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

Show Notes: 

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

Why is the evangelist needed? 

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

Website: http://www.wagnerministries.org 

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

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

 

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

Transcription  

Daniel King (00:00):

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

 

Josh Wagner (00:17):

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

 

Daniel King (00:44):

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

 

Josh Wagner (01:15):

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

 

Daniel King (02:02):

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

 

Josh Wagner (02:13):

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

 

Daniel King (03:13):

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

 

Josh Wagner (04:14):

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

 

Daniel King (04:22):

Help the gospel gospel.

 

Josh Wagner (04:24):

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

 

Daniel King (05:15):

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

 

Josh Wagner (05:24):

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

 

Josh Wagner (06:12):

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

 

Josh Wagner (06:59):

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

 

Daniel King (07:12):

Understand what he was reading, right?

 

New Speaker (07:14):

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

 

Josh Wagner (07:45):

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

 

Josh Wagner (08:25):

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

 

Josh Wagner (09:21):

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

 

Daniel King (10:04):

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

 

Josh Wagner (10:26):

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

 

Daniel King (11:13):

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

 

Josh Wagner (11:21):

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

 

Josh Wagner (12:07):

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

 

Josh Wagner (13:02):

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

 

Daniel King (13:36):

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

 

Josh Wagner (13:54):

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

 

Daniel King (14:17):

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

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

Website: https://compassiontoaction.com 

Show Notes: 

Questions for Chris Overstreet

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (01:17):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:52):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (02:25):

Doing amazing, man. Thanks for calling.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:27):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (02:42):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:02):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (03:06):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:47):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (04:28):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:06):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (05:20):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:58):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (06:13):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:06):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (07:22):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:09):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (08:14):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:58):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (09:15):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:27):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (10:35):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:50):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (11:30):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:09):

Holy spirit broke out.

 

Chris Overstreet (12:12):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:32):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (12:46):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:43):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (13:53):

The greatest miracle

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:57):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (14:09):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:14):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (15:20):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:27):

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

 

Chris Overstreet (17:01):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:14):

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

Chris Overstreet (18:23):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:26):

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

 

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

Website: https://callingministry.org 

Show Notes: 

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

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

Testimonies from One God One Day One Africa:

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

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

Learn about the Day of Prayer for Africa – November 6 

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

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

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

 

Evangelism Podcast Announcer (00:10):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:48):

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

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (01:29):

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

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (02:19):

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

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (03:06):

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

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (03:48):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:43):

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

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (05:08):

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

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (06:17):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:15):

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

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (07:24):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:03):

So how many countries total are there in Africa?

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (09:07):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:13):

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

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (09:18):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:37):

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

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (09:43):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:50):

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

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (10:00):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:57):

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

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (11:13):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:44):

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

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (13:18):

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

 

Siegfried Tomazsewsk (14:17):

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

 

Evangelism Podcast Announcer (15:18):

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

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

Show Notes: 

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

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

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

Book: In Allah They Trust

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As a result, child prostitution has risen 635%;

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

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

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

Tell me about your underground church planting movement. 

How do you reshape a culture? 

Listen to Daniel King the Evangelism Coach on the Evangelism Podcast

Transcription:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (00:00):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (01:17):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (01:35):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (02:04):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (03:37):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (03:52):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (04:00):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (04:03):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (04:24):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (04:29):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (05:24):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (06:23):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (06:29):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (07:13):

Food always talked. So of course invited us to there

 

Kamran Karimi (07:17):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (08:02):

Highlights of me being

 

Kamran Karimi (08:04):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (08:54):

Wow. So he partying,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (08:56):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (09:00):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (09:48):

So he was planting seeds into your life.

 

Kamran Karimi (09:50):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (10:49):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (11:04):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (11:54):

Wow.

 

Kamran Karimi (11:55):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (12:41):

This fellowship. Yeah. Great. [inaudible]

 

Kamran Karimi (12:44):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (13:12):

Outside of Islam

 

Kamran Karimi (13:15):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (14:08):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (14:54):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (15:43):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (16:48):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (16:52):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (17:29):

Got saved taking communion right there.

 

Kamran Karimi (17:32):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (18:15):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (18:19):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (19:13):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (20:03):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (20:41):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (21:30):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (21:33):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (21:41):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (22:39):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (22:45):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (22:50):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (23:02):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (23:55):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (24:11):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (24:15):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (24:25):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (24:53):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (25:00):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (25:05):

Just I ran into it’s all Farsi speaking

 

Kamran Karimi (25:08):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (25:18):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (25:25):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (25:41):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (25:49):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (26:46):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (27:29):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (27:34):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (28:21):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (29:18):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (29:26):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (29:30):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (29:32):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (30:29):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (31:35):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (32:40):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (32:45):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (33:53):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (34:04):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (34:32):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (34:48):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (35:54):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (37:18):

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

 

Kamran Karimi (37:43):

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

 

Evangelism Podcast Host (37:46):

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

 

 

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

Website: www.safarimission.org 

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

Show Notes: 

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

Key Thoughts: 

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

Churches need to develop systems in order to grow. 

How do you coach pastors to be successful? 

What does the process of coaching churches look like? 

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

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

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

 

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:18):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:56):

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

 

Vidar Ligard (01:12):

We, we, we got it almost Vidar Ligard

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:15):

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

 

Vidar Ligard (01:43):

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

 

Vidar Ligard (02:44):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:28):

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

 

Vidar Ligard (04:15):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:23):

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

 

Vidar Ligard (05:35):

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

 

Vidar Ligard (06:26):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:10):

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

 

Vidar Ligard (07:16):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:56):

Many pastors are you coaching right now?

 

Vidar Ligard (07:59):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:26):

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

 

Vidar Ligard (08:46):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:03):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:54):

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

 

Vidar Ligard (10:49):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:28):

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

 

Vidar Ligard (11:40):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:00):

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

 

Vidar Ligard (12:25):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:08):

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

 

Vidar Ligard (13:11):

Absolutely. Yeah.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:13):

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

 

Vidar Ligard (13:32):

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

 

Vidar Ligard (14:28):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:00):

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

 

Vidar Ligard (15:18):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:37):

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

 

Vidar Ligard (15:39):

Thank you, Daniel, for having us.

 

Evangelism Podcast Host (15:41):

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

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

Website: https://preciouspearl.org

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

Show Notes: 

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

Learn how to handle demonic manifestations. 

Hear about the miracles God has done in Haiti. 

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

Key Scripture: John 10:10 

Key Quotes: 

Voodoo is devil worship. 

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

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

 

Evangelism Podcast Announcer (00:16):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:54):

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

 

Mac Barnes (01:12):

Daniel is great to be here. Thank you.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:14):

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

 

Mac Barnes (01:19):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:26):

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

 

Mac Barnes (01:33):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:49):

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

 

Mac Barnes (01:54):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:37):

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

 

Mac Barnes (02:45):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:05):

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

 

Mac Barnes (03:10):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:36):

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

 

Mac Barnes (03:44):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:51):

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

 

Mac Barnes (03:59):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:51):

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

 

Mac Barnes (04:59):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:34):

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

 

Mac Barnes (05:49):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:45):

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

 

Mac Barnes (07:13):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:23):

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

 

Mac Barnes (08:29):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:45):

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

 

Mac Barnes (09:00):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:17):

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

 

Mac Barnes (10:41):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:06):

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

 

Mac Barnes (12:10):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:45):

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

 

Mac Barnes (12:58):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:51):

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

 

Mac Barnes (13:55):

God bless you, Daniel. Good to be with you

 

Evangelism Podcast Announcer (13:58):

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

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

Show Notes: 

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

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

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

 

Listen to The Evangelism Podcast with Evangelism Coach Daniel King!

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (00:00):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (01:00):

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

 

Levi Lutz (01:14):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (01:18):

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

 

Levi Lutz (01:21):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (01:37):

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

 

Levi Lutz (01:42):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (02:19):

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

 

Levi Lutz (02:23):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (02:38):

We had, we had a 

 

Levi Lutz (02:40):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (03:03):

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

 

Levi Lutz (03:12):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (03:21):

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

 

Levi Lutz (03:41):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (04:20):

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

 

Levi Lutz (04:35):

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

 

Levi Lutz (05:13):

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

 

Levi Lutz (05:53):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (06:25):

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

 

Levi Lutz (06:44):

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

 

Levi Lutz (07:24):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (07:56):

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

 

Levi Lutz (08:06):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (08:10):

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

 

Levi Lutz (08:17):

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

 

Levi Lutz (08:57):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (09:24):

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

 

Levi Lutz (09:40):

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

 

Levi Lutz (10:15):

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

 

Levi Lutz (10:55):

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

 

Levi Lutz (11:37):

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

 

Salvation Prayer (12:07):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (12:58):

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

 

Levi Lutz (13:15):

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

 

Levi Lutz (13:56):

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

 

Levi Lutz (14:39):

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

 

Evangelism Podcast Announcer (15:29):

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

 

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

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

Website: https://joeodenministries.com

Show Notes: 

Joe Oden is

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

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

On this podcast, he answers the following questions: 

Describe a “Love Your Neighbor Outreach Weekend” 

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

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

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

In his powerful book, Joe imparts…

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

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

 

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

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (00:00):

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

 

Evangelism Podcast Announcer (00:23):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (00:59):

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

 

Joe Oden (01:31):

To be here with you today, Daniel. Awesome.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (01:34):

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

 

Joe Oden (01:38):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (02:47):

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

 

Joe Oden (03:00):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (04:21):

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

 

Joe Oden (04:35):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (05:49):

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

 

Joe Oden (05:59):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (07:36):

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

 

Joe Oden (07:56):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (08:34):

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

 

Joe Oden (08:42):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (09:36):

Where God’s lightening comes

 

Joe Oden (09:38):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (10:17):

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

 

Joe Oden (10:27):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (11:45):

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

 

Joe Oden (11:52):

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

 

Joe Oden (12:45):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (13:59):

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

 

Joe Oden (14:16):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (14:25):

Or been embarrassed because it’s a Subway.

 

Joe Oden (14:28):

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

 

Evangelism Podcast Announcer (15:50):

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

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

Website: 

http://www.Chrismikkelson.com 

https://www.salvationusa.com/ 

Show Notes: 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

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

 

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:22):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:58):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (01:21):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:53):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (01:55):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (02:48):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (03:39):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:30):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (04:54):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (05:46):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:26):

Yeah. He’s a great evangelist. Yeah.

 

Chris Mikkelson (06:27):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (07:07):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:49):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (08:02):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (08:48):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:43):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (09:59):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (10:48):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:20):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (12:10):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (12:51):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (13:34):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (14:21):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (15:13):

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

 

Chris Mikkelson (16:11):

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

 

Evangelism Podcast Host (16:49):

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

 

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

Show Notes: 

Today’s podcast has four topics: 

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

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

 

Listen to The Evangelism Podcast with Evangelism Coach Daniel King

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (00:00):

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

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (01:03):

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

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (01:16):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (01:23):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (01:50):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (02:50):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (03:00):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (03:30):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (03:50):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (04:27):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (04:54):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (05:17):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (05:22):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (06:43):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (06:54):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (07:12):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (07:17):

Of Coors. I tend, this is a huge

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (07:19):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (07:24):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (08:43):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (08:47):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (08:56):

Is it a, is it a good team?

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (08:58):

I say yes, because I have run Columbia, but 

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (09:02):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (09:16):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (09:26):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (09:49):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (10:04):

To be strategic with, with our, our,

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (10:08):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (10:29):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (10:34):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (10:39):

This is how I live. Yes.

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (10:42):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (10:58):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (11:59):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (13:59):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (15:04):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (15:46):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (15:57):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (16:06):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (16:14):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (17:29):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (18:31):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (20:07):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (20:16):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (20:44):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (20:49):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (21:04):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (21:16):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (22:26):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (23:22):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (24:23):

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

 

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (24:26):

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

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (25:55):

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

Luis Carlos Nauvarrek (26:27):

Praying in Spanish 

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King  (28:12):

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

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

Website: http://www.wagnerministries.org 

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

Show Notes: 

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

Read:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Transcription: 

Daniel King (00:00):

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

 

Josh Wagner (00:47):

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

 

Daniel King (00:50):

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

 

Josh Wagner (01:21):

He repeats great

 

Daniel King (01:23):

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

 

Josh Wagner (01:29):

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

 

Daniel King (02:24):

[Inaudible]

 

Josh Wagner (02:25):

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

 

Daniel King (02:36):

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

 

Josh Wagner (02:49):

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

 

Daniel King (03:30):

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

 

Josh Wagner (04:12):

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

 

Daniel King (05:24):

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

 

Daniel King (06:22):

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

 

Josh Wagner (07:15):

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

 

Daniel King (07:52):

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

 

Josh Wagner (08:12):

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

 

Daniel King (08:42):

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

 

Josh Wagner (08:56):

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

 

Daniel King (09:03):

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

 

Josh Wagner (09:09):

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

 

Daniel King (09:44):

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

 

Josh Wagner (10:08):

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

 

Daniel King (10:11):

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

 

Josh Wagner (10:20):

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

 

Daniel King (10:53):

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

 

Josh Wagner (11:00):

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

 

Daniel King (11:07):

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

 

Josh Wagner (11:12):

The same Jesus who healed people

 

Daniel King (11:15):

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

 

Josh Wagner (11:28):

[Inaudible] verse 47,

 

Daniel King (11:32):

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

 

Josh Wagner (11:45):

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

 

Daniel King (12:45):

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

 

Josh Wagner (13:19):

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

 

Daniel King (13:23):

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

 

Josh Wagner (14:32):

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

 

Daniel King (15:09):

Wow, that’s a great point.

 

Josh Wagner (15:11):

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

 

Daniel King (15:41):

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

 

Josh Wagner (16:32):

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

 

Daniel King (16:40):

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

 

Josh Wagner (17:23):

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

 

Daniel King (18:11):

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

 

Josh Wagner (18:54):

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

 

Daniel King (19:51):

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

 

Josh Wagner (20:48):

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

 

Daniel King (20:54):

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

 

Josh Wagner (21:04):

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

 

Daniel King (21:18):

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

 

Josh Wagner (21:28):

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

 

Daniel King (22:14):

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

 

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

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

Show Notes: 

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

Why is Chris Walsh are excited about planting Bible Schools? 

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

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

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

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

Key Quotes: 

You cannot build on broken bricks. 

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

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

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

The Gospel is empowerment, not enablement. 

FAITH: Fantastic Adventures in Trusting Him 

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

Book Mentioned: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee 

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

Transcription 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

Show Notes: 

Website: http://www.wagnerministries.org 

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

Why Should Christians be Involved in Evangelism? 

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

Key Ideas from Josh Wagner: 

The last words of Jesus should become our first priority. 

When the harvest is ready you better be ready. 

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

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

 

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

Transcription: 

Daniel King (00:00):

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

 

Josh Wagner (00:36):

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

 

Daniel King (01:15):

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

 

Josh Wagner (01:30):

To a right now, Caleb and Gabriel,

 

Daniel King (01:31):

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

 

Josh Wagner (02:33):

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

 

Daniel King (02:37):

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

 

Josh Wagner (02:44):

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

 

Daniel King (02:53):

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

 

Josh Wagner (03:01):

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

 

Daniel King (03:29):

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

 

Josh Wagner (03:53):

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

 

Daniel King (04:04):

Bye recorded

 

Josh Wagner (04:06):

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

 

Daniel King (04:52):

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

 

Josh Wagner (05:07):

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

 

Daniel King (06:20):

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

 

Josh Wagner (06:26):

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

 

Daniel King (07:42):

I’ve seen this in some of the countries that I’ve gone to, where there is an opportunity to go into a nation and you go, you preach the gospel. And then just a few months or years later, the doors to that nation may shut. Maybe they have a presidential election. And the new president is not as open to Christians sharing the gospel. And so when

 

Josh Wagner (08:07):

The harvest is ripe, we must go out into the harvest.

 

Daniel King (08:12):

We can’t be complacent about it. Yes. We need to go and bring in the harvest and bring it in while the sun is shining.

 

Josh Wagner (08:21):

Absolutely. And then on the heels of that, Jesus says the harvest is ripe, but the laborers are few. He’s emphasizing the fact that even though there is this great harvest and it’s ready right now, nobody’s getting it. Very few people, very few laborers are in the fields, bringing in the harvest. So we need to assist in that harvest work. We need to be a part of the, of the solution. And you know, right now, Dina, we live in a world where approximately 3 billion people haven’t even heard the name of Jesus Christ. That’s a great harvest, just waiting to harvest. That’s a great

 

Daniel King (08:56):

Tragedy. It is that with all of our modern technology and ability to travel and the strength of Christianity and all the resources that Christians have in the world today, that there are still 3 billion people waiting to hear. And so,

 

Josh Wagner (09:11):

Because there is this great harvest, but there are so few laborers. That’s why the Lord even now is speaking to you, listener to be involved in the great commission work, whoever you are, whatever you’re doing, whatever your job may be, your vocation, God has called you by his great commission to be involved in the great commission work, to be involved in the harvest fields. We have. So few labors, I want you to think, you know, think about how many pastors, you know, lots of pastors probably now think about how many evangelists, you know, people who are full time evangelists. And it’s not that evangelists are better than pastors. If God calls us to be a pastor, we shouldn’t settle for being an evangelist. But if God calls us to be an evangelist, we also shouldn’t settle for being a pastor. And we need to acknowledge the fact that while there are many people in many vocations, there are very few people who are involved in doing the great work of the evangelist or the missionary, or just in general, being a soul winner. Somebody who is on the lookout for lost people. We need to be involved in that work.

 

Daniel King (10:07):

I think walking down the street here in Tulsa, you run into a church, every block or so there there’s, you can throw a stone and hit a church and you go to places like Pakistan. And there may be one missionary for every million people in the entire nation of Pakistan. And you see what a great need there is for soul winners, for people who will go to the loss, to those who have not heard and to preach to them.

 

Josh Wagner (10:37):

Amen. Agreed. Do you know another reason why we should be motivated to preach the gospel is because we love Jesus. You know, I ask people, you know, if you asked a group of Christians or something, do you love Jesus? Of course, you know that your congregation would say they would,

 

Daniel King (10:53):

Josh. I got a question for you. Do you love Jesus? You have,

 

Josh Wagner (10:55):

Of course. But to be honest with you, there’s nowhere in the scriptures where it says, if you love Jesus, then say you love Jesus. In fact, Jesus chastises, religious leaders. He says, you honor me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me. You see so many people. They say they love Jesus, but their hearts really aren’t showing it. Their actions say otherwise, you know, it’s not just enough for me to tell my wife that I love her. I need to demonstrate that I need to show her that I love her by cleaning the dishes and taking out the trash and you know, taking her out to dinner and doing these things to demonstrate that love for her. And the reality is this. We can’t take the trash out for Jesus. We can’t take Jesus out to dinner. The way that we can show Jesus that we love him.

 

Josh Wagner (11:43):

Not just by saying it, but by showing it is biobank. The great commission, you know, Jesus said in John 14, 15, if you love me, then you will keep commandments. And then it asks us a question. You know, it begs the question. Well, which commandments Jesus had a lot of commandments. Well, how about the one that was mentioned five different times and five different books of the Bible and was the very last commandment that he gave. Maybe that’s a big and important one that we should be. Oh, bang. And, and in that way, when we obey that commandment, we demonstrate to Jesus, our great love for him. And after all that he’s done for us, we, we want to show our love for Christ. We want to demonstrate our love to him. It’s not that he doesn’t love it when you read your Bible or sing songs to him. But those are not the ways he says. We communicate our love to him. He says, if you love me, then you will obey my commandments. And what better commandment to obey it, to demonstrate our love for God than to share the gospel with those who need it. Why do you think

 

Daniel King (12:42):

So many people forget about obeying that command like here in, in America, it’s very easy sometimes for Christians to be complacent about sharing their faith and maybe never in their entire lives, have the, the opportunity to share their faith with someone.

 

Josh Wagner (13:04):

Well, it’s a great question. I think that there are probably many reasons why people don’t share their faith. In fact, in my book, I talk a lot about the obstructions to evangelism reasons why people don’t share their faith. And for some people it’s, it’s fear for some people it’s this sort of natural predisposition to being an introvert, or they think, you know, I’m not called to do this,

 

Daniel King (13:26):

Which is really interesting because actually I’m an introvert, I’m an evangelist. But by my nature, I’m an introvert. Introverts tend to get their energy from being alone and spend their energy when they’re with people. And that describes me perfectly.

 

Josh Wagner (13:40):

Exactly. And so and so, you know, there’s all these excuses that people give.

 

Daniel King (13:45):

God could even use an introvert. That’s what I’m saying.

 

Josh Wagner (13:48):

God can, it doesn’t work. It shouldn’t work. In fact, there’s no good excuse that I’ve come across and Jesus doesn’t give any either. He doesn’t say, go into all the world and preach the gospel, unless you’re an introvert or go into all the world and preach the gospel, unless you’re a new Christian or unless you, you know have a fear of people or unless you’re not gifted or unless you didn’t go to Bible college. No, no, no. There are no qualifications. There are no excuses that Christ gives. He’s just says to go. And we oftentimes, because we are so consumed with our own selves and with our own desires and our own selfish desires that we choose to neglect the great commandment that Jesus gave us here to go and preach the golf.

 

Daniel King (14:29):

So our motivation for evangelism is that it’s how we love Jesus. And you have one last

 

Josh Wagner (14:37):

Well. Yeah. And we could go on and on. But maybe the last one I’ll mention now is, is also, is how you love people. You know, you can say you love people, all you want, but it’s, it’s important that you show them that you, you be able to demonstrate that as it was with Christ and in scripture, what we see over and over again, is that the way that we love people is by giving them the gift of salvation, you know there’s this term that we use sometimes give a man a fish and you can feed him for a day, but teach a man to fish and you can feed him for a lifetime. Well, I would say, you know, you could, you could appropriate that also with the gospel, you could say, you know, give a man a meal and you’ll feed him for a day, but give them the gospel.

