in England. And I was helping some old ladies that we call the Birmingham, grandmothers. They loved our family. And when we weren’t on the road, which is most of the time that we visited with them. And she said, would you assemble a piece of furniture for me?

Peter Vandenberg (04:35):
You know, in those days you bought the furniture flat pack, you had to build it. So I said, sure. And I was doing this and putting it up in a bedroom. It was a cupboard. And on her bed laying a pamphlet, like a magazine. And I recognized that it was from the Serrano Banca young guy. It was called revival report and it was lying open. And so while I was working, I looked at it, wow, there was a picture of massive 18 Wheeler trucks. And it said something about the trucks. Well, that caught my attention because that was my background, you know? And I looked at it and it said, we building the biggest tent in the world. We need these vehicles to transport. And Colonel Gadaffi has got some real fancy brand new military vehicles. She doesn’t need, we need to buy 10 of them.

Peter Vandenberg (05:15):
And as I read this, the Holy spirit spoke to me and said, you have a part to play in this ministry. That doesn’t make sense. You know, we were doing great. We were, we were the leading evangelists. We were leading gospel musicians in, in, in the United Kingdom, in England at the time. And I said, well, what is that? But it wouldn’t leave me. And I told my wife and she said, Oh, well, you know, let’s just see, see what happens. And can you believe that just maybe a month later, I did all the booking for our ministry and the it, the finances and whatever a guy phoned us. And he said, I know you, your group, we were called a farro. It’s an African word for Shalom. And so I know your group, doesn’t cancel stuff. You booked up six, seven months ahead. But this has happened.

Peter Vandenberg (05:58):
We have an evangelist coming and we have the city hall of Birmingham booked. It’s Arizona heard of in the seventies, early seventies. And we want your group to run the meetings. You have to do everything there. And, and I said, who’s the evangelist. You have this head. It’s a German guy from South Africa called Reinhardt Bunky. Wow. Well, all right, let me work on it. I worked on it. We were able to change all our bookings for that week and ran. It came and we worked together for the week. I never said a word to him. You know, on the last day I seen him run. It could, I could speak to you. I went back to where he stayed. We didn’t stay in hotels in those days, staying with, he was staying with people. And I said to him, this is what I feel the Holy spirit said to me, you have a part to play in the ministry.

Peter Vandenberg (06:40):
And he said to me what he said, well, you know, I don’t need a preacher. I don’t need a singer. And he said, what about your own ministry? I said, yeah, I’m at a hundred ministries going great. But God spoke. Well, he said, I don’t have anything for you. And it was like a very uncomfortable silence. And I thought, well, I really felt the Holy spirit spoke. No, he said, sorry, I better go. So I said, okay, well, good, good. Not drawn to God. And he said, there’s one thing, but it’s nothing for you. I said, what is that? He said, our transport department is chaos. I need somebody to knock out transport department back in South Africa where he was based into action. I said, Reinhart, that’s my profession. He said, what would you come and do that? I said, yes, I’ll come and do that.

Peter Vandenberg (07:21):
So he went away to Norway. He said, I’ll call you on my way back. And he did it a week or two ladies had you still want to go? I said, yes. Well, we, we got ready to leave, sell everything in the United Kingdom, go to South Africa, the denomination that I was ordained with and whom we were there, leading evangelists were very unhappy. You know, they called me to the Curatorium, that’s the kind of the spiritual committee. And they said, did the Holy spirit tell you to go and become a mechanic for bunkie? I said, no, he did not. He said to me, you have a part to play in this ministry. And that’s the only park. So I’m just going, you know, well, they, they said, you know, we, we don’t ordain motor mechanics. We’ll review this in six months time and you could lose your ordination.

Peter Vandenberg (08:00):
So I said, well, I’m be very sad to do that, but I’m, I’m going to be obedient. And we went travel or the whole family joined Ronit. I got put blue overalls coveralls on and got going, putting the transport department in place. And as it happened, doing that, I touched the entire organization with structure and discipline that hadn’t been there before. And I joke, I mean, I said it used to say to run it when I joined CFN it was like the book of judges. Everybody did what was right in their own eyes and unknowingly. I brought a hole and controlled it three months after I joined run, it came marching up to the workshops. You had a big workshop, like vehicle maintenance place. And he said, come with me. And in my coveralls, we walked back to the main building. We all lived in a, in a ministry compound.

Peter Vandenberg (08:48):
He called the entire staff. And he said, from this moment on, Peter is going to be what we call in those days, the general coordinator of seafood, he will run everything and everybody went, huh? Me included. I said, what? And then he said any questions? And there were none. He said, well, hallelujah. And he went back to his office and I sort of thought now, like, you know, everybody dispersed. And I went and sat in the office that I was given big fancy office, nothing happened. So I went back to the workshop, you know? Well, as it happened within a very short period of time it fell on my lap to run everything under rhino. And I’ve been doing that. In fact, in six weeks from today, I will celebrate 40 years with crossroad nations.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:27):
That is so beautiful. The, the longevity of your commitment to helping Christ for all nations. And, and, and Reinhard, Bonnke his autobiography. He credits you with helping to organize everything. It’s, it’s really amazing. What were those early days of Christ for all nations? Like,

Peter Vandenberg (09:45):
Well, the, you know, from the very first moment across four nations was then as it is now driven by the, the commission of God to preach the gospel, to all make disciples of all men. And that was the driving force. He knows that just as strong then, as it is today, under Daniel Kolenda, his leadership, when we see millions of people saved every year, it was just as strong then, but we were not as effective. You know, the things were small. We were doing crusades. The structures were not in place. As I said, it was actually chaotic. And but, but, you know, rhinos vision was powerful in those early days as it was the day he died, you know, never diminished. It’s just the structure in those days was not there. And the recognition and the track record and the credibility, we’re not there yet to, to be the vehicle for what turned out to be.

Peter Vandenberg (10:35):
Well, I can’t say for sure, but what is what I know the greatest move of evangelism? Well, maybe in, in modern times, for sure, maybe in, in Christendom. And what happened is in those early days, we punched away preached the gospel Reinhard and he just got energy from everywhere, right? Until the day he died, he pushed, everybody pushed everywhere. We just push, push, push and ask. The ministry, began to grow. People got saved, people got healed. First of all, we were in, we were part of one denomination. We soon written Reinhard said, you know what? The evangelist job is actually to fly over all fences, not just to be stuck at one place, although we were loyal to denomination and we, to this day, we are still denied ordained leaders on, in various denominations, but he said, we need to be released. And they released us to work with all denominations that had began to grow. People got saved, people got healed and, and the dynamic increased and the structure came by God’s grace. I was able to do that, put a structure in place, and it just began to grow and grow and grow in Jesus name.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:35):
So in the early days, see fan had a small tent. Then they built a bigger tent. Then they built the biggest tent in the history of the world. And that didn’t last long because it was destroyed by some wind. And then they started to go out and meet on the open field. And it turned out that no in history

Peter Vandenberg (11:54):
Could accommodate all the people that started to come. So how did CFAN develop its methodology of doing ministry? Well, you know, that goes right back to the very, very first gospel crusade that Reinhard did. It’s in his biography, his autobiography living a life of fire, he talked about, he was a missionary, you know, in the German context of a missionary, which was basically run a mission station, you know, be a handyman build buildings. And it was more kind of technical and administrative than spiritual actually. But Reinhard was just the opposite. You know, he was not an Ungerman. Like he wasn’t technical. He always said, my hand is, my hands are all thumbs and he couldn’t drive a nail straight, very unusual for a German, but he burned with a fire of God. He just wanted to preach the gospel. And so as a missionary, he he he felt the Holy spirit spoke to me.

Peter Vandenberg (12:45):
He went up actually to a little country called Botswana that’s North of South Africa. He was based in South Africa at the time. And he was going there just to do a promo for a radio work. And he was, he was working in radio work and preaching and so on. And he went up there and se he was a poor missionary. He landed at the airport. He didn’t even have money for bus fare. So he walked into town and as he walked into town, he walked past this place and it had a sign that said national stadium, you know, I mean, that sounds very grand today, but are we talking now in 1973? And it was just like a big football field, really soccer field. And he said, as he looked at it, the Holy spirit said, I want you to preach my gospel in the stadium.