 

Josh Wagner (15:18):

And you’ve, you’ve given me Turnitin. You know, so many times we are focused on meeting people’s physical and material needs, which we should, but we should not do it at the expense of their spiritual needs. You know, if I closed the naked and if I feed the hungry, but I never introduced them to Jesus, I’ve not helped them eternally because there are many people who will be well fed and well clothed who will go to hell because nobody introduced them to Jesus. And that is a great travesty. The best gift you can give somebody is the gift of salvation. It is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, because that is the one gift that you get to take with you beyond this life. The only thing that has eternal value is the relationship we have with Jesus. The only thing you get to bring with you to heaven is not your car, not your homes, not your clothes. It is people. And if you really love people, then you will do everything you can to take them with you out of hell and into heaven.

 

Daniel King (16:22):

Yeah. The reality of hell really is a motivation for evangelism, because if people are dying without Jesus, the spiritual reality is that they are going to spend eternity separated from God. They’re going to go to hell and we can rescue them. We can save them from any eternity in hell. Absolutely. And it shows great love to, to throw a life ring to someone who is drowning. Yes. If someone is drowning, you’re going to do whatever you can to, to rescue that person. Especially if, if you, you love that.

 

Josh Wagner (17:03):

Yes. And, and if someone’s drowning, what good does the loaf of bread that you throw them? Do?

 

Daniel King (17:09):

W what good. Does there have a snack? Yeah. What good does this, does this

 

Josh Wagner (17:14):

Coach or this new shirt do, I’m not trying to be little, the importance of meeting people’s physical needs, but when, in comparison to their spiritual needs, they are insignificant because a drowning person doesn’t need a snack and he doesn’t need a drink and he doesn’t need clean water or new clothes. He needs the gospel of Jesus Christ, because that is what will, that is the only thing that can save me.

 

Daniel King (17:36):

He doesn’t need a boost to his self esteem. I saw a picture one time with someone drowning and someone just comes and gives them five and say, Hey man, you’re a great person. And that’s not what they need. If they’re dying and going to hell, they don’t need just a boost to their self esteem or personal motivation. They need to be.

 

Josh Wagner (17:56):

And a person who’s drowning, we should not be concerned. Well, I wonder if I try to throw them this lifeline, are they going to get offended? Because I threw him a yellow lifeline rather than a blue lifeline? Or are they going to be thinking, Oh, well, you know, you should have had somebody else tell it to me or throw it to be in a nicer way. We don’t, we don’t consider those things. We just see that somebody is dying and we need to share the gospel with them. The gospel by its very nature is at times going to offend people. The Bible says that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. And so we should not be so concerned about, well, if I say this truth, is it going to offend somebody? Is it going to step on somebody’s toes? People are drowning. We don’t have time to be concerned about how it may affect their feelings. Always. We just need to give them the good news of the gospel.

 

Daniel King (18:43):

You’ve shared a bunch of motivations for evangelism today. And so which one of these motivations most motivates you personally?

 

Josh Wagner (18:53):

I would say that it would be my love for Christ. You know, I try daily to, you know, love Jesus and to serve him. And I think about how he has saved me. I could spend my whole life thanking him and doing everything I can for what he did for me. And it would not be enough. I’ll spend all of eternity doing that and it still won’t be enough because he saved us from our sins. He saved us from how and as a, an appropriate Thanksgiving for what he’s done. And my love for him. I want to tell people about Jesus and in, so doing, I believe that when Jesus sees me witnessing, I believe that he’s in heaven and he is looking down on me with such you know, pride thankful. And, and just to one day, hear those words well done. Good and faithful servant. If we live a life fulfilling the great commission, I believe we will hear those words.

 

Daniel King (19:46):

I love the verse in Matthew 10, eight that says freely, you have received now freely give. So thank God that I’m saved what a tremendous blessing by the grace of God that God has saved me. Amen. And now it is my privilege to go and to tell others

 

Josh Wagner (20:05):

That’s right. Exactly. Exactly. Thanks for being with us, Josh. Thank you.

 

Description: 

It has been said that Christianity in East Africa is a mile wide and an inch deep. On today’s podcast, I talk to Vidar Ligard about how to effectively disciple people in Africa using long-term strategies instead of quick band-aid fixes. 

 

Website: www.safarimission.org 

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

Show Notes: 

How did you get started in the ministry? 

You focus on East Africa. What nations are considered East Africa? 

In your promotional video it says that Christianity in East Africa is a mile wide and an inch deep, what do you mean by that and how are you fixing the problem?  

You focus on long-term strategies instead of quick band-aid fixes, how do you do that? 

How many students have graduated from your Bible school? 

What is your ministry doing to evangelize in East Africa? What do you think are the best long-term strategies for evangelism? 

How are you training pastors and leaders in East Africa? 

Goma, Congo – The city where Daniel & Jessica met. 

Kisumu, Kenya – Jessica King lived here for one year. 

Kahama, Tanzania – Daniel is going in November. 

Nairobi is Kenya’s capital city. It has a population of 4.397 million. Kenya has a population of 51.39 million. 

Quote from VIdar Ligard: You may have heard it said, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” What would happen if you taught a leader in his or her community to fish? You have just impacted many lives by investing in one. That is the heart and the vision at the core of Safari Mission. Training leaders in godly principles, which address every aspect of life—work ethics, financial wisdom, family dynamics, leadership skills, civic duties—is the essence of Safari Mission.

Transcription 

Daniel King (00:00):

It has been said that Christianity in East Africa is a mile wide, but only an inch deep on today’s podcast. I talked to my guest about how to effectively disciple people in Africa using longterm strategies instead of quick bandaid fixes

 

Intro (00:21):

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

 

Daniel King (00:57):

Welcome. Welcome. Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I am with a missionary to East Africa. He graduated from Ramo and or Roberts university here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and has been planting Ramo Bible schools in East Africa. His name is Vidar Lee guard. Did I say that right? You got it, Daniel. Great. Great to be on here with you. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. He is ministry is called Safari mission. And tell me, how did you get started in the ministry? Great question. We started in 1999, I took a missions trip to East Africa. I’d always been wanting to do some work in Africa came to Kenya and spent quite some time just observing what ministries had overdid, done, what the needs were. And that took us several years. We did some teaching in churches with it, some pastor seminars.

 

Vidar Ligard (02:03):

And after a while we realized there’s a huge need here for, for training of ministers. And so we focused on that since 2006. Now your, your accent says you’re not from America. Where are you from originally Norway? Via Oklahoma to, to East Africa. So is your, is your wife from Norway as well? My wife and I are both from Norway. So how did you end up here in Tulsa, Oklahoma? Well, Tulsa, Oklahoma, for many as known as the buckle of the Bible belt. And so you know, there’s a lot of reputable ministries in Tulsa or Roberts university, Tia laws born Kenneth egg and many others since we’re very blessed here. We’ve had some great men and women of God that have lived here in Tulsa. Yeah, absolutely. So, so you came from Norway here to Tulsa. Did you come to go to Bible school? I came for training. I actually came for high school. It was a foreign exchange student at victory Christian school with Billy Joe at the time. That’s

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:00):

Where my kids go to school. So

 

Vidar Ligard (03:02):

Yeah, great school. That’s right. And so continued training and Tulsa. And then when we were done with training, that’s when we launched out in, in Africa with Safari mission,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:11):

You went from Norway to Tulsa now in East Africa. And in your focus now is on East Africa. So what nations are considered East Africa?

 

Vidar Ligard (03:23):

It depends a little on your definition, but Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania is always included. Rwanda Burundi, South Sudan. Somalia would be some other nations in the area. Ethiopia be included. Yes. Depending on, is it East Africa or Eastern Africa? There’s a technical difference there. So just how wide do you want the,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:46):

So you, you lived in Kenya for a while. What, what city did you live in?

 

Vidar Ligard (03:52):

I have lived in Kisumu, which is on Lake Victoria. We’ve spent some time in Mombasa, which is on the ocean and we’ve also lived in Nairobi.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:01):

Okay. So my wife, Jessica actually lived in Kasuma for a whole year. Before we got married, she was a missionary and she lived in several different countries. She was in India for two years in Nepal for a year, Papa new Guinea for a year, and then in consumer. So she loves cause sumu loves the people there. And Jessica and I actually met in East Africa in Goma. Congo. Have you ever been

 

Vidar Ligard (04:27):

Goma? I have not been to gomban to Eastern Congo, but Goma is on the radar for us.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:32):

A Goma is right there on the border with Rwanda and Congo and it’s it’s a great city. You should go. Yeah,

 

Vidar Ligard (04:39):

A lot of need there. It’s on the plan for 2021 for us. So outstanding. Wonderful.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:45):

And so tell me about your, your work that you do there and East Africa and what your focus is.

 

Vidar Ligard (04:52):

Sure. It’s, it’s a training of leaders is really what we do. And so this is evangelism podcast. We train evangelists, but also other ministers pastors. And then we do the training of a lot of community leaders entrepreneurs police officers various government officials, anybody with any kind of leadership aspirations in the community. We involve them in our training program.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:17):

And you have several Bible schools in different places. Where are your Bible?

 

Vidar Ligard (05:23):

Well, we started out rural so we have a good number of rural locations. One is on the border to Somalia other rural occasions, some towns. And now we’re also in Nairobi in the middle of the business district of Nairobi. So we were both ends of the spectrum, so to speak.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:41):

And so when you say your, your training leaders, are those people who are coming to the Bible school or are you doing training sessions for policemen or training sessions for the different?

 

Vidar Ligard (05:55):

We have done both. The police, the, the administrative police in Kenya, which is more of a military type police. They actually came to us the chief chaplain of the entire, that division of the police came to us and said, Hey can you help with the spiritual training for our chaplains? And so that’s been a program that we have tailored for the police chaplains in the country and help train them. And then we have all their civilian campuses, if you will where people all different walks of life, they come to us and we help train them.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:28):

So over the years, how many students have

 

Vidar Ligard (06:32):

Weighted from your Bible schools? It’s in the ballpark of a four 50 to 500 that we have brought through it. And then we have a two year program.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:40):

And many of them have now launched out into full time ministry and are planting churches doing evangelism, that type of thing. Yes. We have about

 

Vidar Ligard (06:50):

380 churches in Kenya where we have trained up the senior leadership in those churches.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:55):

That’s tremendous. So I watched your promotional video and it says that one of the problems that you’re addressing is that Christianity in East Africa is a mile wide and an inch deep. So what do you mean by that and how are you fixing the problem?

 

Vidar Ligard (07:15):

Well, that’s, that’s a common saying that there is another, I don’t know if you’d call it controversial necessarily, but there’s a saying in Nairobi in particular, that Nairobi has almost been crusaded to death. Meaning there’s, there’s been so much evangelism in certain cities in Africa. Typically

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:35):

They go to Kenya, they stay in Nairobi. Yes. In Kenya is much bigger than just the capital city,

 

Vidar Ligard (07:42):

Right? So the, you know, the cities is where you can find comfort. So it’s easier to bring a missions team and, and, and that type of a thing. Well, there’s been a lack of discipleship. And so in the big cities where there’s been a lot of evangelism, there hasn’t necessarily been a lot of churches for these new commerce to plug into. And a lot of the churches have modeled their churches according to how mass evangelism has done. So they’re trying to do a crusade every single Sunday, which doesn’t necessarily produce spiritual growth. And so it’s, it’s, it’s a situation where the evangelism evangelists and, and the teachers and the pastors have not always been working together. Now, if you go out in the countryside, it’s, it’s different. There, there are huge needs for mass evangelism out in rural Africa.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:35):

And so tell me about what your, your ministry is doing to, to deepen Christianity in East Africa.

 

Vidar Ligard (08:45):

Yeah, so it’s, it’s a, you know, a two year training program where we go through spiritual formation discipleship, how to grow spiritually to lay the more of the ethical foundation is part of it. Also. sometimes we forget when we come from the Western world that, you know, the Western world is built on a Judea Christian worldview. So somebody gets saved in the Western world. They already know about lying and stealing, and they’ve heard a 10 commandments and grew up with it, even if they didn’t grow up in church. Well, in a place where its society is not built in Judea Christian worldview, you have to spend a lot more time building that worldview into people. It doesn’t come by just three hours in a new believers class, it takes a lot more than that. So, so we take the leaders through a curriculum, and then the, the idea there is that these leaders then turn around and train whoever they are over.

 

Vidar Ligard (09:44):

If it’s a chaplain in the police, they have helped train a lot of police officers, a pastor in the church would of course, train pastors, a business person of course impacts employees, which impacts families and that type of thing. So if someone gets saved, how long do you think the discipleship process takes before they start to be able to lead others and become a mature believer? Well, I think there are two different ways. You can answer it one way to answer that is that a discipleship never ends. We’re all growing. Even a mature Christian is, is still growing. That is true. I’m still a disciple of Jesus. Exactly. And every day at the other hand, you know, you don’t have to be saved for two years before you start leading other people to Christ. But I think, you know, if you look at Paul and how he dealt with the Corinthian church, and he says, for, by this time you ought to be teachers. And you’re looking at two or three years time period where somebody ought to be pretty stable and pretty mature. If, if trained and proper growth opportunities have been given, what do you feel is your primary spiritual gifting?

 

Daniel King (11:02):

It’s a good question. I’m called to be an evangelist. I, I I’ve known I was called to be an evangelist ever since I was very young and been pursuing that. And of course, God gives different gifts to the body of Christ and all the gifts are needed. What would you say is your primary area of gifting?

 

Speaker 4 (11:19):

I think I’m teaching

 

Vidar Ligard (11:22):

Mentoring pioneer work. Some people call that an apostle. I don’t know that I necessarily use that label myself because it’s got so many different connotations to it. So usually when people call themselves an apostle, they rarely are, but usually in order to be an apostle, other people put that label on you. Yeah. So it’s, it’s, you know, we, we go in and we establish works. We mentor people to help them establish works. So let me use that descriptions instead. And then we do a lot of teaching. Mentoring is not really a biblical term, but apostle is, I think it’s mentioned 83 times in the new Testament. Yeah. Yeah. Mentorship. I never found it in the new King James version. Well, you have teacher teacher there, so yeah. Yeah. So talk to me about evangelism. What is your ministry doing to evangelize in East Africa?

 

Vidar Ligard (12:20):

And what do you think are the best longterm strategies for evangelism? There, there are so many different types of evangelism. You have massive Angeles with crusade, or you can, you know, evangelize using a TV program where you’re reaching the masses, but you’re not necessarily building a personal relationship with people. And that works very effectively in areas where the gospel is not very well known. You’ve got healing evangelism where you incorporate miracles and that type of thing in, in mass evangelism. And again, very effective where there hasn’t been a lot of church growth. But we find that personal evangelism training church members to reach their neighbors is much more effective where there’s already been a lot of crusade evangelism. So I think it’s a, it’s all of it. Even though I’m not necessarily an evangelist myself, we help train. And Paul even told Timothy do to work on an evangelist, even though he wasn’t necessarily an evangelist himself we all have a part to play in evangelism.

 

Vidar Ligard (13:26):

And so we’re very mindful of that. And we have a lot of great, great reports from the people that we train, who do go out personal evangelism, pastors that have great evangelistic programs in their churches. And we have graduates that do mass evangelism as well. How do you coach evangelists? Well, it’s, it’s difficult to duplicate myself and produce an evangelist like that when I’m not one myself. So one of the best ways we do it is the instructors that we have in the school teaching evangelism class. We make sure that they have results in that area. And that’s, that’s how we find instructors. We will look for people with results, not just people with some theoretical knowledge of how it ought to be done, or it could be done or should be done. So we do that for every class. If it’s family class, it better be somebody who’s got a good reputation for a good family life at home. That person is qualified for the best person to teach. The family class is not the person that’s been married seven times. They’re, they’re very experienced, but maybe they’re not the best one to teach that might be experienced in the part of the process. But yeah, no, you look for people who are successful and then you, you you work with them and help, you know, have them train certain aspects of what you’re trying to instill into students. So in your, your Bible schools, would you do a whole class or a series of classes on evangelism?

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:52):

Yeah. Weaning them in evangelism. Yeah.

 

Vidar Ligard (14:54):

We have a couple of classes on evangelism. One of them is where students actually have to do well. The one class they have to do personal evangelism and the other class, there’s a massive anilism that they actually have to go out and do some of it by so we teach by preset and by example, and by practical work that that students have to do

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:16):

When I teach classes on personal evangelism, a big part of the passing grade is if they actually go out and tell someone about Jesus, I require them to actually go out and evangelize. Otherwise it’s just theory,

 

Vidar Ligard (15:31):

Where does same way in, in our classes, you have to actually have a log of who did you talk to?

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:38):

That’s great. That’s tremendous. Yeah. Now you’ve heard, it said, give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed them for a lifetime, but I get the sense that in your ministry, you’re trying to teach people how to go fishing. And so talk to me about how that process works and in how you empower people

 

Vidar Ligard (16:04):

To start too

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:07):

Feed themselves, rather than just going, just, just asking for someone else to feed them.

 

Vidar Ligard (16:12):

So let me just give you a very practical example of that. Children’s ministry has an area that is often neglected many places. And so we brought people from overseas and bring them in to train children’s ministry. And we tell them, leave all your toys and gadgets at home, which is very hard for somebody to do when they’re coming on the, on a missions trip, because you want to give all these kids the best that you have and give them a wonderful experience and so forth. And that’s that’s okay. But the problem with that is that if you bring a lot of toys from the United States

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:51):

About the puppets, the little magic tricks, the exactly, exactly. All that fancy stuff.

 

Vidar Ligard (16:58):

We tell the people to leave it at home because we are not looking for a group of people coming from the United States to give the kids a great one time experience. We’re looking for people to come and give the kids an experience that the locals are able to duplicate, which you can’t do. If you’re bringing in, you know, toys with price tags, that they can’t buy themselves. So we go in and say, Hey, you know, pencils, maybe crayons, maybe paper that’s available in country in any church can do that. So we required them to stick with materials that are available to locals and the budgets that they have to work with. And then we say, now create the children’s experience in this church that the children’s workers in that church can duplicate. And what we see then that multiple churches come together. Sometimes it’s, children’s ministers from 30 different churches, and they’re given an example that they go, Oh, I can do this.

 

Vidar Ligard (17:59):

Then they go back to the 30 churches and actually start implementing changes in the children’s ministry. And we find that longterm it’s so much more effective than to bring in the whatever toys we’re bringing in from the United States. That’s a tremendous illustration. That’s wonderful too, to really empower local believers, to do what you’re doing. If it can’t be duplicated, then they’re just sitting and watching a show. Yeah. And I think that’s, what’s been done with so much of the missions work that we see overseas. It’s, it’s done in such a way. It’s, it’s got a great wow factor, but it’s not always duplicatable. And so you end up with all these churches that are looking for just another missionaries that will help feed them another fish. Well, thank you so much for being on the podcast. I appreciate it. Thanks for having man

 

Ending (18:51):

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

Description: Evangelist Bernie Moore has been doing large evangelistic crusades in many countries including recently in northern Uganda. On today’s podcast, you will hear about how he received his call to be an evangelist and about his passion for souls. 

Website: https://berniemooreministries.com/ 

Show Notes: 

Hear the story of how Bernie’s mother prophesied he would be an evangelist when he was eight years old. 

Discover how evangelists Billy Graham and Jessie DuPlantis influenced Bernie Moore. 

You will be amazed at the story of one the greatest miracles Bernie has ever witnessed. 

What were the top four lessons Bernie Moore learned from Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke? 

Key Quotes:

Whether you are eight years old, or eighty years old, or anywhere in between, God loves you. 

Eternity is long time to spend without Jesus. 

If you are called to be an evangelist, stay on your knees. 

 

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

Transcription: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

Description: The best sermons for the evangelist to preach come straight from the stories about the life of Jesus. Today, Daniel King and Kevin Wagner talk about their favorite healing stories from the Gospels. Discover why these healing stories can become such powerful messages. 

Show Notes: 

These are the healed stories we discuss: 

The Paralyzed Man in Mark 2 

The Healing of the Leper in Matthew 8 

The Woman with the Issue of Blood in Mark 5 

The Healing of Peter’s Mother-in-Law in Matthew 8:14-15 

 

The Evangelism Podcast Interviews Kevin Wagner

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

Welcome I’m with my good friend, dr. Kevin Wagner, once again, talking about evangelism and I want to say welcome. Thank you so much for joining us today.

 

Kevin Wagner (00:12):

It’s great to be here, dr. Daniel. It’s always good to talk about the things of God, especially with a good friend like you

 

Daniel King (00:18):

Now on today’s broadcast, we’re going to talk about the healing miracles of Jesus and how evangelists can use those healing stories as sermon outlines. And so often when we go preach overseas, we are wanting to point people to Jesus. And one of the best ways to do that is to tell the stories of what Jesus did in the gospels. And so I figured today we’ll pick four of our favorite messages from the healing stories of Jesus and just talk about them and look at some of the points that we like to make when we preach about. So I’ll let you go first. What is one of your favorite stories of Jesus to tell when you’re preaching in a crusade, dr. Wagner, such a hard

 

Kevin Wagner (01:08):

It’s like asking, which is your favorite child, you know, well, maybe not quite that hard, but I mean the, the correct answer for me is which is a fairly healing story, all of them, but I know for the purpose of this podcast, we’ll narrow it down to one or two. One of the serve, the stories that I have preached about a lot at our crusades is a story of Jesus healing, the paralyzed man in Mark chapter two, a good one while it’s a great one. It’s an exciting one where the man is lowered down on ropes by his four friends laying on a mat. They dug through the roof because the people were crowding around Jesus and Capernum, and suddenly at the feet of Jesus, this man is placed. And then Jesus asks a question there. He says so the religious leaders, he’s asking the question really to everyone, but as, especially a perk their attention, he says, which is easier to say to this man, your sins are forgiven or to say, get up, take your mat and walk.