Peter Vandenberg (13:24):
He said, Oh, I love to Lord. I always wanted to preach in a stadium, but nobody came. And so honestly they just felt a burning. So he forgot about the radio station. And he went to the pastor that was meeting him, who he reminds us, had only 20 members. And he said, praise God, I’ve come to talk about the radio, but wait. But God spoke to me. He said he must preach the gospel in the stadium, but I want you to, we want higher than national stadium. And we’re going to preach the gospel. We’re going to see people say, and he said, he saw the pastas Frisco long. They said, national stadium, what do you want to do with the national stadium? You know, I only have 20 people. And I said, Oh, I didn’t know about your 20 people, but, but God spoke.

Peter Vandenberg (14:03):
God spoke. Well, the guy bless him. He said, all right, I’ll help you. And then ran it city. He went to all the various churches and said, God spoke to me, speech. The gospel in the national said, I want you to get on board. He said, they all looked down and they said, will you be Reinhard Bonnke? What, no, we’ve got this program. That probably means not a single one would cooperate only the guy with these 20, you know? And he wasn’t even that very excited about it. As we went back to Johannesburg, told us staff, we prayed, we prepared, we got in, in in mini buses, those days, folks, wagon mini buses drove up with us with the stadium hired. And he said, he just was burning with water. What’s going to happen. Absolutely unknown. He said, and the first night, we’re not that many people, but the power of God started to move.

Peter Vandenberg (14:50):
And he said, know, the last night they were just thousands of people. They said the stadium was full, never seen anything like it. And he said, and the Holy spirit said to me, pray for the baptism in the Holy spirit. And he said, my German minds, Lord in a public stadium, come on, we do that on waiting Terry meetings on the day of Pentecost in the back room of our church. And we close all the curtains and windows in case the people hear us speaking in tongues. I think we crazy. You want me to pray in the steady, but he set it up. The Lord said yes, because I, the word of God says in the last days I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. So on. I said, okay, I cannot do it. Or any sort of law. I felt very uncomfortable.

Peter Vandenberg (15:29):
People had been getting saved and healed. It was great. But now the last night, and he said, he brought a caught up, the one guy who was eventually worked for, whereas he is a bassoon man, African man, Michael Collie sang is now a Bishop and a fine man of God worked us for 20 years and said, talk about the Holy spirit. And, and, and, and then we will pray for Baptist and it’s pretty and Michael dirty pitch, but he, he forgot to mention speaking in tongues. He didn’t even, he didn’t even say it. He said, the Holy spirit will come. Bond will come and praise. Oh, I didn’t even mention speaking in Tonga. My goodness. And he thought, shall I speak? He said, no, there’s no time. I’m just going to praise it. Right. Lift your hands and pray. And he said, and the power of the Holy spirit fell.

Peter Vandenberg (16:08):
He said, right? The, the, the amount of people there may be five, 6,000 people. Nobody’s really sure, but it was a huge crowd for the time. And he said, the power of the Holy spirit fell. People were slain in the spirit that was speaking in tongues, people were being healed, be delivered. He said it was Holy chaos. He said, and at the end of it, he said, this will be the pattern of our ministry. We will have a crusade. We will get the biggest venue. We can, we will get as much church participation, by the way, all the churches who didn’t participate. When when I saw it was happening, they came and said, would you let our choir sing in, in the evening meeting? And of course they came on board, they all got converts. It’s, don’t run. It said, this will be the pattern.

Peter Vandenberg (16:48):
We will take the best, biggest venue in the center of the city. We will come with a loud bang and full whatever performance and heart and noise. And we will preach the gospel. We would pray for the sick and in every crusade, we would pray for the Baptist, with the Holy spirit. And we still do that to this day. The only difference is we’re not speaking to five or 6,000 people anymore. We speaking to hundreds of thousands in every week meeting, and often over the period of three, four, five days, millions of people come to hear the gospel.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:20):
The Holy spirit has played such a central role in the ministry of Christ for all nations. When I was just starting out as an evangelist, I had the opportunity to come to the Abuja Nigeria crusade, which was a magnificent crusade. It was so beautiful. And I remember the fire conference each day. It was three days long and you spoke each day and then brother bunkie spoke each day. And I remember the last day they prayed the people to be filled with the Holy spirit. And they began to speak in tongues. This was just the fire coverage, but there were more than 50,000 people just in that, in that meeting,

Peter Vandenberg (17:58):
They were registered delegates too. And because we didn’t, you know, the crusade was getting a hundreds of thousands. We didn’t want it to be flooded. We even had them pay. I mean, it was only like a dollar and they paid something so that we weren’t over flooded and you’re right. I forget the exact figure I have it recorded, but I think we had like 50,000 in a meeting.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:15):
And I remember that when brother bunkie prayed for everyone to be filled with the Holy spirit, everyone began to speak in tongues and it sounded like a mighty rushing wind. It was just so loud. And so overpowering in the Africans are so enthusiastic about the Holy spirit. I really think this is one of the great defining characteristics of C fan is bringing the power of the Holy spirit. Well, what are some of the other things that bunkie did that made him a great evangelist?

Peter Vandenberg (18:45):
Yes, you’re, you’re absolutely right. Just to go back to the Holy spirit in the earliest of days, when, when, when we set the pattern for our event, Reinhard always said then, and he said it right throughout his life. And we still said today, he said, the, the only thing that will break the back of the devil in Africa is a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And we believe in that because you know, the Holy spirit is not just for speaking in tongues and getting goosebumps. The Holy Spirit is a healing spirit. He’s a delivering spirit that we are saved and regenerated in salvation by the Holy spirit. So the work of the Holy Spirit is absolutely vital. And now to, to answer your other question, what made the ministry grow around it? Well, you know, the, the, the overriding factor was, and still is to the state in crossroad nations, under Daniel Kolenda is to see people saved.

Peter Vandenberg (19:36):
We want to see people saved, but you know, there’s more to that than just getting up and saying, you need Jesus, you know, and then see, and there’s much more this to, to be effective in that you need to have systems, you need to have structure. You need to have integrity. You need to have money and you need to have opportunity. You know, so all those things came together and one has to protect all of them. You have to protect your integrity. You have to protect your, the way you handle finances. You’ve got to be honorable in your commitment, you know, not book things, and then don’t come or, or, or chop and change. You got to build integrity and the ministry built integrity. And, and then for us, the key effective feature is what Reinhard had said it, we still said evangelism that does not lead into the local church is nonsense.

Peter Vandenberg (20:24):
It’s got to lead into the local church. Jesus said, go and make disciples not converts. We, we get converts in our crusades, but he didn’t say that he said, make disciples. So we, every evangelists we believe has an a, has a real responsibility to get people saved. And to then to build a bridge from the crusade field or the crusade meeting, wherever it is into the local church. And that’s what we, from the very earliest of days to this day, these big events we have between 40 and 50% of our budget is follow-up not what you see in the event. It’s follow up because we want fruit that remains. And as the ministry grew, all those things that I mentioned came into place, integrity, power of God, moving. The key factor was churches who participated, got converts. And that rumor began to spread. People said, you know, if you work with a crossword nations crusade, you’re going to get converts.

Peter Vandenberg (21:18):
And initially we were just working with a Pentecostals then even not all of them, you know, cause he knows way back in the early days of the seventies, not all the Pentecostals liked our praying for the Holy spirit in public. And, and they didn’t say we’d never mind. But so those that worked with us started growing like crazy and the room then more and more came on and said, yeah, we want to work with you. And then eventually even the non Pentecostal denominations, you know, the guys who, who were posing us, they, they came on and they said, could we work with you? In fact, in a couple of places, big delegations of huge denominations came in and said, we will cooperate with you. But if you agree not to pray for the healing of people in public and and pray for the Baptist and Holy spirit.

Peter Vandenberg (22:01):
And, and w I was with Ronald many times and he said, well, you know, we hear you, but you know, we don’t do that just because we think it’s a good idea or it’s because that’s our style. We do that on command of the word of God. And we cannot to please you or anybody else on, on fear of God. We cannot not do that. We have to do that. And I said, Oh, well, then we won’t cooperate. You don’t do it all. God bless you. We wished you were. And, and then what happened is there, people came, you know, the people can brought their unsaved friends. And although they had said, we are not cooperating, we heard later from how many times over and over again, they had hundreds of new converts coming to the church and they opposed us. And we was just happy.