 

Kevin Wagner (02:09):

This is Matthew Mark two, pardon me? Verse nine. And then he says, but that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralytic, I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home. And the point that I’m making there is, or that I believe one of the points that Jesus is making there is that for Jesus, it was as easy for him to forgive the man’s sins as it was to heal his parallel paralysis. And because it was that easy for Jesus, really, it should be as easy for us to why, because Jesus Christ deputized us as his authority is on earth to do both of those things, to bring both forgiveness and healing to people. And so when we look at this story, it’s a great example of the model that we use for our crusades globally, dr. Daniel where we say, if we have a slogan, here’s what we say. We say, Jesus saves Jesus heals, four words that describe in large part, the ministry of what Jesus did.

 

Daniel King (03:16):

Jesus saves Jesus heals. And both of those can be found in this passage.

 

Kevin Wagner (03:20):

Both of them can be found in this passage. It’s absolutely clear. You have other passages in scripture that talk about this relationship between forgiveness and healing.

 

Daniel King (03:29):

All my favorites is Psalms one Oh three verses three, which says, he’s the God who forgives all of our sins and who heals all of our diseases. And so many times in scripture, you see where healing and forgiveness are linked together. They’re like two sides of the same coin.

 

Kevin Wagner (03:45):

You’ve got Isaiah 53 F first Peter two, you’ve got James chapter five. You’ve got all these scriptures that talk about salvation and healing. Be something, something that Jesus, his blood was sufficient to deal with on his way to Calvary. And then on Calvary, when he was whipped before he went to the cross, those stripes in his back are what heals our diseases and keeps her bodies strong. And then when he was pierced with the five wounds on the cross, the blood that shed from those wounds, of course, the most precious substance in the universe, the only thing that can forgive our sin.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:23):

And so you would preach on this paralyzed man who has his sins forgiven by Jesus, and then he’s healed. He stands up and walks, and then you would give an altar call to invite people, to ask Jesus for forgiveness of sins. And then you would also pray for the sick.

 

Kevin Wagner (04:44):

Yeah. First salvation is always preeminent. Of course, that’s the prime focus of all of our crusades, because, well, why, because it’s, it’s it’s, it’s what it counts for eternity. You know, you need, you can, you could die with a healthy body, but if you’re not saved redeemed by Jesus blood, then you know, you don’t go to heaven. You go to hell. So you need to make sure that that

 

Daniel King (05:05):

The priority to the greatest miracle is salvation.

 

Kevin Wagner (05:08):

It is obviously it is. And because that’s what counts for eternity, that’s the biggest emphasis. But having said that, Jesus also healed many people. Why? Because of his compassion, because he wanted them to be strong and healthy and earth to carry out the great commission, but also as assigned to the, the onlookers that he, something God like was going on here, God was doing something here. This got their attention. You know, we read about in acts chapter eight when Philip the evangelist is preaching as Samaria. It says when the people saw and observed the signs and miracles that he did, they paid what? Close attention to what he said. And so the signs and the miracles and the wonders and the healings, those are things that often get attention, the attention of people to have them listen carefully to your message of salvation. I, the other thing too, in this passage, that’s so interesting to me is that the religious leaders, they said, they asked this question.

 

Kevin Wagner (06:02):

They said, they’re mad at Jesus for set, talking about forgiving. This man says, because what did they say? They said, who can forgive sins, but God alone. And we look at that. We say, Oh, that’s a Ferris. He’s in the scribes. In the Sadducees talking, they must’ve been, you know, that was a bunch of malarkey. Actually. It wasn’t, you know what they were absolutely right. Only God can forgive sins. But the message of this story is that Jesus could say that his sins were forgiven. Why? Because he was not just a man. He was also all mighty God. And that’s a powerful thing. His ability to heal the sick and forgive sins was an exact, it was a repudiation of their idea that Jesus was not divine. So they were right. Only God can forgive sins, but Jesus can because he’s,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:55):

Yeah, they were also wrong because they failed to recognize that Jesus is the God that, that they were looking for. And today some religious leaders say the same thing in, in some religions of the world, they say, Jesus was a man. He was a prophet. He was a teacher, but they say he wasn’t God. And so this is a way to, to show that he’s God and say today, some religious leaders say the same thing. They say that Jesus is not God, but Jesus proved that he’s God by forgiving this man since. And what a, what a great story. Now I’ve actually preached on the paralyzed man, hundreds of times in my ministry. But did you know, I’ve never preached it from Mark chapter two. Wow. I always preach it from Matthew chapter nine. And let me tell you why. When, when I was going to ORU, I did an exercise in Greek class where we had to compare the stories in the different synoptic gospels.

 

Daniel King (07:58):

So we looked at in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and this story is found in all three and each gospel has something unique about it. So Mark is the only one that has a Mark and Luke are the, both have the man coming down through the roof. Now, now Luke, the uniqueness in, in Luke is that he says that the power of the Lord was present to heal. And so he specifically emphasizes the power of God. That that is a unique Luke and theme. But Matthew includes one detail that I really love. And I preach from Matthew chapter nine. And this is what Jesus says in Matthew nine, verse two, he says to the man take heart son or be encouraged. So Mark and Luke don’t have that phrase take heart. Wow. And only, only Matthew. He was, he was probably sitting there as he had been a tax collector.

 

Daniel King (08:58):

So he was probably taking notes. So he he’s the one who said, Oh, Jesus said, take heart. Now, the reason I preach from that, because I talk about how Jesus encouraged the man first. Yeah. Then he forgave his sins and then he healed the man’s body. And so Jesus wants to heal you emotionally. Jesus wants to heal you spiritually. And Jesus wants to heal you physically. And so Jesus brings complete healing, spirit, mind, and body to this man. And Matthew is the only one who records that specific detail. So that’s why I always preach it out. Matthew is such a beautiful way of putting it. Yeah. So, all right. Second story that I love to preach on. Now that we’re over in Matthew, I like Matthew chapter eight, verse two, it says a man with leprosy came and knelt before Jesus and said, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.

 

Daniel King (09:52):

Jesus reached out his hand, touch the man I am willing. He said, be clean. And then immediately he was cured of his leprosy. And so leprosy was a very horrible disease that caused your, your fingers to fall off your face, to become disfigured. And it was highly contagious. And so when this man caught leprosy, he became the lonely leper. No one wanted to touch him. Even his own mother didn’t want to touch him. He was kicked out of his village, kicked out of his family. And so he’s a lonely leper, no one touching him, but he comes to Jesus. He hears about how Jesus can heal the sick. And so he comes down and kneels down in front of Jesus. And he has this question, Lord, are you willing to heal me and Jesus? He says, yes, I am willing. And many people today are asking the same question.

 

Daniel King (10:41):

Even Christian religious leaders in different countries are asking is God willing to heal today? And I think the answer that Jesus gave to this leper reverberates across the centuries and answers the same question today. If we say God, are you willing to heal me? He says, yes, I am willing. So Jesus is willing to heal. He was willing to heal this leper and he’s willing to heal people today who are sick. And what’s really interesting is Jesus reached out his hand and touch the man. Can you imagine he was lonely? No one wanted to touch him because of this contagious disease. And Jesus reaches out his hand and touches the man. And right now Jesus is reaching out to touch you. If you’re sick, if you need healing, Jesus reaches out his hand to touch you right now. Just reach up your hand to heaven and touch him. Your arm might be short, but his arm is long. He’s reaching out, touch Jesus now and receive your miracle. So I liked the leper. I love that. I called them

 

Speaker 3 (11:46):

His eternal. I will. Jesus is eternal. I will

 

Daniel King (11:52):

The Bible says that Jesus Christ the same yesterday,

 

Kevin Wagner (11:54):

Today and forever. He never changes. And so what Jesus willed then he wills today.

 

Daniel King (11:59):

Yeah. Hebrews 13, eight. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Sometimes we’ll even put that verse on a banner behind the platform that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. The same way he healed 2000 years ago when he walked this earth, he is still healing today. Alright. So what is your second favorite healing scripture?

 

Kevin Wagner (12:26):

Well, one of one of the other healing scriptures that I use a lot when I’m preaching is a story in Mark chapter five of the woman with the issue of blood. It said that she had been here, been subject to bleeding for 12 years. And you know what, dr. Daniel, the reason why I preach a lot of my miracles from Mark is because years ago I memorized the entire gospel of Mark word for word, it’s got over 700 verses I believe, or something around 700. And so I was just, I mean, I, I quote through it at least once a week. And so I quote through these stories myself, even though I memorize it years later, I still do it. And so these words are kind of like, I just rattled them off. And so in this story of the woman who was had the flow of blood, the first thing I think that’s really interesting in this is that the story is goes like this, that Jesus is in a crowd with a ton of people, like just everyone’s pressing around him.

 

Kevin Wagner (13:23):

And so that he can hardly even move forward. And in the midst of this crowd, here’s his woman who had been sick for a long time and she actually gets near him. And so you might wonder, well, how could a woman like that get so close to Jesus in a crowd like that? Well, it’s because this woman would have been considered unclean because of her flow of blood. And so guess what, when people in the town saw her coming, she was like a modern day pariah. She would have been someone that they backed away from. We don’t want to have anyone to do with anything to do with her. And so, because she was unclean, if they came in contact, whether they would be unclean too. And so they wanted to avoid her. So the, the it was kind of like probably the party of the red sea whenever she made her way up to Jesus. She could get close to him precisely

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:14):

Interesting, because I’ve always preached it and, and even acted it out where she’s like crawling on her hands and knees through people’s legs, like trying to reach Jesus, just trying to remain on notice. But, but you kind of imagine everyone is like, Oh, the unclean ladies coming and they kind of part part the way to let her through

 

Kevin Wagner (14:37):

It. It seems like, I think that would probably be how it had worked, because, you know, in those days, if someone was in contact with things that were unclean and they considered her unclean because of her flow of blood if that was the case, then people didn’t want it. Observant Jews in those days would not have wanted to get in contact with her because she would have been as untouchable as the leper that you just talked about and people, they, they sequestered and quarantined these lepers in different parts of the the, you know, the cities and towns, not just because they didn’t want to be contagious, but also because people didn’t want to have contact with them because when you’re in contact with something that’s unclean, like for example, a dead body in those days, then that made that person unclean and they had different restrictions they had to go through.

 

Daniel King (15:28):

And so verse 27, it says that she heard about Jesus. I think that’s so special that when you hear about Jesus, your life is going to change. And so she maybe heard about the paralyzed man who was healed and heard about the leper, who came to Jesus and was healed. And so she heard about Jesus, and then she comes up behind him in the crowd and she reaches out her hand and touches his cloak. And of course he was a rabbi. So he would have been wearing a rabbi’s cloak that has little tassels on the end, prayer tassels. And so she reaches out touches just the edge of her cloak. And it’s because she said to herself, if I just touch his clothes, I will be healed. And then it says immediately her bleeding stopped. And if you read the book of Mark, Mark is shorter than the other gospels. And he talks a lot about like immediately Jesus went to do this, and immediately he went to do that. He was a gospel writer who liked action. Yes. That’s very true. It’s fun.

 

Kevin Wagner (16:30):

All of action. And you know, that, that, here’s the thing. A lot of these countries that we go to, to preach in the people there, they have a very, a childlike faith, a wonderful childlike faith that Jesus commands just like this woman look at it. She says, if I just touch his clothes, I’ll be healed. There’s no questions about it. There’s no naturalistic explanation that she needs. She just, she’s in a state of desperation. And she truly believes and trusts that when, when that happens, she’s going to be healed. Now, when we go to these countries a lot of times, and you can attest to this, dr. Daniel, a lot of times, people over there, they really want to try to get close to us because they feel the same way. They feel like if they can just kind of touch us or something, get close to us and maybe the power of God can come onto them and impact their lives.

 

Kevin Wagner (17:23):

But this story is so powerful because look what Jesus says to her. And this is what I often preach at the crusade meetings. He says in verse 34, Mark, two verse Mark, five verse 34, he said to her daughter, your faith has healed you. And at that point in the crusade sermon, I’m going to say, you know what? He doesn’t say, he doesn’t say your hand has healed you. In other words, she he doesn’t commend her hand. It wasn’t her hand touching him that made her better because why there were tons of people touching Jesus. The Bible says they were oppressing around him. Many, many people were in contact with him that day, right?

 

Daniel King (18:13):

Jim, the disciples kind of laughing at Jesus because he stops and says, who touched me? And they’re like, Jesus, there’s lots of people here touching you. What do you mean? Who touched you? But she had something special. Her touch was a touch of faith.

 

Kevin Wagner (18:26):

That is exactly right. And that’s what I tell the people is crusade means you don’t have to touch me to be healed. You can be healed right now. When you trust Jesus to heal you the way that this woman did. And it’s a powerful, powerful reminder reminder, it’s really humbling for us as evangelists. It’s not like people have to touch us to be healed. No, it, the center of everything is always Jesus. It’s not us. And so for, because you know of all that crowd only, she was the one that Jesus knew power had gone out. Why? Just like you said, because she touched him in a special way. She touched him by her faith. She had simple childlike, faith and confidence and trust in Jesus has power to heal her.

 

Daniel King (19:07):

And so if you will touch Jesus and faith, yeah. You can receive a miracle. That that’s an awesome story. All right. The, the fourth story that I like is Peter’s, mother-in-law back in Matthew chapter eight, we’re kind of bouncing between Matthew over to Mark and back to Matthew again, but Matthew eight, verse 14. It says, when Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s, mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. And he touched her hand and the fever left her and she got up and began to wait on him. And I love this story because this is Peter’s mother-in-law, this is a very personal miracle. And you know, if your mother-in-law ain’t happy, ain’t no one in the house happy. And so she’s laying in bed, she’s sick with a fever and Jesus and all the disciples come and, and Jesus goes into her and touches her hand.

 

Daniel King (20:01):

He just reaches out his hand and touches her, which is special. That, that Jesus would touch someone and the fever leaves and like a good mother-in-law. She gets up and says, you guys are hungry, aren’t you? And she immediately begins cooking dinner for all the disciples. And, and you can see how pleased Peter must have been with this miracle because it’s one thing to go out on the field and see all the people being healed out there. The blind eyes are being open. Deaf ears are being open. The cripples are walking, but when it is your mother-in-law, this is a very personal miracle for Peter in this shows that Jesus cares for every single individual. That if you’re sick, Jesus cares for you. He loves for you. And Jesus is reaching out his hand to touch you right now. And if Jesus touches you, you can be completely made whole,

 

Kevin Wagner (20:57):

I preach a sermon on this story. It’s called first things first. And I see in this too, you know, the priority that Jesus had on people, Jesus jesus’ priority was always people. It was not pleasure. It was not getting fed. It was not getting watered. It was not having a place to lay down and rest. When he walked into Peter’s house. The first thing that they did was tell Jesus about his mother-in-law and Jesus did not wait to be waited on. He went straight to her because he had a heart of compassion that prioritized people. And that’s just such a beautiful thing to see. We have to be people as evangelists when we traveled to these places that you know, literally, no, there’s no reason in the natural for us to be there other than to bring Jesus to them. They’re not economic centers. They’re not business centers. They’re not tourist centers. They’re only, we’re only there for the people. And that really keeps our focus on ministry. I believe crystallized Jesus. His focus was always prioritizing people and sodas. Ours need to be

 

Daniel King (22:06):

That’s awesome. Well, dr. Kevin, there may be someone listening to the podcast right now who has been sick and needs a healing miracle. Could you finish up by, by praying for God’s healing power to touch our friend who’s listening right now.

 

Kevin Wagner (22:24):

Sure. Be happy to do that. Just honored and privileged. Lord Jesus. We just present to you, Lord God, whoever might need a special touch of healing right now in their own bodies. We present them to you before your throne of grace. I pray Lord God, that you would pour healing into their bodies, the way that you did in Bible days and the way that you continue to do now around the world, I speak against any spirit of infirmity right now that has been afflicting these people in the name of Jesus Christ. I break your hold off their bodies. I command you to go far from them right now and ask you Holy spirit to pour out your healing, power and virtue into the lives of these people, Lord, that they might have their symptoms removed and that they may have the deep recesses of their bodies. Lord cleanse of whatever has been afflicting and plaguing them. I thank you. Jesus said by your stripes, they are healed. Amen.

 

Daniel King (23:15):

Amen. Thank you very much.

 

Description: Imran Fazal & Mehwish Imran are evangelists from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. On today’s podcast, Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach, talks to them about what it is like to minister in Pakistan. If you want to go tell people about Jesus in Pakistan, listen to this episode.

Website: https://harvestgospelministries.org 

Show Notes: 

Imran Fazal & Mehwish Imran answer questions: 

What is ministry in Pakistan like? 

What type of food do people eat in Pakistan? 

What are the people of Pakistan like? 

What are the differences between American culture and Pakistani culture? 

What is the difference between a “love marriage” and an “arranged marriage?” 

Is there freedom for Christians to worship in Pakistan? 

What is a typical worship service in Pakistan like? 

How does your ministry start house churches in Pakistan? 

Is there any reason to be afraid for someone from the West to come to Pakistan? 

Bonus: Hear a beautiful Christian song in Urdu. 

Transcription 

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):

Welcome to the evangelism podcast. We are back with brother Imran, futsal, and his wife may wish. Thank you so much for joining me today. And man, there’s the Lord. Thank you so much, pastor Daniel King. So we are being blessed with you. And today we had a great time with you. You had a beautiful wife and we have wonderful time together. We give all glory to God. Let’s talk a little bit about the nation of Pakistan. You’re from Pakistan. Yes. And tell us a little bit about your nation. Praise the Lord. Pakistan is a great nation and we love Pakistan. And we are daily praying for Pakistan and God gave us a van for Pakistan to reach souls for the kingdom of God. And we love to see when people they came to Christ, give their heart to Jesus. And that moment is a wonderful moment. When people lift up their hand to heaven and we give all glory to God, praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. May wish. One of the questions that I am frequently asked when I traveled to another country is what did you eat while you’re there? So tell us some about the food in the nation of practice.

 

Speaker 2 (01:28):

God, the Pakistani food is really delicious food. So we have chicken Berea, Bonnie, and we have lamb. We eat beef as well. Lentils watch the rise. So the food of Pakistan is really,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:45):

And the good bud BQ, praise the Lord and good barbecue. So what’s your favorite food to eat? Our favorite food is chicken Briani and then when I went to Pakistan, they made special bread. It’s called roti. How they make roti.

 

Speaker 2 (02:01):

They make a floor door and with a floor door, they make roti. And the good thing about Pakistan in our country, we’ve made three meals a day and we ate fresh meals three times.

 

Daniel King (02:14):

Wow. That’s a lot of work.

 

Speaker 2 (02:17):

Yeah. It is a lot of work. You are right.

 

Daniel King (02:19):

And do your children like your cooking?

 

Speaker 2 (02:22):

Yeah. My kids love my cooking whenever I cook. Oh my God. They’ll say, Oh mom, this is so delicious. We love what you made.

 

Daniel King (02:29):

Wow. And tell us some about the culture in the people of Pakistan. The culture there is very different than

 

Speaker 2 (02:38):

Oh, very loving people are very loving and kind and respect one another. And we really had a good culture or there praise God for that.

 

Daniel King (02:47):

W what do you see are some of the differences in culture between the United States and Pakistan

 

Speaker 2 (02:55):

In Pakistan? We really have a family culture, people together, people, you know, whenever there is some thanks people. If somebody is sick or some problem everybody’s gathered so quickly, it’s not like that you are alone sitting in your home and nobody’s there to see you. So people care one another, a lot.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:14):

That’s such a wonderful part of, of culture. And also marriage happens differently in your culture. How do people typically get married?

 

Speaker 2 (03:26):

Now our culture is a little bit getting changed. People are doing love marriages as well, but still to do a love marriage. You still need to have a permission from your families, your family of the family say, okay, then you are able to do that. And mostly many people that do arranged marriages as well, but praise God in our country, the marriages are really good. People are fateful. And we believe in just one. Marriage and Noam are most like, it’s not like that. So many people come and go and you decide that you are sure that this is the one or not. So it’s not like that.

 

Daniel King (03:59):

Talk about Christianity in the nation of Pakistan. The majority in Pakistan are Muslims and follow the yeah.

 

Speaker 2 (04:10):

Sarah country name is also Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

 

Daniel King (04:13):

And how, what percentage is Chris

 

Speaker 2 (04:16):

Officially? It says that there is 3%, but praise God, what we are facing and what we are seeing, many people are giving their heart to Jesus Christ. So we give glory to God.

 

Daniel King (04:27):

W and is there freedom for Christians as they live in Pakistan,

 

Speaker 2 (04:31):

Some problems as well, but praise God that we can freely worship the God. So we give glory to God as compared to we see in other countries that in other countries you can do really big campaigns and all that stuff. If you look at Malaysia or other countries, so praise God, we still have a freedom to preach and to worship our God. Yes, there are some persecution. There are some problems exist, but praise God, we have freedom as well.

 

Daniel King (04:56):

So you have freedom to practice your faith. And there are churches in, in Pakistan. Tell us some about a typical worship service in Pakistan,

 

Speaker 2 (05:08):

A typical worship. So express God that we begin with a prayer, some worship songs, and then afterwards the Soman and afterwards again, a song and worship. So praise God,

 

Daniel King (05:20):

Can you sing a little song for us? Do you sing the song? Sing, sing, sing a song in Urdu for us. Yeah,

 

Speaker 2 (05:37):

[Inaudible] [inaudible], [inaudible], [inaudible] made us in who

 

Daniel King (06:06):

Now what the translation is

 

Speaker 2 (06:08):

That my Jesus Christ is living forever with me. And he’s saying that do not worry. So when my Jesus is with me, why I will be worrying? Well, I will be living under fear. He is with me. So I do not need to be worried. I do not need to be afraid or fearful.