Peter Vandenberg (22:41):
We said, well, let’s hope that they, they grow in that, in that church. And that changed everything until the wider spectrum of denominations were involved. And if they were Orthodox and they were not a cult or something crazy, we would welcome them in. And this caused that huge growth. And it’s all because of souls that are saved, fruit remains, and people added to the church. Do you have an up-to-date number for how many people have been saved with Christ for all nations? I do. We have been counting the, the, the return decision cards. And let me explain what that is. We have this followup booklet, which we’ve used I don’t know for how long, maybe 30 years. And in the back of this booklet is a self making a decision card. Every person who makes a decision receives that from a counselor, counselor fills it out.

Peter Vandenberg (23:28):
The card comes out. They keep the book with one of copying and the card goes into the follow-up system. And then those go to the churches and the participating churches where we’ve trained the counselors and many hundreds, sometimes thousands of churches, they do the follow-up. And so we count those cards of people who were ushered into the follow-up system. So so that’s how we’ve been counting since 1987. I’ve done that. And the figure as we sit here right now is 79,957,136 people have said they’ve given their lives to Jesus Christ. In other words, we are, if you can do the math, we are about 19,000 short of 80 million. And as we sit here in Tanzania, in karma with five crusades going, I have no doubt that by the end of next week, we will have exceeded that 18 or 19,000. And it’ll be 80 million people into

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:23):
Kingdom of God. I know just here in Coahoma, on Thursday night, we had 3024 decision cards that were filled out and returned. And so God is, will surely do it here in this, in this country. Amen.

Peter Vandenberg (24:37):
Wonderful. And that’s, that’s one of four meetings and that’s one of five crusades. So we, we praise God, we praise God for that. And you know, something else has happened because, you know, people say, well, are you saying all those people are born again? So well, no, we’re not because we don’t know you know, the, but what we do know, it says that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The word of God says, so if they calling on the name of the Lord, we do something right. That’s all we can do. So, no, we don’t know if all those people are, are saved, but we have done what we are commissioned to do. We preach the gospel, we’ve bridged them into the local church and are being discipled by the pastors, but not, this is an interesting thing.

Peter Vandenberg (25:17):
That is the number we, we, we follow that carefully with integrity. And I think that’s important. That’s also influenced a lot of other ministries who just had people put their hands up and said, Oh, well, you know, thousands of got saved and we’ve come along later and said, Oh, so-and-so was here. There’s the S said, great. And we always say, how many converts did you get? And then the positive say, well, nobody, maybe one or two, but we know what, you know, this is not right. So we, by God’s grace, we’ve been able to change it. But now all this is interesting. This number I just quoted for over the years with our crusade directors, we wanted to know get an idea rather of how many people remained in the churches. So in, in many cities, you remember we’re doing the six, seven and eight of these crusades every year.

Peter Vandenberg (26:01):
So we couldn’t do it to everyone. But in some of the bigger, most sophisticated cities, we would send out a crusade direct back to the biggest churches or the, let me say the most sophisticated churches with follow-up form. And it was many things, but basically it said, how many people did you baptize after the CFN crusade? How many were still there after three months? How many were there after six months? How many after nine months and how many after a year? And they fill this out, you know, went back and I got all these documents in and do the statistics, you know, and I was looking at them. And of course, every place you baptized hundreds and mostly thousands of people and started branch churches, sometimes four or five branch churches. Now they are great. I’d expect that. Then I would you to see this, the number of how many of those people was still there at three months, diminution lists at six months, you’d expect that, but I saw something else different.

Peter Vandenberg (26:52):
In most of those churches, there was an increase of, of people coming into the church at the three-month period. And then it began to tail off. I was like, wow. And I looked at one and another, and most of them had this increase of people at three months, saw that, wow, maybe they got so fired up at the fire conference, which is my ministry that they went out and did evangelism. I was like, Oh, that must be great. So we asked our directors go and ask them, you know, this would be awesome. They went back to the pastors and said, okay, we see that you had an increase of people. Did you go and do outreach? And they said, the pastor said, no, we couldn’t. We were so busy with a followup. We had thousands to follow. We were busy with a follow-up. We couldn’t go and do outreach.

Peter Vandenberg (27:30):
So they said, well, how come more people came into the church? Oh, they said, we know we can tell you exactly. We can tell you said what happened is at the people that got saved at the crusade, got the followup booklet. They, now that you say booklet, and we tell them in the crusade, if take your booklet on the Sunday or Nixon and go to a participating church. And when the pastor sees your booklet, he’s going to give you a special, welcome, a special seat, VIP treatment. He’s going to welcome into the church. And that’s, we did that to encourage people, which they did and the positive. Now, these people that came in at the three month period, it’s the families of the people who got saved. And they said, we know because they come and they say, you know, we are the family of so-and-so. He got saved in the crusade. We want to join your church too. But we can’t. He said, well, why can’t you join our church? Because we haven’t got the book. And they said, no, you don’t need the book. You can come and join the church. And it’s so many times has that happened, that we call it the second wave. Of course we don’t count it. We cannot count it. But we do this day, we still see the second wave only God knows, but we rejoice.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (28:35):
One of the things I really like about you is your, your spirit of adventure. And you’ve actually written a book called into the unknown where you talk about some of your great adventures you’ve had not only with crusades, but also you are an adventure. Tell me a little bit about some of the adventures that you’ve had. Yes.

Peter Vandenberg (28:54):
Th th th this, this book, as you say, into the unknown recklessly, following the call of God and that’s about it. You know, when I was writing the book, they pressured me wrong time to write a book. I said, we don’t need another book. You know? And then I said, anyway, it’s ridiculous. Reinhard, Bonnke his books. And Daniel Kolenda, his books are so wonderful and spiritual. If I write a book, it’s going to read like an Indiana Jones book, you know, nobody’s interested. Well, they pushed me and I wrote it and it’s been very well received. And it is spiritual too, of course. But when I, I said, I’m going to write this book into the unknown recklessly, following the call of God. Some of our advisors said, okay, that’s great. That’s good. You know, the word recklessly is not a very good word. It’s it speaks of lack of assurance and lack of control and, and a little bit of the war.

Peter Vandenberg (29:39):
Wouldn’t it be better to say I’m faithfully following the color guard. So I thought I’ll go think about that. And I was driving home from that meeting. I look into the unknown faithfully following the fearlessly, sorry, fearlessly. I said, wouldn’t it be better to say fearlessly following the call, God. I said, that sounds great into the unknown fearlessly, following the Holy God. And while I was driving and said, but you know what? It’s not true. I wasn’t fearless half the time. I was scared. How am I, you know, I mean, what are you doing? You know what? I was like, nah, I can’t say fearlessly. And it just wouldn’t be incorrect. I’m going to stick with recklessly, you know? And in essence, as it turns out, there is a recklessness to follow the of God. Now, you know, I’ve been accused because of the things I enjoy doing or being an adrenaline junkie, you know, I I’m a hang glider pilots.

Peter Vandenberg (30:27):
I have been. In fact, this is my 42nd year as an active angler pilot. There are, I’m much older than most hang glider pilots. I’m still active. I’ve done it for a long time. I had advanced a rescue scuba diver. I love mountain biking. I kayak on the river every day. And so I love adrenaline related things. So, you know, the book is like it, I, I D I joke, but it reads a bit like a Christian version of Indiana Jones, you know, but I tell you what the, the overriding and guiding factor is the work of the Holy spirit in my own life. And yes, many, many interesting things happen. I mean, the book starts with the story of the flying, our little CIF and play in a little single engine, four seat, a Bush plane with big fat Tundra tires flying from the Southern tip of Africa all over the place.

Peter Vandenberg (31:15):
And, and carrying a cow took Rinat around quite a bit, not that much, mostly flying parts with attracts and equipment for crusades that was urgently needed. And I’d fly these around. And I was on a trip once with one of our German colleagues, Verna drop lift. We met up to Zambia from from Zimbabwe and it turned out we had a meeting there. It was in preparation for crusade and on the way back in Sydney, the international flight. So you file a flight plan and you have to stick to your flight plan, talking on the radio all the way, and then you land and do customs or whatever. And I was going to fly back from an Dola. That’s a city in Zambia to Harare. That’s the capital city of Zimbabwe and crossing a border. And that’s fine. Yeah, well, but you know, Africa in those days there was no weather reporting.

Peter Vandenberg (31:59):
The, the navigational AIDS on the ground didn’t work. So you just had your watch and your compass basically, and you, and, you know, as a pilot, you need to know the, the wind direction. Because if the wind’s blowing from the side, it’s going to a new fly heading, your plane will blow off to the left and you’ll get lost. So, but there was no way the reporting. So I knew how to handle this. I’d been flying Bush flying for years. So we took off and I checked, Oh yeah, there’s a, there’s a fairly strong wind coming from this Alameda correction. And off we went, you know, it was going to be about a two and a half hour trip. You settle down with the flight. We went up high and there was the weather began to close in below. So I couldn’t really see the ground very well, but that’s fine.

Peter Vandenberg (32:35):
I was following the heading. And I looked at my time, I was going to cross in a remote part of the country, crosses MBZ river, which is the border enters. And Bob and I was, had the radio frequencies that are called up. Couldn’t get anybody. And we we’d gone through a lot of turbulence at other. What about, that’s about, you know, well, as it turned out unknown to me, cause there was no weather forecast, there was a front end, a weather front coming through it. And the way the direction changed 180 degrees, it stopped blowing the way I’d correct before and sort of blowing the other way. So I was going way off course unknown to me the clouds, but I couldn’t see it. So when I couldn’t get anybody, I clicked and, and I said to the guy that we need to get down so I could see where I am acid.

Peter Vandenberg (33:15):
What happened. There was a hole in the clouds, maybe 10 miles away. And I headed for it also in the wrong direction or we circled down through. Now. I knew that part of the world very, very well. I’d flown there many, many thousands of hours. And I went down through the cloud and came out quite low with forests and mountains, remote place that I had never seen before. And I was like, what in the world? Where am I? Well, it turns out because of the wind change instead of flying from Zambia to the country of Zimbabwe, I drifted right over Mozambique, another country in which a massive war was going on between the guys. They eventually ruled the country and an opposition group. And it was in total war. Nobody went anyone yet. And I, I didn’t know I was there. So I flew along and it’s just Bush, Bush, Bush. And I didn’t, I saw how much fuel I had on board. I had about another hour and a half where the flight, I didn’t know where I was. So I said to him, you know what, we need to find an extra element of land and ask where we are. We just flew on and on and on. And then Sunday

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (34:17):
Over its jungle covered

Peter Vandenberg (34:19):
Area, I saw a grass landing strip I’d look down at wow. So I said, okay, I’ve got it. And I noted the position. And I said, if, if in 10 minutes, I’m going to where I’m, I’m kind of come back and land. I didn’t know what I was, came back to land. And in Africa on a Bush trip like that, there’s always cattle grazing. And so you buzzed them on the plane and they move off, you know? And then you land. So I saw the cattle, I buzzed them. They didn’t move. I buzzed them again. They didn’t move. I thought, well, if the catalogs are so stupid, at least a young picking in a young boy will come out and herd them way. Our bus, they didn’t nobody move. There was no sign of life. So I said to the guy with me, Vernon, I said, look, this is a short landing aircraft at a Bush plane, this room between the beginning of the runway and the first cow, I’m going to land hang onto your seatbelt.

Peter Vandenberg (35:06):
So I landed and just stopped in front of the cow, the big propeller running. And it looked up and it just put its head down and graze. These cattle have never even seen the airplane. So I turned around and went to back to the beginning of the runway and parked up. And then we saw little children come running, little black children, hundreds of them. And Verna bless him. He worked in our children’s ministry. We hopped out of the plane and I said, I need to ask somebody where we are. The kids were under. And he had balloons at his pocket and he’s pulling out the balloons, blowing them up at tying them, give them to the kids. And they babbling babbling. And then I heard he handed the balloon to the one kid. And I heard the kids say to him, Mito obrigado, which is, thank you very much

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (35:45):
Portuguese. So you knew you were in Mozambique. We are in Moses

Peter Vandenberg (35:50):
Beak and there’s a war going on here. And I said to Verna, get in the plane. We get, let’s go, let’s go. And as we turn, I looked up and here came the men, the cadres out of the Bush, maybe 40 of them, mostly in tatted, civilian clothes, but all with bandoliers of ammunition around their necks and weapons. One guy had fatigues on and they were walking towards, Oh, Oh, now what? So I said to Verna, how do you say, what is a greeting in Portuguese? He said, I think he said, bond deals. Amigo Rockies are weighted beta. They kept closer and closer. And then I just walked forward, boldly straight up to the guy in the camera kit. You know, he looked like the most. I put out my hand and I said, bond, dear Amiga, Hey, shook my hand and babbled in Portuguese.

Peter Vandenberg (36:34):
I said, no, Portuguese English in. And they kind of greeted us. And then I said to the guy there, this chopper said Zimbabwe and I pointed over there and he said, yeah, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe. He went, Ooh. So I said, Oh yeah. I said about getting the plane. So he’s going back to get in the plane. And I turned to go, we’re out of here. And as I turn, I hear a big argument breakout amongst these guys. And the one guy saying to the commander, Oh, well only in Portuguese, Zimbabwe and another one’s Zimbabwe said, Oh Lord, these guys don’t even know where they are. You know? Oh, that’s not much good. And then we would try to get in the plane and I saw a tractor coming. And then it was the commander of the Garrison on a tractor. The reason was everything else was blown to smithereens, you know, no other vehicle.

Peter Vandenberg (37:23):
And then the cadre is what he said, Whoa, stop, stop, stop. So he came to the commander and they asked these guys Austra passports that took them. And we went to the commander long story short, we had landed in a military Garrison. And the, the, there were, there was no runway for hundreds of miles. Cause for Lima had no aircraft. And the story that they had to back in Zimbabwe when they knew we were missing and they are, I talked to another aircraft here. We got, it looks like we were going to land. And he figured already by the wind that we were in Mozambique, they all, any landing strip that it was, was mine. You know, it was with landmines and anti-personnel mines. So that’s it. So now we landed, but the story is this, listen to, this is this isn’t the hand of God.

Peter Vandenberg (38:05):
It turns out this commander of that trilemma, Garrison had tried for the air force. He trained in Portugal for the air force and failed. And he built a runway at the Garrison, hoping above hope that a plane one day would land there wouldn’t they had no plans. The enemy had the planes and he built and maintained the runway. That’s why the cattle had never seen a plane, you know, they didn’t know. And so when we came there, they interrogated us, the communist Cod Ray wanted to know everything, but we were clean. I mean, we said we missionaries, you know, we can preach the gospel. And then eventually they kept saying to me, when is the latest you can fly? When I look at at four 30, cause I can only fly in, in the daylight. I can’t fly at night. And they said 40. Okay.

Peter Vandenberg (38:49):
And they talk, talk, talk. And then it came four 30. They’d found a translator by now. And there, we were sitting there and the, and the commander said, so they tell us that that you’re okay. That, that, that you can go. He said, but I think it’s too late. I looked at was already five o’clock. He knew. So then it’s too late. So it doesn’t matter. You could stay the night with us. We will look after you. The building we’re in was shocked to pieces. Every window was broken. The plastic inside has had bullet holes in it. And th the guide said to me, every night, we are attacked by the Bandidos as I call them, they’re all my Lord. So we said, okay, we stay. And Bernie and I slipped on a bed, spring beds with no mattress and the windows were smashed.

Peter Vandenberg (39:27):
And like I said, we prayed, man. I said, I thought the plane would be blown up. You know? Cause the God said your plane will get blown up because I mean, the gods could see it then the opposition on the mountains. But it turned out that this commodity, he was so impressed that a piloted, right. He treated me like, God, you know, it was ridiculous. They said, do we go to have supper? Thank you. Thank you. He said, what, what are we going to eat? I said, well, whatever you got, I said, no, the commodity of the pilot must decide. I don’t know what they’ve got. They were poverty stricken. So I said to the guy, what do they got? Is it fish, fish good? Okay. The pilot says, you just have fish. What do you want to have a drink? So whatever you’ve got, no, that pilot must say, wow, what did he said?

Peter Vandenberg (40:09):
We have T so we’re T the pilot system. I mean, it was crazy. They treated us like Kings. And we, we were not attacked at night and I never heard any explosions. So I wonder it turns out he’d taken half the Garrison and put them around our little airplane, you know? And the, the enemy missiles, what is this? You know, they, they must have some big guy there. So they, they held back. And in the morning we got up and knew where we were. And there was a whole lot of rigmarole. And we, you know, we thought, how can we help these guys? We just emptied our pockets of everything. We had Swiss army knife, toothbrushes, whatever we had, you know, Lastic bands, all of Verna’s balloons for the kids. And we just gave them everything. And then, because I realized these guys didn’t know where they were.