 

Daniel King (06:25):

Now you have lots of home churches, yes. That you helped to pastor T tell me about the home churches, praise the Lord. We have planted a lot of hosts judges and offer after the prayer festival, when people came to Christ and then we change people and sending them to the host churches and also local churches as well. So pastures that chain and send them to a different part. So we give all glory to God. So this is like all the work, the Holy spirit is doing the Jesus, the Holy spirit. He did all the work. So we make, this is for his grace. He use us for his glory, praise God. So when people come to the prayer festival, then they, they cry out to Jesus and Jesus forgives their sins. And then you invite them to one of the houses in their neighborhood. And they join a house church and, and, and tell us how long it takes them to disciple the people who have cried out to Jesus.

 

Speaker 2 (07:38):

So we sent back and forth. Our pastor steams, we do free Bible distribution as well. And our pastor esteem. Yes. So it took time as well. And we provide a pastor local pastor in those areas so that they can help them build and develop.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:54):

Do you have a systematic plan for helping people to grow in Christ? Tell me some about the plan and what you do.

 

Speaker 2 (08:02):

Praise the Lord. As they tell you that we send individual teams, they set with them. They share the word of God with them, pray with them, and you tell them how they can grow one to one. So I don’t think so. There is much better thing than to one to one counseling and leading them people,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:18):

Each one, each one. So each one reach one. So, so after the festival is over, then one by one teams will go and meet with people and talk with people. Yes. Wow. That’s so beautiful. It’s so amazing to see how God works in every culture and every place and every country, God works and, and ministers did it. The needs of the people. And what type of, of miracles have you seen over the longterm? In, in these lives?

 

Speaker 2 (08:51):

We have seen that their, her life has been changed. They have a trust start trusting on God. God has blessing them financially, physically healing. So we solve a miracle working. God, nothing is impossible before him. So whatever need people have, God is there to help.

 

Daniel King (09:06):

Yeah. And the thing we encouraging people. So this is not matter before leg Jesus. So you are, your life is in like a 30 year. You are in sin 20 year, 10 year, the single moment he will change your whole life. If you are in problem. Same. Like if we see so many miracle in the Bible, like 38 year, like the blend blind man, and also the one lady, she had a shoe of the blood lasted 12 year. But when they believe on him and when the, like a trust on him. So this is like the single moment he changed your whole life. Wow. That’s tremendous. What a tremendous miracle God does in the lives of people. So tell me, what advice would you give to someone who’s coming to Pakistan for the first time? What would you tell them? In order to prepare them to come to Pakistan

 

Speaker 2 (10:12):

Is the largest. Listen, what the Holy spirit is saying to you. The not be afraid to not be fearful. The one who is sending you is with you. And he has a better plan for you. If God has a plan for you that you want to use you in Pakistan, he will definitely use you if you are running from that plan. Anyhow, whatever time God is, he is going to bring you there.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:32):

And man, I mean, and right now, if you are evangelist, if you are a pastor, so we encourage you and God loves you. So we welcome you in Pakistan. Anytime you will be a part of [inaudible] and also harvest gospel, the church ministries of Pakistan, and we have art and we have passion to take the gospel to every home of Pakistan and also all around the word, praise the Lord, like sometimes from here in the United States, when people hear about Pakistan, they only hear the negative stories, stories of persecution, stories of danger, even stories of terrorism. Is there any reason for missionaries or for a Christian person to be afraid to come to Pakistan? Or if they come, will they be protected and taken care of?

 

Speaker 2 (11:29):

Aye, they come, we will make sure that they will be protected and taking care of PSAs media. You know, that they always show the other side of the picture, but there is another side of the picture, which is that God is really bringing revival and working in the nation of Pakistan. So take a step of faith and you need to come out from the safe zone. The moment you follow the cross, it’s not an easy path. God, who is with you. He’s your protector. First of all, that he’s the one who protect us. Other than that, when you will be coming to us, we will make sure to tear good care of you

 

Daniel King (12:02):

And praise God, Pakistani people. They are very caring, loving. And when you are there, so you have a great time with the us and with all the Pakistani Pakistani people, they are very loving and caring. We love Pakistan, Pakistan. Zindabad

 

Speaker 2 (12:23):

That’s me long, lived Pakistan

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:25):

Long live Pakistan. Well, thank you so much for being with me today. God bless you. God bless you too.

Description: It would be a horrible tragedy for an evangelist to lead millions of people to Jesus only to have one of his own children go to hell. God does not just call individuals, He calls the entire family. Learn how Dr. Kevin Wagner raised his four sons to love God while being a full time evangelist at the same time. On today’s podcast we talk to Dr. Kevin Wagner about how an evangelist can raise a godly family. 

Show Notes: 

Kevin Wagner answers the following questions: 

How did your whole family memorize entire books of the Bible? 

When did you give your sons the opportunity to preach their own crusade? 

What advice would you give to an evangelist with young children? 

What is the importance of having a daily devotional time with your children? 

Three pieces of advice from Kevin Wagner:

1. Be intentional to spend time with your children.

2. Allow your children to travel with you.

3. Give your children opportunities to minister.

Key Verse: Acts 21:8-9 “On the next day we who were Paul’s companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.” 

Key Verse #2: 1 Timothy 3:2-4 “Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,  not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.  He must manage his own family well…” 

Key Idea from Daniel King: It would be a tragedy to lead millions of people to Jesus and lose a member of your own family. 

Transcription: 

Daniel King (00:00):

Well, I have a very special guest today, dr. Kevin Wagner from Wagner ministries international. He is a great evangelist, but he also happens to be a great father. And so today we’re going to be talking about the evangelist and his family. Welcome dr. Kevin Wagner.

 

Kevin Wagner (00:20):

Thank you very much, dr. Daniel. It’s great to be on the show

 

Daniel King (00:24):

And we’re going to talk about families. It’s very important for evangelists to take their family into consideration. As they’re called to go around the world and preach the gospel, they also need to take care of their family. And so I think a great biblical example is Philip. The evangelist. He’s the only one in the entire Bible who was specifically called an evangelist. We find his story in acts chapter 21 when Luke and Paul stop. And Cesarea, it says in acts 21, verse eight, it says leaving the next day we reached Cesarea and stayed at the house of Philip, the evangelist, one of the seven. And he had four on married daughters who prophesied. So the city of Cesarea was built by Herod the great as a gift to Caesar in Rome. And it was a port city and of course, sailors are coming into Cesarea and sailors.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:29):

They cuss like sailors. They act like sailors. They’re sinful. There are remnants of, of pagan temples that are built they’re incest area. So this was a very sinful city, and I think that’s a great place for an evangelist to go and live. So Philip, the evangelist, he goes and lives in Cesarea and he’s got four on married daughters. They’re all virgins and they prophesied. So they’re working with him in the ministry and they’ve managed to keep themselves pure in a city where there is great sin. So dr. Kevin, you have four sons and they’re, they’ve all grown up loving God. What did you do as an evangelist to raise your family and keep them close to God?

 

Kevin Wagner (02:18):

It’s a great question, Daniel. You know, I I looked actually to fill up the evangelist when we start our ministry as an example. And then of course, the other modern day, men of God who have raised their families in my estimation very well. And I tried to learn from those examples. And I remember early on Billy Graham, the great evangelist, he said in response to the question, as someone asked him towards the end of his life, do you have any regrets? And he said this, he said, this one thing I remember he said, I wish I would have spent more time with my family when they were young. And that was, those are words that really impacted me as a, a young evangelist, just starting out. And so I really made my best effort to when I was not traveling to really be at home and present with the kids. In other words, not just at home, kind of doing work while I was at home and, and, and asking them to leave me alone to do some private work. But rather if I was at home,

 

Daniel King (03:24):

I’m guilty of that. Sometimes I was busy today until both of my kids. I’m, daddy’s busy, let me work. I mean, there are times

 

Kevin Wagner (03:34):

Times for that, but as much as possible, I always tried to, if I was not traveling, I would try to be present with them. And and that would be, that was I think, a big priority. So I think I kind of learned from Billy Graham that way. Cause it’s like, if that’s a regret that he had, I wanted to, you know, try to avoid that pitfall. I think

 

Daniel King (03:53):

Four sons. Tell us about your four sons. You’ve got Josh, you’ve got Jesse, you’ve got Daniel, Daniel and Luke. That’s right.

 

Kevin Wagner (04:02):

So I’ve got four sons and we so Josh, he works with me in our ministry. He’s a full time evangelist with Wagner ministries international. And we you know, we have a lot of the same skill set and, and we work together really well. Yeah.

 

Daniel King (04:21):

He goes and does crusades, same as you.

 

Kevin Wagner (04:24):

That is exactly right. In fact, we have never, since he was 18 years old, been together on the same crusade, we’ve only

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:32):

Always been separate. What you need is a father, son crusade, where you get to go. And, and, but of course the Bible does say if you’ve, Jesus said, if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the father, so, Oh, wow. Okay. So you’ve seen, you’ve seen dr. Kevin. Yeah. Well, you know, I’ve had a lot of it

 

Kevin Wagner (04:50):

Father, son crusades in the past because he was here was what, what I did when I w when the boys are growing up, is I because the places that we went were literally on the other side of the planet, there’s a huge time change. First of all, there’s a huge travel involved, which you understand dr. Daniel, cause you go to the same places, you know, it takes via planes, trains, and automobiles. It takes the better part of often two days to get to where we’re really going, the ultimate destination. And so that sort of travel is very grueling physically. It takes its toll on a body. And so I didn’t want to take my kids when they were too young. The other thing is because of something that I saw the planet, it’s a time change of, you know, really night as day and day is night.

 

Kevin Wagner (05:38):

It’s 10 to 12 hour time change in many cases. And so it’s really hard because you’re, you’re tired when you’re supposed to be fully awake, ministering, and then you’re really awake when you’re supposed to be tired in the middle of the night. So those things made it very clear to me that I wanted to wait until my boys were at least 13 years old or right around there to begin taking them along with me, even though they were eager to go even at a younger age. So all of my boys started traveling with me when they were around 13 years old. That was a time when they became very adventurous, like most teenage boys are, and they were happy to come. It wasn’t ever anything. I forced them to do either. It was just something that I, I asked them and they were always interested in doing it.

 

Daniel King (06:24):

That’s a great adventure for the children of an evangelist to go to the mission field. And some people stay at home and play video games. They get to go and, and ride in a wreck shot. It’s great fun.

 

Kevin Wagner (06:36):

You know my wife, Nicole, she homeschooled the kids w homeschooling is a proper choice for a lot of ministry families, not just evangelists. And so the homeschooling allowed us the flexibility for the boys to do these sorts of things and started to travel on those crusades was the first thing that I gave them an opportunity to do. But then when they became 15 years old, after they traveled with me for about two years, I then invited them to start teaching at their own youth conferences over in these countries. Youth ministry ministry, specifically to teens is very, very rare. It’s something that most churches do not have a lot of focus and stress on like we do over in North America. And so to have a teen conference for the teens of that city was, was groundbreaking a lot of these places, especially because a lot of these places are off the beaten track.

 

Kevin Wagner (07:34):

So I would ask my boys, Hey, you’ve been watching me preach now on these crusades, you know, a few times for a couple of years, would you like to teach at your own teen conference? And of course, invariably, they said, yeah, I’d like to. And so when they were 15, they started getting up in front of, you know, oftentimes hundreds of teens, local teams in these other countries, and they would start preaching and they would start teaching and they start ministering, laying their hands on people to be saved, delivered, and healed by Jesus. And so at 15 years old, they started doing the stuff of evangelism.

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:10):

Wow, that’s tremendous. So, so I, I’ve heard you say three things, first of all, be intentional about spending time with your kids as they’re growing up, and then to allow the children to travel with you and then three, give them opportunities to minister. You know, I’m a, I’m a big believer that God does not just call individuals. He calls families. He’s a generational God, he’s the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And so God doesn’t look just at the individual. He looks at the entire family and he has a destiny for the entire family to be involved in his, his plan for humanity. And so my grandparents were missionaries and then parents were also missionaries. And so I was privileged to grow up on the mission field and to be part of our family was to be part of the ministry. And so I got to participate in my father preaching and we would go into Mexico and do lots of small children’s crusades.

 

Daniel King (09:10):

And I was the one in charge of putting up the sound system and putting out the chairs and passing out beans and rice. I was the slave labor of the ministry. I worked hard and stuffing newsletters to raise money. And so that’s how I grew up as a, as a child, but I loved it, just the opportunity to participate in the ministry. And now, of course, I’m an evangelist and I’m training my kids. My son, Caleb is now 10. And my daughter, Katie grace is eight and they’ve been on several missions trips with us. And Katie loves praying with people. We did a, a woman’s conference last year in Dominican Republic. And Katie got up and sang with my wife as a special for all the women. And it was anointed. They, the presence of God fell when she was singing. And then my son was helping to, to run the camera, amen. Which I had been praying and asking, God, say, God, I need a camera person to travel with me. And my son was enthusiastic about running the camera. And he took it very seriously and was capturing the footage of all the miracles and the things that that God did. And so you intentionally included your, your children in the ministry and how has that now produce fruit in their lives?

 

Kevin Wagner (10:33):

Yeah, so I’ve mentioned my son, Josh already, but my second son, Jesse he is in full time ministry down in an excellent church, a large church in the Dallas, Texas area. He’s a director of student men at one of the directors of student ministries down there, a student ministries pastor. They have just an incredible student ministry, a very large student ministry, dynamic and influential. And he’s got a real, a real great ministry that God’s using him in down there. My other two sons, Daniel and Jess are Dale and Luke Luke is getting his master’s degree at oral Roberts university right now in biblical studies, both Daniel and Luke got their bachelor’s degrees in biblical studies from, or you. And so they’re still kind of figuring out exactly what what God wants them to do in terms of the calling of their life. But both of them are strong believers in Jesus, love the Lord and are active in their local churches.

 

Daniel King (11:32):

Now, one of the things that, that you did with your sons, that I really love was Bible quiz and you memorize scripture with them, and then it participated in Bible quizzes. How did that come about and what happened with being in Bible quiz?

 

Kevin Wagner (11:50):

Well, that was something we just kind of stumbled into our, we should, I should say God ordained it because that was not part of our paradigm. Growing up in Canada, we didn’t have a really developed Bible quiz ministry, the way that the U S H U S has in some parts, especially here in Oklahoma.

 

Daniel King (12:08):

So when,

 

Kevin Wagner (12:10):

When our boys, when our oldest son got to be about 15, his friends invited him to join this Bible cause program at the church that they’re in a youth group of. And the boys found out that they were not only really good at memorizing scripture, but they’re also really good at quizzing generally Bible quizzes, kind of, like I say, it’s kind of like a Bible version of jeopardy, but it’s really well organized and very competitive down here in the assemblies of God that we, that we quizzed with. And so our boys ended up being a, you have a team of three, three to six people, and they ended up being like the most successful Bible quiz team in the history of Bible quiz down here since the sixties. And I coached them now, my wife, Nicole also assistant coach them. And then the boys were the quizzers. And so we did this as a family, as some of their friends joined the team too. And all it did was it place the word of God in their hearts, just like the Bible says,

 

Daniel King (13:03):

So they were memorizing entire books of the Bible, and then you memorized it along with them, right. Just to help quiz them and coaching them to do very well with, with Bible. Cause what a tremendous way to, to hide God’s word.

 

Kevin Wagner (13:18):

The nice, the fun thing about it is, you know, boys generally teenage boys are competitive by nature. And so this Bible quiz was really competitive. And so this was kind of like their sport. We played it like a sport. And even though we played other sports for fun, this is kind of our competitive thing. And the boys just were super good at it. And you know, all, all four of the boys have memorized, like you said, literally entire books of the new Testament. Some of the boys that memorize three gospels, like three words, not like thought, you know, over a thousand verses in some of these books, I memorize 19 books of the new Testament mainly the smaller books, but each of us have memorized literally thousands of verses of the new Testament. And I quote on the way over here to your house today to do the podcast, I was quoting through the book of acts, just driving along. What chapter are you on in the book of acts? Well, today I was just, I kind of started, I quoted like the end of the book of Jude and then I went into acts. And so I was quoting into acts one and three, I think one, two and three.

 

Daniel King (14:20):

Wow. That’s tremendous. So let’s talk more about raising kids as an evangelist. Sure. You know, it would be a great tragedy to lead thousands of people to Jesus and to have one of your own kids fall away from Christ and not, not make it to heaven. So, so w what priority do you think the evangelists should put on raising children and on their family? Well,

 

Kevin Wagner (14:46):

Obviously I would say this, that the priority of your family first over ministry even is, is paramount. It needs to your family means it needs to be taken care of first. And, you know, the Bible says that if you don’t do that, you’re worse than a pagan. You’re worse than an unbeliever. And, and they’re not just talking physical needs. They’re, they’re talking emotional and spiritual are and physical needs. So you need to put your family prioritize, prioritize them first. I think for me, one of the things, one of the, in the progression of giving people an opportunity, my family, an opportunity to see what God’s call was on their life. You know, when they, I mentioned how, when they were 15, they started doing their own teen conferences. But when they became 18 years old, dr. Daniel, then I invited them if they wanted to.

 

Kevin Wagner (15:40):

And all of them said that they wanted to, and they did, if they wanted to, they could start doing their own crusades in these countries. And I wouldn’t go with them. Their mom went with them, my wife, Nicole would go with them, but they would start literally preaching at the teaching at the pastors conferences and doing the crusade meetings in front of all these people. Now they’d already been seeing all these things modeled for them for five years. Why did I do this? I did not do this in an attempt to try to impose God’s calling on their life, because I was very clear from the start with the boys. I want you to do what Jesus has called you to do. When we see sometimes we see ministers trying to impose a calling on their children. That just because they’re, they were called to be in this type of ministry, then their kids should be too.

 

Kevin Wagner (16:32):

And it doesn’t usually work out well, it may seem to work out well for a short time, but in the long run, it doesn’t seem to work out well. So I was very cognizant of that. And so what I wanted to do with it simply show them what the life and the calling of an evangelist is like. And to help them make an informed decision as they became older, what God wanted them to do with their life. So at least they knew what what they would begin to selves into. If they said yes to God’s called to be an evangelist, if that was what he wanted. And so far out of my four kids one of them is an evangelist along with me. One of them is a in full time ministry as a pastor to a large thriving church. And the other two are still discerning, God’s call in their life. But the bot and who knows, maybe all of them worked for a ministry, dr. Daniel into their twenties. They were all doing crusades for our ministry, into their twenties. And then as time went on, some have stayed with it, some haven’t, but it doesn’t mean they’re not serving the Lord. They’re just going with what they believe God’s calling them to do for the season of life. And who knows, some of them may transition into evangelism again, like I did later on in life. That’s tremendous what a great blessing that is. What, what more advice

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:50):

Would you give to an evangelist who has young children? So, so your son, Josh, he now has three kids and one more on the way. That’s right. And so, so what advice are you giving to your son, Josh, as he starts to raise your grandchildren?

 

Kevin Wagner (18:08):

Sure. So, I mean, I think I would say this, that schooling is a big issue. We talked about Bible quiz. We talked about how I think, you know, honestly, in terms of hobbies and time that you spend your time, things that you spend your time on with your children and teenagers, I don’t think there’s any better hobby than Bible quiz, because it gets the word of God into your heart. And it says, Bible says, how can a young man keep his way pure by living? According, according to your word, I’ve hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Now, having settled that I think that another hugely important thing is and my wife and I have taught parenting conferences occasionally through the years. And one of the things that we say too, that’s really big is, is how are you going to school, your kids? Obviously the type of schooling that you do with your kids is also, we believe a calling from God. We’re not saying that everyone needs to homeschool, even though we did, we’re not saying everyone needs to put their kids in a private Christian school, even though at this point, your kids are dr. Daniel.

 

Daniel King (19:07):

My kids are at victory school and we decided to put them in there because they have chapel twice a week. They memorize scriptures that teachers pray over them, lead them in devotions every day. And so we wanted our kids to be in an atmosphere of learning about God, rather than a secular atmosphere.

 

Kevin Wagner (19:27):

And then the other option, typically, at least in North America is public schooling. And depending on the school district, there are still some school districts. I know, especially in Oklahoma, that they run their schools very much like Christian schools still, you know, and they have their kind of throwbacks in that whole public school system. But if you choose the public school route, I think you really need to feel called by God to do that. Because what’s increasingly happening in our culture in the U S and Canada is of course that God is not just being really kind of expelled from school, but by the enemy and many of the enemies teachings and worldviews have been invited in to replace that vacuum. And so you really need, I think if your kids are going to be in the public school system, you want to have them as you want to give them a mindset of being a missionary, whenever they go to school that they’re entering, you know, the largest mission field in North America on a daily basis. And so I think that you’ve got, you’ve got those three main decisions to make when a term, when it comes to schooling your kids, especially when your kids start, you know, getting to the age of kindergarten and beyond. So that’s really huge, you know, gotta, gotta get on your knees, got to fast and pray, God, what do you want me to do with my kids? What are you? They’re your kids, ultimately, they’re on loan from you. What do you want me to do with your kids? Yeah,

 

Daniel King (20:52):

Well, let’s finish up today with advice from Paul to Timothy, who is one of his spiritual sons, and first Timothy three, he’s talking about what an ideal Bishop would look like, who is called to, to lead people in the body of Christ. And even though this is written to a Bishop, I think it applies to an evangelist as well. Verse two of first Timothy chapter three, it says now the overseer or the Bishop must be above reproach, the husband of, but one wife temperate, self-controlled respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not lover of. And so all that is good, but specifically about a family, he says he must manage his own family. Well, yes. And so I think that is excellent advice to the evangelist. So you have to learn to, to manage your own family. Well,

 

Kevin Wagner (21:57):

Exactly right. And I think just to quickly say one more thing about word of advice for how to raise your kids, especially when they’re younger, not just as an evangelist family, but, but as a, as a Christian family, you want to be on top of the media, that media that they’re involving themselves with. And so you want to make very sure that you’re doing what you can as a parent to monitor internet usage and what they’re listening to, what they’re watching, et cetera not in an, in an intrusive way, but in a in a responsible way, because you want to try to do whatever you can to help them to be exposed to godly stuff. Instead of the other I think this chapter in first, Timothy three about overseers and deacons is just incredible. Dr. Daniel, I mean, yes. You need to manage your own family well, and a big part of that as being on the same page as your wife, in terms of rearing child raising. And if there’s a discrepancy there, you want to talk things through,

 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:04):

Certainly didn’t raise your kids alone. Your wife absolutely has done an excellent job. In fact, she probably gets a lot of the credit for raising four boys that love Jesus.