Peter Vandenberg (40:48):
I commando in the, in the fatigues. Who’d been very helpful. I’m going to give him an, a present. So in company them all, he hadn’t received anything. Others had got the knife and the pens or whatever we had. I said, I have a special gift for the commander and took out one of my flight shots. I said, I don’t know if this is breaking the Geneva convention or what, you know, but I’m going to give them one of my shots. I only needed one. I knew where I was now. It was only like an hour’s flight from Harare. And I gave him the chart and whatever, you know, they escorted us back down to the plane. And we were going to go now. And the, the commodity, he said to me, he said, you’re the pilot. And he, he didn’t speak English. He put any, he looked, he said, Bandido Bandido.

Peter Vandenberg (41:28):
We were in a Valley with mountains. So he said he made his hands like a play. And he said, Ooh, Ooh, sorry. I got the message. And I said a burner when we end the Politico, hang on, we’re going to do an [inaudible] because I figured the guys who are on the Hill, it’s going to have a pot shot at us. You know, why not? You know, I would. So we took off in this little Bush plan of ours, which was a powerful Bush. It was [inaudible]. And I literally climbed this baby. I met her work and up, we went and away. We went. And when we were airborne, I told the plane, the aircraft that I talked to the previous day, that I would stay on this frequency. I click you win as a pilot. You always just double click your market because click, click, and your ears, check your radius, like tick, tick.

Peter Vandenberg (42:08):
And as soon as I clicked click, a voice came on and said, is that? And I gave my registration, Zulu, Sierra, Juliet, India, Papa. I said the affirmative that’s where are you? I said, I, by then I knew, I said, we’re over Kabora ambassador dam. And at 8,000 feet. And then I heard him talk to Harari. He said, it was the air force, Zimbabwe Neff. Was it some kind of jet, you know? And they said, go and check. So the guy came and then he said I’m overhead. Yes. So there, so then the guy talked to me, he said, have you got fuel to get an artist said, yes. He said, well, you’re too slow for me to escort. You go to a robbery, but go to the main airport, not the little you go and check and they waiting for you. There. We landed there.

Peter Vandenberg (42:41):
I thought, Oh, I’m in trouble now. You know, international flight, they, when we landed, they said, what happened? I said, well, I got lost. I actually had a vacuum failure. My I collapsed. And then they said, Oh, okay, where you maltreated? I said, we were at finger finger Garrison. I said, yeah. I said, we might said, no, they treated us like royalty. They like Kings. Well, we knew that you’d landed somewhere. Therefore your planes wheel was blown off or worse. You stepped out and had your foot blown off said, no, no, it’s not mine. And I told the story. They said, okay, it’s fine. Just fill out a paper because the air force wasted 20,000 gallons of kerosene and that’s all. And, and off we went and I said, thank the Lord. We wanted to go back and give Bibles to those guys. But the, the the Zimbabweans wouldn’t allow us to fly.

Peter Vandenberg (43:28):
And I said, why not? We’ve just come from there. They said, Sam missiles, haven’t you ever heard of Sam? Ms. Allison, they have Sam missiles. It. Yeah. And they were pointing at you for sure. I said, well, the Lord was with us. What a great story, brother, Peter, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for your dedication to Jesus and to sharing the gospel around Africa in the world. You are a great blessing. Thank you. And thank you so much for being here and preaching in this crusade and helping us get people saved, healed, delivered baptized in the Holy spirit. You know, we, we just love what we do. We just love what we do. And thank you very much. We appreciate and love you too. Thank you

Evangelism Podcast Host (44:09):
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.

Evan Herrman has a passion for revival and he is using his Whole Person Podcast to influence people for God. He talks about Faith, Family, Finances, Friendship, Fitness, and Fun. Listen to this podcast to hear how he uses business interviews to draw people closer to God.

Show Notes:

Learn how Evan puts the Evan in Evangelism.

Listen to Evan’s story of how he wanted to be in ministry and finally decided that God could use him through a podcast.

How is the anointing for evangelism often similar to the ability to be an entrepreneur?

Key Quotes:

Your business will grow to the extent that you do.

People need a place to meet God.

Website: http://www.thewholepersonpodcast.com

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

Transcript: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Evan. Herman has a passion for revival and he’s using his whole person podcast to influence people for God. He talks about faith, family, finances, friendship, fitness, and fun. Listen to this podcast today to learn how he uses business interviews. To draw people closer to God.

Host for The Evangelism Podcast (00:20):
Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:56):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus and I’ve got a special guest today. His name is Evan Herman. Evan. Thank you so much for joining me as great to have you here. Thanks,

Evan Herrman (01:10):
Man. I appreciate it so much. Daniel.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:12):
Tell me a little bit about your podcast and how you got started doing your podcast.

Evan Herrman (01:19):
So this idea for starting the podcast came five, six years ago, and I just never felt comfortable doing it. Never like I had arrived and I didn’t feel qualified. I wanted to be a pastor. I wanted to teach. I wanted to preach, but who would listen to me on a podcast? I don’t know. And it wasn’t until I had a mindset shift where I realized, instead of trying to come off as a guru, as a personal growth expert, as a biblical scholar and try to tell people they should listen to me because I have some wisdom or nugget. I decided I’d come from a place where I’m not arrived, where I’m broken and I’m in the position of learning. And I interviewed people who are arrived. And in that process, I make myself vulnerable about who I am and where I’m at in my own journey. That helps me to relate to my audience in all the areas that you mentioned and that we get to journey together and grow. So that’s the idea. And that’s the concept behind my specific podcast.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:20):
Now, you and I both we’re both graduates of Oral Roberts university. And when I hear the name of your podcast, the whole person podcast, it really reminds me of, Oral Roberts university because of course Oral Roberts, he talked about the whole man going out into the, the whole world to preach the gospel. Is that where you got the inspiration for the name of your podcast?

Evan Herrman (02:46):
It 100%. Yeah, 100%.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:49):
Tell me about your, your time at Oral Roberts university. What, what did you study while you were there?

Evan Herrman (02:54):
So my degree was theology, local church, pastor with an emphasis in a minor kind of admissions. It’s an unspoken minor cause there wasn’t one. And I just took more classes. And overall my experience at ORU was really healing in many areas of my life, socially, mentally, financially, educationally God did a number in my life. And through that process, knowing that I wanted to go into ministry, it really motivated me to overcome some of the educational disabilities that I’d struggled with my entire life. And so when I graduated, I was gung ho and ready for ministry and then boom, flat on my face, nothing happened. And from one failed attempt to another failed, attempt to another failed attempt from one church plant to another church, plant to another church, all falling on my face. And then I finally like, you know what I give up. I don’t want to do this anymore. You know, God you were supposed to make this happen and it didn’t, and I’m in a place in my life where I surrendered it all back to God. It went from me trying to create something happen to me being in a position that all right, God, I will move. When you tell me I’ll walk through open doors and I’ll listen and be obedient versus just trying to force things to happen.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:14):
I think that’s tremendous how even when things didn’t quite go the way that you dream of and plan for, you’re still looking for ways to influence people, to talk to people about God. And tell me about how you use your podcast to, to influence people and to turn them towards spiritual things.

Evan Herrman (04:38):
Absolutely. You know, so I at heart am also not only just a little bit of an evangelist, but an entrepreneur as well. And I wasn’t an entrepreneur. When I left college, I was very much ministry oriented when I got into the world. And because I wasn’t in ministry, my degree meant absolutely nothing to everyone. And so I ended up going to several different insurance companies trying to get in business and things just wasn’t working out for me until one day I decided to work for myself. And when I was doing real estate, as I am currently still doing, there was this idea that your business will grow to the extent that you do. And then I realized I needed to grow as a person far more so that my business could grow as well. And so throughout the eight years that I’ve been doing real estate, I’ve been focused on personal growth, wholeness and wellbeing, not just spiritually, but in many different areas of my life.