 

Kevin Wagner (23:14):

Yes. Amen. I think too. The other thing that, that we did as a family, God told me in 1996, when my boys were still all pretty young, I remember coming back from Atlanta, Georgia, we were out doing an outreach during the pre-Olympic days in Atlanta. And on the way home, the Lord spoke to me, he says, get your house in order. And I said, God, I thought I already had an art. He says, no, there’s, there’s something you need to do. And I came home because God and told, told Nicole about this. He says, we got to start having a family daily, quiet time as a family. And so from 1996 on right up until the boys, really for the most part left for university and moved out we did daily quiet times at the boys. And I don’t mean we just kind of did daily.

 

Kevin Wagner (23:59):

I mean, you could pretty much count on both hands in one year. How many days we didn’t do quiet time as a family together, you know? And what does that mean? It means that you sit down with them, you you read a chapter of the word of God. You talk about that. You hear what they talk that they learned about in their own daily devotions. You pray together, you speak in tongues together. It’s, it doesn’t have to take a super long amount of time, but it’s a time of your day where you focus your attention as a family on Jesus and what the Bible has to tell us about him. And I think looking back on our on our family, the single most important thing that Nicole and I did as parents was maintain that daily, quiet time with our boys regularly, consistently, and over a long period of time

 

Daniel King (24:51):

In our family, we do nightly Bible stories. And so they’re at the age where they love hearing Bible stories. And so we have a series of Bible story books that I read to them. And usually I’ll, I’ll read one or then they like ask for another one and then they ask for another one. So we usually end up reading like three or four stories. And finally I’m like, okay, you have to go to bed now they’ll use any excuse they can to not actually go to bed. And so they’re like read one more. We want more. And so that’s been fun. And then even more recently, we’ve started to read through the Chronicles of Narnia, which has some great spiritual truths in it. It’s fun. So we’ll read a couple of Bible stories and I’ll read a couple chapters of Chronicles of Narnia. And then we’ll talk about the, the different spiritual principles that are in those chapters. And so that’s been great fun. It’s so good. So, well, thank you for sharing about how you raised your boys to love Jesus, dr. Kevin.

 

Kevin Wagner (25:52):

Oh, it’s been a pleasure to talk about those things with you, Dr. Daniel, God bless you.

 

Description: She is a Foster Mom. She goes on mission trips. She ministers the love of Jesus to everyone she meets. On today’s podcast, meet Maryanne Tiger who works three jobs so she can afford to go tell people about Jesus! If she can be a missionary, anyone can be a missionary. Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach, interviews her. 

Show Notes: 

Maryanne just returned from Sinegal, a nation that is 95% Muslim. Hear about what God did on that trip. 

Maryanne has gone to Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Liberia, and to Belize on a trip with King Ministries International. 

Maryanne explains why she takes two 70 pound suitcases and two carry on suitcases on every mission trip. 

Hear about how Maryanne Tiger is able to evangelize children by being a Foster Mom. 

Maryanne explains why being a Foster Parent is such an important ministry. 

Maryanne is not rich. She is single and she works three jobs and saves up her money to be able to go on mission trips. If she can make sacrifices to go to the mission field, then anyone can become a missionary. Her story will inspire you to be a missionary. 

Key Quotes: 

It is not just full time pastors or ministers job to tell people about Jesus, it’s all of our jobs. 

Transcription 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
She is a foster mom. She goes on mission trips. She ministers the love of Jesus to everyone. She meets on today’s podcast. Meet Marianne tiger, who works three jobs. So she can afford to go tell people about Jesus. If she can be a missionary, anyone can be a missionary. 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, fulltime evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I am excited about telling people about Jesus today. I have a special guest with me, miss Marianne tiger, who is a short term missionary. She just returned from the nation of Senegal, and she’s also recently been to Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Liberia, and she also loves ministering to children that come to her through the foster care system. So ms. Maryanne, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. Thank you for having me. Alright, Maryanne, tell us a little bit about your recent trip to Senegal and what God did there.

Marianne Tiger (01:43):
I was so glad to go, you know, with this whole plan Demi going on the last six months and my trip in April was canceled obviously to Ghana and Ghana was so closed. And so just praying and seeking God and found out that Senegal was open to having tourists come and they weren’t requiring Americans to get a visa. So I was like, this is it. And me and another pastor from Africa, we got a contact and everything came together within like two weeks. Like we had an itinerary and everything just like fell right in place. And it was, God has how smoothly everything went. And we just, you know, went and did what we were supposed to do on the planes. You know, what the mask and everything and showing our negative test results and everything, and go and obey God. And

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:26):
Is the one time where it’s positive to be negative.

Marianne Tiger (02:30):
That’s true. And so the people were very open and receptive and it broke my heart. When I found out that Senegal has 95% Muslims. And so the other 5% is, you know, Christians, Catholics and Mormons, Jehovah witnesses and atheist or nothing. So I always loved preaching on evangelism anyway. And so that’s one of the main messages that I preach when I minister to kids or youth or the adults, and just really serve them up, set a fire in their heart that it’s their job, their responsibility to reach their people. And there’s fear of influence. Cause us missionaries are only there for a short amount of time and everyone is called to tell others about Jesus and what he’s done in their life. It’s not just full time ministers or pastors job. It’s everybody’s job to do that.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:14):
So while you were there in Senegal , you had a chance to minister, to children, to youth and to adults. Tell us about some of the ministry that you were able to do.

Marianne Tiger (03:24):
Yeah. I got there on a Sunday morning and came straight to church and did ministry. We had two services, well, straight from the airport to the pastor’s house change real quick and ate and then went to the church and we had to,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:39):
It was missionary to hit the ground running.

Marianne Tiger (03:42):
Yeah. They were like, you don’t want to rest. I’m like, I don’t want to miss any time I’m here to, I can rest later. I can do ministry now and rest later. So,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:49):
And tell me some of the testimonies of what God did while you were there.

Marianne Tiger (03:53):
Just seeing that, you know, we work with some different denominations that are maybe not as used to, you know, the Holy spirit moving in or anything like that. And so even when with some restrictions where they’re saying, you know, we don’t touch as much stuff like that because we have to follow their rules and things like that. And God just touched people, even if you don’t touch them and pray for them, the power of God can still touch people, you know? And then when you speak the word of God, there’s power and it touches hearts. And people were just touched by the word of God and teaching on, you know, prayer and evangelism and they have value and purpose, just see their lives change. And then there was some people that we did, you know, lay hands on and see, God touched them that were sick and things like that. And you know, they just get emotional sometimes when you pray for them because you have, you know, similar testimonies or just compassion for them. And,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:42):
And so when you were ministering and praying for people, did you use a translator?

Marianne Tiger (04:47):
We had a French translator that’s that translated for us. And then some people that are Como server,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:56):
My wife speaks some French, but I only speak Spanish

Marianne Tiger (05:00):
More Spanish. So I understand some of the French because of the Latin based similarities, but it’s hard to communicate, but we have a translator. And then some people do speak English that are educated. So it’s nice to be able to speak with them and get them to use their English again. And then there’s the African language Wolof. So when we were in some of the different cities that we had, the translator translate in Wolof, if there was more children, because they’re not as fluent in French yet, so,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:25):
Okay. So you have gone to Senegal and then you’ve also been to Sierra Leone to Nigeria, to Liberia a few years ago. You also had the chance to come with us to the nation of beliefs, where we did the beliefs festival of hope, and we’re very privileged to have you on our team. And so what, what are some of the differences and similarities you see between all these different nations you’ve been to?

Marianne Tiger (05:50):
Well, Balise is more of a Catholic nation because of the colonization. So they’ve heard about Jesus more than the people of Senegal. And so but everywhere there’s people who might’ve heard the truth and may have not received it yet and kind of do their own thing or they think they don’t need God. So that’s similarity in all the world and everybody needs Jesus, but there’s more, there’s poverty, a lot more poverty in Africa, I would say, you know, but in Belize we did bigger crusades. We did the big open air crusade, which was awesome. And we hit seven cities that week, while we were there. So it was a great way to evangelize that whole thing.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:30):
You actually did. 11 differences,

Marianne Tiger (06:32):
11. Okay. I’m off by a few cities.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:35):
So that was a tremendous outreach where we impacted the entire nation of beliefs. Okay. So you’re doing, there’s these trips and you, you mentioned that there’s a lot of poverty in some of these nations. Tell me, what do you put in your suitcase when you go?

Marianne Tiger (06:52):
I get that I get is a little better ticket where I can bring more weight. Cause usually you can bring two 50 pound bags and these tickets, let me bring two 70 pound bags, plus a carry on and a backpack, which has my step arrive with lots of luggage. Cam will bring in everything and loading it up. So I bring Bibles, I bring glasses, I bring presents, I bring toys, candy, clothes, balloons, you know, snacks, different things that they need. I brought this time, a lot of French books from TLR Osborn ministries on different topics. He’s got like six or seven books on evangelism, how to be a Christian woman in ministry, different things. And the people were so happy to receive those books.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:28):
I love TLR Osborne’s books. They have impacted people all over the world. Yeah.

Marianne Tiger (07:33):
So the pastor was so excited and we were giving them out to the different churches. And I told them, when you read it, give it to someone else and pass them along. So you know, more people can read them and don’t just read it and put it on a shelf, you know?

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:43):
So you had 140 pounds worth in year, two suitcases, plus your carry on and your two carry ons and you, you brought all that and you left almost everything there,

Marianne Tiger (07:55):
Everything there. Yeah. Come back with two big, huge empty suitcases. Then there’s my, my roll bag.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:01):
I know, especially those, those books will be very highly prized and appreciated right there. What a tremendous ministry. Now you also have a great ministry over the years to foster children and you have taken kids in and been a foster mother for them. Tell us about that.

Marianne Tiger (08:25):
Well, there’s a big need in the U S and around the world. And James, it talks about in the Bible that to take care of the widows and orphans and that’s God’s heartbeat is those neglected and abandoned and rejected. And I was myself found myself living in foster homes from the age of six to 13 in between,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:40):
You were actually a foster child yourself from six to 13 to the age of 13. And so, because of that experience, you know, the need there is among foster children.

Marianne Tiger (08:52):
And I knew what it was like to be lonely and forsaken abandoned, and having to move constantly and living with strangers and, you know, understand everything that’s going on. But in all that, you know, God protected me and kept me from a lot of bad things that could have happened even more so, but that’s why I had heart and compassion to help people, to children, to reach them and reach them with the love of Jesus and help them in any way I can in the time that I have them. And then,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:19):
And so when you have foster children, you are like the legal guardian for them. So you’re responsible for them. And you also have the opportunity to, to minister, to them, to talk to them about Jesus. And so you can bring the foster children to church with you. You can have devotions with them prayer time in the evening, did you?

Marianne Tiger (09:42):
I did. They were at church two to three times a week and I had my girls in the Missionettes class and we prayed and, you know, did other things that they needed, like some counseling that I knew they needed got that organized for them to help them spiritually and also mentally, and then, you know, help them to get them. Cause since I’m a teacher, get them up to level for their academics, because a lot of them are like way below level. So every way, and physically we would go to the park and exercise and do fun stuff. So try to help them in every mind, spirit and Bali body to help these children thrive and to grow in Jesus.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:16):
Being a foster mother is such a unique opportunity to evangelize because foster children often come with great needs. They come out of very difficult situations sometimes where there has been abused, where there has been serious issues. Sometimes a parent has died. Sometimes they feel unwanted. And so they’re coming to you and, and often children can, can act out when things are going on in their lives. So it takes a lot of patience, but it’s an opportunity to evangelize as a parent where you’re, you’re planting into their, their lives and tell us, was it easy or was it difficult?

Marianne Tiger (11:04):
Challenging? It was definitely challenging cause I’m single. So it was just me. I’m mom and dad, and had a few friends in the house,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:11):
But you still are bringing these children into your house.

Marianne Tiger (11:16):
Yes. And there’s a big need and we need more people to step up, to take in foster kids to do this, you know, evangelism and help these children because you know, they have nowhere to go, then they’re going to be on the streets and that’s horrible and things like that. And we know the truth. And so what better way to reach these children with the truth of the gospel, with the love of Jesus, to take them in, to help them while they need it.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:38):
And you may be the only person that they’ve ever experienced to really show them love. And so you have such a unique opportunity to be able to, to sow into their lives, to plant a seed of the gospel to, to talk to them about Jesus and also to minister to them. How did you deal with, with abusive situations or people that some of the kids that came to you that were really hurting? How, how did you help to heal? Those hurts?

Marianne Tiger (12:06):
Right. Listening to their stories is a big thing because sometimes some children may be guarded and not open up until they feel like they can trust you, but they always seem to, Oh, my mom did this or my dad did this and this happened and you just, you know, listen and just amazement and, you know, just sadness and just, you know, in sharing my own testimony, the Bible says that we overcome by the word of our testimony and the blood of the lamb, sharing my own testimony of how Jesus helped me and healed me of some sadness and loneliness and that rejection and abandonment spirit. And so how he helped me by spending time with him in prayer and worshiping really did a lot of healing in my heart and growing, you know, with my walk with God and just encouraging them to do that themselves and that God loves them and their special things like that. And just giving them the opportunity to hear the truth, you know, at church with other people sharing the same thing. And

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:57):
That’s awesome. Now I get the impression that you are not super rich. So I see you, you go on these, these different short term missions trips, and, and how are you able to afford them? You, you, you work hard while you’re here. You’re a very hard worker. And then you take time off from work to, for the sacrifice of going over to Africa, in ministering to people, how are you able to do

Marianne Tiger (13:23):
Well where there’s a will, there is a way. And so I’m a tither and I’m a giver. And I support different ministries that do wonderful work overseas and in the U S as well. But I worked three jobs. I work at a, as a substitute teacher at a Christian school here in town. And I work as a nanny and take care of kids. And then I work at a nursing home. And so all these three jobs give me the flexibility when I need to get off for a mission trip. I always have favor to get off. Now, if I did real, you know, full time teaching because I’m a teacher, then it would be harder to get off. So I choose to have these jobs where I can have the flexibility and then I just work extra all the time. And I save and, you know, sacrifice, I don’t have cable.

Marianne Tiger (14:01):
I don’t have like internet. I just have like when you pick it up from when you go places and things like that, hotspot or whatever. And so I sacrificed by saving on those things and then just, you know, being wise with your money and, you know, we don’t need to have all of everything that we ever could ever want. Like I had was the, do I really need this? Or if I didn’t buy this, then I can use the money on a mission trip and things like that. And just, you know, really weighing what you’re spending your money on. Like my goal and my heart and passion is mission. So what do I have to do to save money, to work, to be able to, you know, buy these plane tickets and all the resources to bring over there, to bless the people and things like that, because it brings me joy to give. So I’d rather do that than go to Starbucks, which I don’t like their coffee anyway, but spending $5 on one coffee, people do it two or three times a day, or at least once a day that adds up. So people would just not, you know, go out to eat as much and set some of that money aside for missions. Or if they’re not called to go then to give it to those who are called to go so we can fund the gospel and help spread Jesus to everybody.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:03):
I really admire you Marianne with your dedication to serving Jesus and your enthusiasm for missions and for helping the, these foster kids. I mean, you are a woman of God and you have a heart for helping people. And I really admire how you have sacrificed in order to, to be ministering, to go on these trips, to minister, to people. It, it really shows your heart is for Jesus and for, for the great commission. And so I commend you for that. Give us one testimony of something that God did on one of your recent trips,

Marianne Tiger (15:48):
Just praying for people and seeing them, the power of God touched them. They just break down and cry and things like that always touches my heart. And just hearing, you know, some trips in the past, like in India or different places where the lady said, I had a dream last night and white people came to our village and they never had white people come. And just, you know, I saw him, I saw him in my vision and my dream is God confirming himself to the people. And then they’re there and they hear the gospel. And then, you know, they prayed it for salvation, things like that, little things like divine appointments with people, just connections where, you know, you, you get to talk to them, administer and you connect and things like that. And then people, when you leave, you want to keep in touch like on Facebook or WhatsApp or something like that. So I’ve been still what, since I’ve been home the last two weeks or so, talking to some of the ladies and sending them encouraging things and encouraging them to evangelism and carry the torch and things like that. And so I like seeing fruit, you know, fruit that remains and things like that, people that are hungry for God and that reach out to still connect and things like that and grow

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:51):
Well. Maryanne, if you have been able to find your ministry and you’re able to go on all these missions trips, then I think anyone can become a missionary. Anyone can go and tell people about Jesus. Anyone can find their niche, their, their assignment, their calling, to, to reach people for Jesus. And so thank you so much for being on the podcast is great to have you with us.

Marianne Tiger (17:15):
Thank you for having me. I bless you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:17):
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.

 

 

Description: Imran Fazal has organized some of the largest prayer meetings in the history of Pakistan. One of his events attracted over 1.4 million people. On this podcast, Imran and his wife Mehwish share about some of the amazing miracles they have witnessed in this predominately Muslim nation. 

Website: https://harvestgospelministries.org 

Show Notes: 

Hear the amazing story of a dead child who came back to life! 

Imran answers these questions: 

You have organized some massive events in Pakistan. What is the largest crowd you have seen?

 Jesus often does miracles for people in Pakistan, tell a story about the greatest miracles you have seen?

 Tell me about Fazal Television. How many homes does it reach in Pakistan and what is your vision for the station?

 Transcription 

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. So delighted that you could spend some time with me today. I have a very special guest from the nation of Pakistan, and he has organized some of the largest events in history that have preached the gospel evangelistically. And so I’m so happy to have you here, brother, Imran, Fazal welcome to the

 

Speaker 2 (00:26):

Amen. Praise the Lord. Thank you so much, brother. Daniel King. So we it is an honor for us to be with you in this podcast. And today we had a great day and we are looking for a great signs and miraclesl and wonders in Jesus name.

 

Speaker 1 (00:47):

And that’s wonderful. And I love your accent. You are from the nation of Pakistan. Pakistan is a very big nation. There are over 233 million people in the nation of Pakistan. And according to some statistics I’ve seen around 3% of the nation currently is Christian. There are also some Hindus and the vast majority of Pakistan is Muslim. So there’s lots of people in Pakistan that need Jesus. Tell me, what is it like when you preach about Jesus in Pakistan?

 

Speaker 2 (01:26):

Praise the Lord. First of all, we give all glory to God. And this is me, pastor Imran, Fazall from Pakistan and I am in ministry last 21 year. And then we are doing vandalism church planting and also discipling people, equipping train, and sending. So this is all because of him because we don’t have any abilities. We nothing have anything. So this is for his glory and the grace. He uses us for his, where can we saw in our life, tens of thousand, the miracle signs and wonders. So this is we give all glory to God.

 

Speaker 1 (02:09):

Wow, that’s tremendous. And you have organized some of the largest evangelistic events in history in the nation of Pakistan. Tell me what is the largest prayer festival that you’ve ever done?

 

Speaker 2 (02:25):

Praise the Lord. We did that three time, 1.4 million people gathering in Pakistan.

 

Speaker 1 (02:32):

1.4 million people on one field in one place

 

Speaker 2 (02:36):

In Pakistan. So praise God, there is thousands of thousands people that received Jesus salvation, and a lot of like thousands of thousand people get saved and receive their miracle healings. And we give all glory to God. So this is the history of the largest

 

Speaker 1 (03:00):

We did in Pakistan. Wow. That’s amazing. And you regularly do events that have a hundred thousand 200,300, 500,000 people at a time in the, the pictures are so beautiful. All the people that are coming to hear about Jesus and to receive a miracle from Jesus. Tell me what are some of the miracles that people come expecting to receive? So this is my wife, she’s with me. So she’s going to speak, Oh, we’re so glad to have you on the podcast. My name is may way.

 

Speaker 3 (03:40):

Yes. My name is [inaudible].

 

Speaker 1 (03:42):

Well wonderful. Thank you for being here.

 

Speaker 3 (03:44):

It’s an honor for us to be with you on the podcast right now. So praise the Lord. As you said that what brings the people to the prayer festival? So praise God, we saw a miracle working God and our Jesus. He do miracles 2000 years ago. And as the word of God says, Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday and forever. So the miracles he was doing 2000 years ago, he is still doing the miracles and the, in the preface. Well, hundreds of thousands of people, they do come with a great expectations for the needs they have for the healing, for the physical need, for the financial need, for the emotional needs. And as the word of God says that they will know the truth and the truth will set them free. So praise God, when they come to the professional that know the truth, they listen the word of God, not only they received their healing, their received their salvation as well. And they’re received their savior as well. And praise God, we have seen blind eyes opening. We have seen, and the prayer of festival lame start walking. We have seen tremendous miracles. We have seen tumor has been disappeared the right away in the prayer festival. And we have seen many people who have been demon possessed, God set them free. And the prayer festivals

 

Speaker 1 (05:01):

People gather on the field and they’re coming because they need a miracle in their lives. And so you call it a prayer festival.

 

Speaker 3 (05:10):

We call a per festival because there we all together prayer for the needs of the people we pray for our country. We pray for everyone.

 

Speaker 1 (05:19):

That’s so beautiful. And then after you pray for people, Jesus does miracles begins to touch the people. And then do you invite them to come up on the platform to testify?

 

Speaker 3 (05:29):

Yes. Praise the Lord. I want to tell you that we have big lines of the testimony because we saw a living God. And when we solve a living, God, he always does miracles. And not only one, he does miracles and hundreds of thousand even. And even after the prayer festival, we send out our teams to those areas to recall different prayer, different, different testimonies, and praise God, not as it’s the glory of God. And is the Holy moving over there that we received thousands of testimonies after every prayer festival.

 

Speaker 1 (06:04):

And tell me, what are some of the, the biggest miracles that you’ve seen? What, what really stands out in your memory of someone whose life was impacted?

 

Speaker 3 (06:14):

I believe what is the biggest miracle for me is when even a single soul come to Jesus Christ, surprise God in our life. In this prayer festival, we have seen hundreds of thousands given their heart first time to Jesus Christ. Other than that, praise God. We have seen a woman. She bring a child in the per festival and she bring the child right away from the hospital. And the doctor has said that this child has died. But the lady she said to the doctor that I saw all living, God, I’m going to the professor will, I’m going to the meeting. And the pastors are going to pray for the child. And I am going to bring back the child to you and the hospital alive. And this is what happened. He went when the lady, when she entered into the prayer festival field, and God has healed his son, the dead child, the doctor said that says dead day, bring him back home, prepare all the things, do it so you can burn it, the chart. But the lady with the great fed bring that child to the prayer festival and has child Rosa get her child Rose again. And the lady bring back the child to the hospital to show the doctor that I told you that I saw while living God,

 

Speaker 1 (07:28):

What a tremendous testimony. The, the little child was dead, came back to life. And that’s just one of many thousands of miracles that you’ve seen. What are some of the other miracles that God’s done

 

Speaker 3 (07:44):

In the right in the prayer festival? The, the tumor had been disappeared. We have seen one, man. He came on, not one. We have seen many people that came on the wheelchairs, but after the professional, they go by walk to their homes. And we have seen many peoples that have been delivered by the devil. They have been set free from devil. They have been delivered. We have seen many people. God has restored their eyes side blind. We have seen blinders open. We have seen deaf ear open and we have seen people have been healed from hearts, problem, cancer tumor. Every problem is nothing in front of God. He can able to heal from even a single problem or a big or small. This thing doesn’t matter in front of our God.

 

Speaker 1 (08:30):

Wow. In your ministry is reaching out to people with every possible method. So you have the home churches. You also have the large prayer festivals where tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people come to those. And you also have the television network that you’ve started. Tell me about the television network and what your vision is for us law. Do our version

 

Speaker 3 (08:56):

Is to win souls for Jesus Christ. And we want to even go for even a single soul as well, even a single soul matter for God. And so praise God, this thing does not matter to us that we are reaching to hundreds of thousands or rearranging to even a single soul. So praise the Lord. We are very thankful to God almighty for the social media and for the next generation, the technology. And we need to get onto those technology to reach every kind of people. So praise God, we are running a television called futsal television. It is in satellite. It’s called Asia, said seven satellite reaching more than 72 countries. Other than that, we are on IP TVs. We are on apps and reaching all around the world. And in Pakistan, we are on cable stations as well, reaching to the homes of the people. Some people they could not come to the church, but we are going right in their bedrooms and they are lessening the word of God and praise God daily. We are less than in many testimonies, how God is changing their lives, how God is doing miracles in their life by watching television.

 

Speaker 1 (10:03):

Wow, that’s tremendous. Well, I’m so inspired by you. God has given you such great favor in the nation of Pakistan. In what you’re doing is historic. There are many places in the world that need Jesus, but it’s so beautiful to see what God is doing in Pakistan. God loves the people of Pakistan and Jesus loves the people of Pakistan. And I know that that God has a plan for your nation. God has a plan for the people of Pakistan. And I think it is so wonderful that the favor that you have seen, we have lots of friends who listen to our podcast, who may be someday, would like to come to Pakistan or even maybe be on television and Pakistan. Are there opportunities for people to come and preach the gospel?

 

Speaker 3 (10:56):

Yes. Praise the Lord. We invite all those who are lessening us, come and partner with us so that together we can build the kingdom of God together. We can expand the kingdom of God in the nation of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. And we will love to have you on our television network. You can search WW dot [inaudible] dot TV, and you can go to that website. You can see the television network. If you have any program teaching program, you are evangelists. You have passion to do the prayer festival. We would love to partner with you and we would love to work with you.

 

Speaker 1 (11:30):

Well, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism podcast today. God bless you.

Description: Evangelist Kevin Wagner was a pastor in Canada for ten years before he transitioned to being a full-time international evangelist. On today’s podcast he talks about the differences between being a pastor and being an evangelist. 

 

Website: http://www.wagnerministries.org

 

Show Notes: 

 

Hear the story of a “hinge crusade” done by Reinhard Bonnke in Nigeria. 

 

Kevin Wagner answers some important questions: 

 

How many people have been baptized because of your crusades and how do you track these baptisms? 

 

What are the differences between pastors and evangelists? 

 

What is the difference between preaching to Canadians and preaching to people on the other side of the world? 

 

Key Thoughts from Kevin Wagner: 

 

Pastors minister to believers first, and evangelists minister to the lost first. 

 

On the surface, people may look different, but people are really the same no matter where you go. They have many of the same hopes and dreams and problems and fears. 

 

 

Transcription 

 

Daniel King (00:00):

Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. I am here with my friend, dr. Kevin Wagner today, and we’re actually a paradox. Did you know that I’m a doctor? I did my doctorate of ministry at oral Roberts university. And you’re a doctor. You did your doctorate of ministry at oral Roberts university. And so something could happen in the space time continuum right here with a paradox talking about evangelism. Welcome dr. Kevin. It’s great to be

 

Kevin Wagner (00:29):

Here. Dan evangelists, Daniel and dr. Daniel. Yeah.

 

Daniel King (00:32):

So dr. Kevin you’re an evangelist. How many years have you been doing full time evangelism?

 

Kevin Wagner (00:41):

Full time evangelism for 20 years now. Wow.

 

Daniel King (00:45):

And tell me, how did you become an evangelist?

 

Kevin Wagner (00:48):

Okay. So Jesus changed my life when I was 17 years old. From that point on, I really felt a call to full time ministry. And so I went to college university seminary and and was preparing to be, you know, a pastor and, and that’s what I was for 10 years. So I pastored and churches I’m originally, I am Canadian. And we originally, I am Canadian.

 

Daniel King (01:14):

And so that means you like hockey that’s right. You are sorry for everything. That’s right, exactly. What else? And you live in an igloo, something like that lived anyway,

 

Kevin Wagner (01:25):

I live in Tulsa now for 20 years, but for 10 years I pastored in Canada and some great churches. I loved pastoring and it took God almost a whole year of working on me and me praying and fasting along with my wife for months to determine that he eventually wanted me to transition out of full time pastoring and to full time evangelism. And so after pastoring, for those 10 years in Canada, then Jesus said, you know what, it’s time to take a, your soul winning heart to the nations. Because, you know, when I was pastoring, I was still, our church has always very event. Our churches were always very evangelistic. I was always leading or sending out mission teams and individuals out into the harvest fields, always you know, the front door of our church was, was, was always being used well by new believers, we did our best to close the back door so that they’d all stay. So it was all, all our churches were always soul-winning churches as part of my mission or my ministry mandate. But finally God said, you know what? You, you need to there’s the harvest is so plentiful out there that we need another labor full time in the harvest fields. And so after, like I said, almost a year of praying and fasting my, we didn’t fast the whole year, of course, but my wife

 

Daniel King (02:52):

All year long, that’d be, I met a guy one time. He said he fasted every day, every other day. He says I fast six months out of every year. Wow. Okay. That’s quite a testimony there. So you are fasting, you are praying and you felt like this transition from pastoring in Canada to going out on the harvest fields. And you mentioned that the tremendous need that that’s out there in the harvest field. What, what really motivated you to want to go out after Los soles and in different countries?

 

Kevin Wagner (03:28):

Well, you know, at this point dr. Daniel, it was around the turn of the century and it was when evangelist Reinhard bonky had been doing of course, many large crusades in the in least reach parts of the world for years. But this was a real time when God just really boosted his ministry forward. And I began seeing the incredible hunger for getting to know the one true God and the parts of the world that are least reached for Christ and Africa, North Africa in particular Asia and the middle East. And I looked into the, you know, at the Buddhist and the Hindu and the Muslim world, and I saw that the, the need was so great. You know, we have such a high percentage of, of full time ministry, people who are working in North America and in the rest of the world, there’s such a, a minuscule percentage of people doing the bulk of their ministry over there. And so I said, you know, I really felt, God’s saying you need to focus your attention in these last great days of harvest before I returned on trying to bring as many people into the kingdom as possible. And so, you know, the rest kind of his history, I, I ran with that mandate and went on a few crusades early on after I stopped pastoring with some other evangelists into the nations.

 

Daniel King (04:52):

One of Reinhard Bonnke’s crusades. Where did you go?

 

Kevin Wagner (04:55):

Yeah, I did. We w I went to the I was with a very small team of Canadians who accompanied him and his team into Benin city, Nigeria in 1999. And in that crusade, like, okay, so that crusade was what I, I, and I think the bunkie people to have called a hinge crusade, meaning that he had been taken out of Nigeria forbidden to come into Nigeria for several years before that, because the there was a change of government. They didn’t have the favor with the leaders that they needed, but this was the first crusade back into Nigeria after a number of years. And that first night of crusade meetings was there were 375,000 people that attended the very first night of six. And I remember the next morning at our, at our staff devotions, our team devotions Peter Vandenberg stood up in the, in the ms star group.

 

Kevin Wagner (05:51):

And he said, I want you to know this. He says, that was that first meeting was the three times size of the previous largest, first time, first day of the week meetings that we’ve ever had. Wow. And quite honestly, and then the rest of the week just took off from there. And so that crusade really preceded his large crusade in Lego. So millennium crusade, which is the largest crusade that, that he ever did. And also the you know, just the, the next decade or so of meeting after meeting and in Africa, that was just blow out in terms of numbers and salvations and harvest. And so that was kind of a real breakthrough event that God did. And we were part of that.

 

Daniel King (06:37):

You got to be there for that hinge crusade, what a tremendous privilege, and then that launched you out into your ministry. And so in the 20 years that you’ve been doing evangelism, what have been some of the fruits that you’ve seen?

 

Kevin Wagner (06:51):

Well, dr. Daniel, we have now preached over a hundred crusades in primarily Asia, Africa and the middle East, and by God’s grace, we have seen well over 2 million people indicating decisions for Christ. Most of them, first time decisions. Oh, that’s amazing. Well, it’s all up, it’s all Jesus, of course we give them all the credit. And it’s also, these are, these are people who really, for the most part, they’re in the Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu parts of the world, meaning that these are people who, until they attended our crusade, many of them had never seen it with their own eyes, a born again, Christian, before we go to crusade, we do our crusades very off the beaten track. I know just like many of the crusades that you do. And so, you know, we fly into a major city and in the country, but then we’ll drive for hours and hours or we’ll take an interior flight and then drive to places where they’ve never had meetings like this, or they haven’t had them for years.

 

Kevin Wagner (07:54):

And so you’ve got a whole generation of people in these places that have not, we might very well be the first born again, Christian that they’ve ever met. Wow. And they are have been hungering after a touch from the one true God for so long. And so the harvest, the people are just ripe and ready. Like Jesus says to commit their lives to him. And for his sake, the F the serving of other gods. The other thing that we enjoy doing so much is we enjoy tracking the the number of baptisms as much as we can with our crusade directors for up to one year after the crusade is done. And so how do you do that right after

 

Daniel King (08:36):

The crusade is done, you ask the, the local organizer to keep you updated with how many people are being baptized in the local churches.

 

Kevin Wagner (08:45):

Yeah, that’s right. You know, because I went into full time evangelism having been a pastor for a full decade. I had a real pastor’s heart going into it. And I was really intent on trying to do what we can to not just number the decisions that were made, but also to number in some ways, the best thing that we could track statistically in terms of who actually becomes a disciple. And in many of these countries where the cost of discipleship is great, we’re oppression and opposition, and even persecution, sometimes even martyrdom of believers is happening in these hostile nations to Christ. People getting baptized in these countries is the Mark. In many ways of people who really have taken their faith seriously

 

Daniel King (09:31):

Need to really follow Christ and are willing to sacrifice and pay the price,

 

Kevin Wagner (09:36):

Counted the cost, like you said, and they’ve decided they want to serve Jesus. And so I’m happy to say that we’ve had over 160,000 recorded baptisms after the crusade. We only tracked numbers up to one year. So the number of course would be significantly more than that too, when you take that into account. But suffice it to say that we work, like you said, with our crusade directors, they have an expectation when they do one of our crusades that we’re going to be looking to them for monthly or regular reports at the very least up to a year of the number of paths, people getting baptized, and how do they do that? Well, they of course have been working for a long time with the local pastors in those places. And so they keep in touch with them and they get reports from the local pastors

 

Daniel King (10:26):

About this. That’s a major praise report, 160,000 people baptized as a direct result of your crusades. What a, what a tremendous blessing that is. Now, let’s talk about the difference between being a pastor and being an evangelist. You were a pastor for many years, and in when you were a good pastor, you had the heart of a pastor and now you’re, you’re an evangelist. So you kind of see both worlds. And, and, and sometimes I find that pastors don’t really understand evangelists and sometimes evangelists don’t really understand that the needs of, of pastors. What would you say are some of the differences?

 

Kevin Wagner (11:07):

It’s a great question. And you know, I’m going to take us back dr. Danielle to a meeting actually at your home a number of years ago, when you invited a few of us over to sit at the feet of the great man of God and evangelist, TLS Borna, a real father figure to all of us who are evangelists today,

 

Daniel King (11:26):

That was a great event. What a privilege to be able to talk to TLR Osborne, and ask him questions.

 

Kevin Wagner (11:32):

It was incredible. And I remember TL sitting there and just, you know, pouring out his heart to us. And he made a distinction in that meeting that I’ve always remembered. He talked about the difference between preaching and teaching. And I I guess I knew that at the time, but the way he said it was so simple and so good. And I think that the difference between preaching and the difference of routine teaching is really the difference between a pastor and an evangelist, the subtle nuance. So here’s how it goes. Teaching is explaining and preaching is proclaiming.

 

Daniel King (12:09):

So teaching is explaining, you’re explaining something to your audience and then preaching is, is proclaiming. And there, I found that there is great power in the gospel when it is proclaimed. Absolutely. You know, as a PA, when I was pastoring for those 10 years, I remember getting upset

 

Kevin Wagner (12:32):

After Sunday, sometimes multiple time, many times, multiple times on Sundays and throughout the week. And what would I be doing? I’d be cracking the word of God open, and I’d be focusing on a scripture. And I would be you know, talking to people about

 

Daniel King (12:48):

About, you know, what the word of God meant for them

 

Kevin Wagner (12:51):

Verse by verse precept, by precept and, and just, you know, giving them the word of God and teaching it. And, you know, if it wasn’t in a Sunday morning setting or a Sunday preach, you know, pulpit setting, if it was in Bible slays, and he’d open it up for tea, for questions, you know, and people would ask questions about it, and then you’d take the time to examine those things. That’s primarily the work of a pastor. And so when you see an Ephesians four, the five fold ministry you see in the, in the Greek, when it says pastors and teachers, some of people have been appointed to be that that’s a hyphenated word as far as I’ve been taught. And that means that there’s a close relationship between pastors and teachers. Now, an evangelist is something a bit different. The evangelist is a different part of the five fold ministry and Ephesians four, that’s someone who, like you said, he proclaims, or she proclaims the word of God. That means that you speak the word of God with clarity and in truth, but it’s not something that you are going to be really expounding on the why so much as you preach as you, it’s rather you’re proclaiming the, what you’re proclaiming the certainty of what God says about someone’s need to be

 

Daniel King (14:11):

About the way to be saved about the way to be healed, the way to be

 

Kevin Wagner (14:15):

She delivered from demons, et cetera. And as you speak the certainty, and as you proclaim the certainty of the word of God that’s the Holy spirit lives in those words. And you and I have seen this together at certain crusades overseas, when you and I have been together. And, and of course alone, too, with other people that God just manifests himself in those words. And it’s so powerful,

 

Daniel King (14:42):

Builds faith in people to hear about Jesus, even the simplicity of the gospel to hear about how God became man grew up walked the dusty streets of Israel, performed miracles, and then died on the cross to pay the price for our sins and Rose from the dead. It’s a very simple message. It’s not super complicated. Pastors have to come up with new messages 52 weeks a year. And if they’re doing two services a week, that’s over a hundred sermons they have to come up with. But an evangelist often just preaches something very simple over and over and over again.

 

Kevin Wagner (15:22):

And evangelist, proclaims truth. A teacher, a pastor explains truth. You know, you see the differences in Jesus. I mean, he was both an evangelist and a pastor in his anointing among of course, many other things too. But you look at the sermon on the Mount. There was a huge crowd of people that Jesus was preaching to there and Matthew, and when he was giving the beatitudes, blessed are the poor, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. He was after each of the beatitudes, dr. Daniel. He wouldn’t say, now, if you have a question about this, raise your hand and I’d like to talk to you about that. No, he was proclaiming truth to multitudes of people. And the word of God lived in that. Now there were other times when privately or in smaller groups, he would teach his disciples. For example, you think in Mark four, with the parable of the soar, they did have questions about what that meant.

 

Kevin Wagner (16:15):

And so Jesus unpacked the meaning of that parable for them. So you see those differences. I think that’s, that’s for me been one of the things that, you know, I probably wrote more sermons I’m in fact, I’m I know I have, I’ve written more sermons in those 10 years of pastoring than I have in the 20 years of being an evangelist. In fact, I would say many more sure. You know, but that doesn’t negate the power or the, or the validity of this, of any of the sermons. They’re all powerful, but they’re meant to be preached in many ways to different audiences, primarily in evangelists as gearing his messages towards unbelievers first. Whereas pastors are typically gearing their messages to believers first.

 

Daniel King (17:02):

Now, talk to me about the, the different context of ministry. You were a pastor in Canada, and then you went to being an evangelist in Asia, in Africa, and it’s a very different context of ministry. What, what are some of the, the difference of going from preaching to Canadians to preach into people that maybe have never heard the gospel before?

 

Kevin Wagner (17:29):

You know, it’s a, it’s a fantastic question. Dr. Daniel, and I think just to preface it, I’ll say this, that the more I travel, particularly at a place where, to places that look very differently than they do in North America eat very different food, talk very different languages are very different weather. You know what? The more I travel, the more I realize that people are so much the same inside of people, the things that they desire, the things that they want are so much the same people have. Every person has guilt inside every person desires to know why they’re created, how they can be forgiven. Every mother wants their children to grow up happy and healthy and have good lives. Every father has a desire to know what his son or daughter is going to do with their lives. No matter where we go in the world, it seems like people, to me are more, the, the similarities greatly outweigh the differences. But I think that in terms of some of the ministry aspects of what’s going on in different parts of the world, here’s what I would say.

 

Daniel King (18:40):

I would say this,

 

Kevin Wagner (18:42):

That, first of all, you have to adjust how you speak over there. In other words, when you know me well. And so, you know, I’m a pretty lighthearted guy. I like to joke around and have a lot of fun. And, and even as a pastor, I would be, that’s the type, the type of way I preached often, but quickly I found out, I think on my very first crusade, I found out that jokes do not translate well,

 

Daniel King (19:08):

Humor is very difficult when you’re dealing with a different language and a different culture, and you try to tell a joke and sometimes it just falls flat.

 

Kevin Wagner (19:18):

Yeah. And so I have early on, I kind of left that whole part of me behind, and it also helps to here’s what happens over in these cultures because of course I only speak English fluently. And so I’m never speaking the language of over there, apart from a few words like greetings and, and praise the Lord and stuff. But I’m always working with an interpreter as I think you are too, for the most part. And when you’re working with an interpreter, you have to use just short segments of speech, maybe one phrase, maybe a couple of phrases, one sentence or two short patterns of thought, and then you have to stop and let the interpreter tell the people what you just said. What that does is it really helps preachers from chasing rabbit trails. I find, in other words, it keeps you very honest in making every word you say, count your words when you’re preaching in those settings need to be very direct very, to the point, you’re not going to be wasting words. You’re not going to be using colloquialisms that people in North America kind of understand, or even cliches for the most part, you’re going to be using very, very strict English that the interpreter can understand clearly. And then you’re going to just really, it keeps you from going off to places with rambling thoughts that sometimes happens in sermons when you’re kind of,

 

Daniel King (20:43):

Well, I think the difference is a pastor has people over a of time and is able to, to develop them to maturity has more time to be able to invest in them for an evangelist. You may really only have one chance because if someone is at the service tonight, they might not come tomorrow night. So this is your opportunity to share with them about Jesus and to challenge them, to accept Christ as, as their savior. And really the, the evangelists message, the whole point of it is to bring people to that point of decision, whether they are going to accept Christ or to walk away from him, that’s

 

Kevin Wagner (21:25):

A hundred percent right. And you know, here’s another change. I was just a difference. I was just talking to someone else about this this week and over there in these other countries, here’s what I’ve found. I’ve found that the denominational differences are quite blurred. In other words, because in these countries that were Christians or severe minority, in many cases, most of the countries that I go to the Christian population is, is 2% or less. And in many cases it’s a persecuted minority or an at least an oppressed minority. And so Christians may belong to different churches and denominations, but there, because of that reality in their lives, they don’t have the luxury, I guess, or maybe luxury isn’t even the right word, but they don’t really focus on the differences so much in doctrine. And so, for example, over here, you know, you have people who might believe that the gifts of the Holy spirit are for today.

 

Kevin Wagner (22:27):

Some people believe in speaking in tongues, some people don’t, some people believe that God still heals people supernaturally apart from medicine, even though we are very thankful for doctors and modern medicine but over there, there’s no I’ve never in 20 years come across anyone who’s talked to me negatively about praying for the sick or about casting out demons or about any sort of power encounters that we might have in those settings. And I think the reason is, is because whether you’re Methodist or Anglican or Catholic or Pentecostal or anything in between the people over there for the most part, what I’ve seen is they read their Bibles. They have a child like faith, not a childish faith, but a childlike faith that trusts what the word of God has to say implicitly. And when they read about Jesus doing these things, and Jesus says, you’re going to do the same things that I did, they think, okay, well, that makes sense to me. I can understand that and they get it. And that’s, that’s, I think a big difference there is that we don’t have, I haven’t, I have never had to spend time trying to justify the use of the gifts of the Holy spirit over in these settings. Even if I’m not in a Pentecostal church.