Evan Herrman (05:38):
And as I’m around all these other business people, I’m seeing the real estate agents divorce like crazy. I’m seeing people have very unhealthy habits. I’m seeing self-destructive patterns in my industry and in other careers. And I’m thinking to myself, why is this? And it’s because just like Zig Ziglar talks about, you know, we have this wheel and on this wheel, there’s many different spokes. And if one is overinflated and one is under inflated, it creates for a bumbly lifecycle. So how do we get wholeness and all these different areas of faith, family, finances, friendship, fitness, and fun. How do we even this will out so that it’s not so tumultuous that people will survive and live through the hardships. And that was the context of how do I do this? And then I just realized I can’t preach this. I can’t teach this. All I can do is live by example. And hopefully people will catch the things that I’m learning in my own life versus trying to shove it down someone’s throat. And that’s the approach that I’m going for.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:40):
I really like your approach. It’s very vulnerable. It’s very authentic. You’re very honest about your own weaknesses and flaws which sometimes when you see people up on the platform and they’re preaching a lot of the vulnerability doesn’t really come through, but it seems like you are going on a journey with people you’re, you’re, you’re taking them on much of the same journey that you are. As you’re looking for answers, you’re saying, let’s go, go, go do this together. So have you had some, some testimonies come out of, of how people have been impacted through the podcast or, or, or through your ministry?

Evan Herrman (07:22):
You know, it’s crazy. I’ve had a few people reach out to me. I would love to say in this year and a half that I’ve been doing it, I’ve had a large number, but honestly, like what I’ve learned is not a lot of people reach out to you unless if you have overwhelming numbers and that that number will increase because it’s the law of averages. But I have had some people reach out to me in the aspect that they felt alone. They felt that no one else understood where they were in life and they didn’t know how to go from where they were to where they wanted to be. And when they came across the podcast, for one, it felt like it brought healing and relief to some of the areas of their life, because now all of a sudden they’re not alone. And they got to follow my journey and hear my stories and hear my hurts and my pains and my struggles. And then that became relatable. And when it became relatable and then all of a sudden they get to see some of the successes that I have, then there’s this belief, well, if he can do it, I can do it. And through that process, it created a out and for several different people that have reached out to me that have brought healing in different areas, through different podcasts of their life.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:37):
So I’m an evangelist and I go to different nations around the world doing large evangelistic campaigns. I just returned from Ethiopia. And we had over 10,000 people in our largest service there, but doing large crusades doesn’t necessarily here in America all the time, especially during times of COVID you know, they will, they will. Amen. but there are other ways to, to reach people here in America. And so podcasts of course is one way another great way to reach people is, is YouTube. And you’re developing your, your YouTube channel talking about personal growth and bringing in a biblical perspective to that. Tell me what you’re doing to reach out to so many people that watch YouTube.

Evan Herrman (09:32):
Right. So right now I don’t have a large subscriber base because I haven’t put a lot of emphasis on it. And we’re just in the start of really putting more emphasis. So now I have lots of videos that would just kind of store them there in the past, but now in order to reach people, here’s the thing. So often we get the idea of like, all right, here’s a message that I have, I’m going to say, and it’s going to be meaningful to someone. But in reality, YouTube is amazing because people are searching for answers. And so what I’ve done is I’m going to find what are those key search phrases that people have and what they’re wanting to know in terms of personal growth, wholeness, wellbeing, and Christianity. And then I’m taking what I find in creating material around that. So I’m answering questions based off of my own experience that people have yet had to experience in are still felt like they’re left in the dark. And because I’m doing that, not only do people become more receptive to that, but it creates a better video because it’s being more searched and more sought after in the YouTube algorithm versus me trying to come up with an idea in my mind and a hope that someone will search for it. So I’m taking a strategic view on how I want to grow my YouTube channel.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:48):
That’s outstanding in my conversations with you, you’ve really expressed a huge passion for revival and for the next move of God here in America. Talk to me some about what God’s put in your heart concerning revival.

Evan Herrman (11:07):
Yeah, absolutely. You know, it’s a new thing for me because before I just wanted to be a pastor, I just wanted a church. I just wanted the congregation. And as God has been leading me in this journey, he’s been telling me more about no, no, no, not pastor evangelism revival. I want to do something across the nation, which is a lot more daunting than just being a pastor and my mind. And so for me,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:41):
Well, we actually need more evangelists. I mean, especially here in Tulsa, it seems sometimes like there’s a church on every corner, which is why church planting sometimes is difficult, but evangelists are more few and far between. And so I think God wants more evangelists raised up in the body of Christ.

Evan Herrman (12:02):
I agree. So it’s funny. I’ve always made this joke just to be funny, but my name is Evan and I tell people I put the oven than evangelism. But when it comes to what God is wanting to do, we have a generation right now, I would say from the millennials and, and younger that don’t know God like past generations, you know, our government, our society was built for a moral people. And the reason why we’re seeing such a breakdown in our government is because our government was designed for moral people. And as our society has eroded, as our society has become more self-centered in a way from God, the government in of itself becomes less effective. And what I’m seeing God wanting to do, not just on a governmental level, but on a relational level, there’s, there’s Americans that don’t know anything about God, but yet have the greatest access to him.

Evan Herrman (13:03):
And that breaks my heart. And the reason why is because through processes and through systems, God has been taken out of America. God has been taken out of schools. God has been taken out of homes. And so how do we put God back in homes? How do we put God back in school? And at first comes by pudding in allowing a place for people to meet God and people aren’t going to the churches anymore. One COVID, but two, because there’s been a stigma about church for so long. And so there needs to be a new way of doing things in terms of reaching people. And, you know, I think tent revival will be probably something that we see here in the U S in the coming, coming years. You know, I mean, just here’s a perfect example. I’ll look at what Kanye West, when he was on fire for the Lord, like early in 2020, you know, he started doing I don’t know what he called it Sunday church or whatever. And people showed up to mass gatherings outside. You know, we see mass gatherings for Antifa and BLM and Trump rallies and all these things. There’s something about gathering outside for an event. And if we, as a church can angle that, I think we can really take advantage of that moving forward.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:30):
Amen. Well, I believe with you that that God can bring people together here in America, that we can see another great awakening of people turning to God and having a heart and a passion for God. And I believe that God is raising up people like you, Evan, to bring about that revival. So let’s just finish up today with praying for our nation and praying for revival to come

Evan Herrman (14:58):
Before we do. Can I ask you a question, go for it as someone who is at the beginning stages of realizing the call of evangelism on my life, what advice or guidance would you give me?

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:12):
I love coaching evangelists and I love helping evangelists become everything that, that God has called them to become. And I think being an evangelist, probably the greatest advice I would say is, is, is start and just don’t quit it. Just start looking for ways to evangelize and then just don’t stop doing that. And with persistence and over time, you’ll find that you have impacted many lives and, and, and made a huge difference for the kingdom of God. So that’s a little simple, but start and don’t quit. Can’t go wrong with that advice. Perfect. I appreciate it. Yeah. So, so let’s pray for America. Would you lead us in a prayer, Evan, and just pour out your heart for what you, you feel God wants to do here in our nation?

Evan Herrman (16:08):
Absolutely. God, we just come to you in Jesus’s name, thanking you for who you are and what you’ve done through him, by your son, shed blood because of the cross, we are offered salvation. We are offered forgiveness of our sin. So God, we thank you for the power of the Holy spirit, that through his death and resurrection that you have sent us the Holy spirit as us as believers, we have access to this Holy spirit. So God, we thank you that our hearts become more sensitive to the indwelling of the spirit and the guidance that you have for us, so that we may be salt of the year, that we may be the light of the era and reach others for you right now in this time of great politics and, and a lot of stressfulness in COVID and the vaccines and masking and all the chaos and all the disruption at the end of the day, you are God, and you sit on the throne and Jesus wins.

Evan Herrman (17:02):
So let us be eternally focused, let our hearts and our minds not be frantic about what today says and what the news media says, but let our hearts have true peace in the midst of chaos. In the midst of adversity, that only comes through Jesus Christ and let us be eternally perspective, father God, so that we are not worried about our circumstances, but we’re worried about the hearts and lives in the salvation of those that are around us, that we become salvation focused, that we become salvation, hungry and salvation driven so that our friends and our neighbors in our family and our cousins and our coworkers might hear the gospel. I speak a guess the spirit of fear, fear that you might lose your job fear that might get canceled by the culture, fear that there might be an uprising against you. If you just utter the name Jesus.