 

Daniel King (23:48):

And often the, the supernatural is very real. When you pray for demons to be cast out immediately, demons will will manifest. And that’s not to say we don’t have demons here in, in North America, but I think our demons here are more sophisticated demons and they, they hide. We still have lots of demons of pride and anger and all kinds of demonic issues in, in North America. But when you, you go to Africa, you feel very close to the supernatural. They, they, they believe in the supernatural because they see things happen supernaturally on a daily basis.

 

Kevin Wagner (24:30):

And that’s a really good point. You really need to have to be ready to to walk in the supernatural world. And I guess in the, both the, you know, the, the Holy spirit world and the demonic world, you don’t walk in the demonic world, but you have to be able, you need to be ready to take it on you know, full, full forward. You can’t be, you can’t shy away from it. And I learned from the start having been influenced by people, as I said before, rinerd bonky, TLR, Osborne. These men of God were very clear that, you know, when you go into these countries that have been dominated by demons by, by witchcraft, by witchdoctors by pagan religions, you need to understand that Satan has had a hold in these places for so many centuries that you’re walking into a mind field of demonic activity, like you said. And so we need to be ready to cast out those devils like Jesus did. We need to be ready to click, to declare victory over illness and disease that is haunted and plagued these people for so long. And if we’re not ready to do that in many times, these countries can become the graveyard of evangelists were excited, evangelists go there. But if they’re not walking in the power of God, they can come back very discouraged because the devil can chew them up and spit them out.

 

Daniel King (25:51):

Well, thank God for evangelists like you, that have not been chewed up by the devil, not in race, defeating the devil in countries all over the world. So dr. Kevin, thank you so much for joining us today. I love hearing your insights and your stories about what God is doing around the world. Thank you very much, dr. Daniel, God bless you. Thank you.

 

Many missionaries need a missionary agency to help them with administrative tasks so they can stay on the mission field leading people to the Lord.  What should missionaries look for when they choose a missionary agency? How to missionary agencies help missionaries? On today’s episode, Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach, interviews Mike Martin about his missionary agency. 

Show Notes: 

Website:  Mike and Kay Martin – Laborers Together International – http://www.Ltin.org

On this Podcast, Mike Martin shares that Laborers Together International was established to help “ordinary” people do extraordinary things for God by giving them an opportunity to fulfill the Great Commission, as well as to help missionaries all over the world fulfill the call that is on their lives and ministries.

Mike Martin answers these questions:

Why use a missionary agency?

What does a missionary agency do to help missionaries?

Tell me about how you received a Macedonian call?

Transcription 

Daniel King (00:01): Many missionaries need a missionary agency to help them with administrative tasks that they can stay on the mission field, leading people to Jesus. So what should missionaries look for when they choose a mate missionary agency? Today? I have a very special guest Mike Martin he’s with laborers together international, and he has a missionary agency that serves missionaries and helps keep them on the mission field. Mr. Mike, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. It’s good to be with you, sir. So tell me a little bit about labor’s together and what your purposes

 

Mike Martin (00:54):

Labors together is actually founded in based on first Corinthians three nine, which says we’re laborers together with God, our labors together in Christ. Well, we are laboring together with missionaries, so we’re there to be a support to them to help them. We are administrative office for missionaries. We handle their finances, all of their correspondence and we take care of everything they need here in the U S so that they’re, it takes the burden and the pressure off of them to remain there on the field, knowing it’s taken care of. And we are a five Oh one C three tax exempt organization.

 

Daniel King (01:35):

Okay. So your website says that labors together international was established to help ordinary people do extraordinary things for God, by giving them an opportunity to fulfill the great commission, as well as to help missionaries all over the world, to fulfill the call of God that’s on their lives and ministries. Can you explain to me a little bit what is a missionary agency and why should a missionary look for a missionary agency?

 

Mike Martin (02:03):

Generally speaking, what we have found anyway, is that when a missionary goes overseas, they either have their parents handle their finances or their local church, which is fine, but that a local church, that’s not their vision. The vision is to reach the people and our organization labors together, international or LTI. We are there. Our main focus is to help you, the missionary fulfill the call that’s on your life. And so lot of missionaries have their parents do it. And a lot of people want to have tax deductability. Parents cannot give that. And so with us, we’re able to do that. So one of the things that,

 

Daniel King (02:47):

So you send out tax receipts at the end of the year, you keep everything compliant with the IRS in the, the laws that govern a, not for profit organizations here in America. And so basically you’re enabling missionaries to stay on the field and to focus on their calling, leading people, to Jesus, building churches, whatever they’re called to do, and you handle some of the administrative side to make it happen. And so what are some of those administrative things that you do for missionaries? We help them

 

Mike Martin (03:23):

Take care of their finances. So people would send their donation to us. And based on the way I asked IRS, which they did something totally unheard of, they allow us to do certain things. Well, I go by the principle of you have not because you ask not. So if in a check, if people write a check and send it, they make the check payable to LTI and in the memo, which is typically not done, you write for the missionary, the, the name of the name of the missionary, and that money goes into a separate account. We have two major accounts, the ministry account, which is where we get our money partners, but then we established another account and waiting for each missionary. Well, yes, it’s, it’s we established account for, and we call it LTI, N which stands for labor together. International network money goes into that account. And then each missionary has an account underneath that account. So then we transfer electronically, transfer their money into their accounts. So it never goes to our personal, what we call operating. It goes into a total separate account.

 

Daniel King (04:37):

You are not spending the money on your own operating expenses. Now, how long does it take you to get the money to them? Does it take a month or two for the money to get there? Or how long before the missionary access is the money to be able to use it?

 

Mike Martin (04:50):

I make deposits every Wednesday, sometimes Thursday. And by the following Monday, they get their money. So it is immediately.

 

Daniel King (05:01):

So it can immediately go to the mission field and be put to work. As soon as someone gives a donation, then that’s tremendous. And then you’re also sending out newsletters. I know when, when I was young, my parents were missionaries in the nation of Mexico. We stuffed newsletters and we set them out like 2000 newsletters, every single month. That’s a lot of work. A us kids were slave labor. And so we would get our envelopes and we would stuff them, we get paper cuts and, and we’d complain about it. And my mom says, well you, you want to eat don’t you, you have to help stuff, the newsletters. And so you do that for missionaries.

 

Mike Martin (05:40):

That’s why I’m chuckling. We have what we call a newsletter stuffing party and the board, and some of our board members that live around this area in the Dallas Fort worth area. We’ll have them over to our house or to our office, one of the two, and we’ll spend the day doing that, but we take care of everything and we send out everything.

 

Daniel King (06:03):

You put a remittance envelope in the M in there, and people can also donate online or by credit card.

 

Mike Martin (06:11):

Yes. We had people who, who donate by credit card, online giving what we do is try to make giving to that missionary extremely easy and quick. And we do not hold their money. It is long enough in the bank to make sure checks or whatever it clears credit card get processed. And that immediately goes out.

 

Daniel King (06:33):

That is extremely valuable for keeping the missionary on the field. Now, now you have quite a few missionaries that you represent. What are some of the nations that you have missionaries in right now?

 

Mike Martin (06:43):

We have some in the Northern Europe. What we call Northern Europe is like in Finland and the Netherlands, then Europe, France, Germany, England. Then we have Eastern Europe, Bulgaria, Macedonia over into Mexico and then over in the Asian company, our companies, countries. And so it’s pretty much

 

Daniel King (07:12):

All all over the world. Yeah. Well, that’s, that’s tremendous. Now you, you just mentioned you have a missionary in, in Macedonia and in acts chapter 16, Paul received a Macedonian call in a vision. He saw a man of Macedonia who called him to come and help him. And so you told me you, you received a Macedonian call. Tell me about that.

 

Mike Martin (07:34):

Yeah, it was really funny. We got on my cell phone, I noticed this number was an international number and I thought, well, it’s gotta be one of our missionaries. I don’t recognize the number. So I answered, hello, this is Mike. And this man said, hi, my name is [inaudible]. I’m from Macedonia. Come help us. And I started laughing and I laughed and laughed and laughed. And he said, what are you laughing about? A suck out a Macedonian call. And I’m curious, how did you get my number? It’s fine. And he said, a friend of mine who knows you, that you’re helping in Bulgaria. I called him and ask him for some help. He said, I can’t help you. But Mike Martin can hear his, his phone number and gave me your phone number. I said, well, what kind of help do you need? So he told me he needs help. He gets support from the U S but he didn’t have a way to get it to him. And so we begin to explain what we do. And he said, I need help. And we’ve helped him, not just finances, but various things that we’ve done for them. It’s been amazing and we’ve made several trips to Macedonia and it’s powerful. What’s happened over time.

 

Daniel King (08:51):

Wow. That’s just one story from the missionaries that, that you support and help them to stay on the field. Mr. Mike, you’re doing extremely valuable work, keeping missionaries out there, telling people about Jesus. Thank you for being on the podcast. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it very much. God bless you.

 

 

Latin America contains over 652 million people and over twenty nations. What are the secrets of reaching people for Jesus in Latin America? On today’s podcast, crusade director Rigo Galvez talks with Evangelism Coach Daniel King about how to effectively communicate the Gospel throughout Central and South America. 

Show Notes: 

The population of Latin America and the Caribbean is estimated at more than 652 million. Latin America includes more than twenty nations including: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Equador, Peru, Boliva, Chile, French Giana, Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Puerto Rico.

On this podcast, Rigo Galvez answers the following questions: 

1. What is the state of the body of Christ in Latin America?

2. What are the greatest needs in Latin America?

3. How does Jesus help meet those needs? 
4. What are some of the differences between European or North American culture and the culture of Latin America?

6. What are the challenges of doing evangelism in Latin America?
7. What is the best way to encourage the Latin American church to be more evangelistic?
8. What advice would you give to evangelists who want to come to work in Spanish speaking nations?

Transcript:

Daniel King (00:01):

Well, I have a very special guest with me today. Regal Galvez. He is a crusade organizer who has organized crusades all over Latin America. Welcome to the podcast.

 

Rigo Galvez (00:14):

Thank you, Daniel. Thank you. Besides who say organizing, I will say I am hungry for souls. I want to see people coming to Christ every single day by one to one or by massive event, you have,

 

Daniel King (00:29):

Have a great heart for evangelism and for souls to be saved. Let’s talk a little bit about soul-winning in Latin America.

 

Rigo Galvez (00:38):

Well, right now as a, you know, Daniel, the through many years, we have been watching hundreds and thousands of people coming to cry to the two through crusades where the evangelists came get together with a group of pastors and they set up a budget and then they make a plan. And then they come into the end, after a long, a small process to a crusades and in a stadium and an open field, or sometime even in a big church that that I don’t consider him that an evangelistic crusade in a, in a big building and a person in a church, because sometime it just now is only the Christian people came to that event. And it’s not for new, new souls or new people. Anyway, I been watching that and that was so great for son many years, that was so good to see thousands and thousands of people receiving Christ. But for me personally, I believe that that that idea is that methadone has to change a little bit now in order to reach new believers.

 

Daniel King (02:02):

Let’s talk a little bit about soul-winning in Latin America. The population of Latin America in the Caribbean is estimated to be 652 million people. So it’s a huge harvest field. And so when you talk about Latin America, you’re talking about Spanish speaking countries and also Portuguese speaking countries, but you have the central American countries like Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua. And then you have also the, the South American countries like Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, France, Kiana, Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay. And then you also have the Caribbean islands. So you have Cuba, you have the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and a few other small islands here and there. And so how many of those Latin American countries have you organized?

 

Rigo Galvez (03:06):

Almost an, every one of them

 

Daniel King (03:09):

And every single one. So you are an expert.

 

Rigo Galvez (03:12):

I don’t, I don’t know if you’re an expert, but I’ve been, like I say, by the grace of God, I had the privilege to go to those countries in not just for any event. I, I been leaving there. I been, I been even moving my family to too many those country. I remember the first time I went to Peru, that was in 1997 and I didn’t went to the capital city. I didn’t went to the nice and beautiful city. Like [inaudible] the last Blanca they call it. And Peru is, it really is amazing. And I went to the jungle, I went to the Amazon river through the Amazon. I lived there six months. We was building a little small churches and also digging Wells. That was a prior that we put in together in six months after those six months of being, working with the locals, there was not churches on those places. There was not a electrical system over there. There was a natural everything jungle. And but there was people inside the [inaudible] area where people would never hear the gospel. And we went there, we built in a little church and we brought the pastor, the preacher that we was training in any ketose period, not keto. Keto is equal. Iquitos is a, is an E.

 

Daniel King (04:39):

He does right there on the Amazon river, in the middle of the jungle of Peru, where I went with you

 

Rigo Galvez (04:46):

Came one time, right? Or many, I don’t know, many times or now, but anyway, right, there is a group of pastors that we now are good friends. And we, from those churches, we train his own leaders. And at the end of the six months, we brought like a 12 different pastors to the, to the entire region of the jungle or the Amazon in Peru because the Amazon river is so big, you know, cross all Brazils and all, all the other nations. And that is people living in that jungle. But that was my first experience went 1997, went to Peru and directly to the jungle. And we went salt. That was amazing in the end, after we dedicated those churches to, to the community, to the lore. And we did a little crusade in every single city for, I think the tour was for 12 days on boat and river bonds,

 

Daniel King (05:46):

River boats going up and down the Amazon river.

 

Rigo Galvez (05:48):

But if we were sleeping like a, you know, as sleeping on the boat and every day was coming out and another bill is preaching the gospel, bringing miracles with us medicine. And we did everything. You can imagine an Orlin to win souls for Christ. That was the first time. Now I will say there are still areas. No, you in the Amazon, you don’t think too much, only about a country. You have to think what zone, what area is needing more the gospel, because I will say Brazil is a ma is a big country, but there are some areas on the jungle that they are people waiting. They never hear the gospel, for example.

 

Daniel King (06:36):

Yeah. So as you visited all these different countries that, that speak Spanish, what would you say is the state of the body of Christ in Latin America right now?

 

Rigo Galvez (06:48):

Like I said, we’ll be, we’ll be by area, for example, central America, to talking about what Amala Honduras and Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama and dark country, I will say 50% of 55% of the population are Christian. Now, of course that is not counting with the Catholic church, you know? And but the majority, for example, in Guatemala, people say now the evangelical are 60% of the population. You know, that was not,

 

Daniel King (07:26):

That’s more Christian than America is

 

Rigo Galvez (07:29):

I think in Guatemala, in Guatemala. But I remember what am I only have like a 14, 15 million people, you know, okay.

 

Daniel King (07:36):

What about South America? It’s not the same in South America.

 

Rigo Galvez (07:39):

These a different, for example, you have more Christians in Brazil, down Peru, or Bolivia, Peru, Bolivia, there are bury religion and mixed in with the inkers arm, etiology, you know, and, and that make a more difficult. Anyway, I will say there are some countries that will say, have being the gospel penetrate better than other countries. They still needed a lot of help.

 

Daniel King (08:10):

So what would you say are the greatest spiritual needs where where’s the greatest spiritual need in Latin America? Okay.

 

Rigo Galvez (08:16):

I will say in everywhere where you see a lot of growth or the church, the band Jericho, I will say right now more than anything, they need training. They need discipleship because it’s amazing how people are hungry for the gospel. Since those crusades, you will see thousands of people coming to Christ. They get into the church, but through, they get out through, through the another door in the church, eh, I will say the biggest need right now, wherever is a church in Latin country is training leaders, making disciple. I will say that will be the main focus. And then you go to a area that is not like used to, it’s not like it used to be 60 years ago, but they need to hear the pure gospel. You know, they, they maybe doesn’t have a church. Like I say, in those areas, in those jungles and part of the Brazil, Colombia, and on the jungle a special day, because it’s so difficult to get there. They will need a AA event, a crusade to win people to Christ.

 

Daniel King (09:21):

So there are definitely places that are open and, and, and need to, to hear the, the very simple possible, yes. So what would you say are some of the challenges of doing evangelism in Latin America?

 

Rigo Galvez (09:34):

I will say one of the biggest mentality, the challenge would be the mentality that is so poor. There is like a, we don’t have the resources. We don’t, we don’t have the money. We don’t know it’s going to cost too much, but this is a mentality of poverty. It is a spirit that is controlling the nations and the UC natto, those natures are so rich, so beautiful, but the mindset is on the people. It’s like you, we don’t have the money. I will say that is something that we have to, to change, to do by the, by the power of the teaching or the word of God. We need to tell on these people is possible. Do you have the resource? You don’t have to wait all the time for somebody to come in for an oxide to bring the, all the resources you can do it. I will say that is one of the biggest challenge that we have mentality poverty mentality.

 

Daniel King (10:32):

So you train a lot of churches in doing evangelism and give them tools to go out and to share the gospel. What, what’s the best way to encourage that the churches in Latin America to be more evangelistic?

 

Rigo Galvez (10:49):

It’s a good question then. Yeah.

 

Daniel King (10:51):

Wow. Sometimes it’s hard. I know sometimes to challenge people, everyone is very comfortable and wants to just sit in the church and, and have a good prayer service, but to get out beyond the walls of the church, into the community and actually reaching lost people for Jesus,

 

Rigo Galvez (11:07):

You can imagine how, how good somebody feel I could after they get saved, because they never experienced that. They feel the realist and they feel so happy, but sometime they, they, that the masters is only about our salvation and nothing else. And eh, I will say as still the, the, the big transition that we have to do is changing our mindset because it’s coming from traditional from, from soul long, a goal, the, the root of our culture to be so poor. And and and and, and this is special. The church, you will see churches suffering with nothing because they don’t risk. They, they, they, life, I will say to believe for something new, I will say that is one of the biggest challenges, or course. I will say another big challenge in it is that sometime banker is God there, and they are only focused in their event.

 

Rigo Galvez (12:15):

They don’t, they don’t see the pastors like a disciple. I will say, if you go to those nation or you want to win soul, you want a multitude, but put your eyes on the pastors, what you can help them to think different to, to, to, to embrace the, the, the real kingdom of God to get out from the comfort zone. He becomes so comfort comfort with maybe 25 people, a hundred, 150 700 people, 1,005 thousand, 10,000, 30,000, like a missile in local church. It is dangerous to become so comfortable in what that number that you forgot. There is an entire world or side waiting for you. And I will say if somebody got to those nation, listen, please not only be focused on the multitude and the end of the event, trying to do something discipleship or help with some tool like a books or something, put it in their hand or the path to do a little training, get out of your comfort zone. Of course, if you say, pastor, I’m coming to help you to get out from your comfort zone, nobody will go and work with you. And you just have to say, pastor, I’m coming to help you. How can I help? How can I help you to, to re, to, to, to enlarge your you’re radio of influence? How can you grow in your church? Let’s work together. I will say that will really help a lot.

 

Daniel King (13:53):

I have lots of friends who are evangelists, and many of them are young, just getting started out, doing evangelism. And they, they call me and say, Daniel, can you find somebody who can help organize a crusade for me? And so my question is, what advice would you give to young evangelists who want to work in Spanish speaking nations? What, what would you say to them?

 

Rigo Galvez (14:19):

I would say first of all, trying to understand the Latin culture before you get there, if you can get a lot of information about the Latin culture would be good, even the language, you know you don’t have to learn in the halls, a Spanish language, but trying to understand a little bit, because that will help you to, to, to work when you get there. There is so many barriers and many different on culture, you know, and what are, what are some of the differences

 

Daniel King (14:52):

Between American culture or European culture and Latin American culture?

 

Rigo Galvez (14:57):

I will say for Excel, self-confidence you as a North American, for example, you have such a strong self confidence in our countries. That that is very weak. If you talk so straight to somebody, you gotta, we gotta be doing this. We have to change this. That can be offensive, offended, easily hurt. And then you heard that person,

 

Daniel King (15:20):

Then they disappeared.

 

Rigo Galvez (15:22):

There was laughing a little bit like everything is okay, but a, he is not happy if that happened, you’re in trouble because you’re not going to know why he’s not working. But I was like, that is something that is really very, very bare sensitive. Another thing I will say the way that the, the, we communicate these people still today, especially on the church, they don’t have this ability being development to be communicating right, and emails and answer right away. Your email is better. You call them right now, for example, all the majority of this pastor work through WhatsApp. Eh, they don’t, they don’t like to read the email. They don’t want to go to the computer or maybe they don’t have it, but they have WhatsApp. And then right into them, sending a little, a little note and keep talking to that way.

 

Daniel King (16:20):

We’ll be happy that I will say that that really can help. That’s great. What other advice would you give to an evangelist who comes to me?

 

Rigo Galvez (16:28):

I will say something that is not too typical trying to involving their wife, because in many ways the he’s alone and he doesn’t know what he’s missing. His, why will have be a lot of help in so many ways. The he doesn’t do more because his wife is no agree. He coming home with the idea, maybe there will be a duel and another amazing crusade, but his wife is not happy because she doesn’t know where he’s really doing. Before you say to all the pastors and Biden as a couple. If he, if they don’t come this way. Oh, no, no, no. We can. We got to do another meeting where your wife will be here in Baldwin, their wife that will really sate. I will say 60% of your budget.

 

Daniel King (17:16):

Wow. That’s tremendous. Well, what else, what other advice would you give to an Angela?

 

Rigo Galvez (17:22):

I would say also trying to, to work with the local leaders on the, on the city or on the community, go to the mayor office and presenting with the pastor. Don’t go by yourself, teach the pastor hall, how you communicate the vision of bringing the gospel to the city and to the mayor of the city or to the policeman. You tell him the policeman. I want you to be part of that. We need protection. They, with that excuse that they need to protect and they will be there. And they will hear the gospel and trying to, to establish a, a group of people who are the leaders of the community to become the, the, the, the, the, the group who were going to direct the crusade, you know, bring the pastor, bring the mayor, bring the policeman, Brenda, and the fire department, Brenda, any other leaders in the community, any time you go to the city, find the main path, but also find a niche. The rest of the leader of the civil leaders in the, the politician, they need to be close to us and learning how the kingdom of God function, that will be really big help.