Evan Herrman (17:58):
So we tell that spirit of fear to be gone. And we say, boldness of rise, man, and women of God arise in Christ Jesus, because you have the power and the authority of God through the Holy spirit to go break demonic strongholds, because you are a child of God and you were equipped because you have the Holy spirit and you have the Bible and you have the anointing of God on your life to go spread the news. You know, the great commission go into all the world and preach the gospel. He’s not saying that to just Evan or to just Daniel, but to every single listener of my voice. So what does it look like to be a minister of the gospel? It means to be the salt and the life to share openly where you are at in your life. You might not be an evangelist in front of 10,000 people, but you can be the evangelist in your home.

Evan Herrman (18:52):
You can be the evangelist on your street by loving your neighbor. As Christ loved the church by sharing meals with others, by giving, by praying, you will never know the importance of asking how can I pray for you to someone and what that means to them. And if they get offended, let them be offended. But there are those that are hungry. There are those that are thirsty. So God open our spiritual eyes, our hearts, our minds, our ears, so that we can see the way you see love the way you love, hear the way you hear and speak the way you speak so that we may see these people who are ready for harvest so that we may see these people who need seeds planted. And that we may see these people that need water, that need growth, that need nurturing father and Lord in the due season of where these people are at. We pray that we are cognitively aware, spiritually aware of where these people are at and what you have called us to do for them in that time in Jesus’s name, we pray. Amen.

Host for The Evangelism Podcast (19:54):
Amen, powerful prayer, Evan. Thanks for joining me today on the evangelism podcast,

Evan Herrman (20:00):
Take care. God bless

Host for The Evangelism Podcast (20:05):
For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

Paul Maurer has shared the Gospel in China, Pakistan, India, Bulgaria, Sri Lanka, and Africa. He was impacted by the Brownsville Revival, received a word from Christian International about his calling as an evangelist, and learned evangelism during an apprenticeship under Daniel Kolenda. Now he is preaching the Gospel and coaching evangelism students around the world.

Show Notes: 

How did you get started as an evangelist? Hear the story of how the Brownsville Revival impacted Paul Maurer’s life when he was 16 years old.

How did you get called to be an evangelist?  Hear about how Paul Maurer received a prophecy at Christian International about his calling to be an evangelist.

What countries do you minister in? What have you seen God do?

What is your strategy for planting churches after your crusades?

What does Evangelism Coaching look like for you?

Key Quotes: 

What is the key to reaching Europe? “The key to reaching Europe is ministering to the ghettos.” -Loren Cunningham

Website: www.covertheearth.tv

Listen to The Evangelism Podcast with Evangelism Coach Daniel King

Transcription:

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:00):
Paul Maurer has shared the gospel in China, Pakistan, India, Bulgaria, Sri Lanka, and across Africa. He was impacted by the Brownsville revival. Received a word from Christian international about his calling as an evangelist and learned evangelism during an apprenticeship under Daniel Kolenda. Now he’s preaching the gospel and coaching evangelism students around the world. Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionary, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome to the evangelism podcast.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:03):
We are excited about telling people about Jesus I’m in Kakuma, Tanzania, and I’ve been preaching this week with evangelist Paul Mauer. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast.

Paul Maurer: Thank you, Daniel King King. It’s great to be here. And I woke up at two o’clock this morning. I was still jet lagged, but it’s been honored to be here and to work along the side of you and receive a great harvest here in Tanzania. It’s such a privilege to participate in this Christ for all nations crusade that is going on here in Tahoma. And thousands of people have, have been saved this week. Paul, I’ve known you for a while now. How did we first meet you? I think it’s through seek Christ, all nations. I think you came in and did some training at Christ for all nations, for Daniel Kolenda and his his he’s got like a a school evangelism and he’s got bootcamp students and you came in and trained the truck outreaches. And that’s when I was coaching for Daniel for that. And you were training as well. And I think that’s how our paths crossed a few years ago.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King: Now you’ve got a great ministry called cover the earth, and you’ve been going all over the world, preaching the gospel, telling people about Jesus, but how did it all get started? How did you come to Jesus?

Paul Maurer: Well, when I was 16 years old, I heard about the Brownsville revival in Pensacola, Florida. And so my family grew up in the church, but you know, as backs and away from God and God for verse went away. So I went down to the church back in 1997, the revival, I mean, back then people wait in line 12 hours to get into church. It was, I haven’t seen anything like even this, this day, but yeah, so I, Steve he’ll preach the gospel and I was so convicted and I had a radical life transformation and my prayer is Lord. I don’t feel like I have much, but I gave you my entire life. I still, I go wherever you want me to go, I’ll do whatever you want me to do. And he went to Holy spirit and sent me all around the world to preach the gospel. So that was when you were 16 and you were really impacted at the Brownsville revival. And then how did you know that you were called to be an evangelist? Because being an evangelist is a, is a unique calling. It’s a special calling. We need more good evangelists in the body of Christ. How did you know that you were called to be an evangelists? Well, I think that’s a great question. I’ve always loved one-on-one evangelism and early twenties impacted by Ray comfort and his teachings, Steve Hill and so on. But really I follow it’s called the youth ministry and it wasn’t until 2003, 2003.

Paul Maurer (03:30):
I had a prophetic word at Christian international who was Tom ham. And he called me out in a meeting of several hundred. People’s a young man stand up and he prophesied everything that I’m seeing right now. He said, you’ve got anointing on your life to be in the nations. You’re going to stand up. You’re going to walk them on a leadership of the nations. You’re going to do crusades, you’ll see signs and miracles and wonders and props and everything that I’m doing right now. And to be honest, I didn’t have the faith for it because a word came way before its time. I thought it’s called youth ministry, but I put the word on the, on the shelf. I said, Lord that doesn’t make any sense, but if that’s you, you have to make it happen. I’m not going to make anything happen.

Paul Maurer (04:05):
You have to do it. And one step at a time. I was a youth pastor at Brownsville for five years and then got open a door to the missionary to China. I did that for about 15 months and then a door opened to be personally mentioned by Daniel clinic Christ for all nations, but did a one-year apprenticeship with him. And it completely changed my life. And then that just led me on this journey that I’ve been on since 2013. And and now I do what I do now. I do crusade evangelism. And so you’ve had the opportunity to go to many different countries. Now, what are some of the places that you’ve been going and what have you seen God do in those places? I’m often in places like Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, bulk area, many different places in Africa. And I don’t know, my heart is not one country.

Paul Maurer (04:53):
It’s really the world. And I feel certain areas. I want to keep building. What’s been established there and what’s happening, but yeah, some special place, or like in Sri Lanka, we find some places in the middle of nowhere where there’s no Christians. I’ve had some crusades that there wasn’t one Chris, the whole meetings, all that gets me really excited. So we’re going to unreached areas. There’s only Hindu temples and we call it like a healing meeting and I can do is come from all over the area. We bust them in. And it’s, we always see a great harvest, usually 95% or more come to Christ. And then I work with the locals. We planted church and these unreached areas on Sunday morning, a few minutes walk from the crusade grounds. So it’s really special what’s happening there. And part of the crusade budget, as it were raise money for the passenger side for one year, as well as rent on the new church garden for a year to get the church started.

Paul Maurer (05:41):
And that’s my investment into the work and the church plan. So I’ve had five crusades there in Sri Lanka over the past couple of years. And five crusades then planted the five churches as well. And so I’d love to do at least 20 or 30 in my lifetime. And that’s one area I love what’s happening Bulgaria with the, you know, God’s pouring out his spirit. You know, I met Lauren Cunningham a few years ago and I said, what’s the key to reaching Europe. And he said, Paul, the key to reaching Europe is through the ghettos and through the, the bad part, parts of your development goal for the wealthy. But he said the poor are the ones that open the gospel. And then once they come to Christ grad, she goes higher in society. And I’ll never forget. He told me that, but God led me towards Bulgaria and some doors started opening there.

Paul Maurer (06:23):
And I started working with the gypsy serine to see a great, great harvest there. Churches are getting started, church growing, and many, many people are coming to Christ and it’s really fun cause it’s kind of raw, it’s kind of street style in Bulgaria. It’s not like really sophisticated. It’s not like a nice stage and lighting. It’s just really raw street style. And I love it. It’s a lot of fun and you’re reaching the gypsies, a group that needs Jesus. Yeah, they’re wanders. I mean, they’re, they’re very, very poor. A lot of them don’t work. They’ve gotten them no motivation and really the gospels, what they need because once they get the gospel, it brings value to them as a person. And all of a sudden they desire to work and they desire to become something of themselves because they see who they are in Christ and who God made them to be.

Paul Maurer (07:05):
And it brings great value and value to them. So yeah, I mean, sometimes they’re very small. Like sometimes there are a thousand people, sometimes 150, 200, like we a quick testimony. I think it, last year I had a small crusade about to, in about one, 150 people and we had some great harvest scouting, great things about the feelings in there. And the host church was a, a path that a group of 10 people in his living room and then said, song, people came to Christ and they got plugged into his church. So his church grew from 10 to 70 and all those people were from the living room. Oh, absolutely. And then they had a, actually had a build a new church and there was a new church project. And so that was really neat. So I came back the next year they had a church established and they were able to grow from that.

Paul Maurer (07:51):
So it’s really, I love doing things like that. Love building the church. I love attaching church planting onto crusades so that people can be discipled. Talk about evangelism coaching this year, you’ve been coaching the evangelism boot camp graduates. I had the privilege of spending some time teaching them last year and now they’ve come here to Tanzania and been going out on trucks and preaching the gospel. What does that coaching look like? Well, you know, Daniel has poured so much into me and I did a one-year apprenticeship at Christ for all nation Daniel Kolenda. Yeah. And I said to Andy Cohen, but Daniel, then I say, Daniel, you didn’t say, okay. And I just wanted to be clear, it’s Daniel Kolenda. That’s been born. And you know, he’s taught me the ins and outs of crusade evangelism. So really it’s, it’s coaching and the CFM model of how to do crusades.

Paul Maurer (08:42):
And basically it’s a very similar to how you do it. You know, the model that you use as well, and a certain model of how to preach the gospel, how to do an altar call, how to pray for the sick, how to take up testimony. It’s very, very practical. So I’m there to kind of remind them, kind of implement what Danielle teaches in the bootcamp I’m on the ground. So my job is it’s the, on the ground initiation, how to do it on the streets, how to do basically like a mini crusade, take what Daniel does and a big crusade, a big case when they escalations crusading to about half hour or an hour. I’m very excited about that because I think these evangelism bootcamp students will go on to lead millions of people to Jesus, that this training is so invaluable and a little bit of coaching can help them figure out the right way to do it much quicker than if they did it by trial and error.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:30):
You know, I think they can learn 40 years of experience and a period of a couple of months. I really believe that through, you know, see fans been doing this for 40 plus years and why, why reinvent the wheel? They have a model that works and we’re going to, we’re going to keep teaching that and keep using it. And yeah, it’s been an honor to do it. So the name of your ministry is cover the earth over the earth. And if someone wanted to donate to you or to help you with your next crusade, that’s coming up, how would they be able to do that? Yeah, they could go to, and that would be a huge help because the Lord knows my needs, but yeah, you could go to my website. Covertheearth.Tv/Donate and the harvest is great.

Paul Maurer (10:11):
And I’ve got a vision to lead a million people to Christ the next couple of years. And so that’s my big vision right now. And yeah, God willing, it’s gonna, it’s going to happen. Wonderful. I encourage you. If you’re listening, go to Paul Mauer his website and give him some money to help him lead people to Jesus because he’s in a Vangelis who is passionate about leading the lost to Christ. So brother Paul, it’s an honor to serve God with you and thank you so much for being on the podcast. Thank you, Danielle. Thanks for having me. God bless you

Evangelism Podcast Host (10:44):
For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

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

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

Key Thoughts:

Ministry does not happen without relationships. 

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

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

Listen to The Evangelism Coach Daniel King on The Evangelism Podcast

Transcription 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Websites Mentioned:

https://www.acea-schools.org 

http://www.thinkevangelism.org

https://www.campusevangelists.com/tools

About Dr. Leo Lawson: 

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

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

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

Transcription: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Show Notes: 

Why are you taking people on mission trips? 

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

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

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

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (00:16):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:19):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (00:44):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (01:34):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (02:56):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:19):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (03:30):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:52):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (04:44):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:08):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (05:31):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (06:42):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (07:35):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:16):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (08:24):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (09:35):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:29):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (10:47):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (11:49):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:39):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (12:44):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:09):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (13:16):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (14:10):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:05):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (15:12):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:09):

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

Evangelist John Smithwick (16:15):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:25):

Amen.

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

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

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

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

Show Notes: 

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

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

Six Facts Muslims know about Jesus. 

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

According to the Koran: 

Jesus was virgin born (Surah 3:47). 

Jesus is the Messiah (Surah 3:45).  

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

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

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

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

Jesus was God’s word (Surah 4:171). 

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

Jesus confirmed the Torah (Surah 5:49). 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But, there are some truths Muslims do not acknowledge. 

Five Facts Muslims DO NOT Believe About Jesus

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

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

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (00:00):

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

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:25):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (01:06):

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

Kamran Karimi (01:48):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (03:22):

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

Kamran Karimi (04:05):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (04:43):

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

Kamran Karimi (05:07):

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

Kamran Karimi (05:59):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (07:12):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (08:06):

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

Kamran Karimi (09:10):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (10:20):

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

Kamran Karimi (10:37):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (11:25):

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

Kamran Karimi (11:56):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (13:07):

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

Kamran Karimi (13:25):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (13:29):

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

Kamran Karimi (13:38):

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

Kamran Karimi (14:39):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (15:44):

Amazing God was orchestrating straightening.

Kamran Karimi (15:46):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (15:59):

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

Kamran Karimi (16:04):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (17:11):

When you have Jesus. You’re not alone.

Kamran Karimi (17:14):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (18:24):

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

Kamran Karimi (18:36):

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

Kamran Karimi (19:35):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (21:07):

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

Kamran Karimi (21:38):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (22:05):

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

Kamran Karimi (22:08):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (22:34):

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

Kamran Karimi (22:37):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (23:06):

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

Kamran Karimi (23:09):

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

Kamran Karimi (23:55):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (24:29):

There are protection and guardian angels surrounding. Exactly.

Kamran Karimi (24:33):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (24:56):

Of Iranians, and

Kamran Karimi (24:58):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (25:02):

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

Kamran Karimi (25:09):

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

Kamran Karimi (26:08):

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

Evangelism Podcast Host (27:05):

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

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

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

Show Notes: 

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

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

Fifty-two students graduated. 

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

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

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

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

Evangelism Podcast Announcer  (00:24):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:00):

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

Levi Stewart (01:18):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:24):

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

Levi Stewart (01:49):

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

Levi Stewart (02:39):

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

Levi Stewart (03:30):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:56):

And so how many students graduated from the bootcamp?

Levi Stewart (04:01):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:31):

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

Levi Stewart (04:34):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:40):

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

Levi Stewart (04:57):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:52):

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

Levi Stewart (06:38):

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

Levi Stewart (07:29):

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

Levi Stewart (08:15):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:54):

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

Levi Stewart (09:42):

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

Levi Stewart (10:35):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:45):

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

Levi Stewart (12:19):

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

Levi Stewart (13:13):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:55):

But really there are good people

Levi Stewart (13:58):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:02):

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

Levi Stewart (15:41):

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

Levi Stewart (16:26):

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

Levi Stewart (17:21):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:36):

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

Levi Stewart (20:06):

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

Levi Stewart (21:05):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:00):

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

Levi Stewart (22:16):

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

Levi Stewart (23:05):

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

Levi Stewart (23:54):

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

Levi Stewart (24:45):

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

Evangelism Podcast Announcer  (25:32):

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

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

Website: https://faithchurchks.org 

Show Notes: 

How did you get started doing children’s ministry? 

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

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

Quotes: 

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

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

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

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

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

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:02):

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

Matthew Wells (01:35):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:38):

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

Matthew Wells (01:42):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:12):

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

Matthew Wells (03:15):

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

Matthew Wells (04:09):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:33):

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

Matthew Wells (06:56):

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

Matthew Wells (07:57):

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

Matthew Wells (08:47):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:00):

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

Matthew Wells (11:19):

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

Matthew Wells (12:17):

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

Matthew Wells (13:13):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:16):

How big is Fort Scott, Kansas

Matthew Wells (14:19):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:31):

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

Matthew Wells (14:42):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:02):

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

Matthew Wells (15:10):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:42):

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

Matthew Wells (16:07):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:07):

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

Matthew Wells (17:22):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:02):

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

Matthew Wells (18:15):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:23):

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

Matthew Wells (18:34):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:48):

Back before they had screens.

Matthew Wells (18:51):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:03):

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

Matthew Wells (20:23):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:48):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:54):

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