 

Daniel King (18:37):

Wow. That’s tremendous. Now, sometimes when you do a meeting in Latin America,

 

Rigo Galvez (18:42):

Many people come, but everyone

 

Daniel King (18:44):

Who is there is already a church member. Yes.

 

Rigo Galvez (18:48):

How do you make sure

 

Daniel King (18:51):

That the, the event is also evangelistic and, and bringing in lost people to Jesus is is not easy right now because 

 

Rigo Galvez (19:01):

Now, although this crusades they are not any longer a evangelistic crusade. There are church,

 

Daniel King (19:10):

It’s just a church gathering. They worship there.

 

Rigo Galvez (19:13):

We print an open play in an open meeting. Yeah. I will say, that’s why you have to find the rest of the leaders of the community as the mayor. When you got there, we are coming to do a event that is not just for the evangelical. I want to teach your people how to do better business. And all the people in your office start creating a meeting that in the end, you will call maybe a business meeting or political politician meeting. And you, what you will do is bring in the, the principle of the gospel and preach the gospel to those place. And that’s why now you are open door for people who doesn’t normally go to church to come into your event. And then you ask the mayor. I want you to come in to the, to the event, bring all your friends. Even sometime you can challenge him.

 

Rigo Galvez (20:14):

You can say, I will bring the gospel. I’m bringing the light. I’m bringing the platform. I’m bringing all the equipment that we need. I want you bring buses with people full of people. They know how to, to, to, to carry him people to do their event. They know how to do it. And and the pastor is with you. He will be happy because you are not doing buy and sell because it’s danger. When the pastor doesn’t understand what you are doing with the mayor, the pastor will start thinking, Oh, here’s another politician know. And he, even when you feel like this, pastor, maybe doesn’t understand everything. Don’t worry bringing him to those meetings that will help. And that’s the same with the policeman. There are many policemen, many farmers are those polymers that they normally doesn’t go to that church. And you got an Biden. I am bill. I am putting together free a conference chest for the politician, Jeff, for the business, people there is free for all of you. If you have a tool like a book from somebody, and you will say, I have a gift, a special gift, but you got to come. Don’t give it the book before they get there, because now they are not going to come to the event.

 

Daniel King (21:26):

Wow. There you go. [inaudible] Do it as Gran [inaudible] amigo. [inaudible].

 

Rigo Galvez (21:41):

Thank you, Daniel. I really appreciate this time. And again, thank you for the partnership, the friendship, you always adding value to my life. Thank you, Daniel. I admire you.

The women of Latin America face unique problems including the lack of self esteem, poverty, and lack of opportunity. What is the best way to reach them with the love of Jesus? On today’s episode, Gaby Galvez explains the best way to reach women in Latin America. She also talks about the unique ways a minister’s wife can support her husband in his calling. 

Show Notes: 

The strength of the church in Latin America is often the women. They come to church every time the doors are open. It is important to tell women they are valuable and have value in the eyes of God. Women need to be given a voice. 

On this edition of the Evangelism Podcast, Gaby answers questions like: 

How do you balance being a wife, a mother, and a minister? 

What priority should your children have in the life of a mother?

How do you as the wife of a minister support and help your husband?

What message moves the heart of the women of Latin America?

Do you get scared when you stand in front of 20,000 women who are looking to you for answers?

Key Verse: Joel 2:28 “It shall come to pass that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh…your daughters shall prophecy.” 

Key Quote: Never allow the ministry go ahead of your children. Choose family first before ministry. 

Transcription: 

Daniel King(00:00):

Today, I’m with a very special friend, ms. Gabby Galvez. She is from the nation of Honduras and she’s married to my very good friend, Rigo Galvez, who has helped me to organize crusades in Latin America for many years. And so Gabby is a powerful woman of God, and she really is a great passion in her heart for reaching women throughout all of Latin America. So ms. Gabby, thank you so much for being on the podcast today.

 

Gaby Galvez (00:34):

Thank you, dr. Daniel, for me, it’s a great privilege to be here. I really are exciting about this meeting, talking about passion, really how passionate our heart to the harvest and how God is Toro.

 

Daniel King(00:49):

Now, as I’ve traveled throughout Latin America, I’ve noticed that the, the strength of the church in Latin America is often the women. Usually there is a male pastor, but when you have a service, all the people who are singing and dancing and playing the tambourines and, and who come to the prayer meetings, the all night prayer meetings, they’re the women. And so the, the women are really strongly used by God throughout Latin America. And also the women are very effective at reaching out to others through evangelism. And so in your ministry, you’re very big on training women that they have value in God’s eyes, that they are valuable and talking to them about how they can be empowered through the Holy spirit to reach people. So, so ms. Gabby gave me some of what God’s put on your heart for women.

 

Gaby Galvez (01:54):

Yes. One other thing really the Lord has been putting in my heart is how we can be a voice. We are really God’s voice inner earth. We have to be jumping into this new area sometimes as a women’s. I can tell you, we are very comfortable in home. I has been home all the time and waiting for so long in some way, you know how I can go out from that box. You know, Ang is spread really the gospel and traveling with my husband. We find down, you know, how are our learnings into the, every now the women’s?

 

Daniel King(02:40):

And so you’re a wife and a mother. You’re also a powerful minister. How do you balance being a wife and mother with also being in the ministry?

 

Gaby Galvez (02:55):

Well, it’s a gray question always are in the process of the balance. But one of the thing that I really believe has been helping me is to have a very deep communion with the LER. You know, I don’t do many things. I do the important things saying has been to making many choice, like one day I remember I received an invitation to go into a women’s conference and they want me to go, I was ready to go. And I was looking for somebody to take care of all my kids. I love my mom. I love my mother. Love. I look for people who I know and nobody was ready. Nobody was how a time. And I say, I get to the, I remember this colors of my home. And I sit down there and I say, Lord, how you want me to do ministry? Because I am ready to do it. But it’s nobody who, who is helping my kids. And immediately the Holy spirit told me, never do the ministry going up in their head,

 

Daniel King(04:03):

Never allow the ministry to go in front of the children, make the children your first priority,

 

Gaby Galvez (04:10):

First priority. And, and that was like a fresh water into my heart. And I say, okay, Lord, I would do it from that time. I remember, you know, choosing family first, before ministry.

 

Daniel King(04:28):

There’s a verse in the book of Joel that has really impacted your life is in Joel two verse 28. It says, and it shall come to pass that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. Talk to me about that verse and, and what it means to you.

 

Gaby Galvez (04:55):

Yes, diverse for me is very inspiring. I believe really, as I told you before, we are a boys as a women, I remember going to a women’s conference and be so many women who come to me and say, look, I am a pastor wife, but I, I think just my husband came preach. I don’t believe I wanted, but I don’t believe that is for me. And I find many women’s, you know, fighting with the ideas when I believe really, you know, the Holy spirit inside of us and we need to live enough in now in this season, are people lifting their life out to VA boys, but in different ways, but the Lord wants us to speak his word and bringing hope to those in need women’s children’s and people who are waiting for us.

 

Daniel King(05:53):

And so when you go and speak at a women’s conference, and I know you’ve spoken to two women, there’s been thousands and thousands of women at these women conferences. What is your, your message that you give to the women? Yes.

 

Gaby Galvez (06:09):

One of them matches is Alvaro. I really love to inspiring the women. You know, how they can become a more visionary, seen theirself, you know, her self esteem up, I believe for the last day, the Lord wants to use many women who, who want to think in God’s way trying to let them know that they are not down. They are not even up the man, but they can be, you know, a gray bustle in this generation to chain their generations. Also coming in with the kids, you know, with the childrens in his, you see women is very hustler inference over even the, the house in, in everyday teaching is going on. And then we have a self esteem down and then it’s me in a going to conquer, you know, that play where the Lord want us to take us in the way, doing the right decision, you know, for the family, for the children, same and to have a great perspective about the future, where it’s going, you know, the house and the family Parasso to have a the victory, not just to be in, in a box, but also to a spreader hands, you know, beside or humps and surrender.

 

Daniel King(07:46):

Yes. Wow. You know, in the book of Genesis, it talks about how God has given women as a help meet to men. And boy, man sure do need a lot of help. And so your husband, Rigo is a man of great faith, but I think that when he’s standing in faith, he’s able to stand like that because you are a woman of great faith. Talk to me some about how you support your husband and how you encourage him and how you, you, you, you join your faith together to believe God for amazing things. Yes.

 

Gaby Galvez (08:26):

A 100 thing. I really, you know, the Lord Brown me all the time is praying for my husband, praying for my family, taking a quality time. But no, I want to tell you, dr. Daniel is not a religious prayer as like I has to do. That is a really desire to be there, you know, in God’s presence. And their moment know when I am praying sometimes even I am not praying exactly just for healing or for my family. I just, you know, be there in his, pressing a no hearing and delay me in healing in the moment. You know, I believe the Holy spirit show me things about, you know my husband of our future and say things like I believe what the Bible say. He would show us the secrets, you know, and then we can pray more boldness with a lot of boldness.

 

Gaby Galvez (09:30):

I remember those times where my husband is in another country, I am in my country with the kids. And that moment, the Lord brought me into prayer. I am praying right now. And I am taking a picture. What is going on with my husband in another country? I made some phone calls or I sent a text to him and he read the text and he say, wow, this is going on right now. You, you can keep praying. You know, it’s kind of like he’s in another country, but we are really connecting in the spirit. I believe every evangelist, everything we do for the Lord has to be bullying on prayer, but NOI prayer, like many people say, okay, let’s do this step of prayer. Step number one, step number two, step number three. And then they get boring. But as, so we get that prayer like that really or alive for, and really, you know, what we really want to do. The Loris started doing his job, the secret, really

 

Daniel King(10:36):

Talk to me about your children. Tell me about your children and tell me what you’re doing to train your children up in the Lord.

 

Gaby Galvez (10:43):

Yes. I have a passion really for my children’s. I always say they are the extension,

 

Daniel King(10:53):

They’re the extension. Your, your children are your extension

 

Gaby Galvez (10:57):

Extinction and does extension has to be even better than us. We have a three childrens are seeing I get praying it. I knew, you know, the Lord has been charging me because when I get pregnant of grace, the oldest child, you know, and I see how my belly was growing and everything. I just think about it, how the Lord controls the baby in me, you know, because in that moment in a probably I wasn’t ready for a baby, but the Lord trusting me and I take the challenge in, you know, the good challenge. I will say that training my kids into God’s word from the very beginning, I has been very jealous. What they hear, what they see with that’s around him. You know, I’m not trying just to make something like I know one day go away with people around, but I am building, I am helping to build something in the spiritual area in their life, and I need to be very jealous.

 

Gaby Galvez (12:11):

You know, I’m very careful with them. They has been some training about how to read the Bible. No, just as a book, but also get get I would say a revelation, what they are reading. I has been able to create a environment in my home that they just know knowing about God, but they experienced God in our home. That’s make a big difference. They can go and pray by themselves and they can come and say, Hey mom, I hear clearly duller Watson speaking that to my heart. And he say this and that, and that is wonderful. When I see the calming and say, mom, I got a dream. Tassie’s fishing mom. The Lord has been showing me this, this like a Daniel. Daniel is very well, you know, with Bishop and he all the time come mom, the Lord say to me that you will have a baby. Do you have another baby? I say, Danny, I finished grace and you are enough. And I say, well, but the Lord say that I was away for that two years later, I got pregnant. And he said,

 

Daniel King(13:30):

So God’s revealed it to your son before you even knew about it.

 

Gaby Galvez (13:35):

Yes. Yeah. The Lord revealed to my son and he say, and he will be a boy that how he say, and I said, well, we will see. And then the Lord, two years later, I have a boy. I never think I’m going to be praying after 10 years. You know,

 

Daniel King(13:54):

I know, I know that you’re a woman of prayer and in God speaks to you. So, so what has God been speaking to you recently

 

Gaby Galvez (14:03):

Has been in speaking to me to be a voice,

 

Daniel King(14:06):

To be a voice

 

Gaby Galvez (14:08):

Your voice are with tell you, I know really altcoin as people, you know, are very good at TV stations, radio thing like that. But I believe, you know, when we have a time for the Lord, when we pray in, we are full of the word of God. We just need to be in that stage, in that play with the Lord. Just want to flow one of the characteristics that I believe I am not really a public, I would say like, I really like to be in public, talk on videos on TBS. So I really don’t like I really, the work behind the scenes. That’s what I really like. Even when I do things in my home so that I don’t do things just in front of my husband or in front of my kids, I do a stuff behind them because I enjoy him between God and me.

 

Gaby Galvez (15:08):

But I, the Lord has been putting me in a play where he say, I will use you in now with rise your boys, because I need for the last time, you know, people who are really, you know want me to, to be, you want me to flow through dang, I would do it. I remember the first conference I have in my life. It was from song Americans coming to that was in Columbia. I remember doing a crusade over there and there were ladies coming from America to preach, but there they were missing Wang and they say, Gavi wants you to preach here. And I say, well, I am not ready. And they say, no, you, you ready? You can do it. Okay. I will do it. I take the step. That was my first conference was 20,000 womens in that Coliseum.

 

Daniel King(16:10):

So your first conference, there are 20,000 people listening.

 

Gaby Galvez (16:13):

I was there and I say, Holy spirit, I will do whatever you want me to do. And you know what? I start educating my ear. The Lord was talking to my ear and I was telling the people like I was God’s voice in a moment and releasing what the Lord wants me to do. And that moment, when I feel really that pressing on the Holy spirit, God in my life, I see many women, you know, I hear a women crying in the back and I see another woman crying in the healer. And I, I start talking and talking and preaching, you know, and was a pick a outing and the Holy spirit taking the, you know, all those women around the Coliseum. It made me think Laura, how it happened, because I never want to think I’m going to be in front of many people, you know, but I took the decision and I say, yes, I will do it. You know, always when we say yes to the Lord, he come in Gregoire his word,

 

Daniel King(17:15):

When you say yes to the Lord, he comes and honors his word. What a tremendous word from the Lord. Well, we have many women who listen to the podcast. I want you to pray for those women, pray that the Holy spirit would be upon them and that they would be used mightily for his kingdom. So pray for our listeners who are women,

 

Gaby Galvez (17:39):

I would pray, but really I believe more what I can pray. I believe that you gotta do a actual, that is where really the owner wants us to do. Sometime we are waiting and waiting and waiting and seeing others and believing in others, but don’t believe in ourself. But really this is the time that we will be even walking and praying because sometimes we as a church or we as a women’s in some way, women’s pray. I believe in some way, women’s go around the corner of their bed and say, Lord, help me with this. Or help me with my husband. Oh, help me with my children in some way, even they are not Christian at all, but they know there is God, but the Lord is calling us for this system to work, praying what Kim praying I would call that beaker for several years.

 

Gaby Galvez (18:40):

Then yet we had been in the back praying and praying and praying and nothing happened. I know many, women’s wonderful. Women’s power for women. When you talk to them, they’re, you know, amazing in impressible, but they has been chatting a room praying, you know, and they say, I am waiting for the manifestation of the Lord coming here. I am waiting for the time that law we expose me. I, now the Lord is saying, expose yourself. And that would be my prayer. That will be your prayer, you know? And then I would pray. But I believe for this system, we need to step out and walk together in prayer father in the name of Jesus, I believe for degeneration. Thank you for make us a boys where we can speak you revelation, where you hasn’t been giving into our heart. Thank you for the 19, for the power, for the healing, for the changing or mindset and giving hope and giving all the, every women’s in the nation’s need.

 

Gaby Galvez (20:00):

Thank you Lord, because you’re a grip father and you’re so sensitive, sensitive, Holy spirit for your anointing. Every women to believe in theirself, in lift their heart to you, but also they can walk through any circumstance. They can walk lore through the adversity and they can conquer, or because we are your child. Thank you Jesus, for the Holy spirit. And I think every women, wherever they are in, I believe LER. I believe like Joel, two 24 say that you will rise. Does daughters to be a boys in this generations. Thank you, Jesus. I believe the Holy spirit would take them and to show them that future and to release the vision that you has been already putting in their heart. Thank you for a great harvest. Thank you for a great annuity, but also thank you for live for boys in this or

 

Speaker 3 (21:16):

Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen.

 

Can a nation be changed in a day? The evidence from OneNationOneDay in Honduras suggests that the answer is a resounding, “Yes!” On this podcast, Rigo Galvez shares the genesis of how an entire nation can be saved in one day. 

Show Notes: 

In 2013 a nationwide event in Honduras was held called “One Nation, One Day.” It was inspired by Isaiah 66:8, “Can a nation be saved in a day? Can a country be brought forth in a moment?” Eighteen evangelists joined together to conduct eighteen Jesus festivals in the capital of every state in Honduras.

At Daniel King’s crusade in Copan there were about 30,000 people at the crusade and 1,285 new believers filled out decision cards. 

Our Copan team had an amazing week of ministry. Just the team of 100 people in my state ministered in 64 schools to over 20,000 students.  

Daniel King gave away 520,000 books. Across the nation of Honduras, they were given to people who decided to follow Jesus!

Over 2,000 missionaries flooded the nation to demonstrate the love of God in tangible ways through medical brigades and food distribution. The outreach was featured on the front-page of every newspaper in Honduras as the nation turned toward God. Together the team of 2,000 missionaries ministered face to face to over 1.2 millions students. 

1. How did 1N1D impact Honduras?

 The city of San Pedro Sula has been known as “the murder capital of the world” for the past several years. The city has been plagued by drug and gang related violence. Since the recent invasion of missionaries, homicide in the city has gone down by 60%. Suicide dropped by 15%. According to the FAO, extreme poverty in Honduras has dropped by 3.4%. In the past few months, several notorious drug dealers in Honduras have been apprehended and sent to the United States to face trial. Corrupt politicians have been thrown into jail.

Previously the teachers of Honduras have frequently gone on strike. But a year after 1N1D, all the schools in Honduras completed the entire school year without any teachers going on strike. This was the first time in twenty-five years that school children in Honduras have received a full two hundred days of education.

The church has been unified and pastors from different denominations are working together. Recently, I preached for Misael Argeñal, the pastor of La Cosecha, the largest church in Honduras. He says, “For many years the pastors of Honduras have prayed for our nation. We are so happy to see the nation of Honduras turn toward God.”

On October 25, 2104, Juan Orlando Hernández, the president of Honduras and his wife knelt down publicly and prayed for the nation. This is the first time in history that a president of Honduras has humbled himself before the nation and cried out for God’s blessing to be upon his people. For over two hundred years, the United States of America has experienced prosperity because of the prayers of our first president George Washington who frequently declared days of fasting and prayer for the entire nation. In the same way, the prayers of the president of Honduras will bring the favor and blessing of God upon his nation. 

2. What was the genesis of the idea to do a nationwide outreach like this?

3. Can a nation be changed in a day? The evidence in Honduras suggests that the answer is a resounding, “Yes!” Thank you for helping us to change nations.

Key Verse: Isaiah 45:1-7 

“This is what the Lord says to his anointed,

    to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of

to subdue nations before him

    and to strip kings of their armor,

to open doors before him

    so that gates will not be shut:

 I will go before you

    and will level the mountains[a];

I will break down gates of bronze

    and cut through bars of iron.

I will give you hidden treasures,

    riches stored in secret places,

so that you may know that I am the Lord,

    the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

For the sake of Jacob my servant,

    of Israel my chosen,

I summon you by name

    and bestow on you a title of honor,

    though you do not acknowledge me.

I am the Lord, and there is no other;

    apart from me there is no God.

I will strengthen you,

    though you have not acknowledged me,

so that from the rising of the sun

    to the place of its setting

people may know there is none besides me.

    I am the Lord, and there is no other.

I form the light and create darkness,

    I bring prosperity and create disaster;

    I, the Lord, do all these things.

 

Transcription 

Daniel King (00:01):

Well, I’m here with a very special guest. My friend, Rigo Galvez. He is a crusade organizer who is from the nation of Honduras, and he has organized some of the largest evangelistic events that have taken place in all of history. And so Rigo, thank you so much for being here with me today.

 

Rigo Galvez (00:24):

Thank you Daniel, for inviting me to be with you. And I know that we’re going to have fun. This is going to be something very special.

 

Daniel King (00:32):

Now, what I want to talk about is one nation. One day in the nation of Honduras, it happened in 2013 and it was a tremendous outreach that really impacted the, the entire nation of Honduras.

 

Rigo Galvez (00:47):

1Nation1day has been the greatest event that ever take place, not only in Honduras, but all also on the globe, because what God did it is like we say unique, God, trust a dream in us. And we make that thing happen because his grace and his love for that nation. So

 

Daniel King (01:07):

In Isaiah 66, verse eight, it says, can a nation be saved in a day? Can a country be brought forth in a moment? Okay.

 

Rigo Galvez (01:17):

And now we say Daniel, after four nation, we say, yes, that can be possible.

 

Daniel King (01:21):

3000 years ago, the prophet Isaiah gave this prophecy looking into the future and asking the question, can a nation be saved in just one day? Yeah.

 

Rigo Galvez (01:32):

Can you make a little, a special announcement right now for everybody who has listened to us? That’s the question. Can a nation be saved in a day?

 

Daniel King (01:44):

All right, here comes the announcement [inaudible] yes. The prophecy has been fulfilled. A nation can be saved in just one day. Wow. Well, the first one nation one day was held in the nation of Honduras. 18 evangelists joined together to conduct 18 festivals in the capital of every single district.

 

Rigo Galvez (02:10):

A little more specific air court Hondura has 18 different States or department, you know, and we put an a and an evangelist and each capital city of each,

 

Daniel King (02:25):

But in my own state, they called yarrow. We did two series

 

Rigo Galvez (02:30):

Because I was thinking in total, what really 19 different evangelism,

 

Daniel King (02:36):

Same time that whole nature came to the stadiums. Yeah. And I remember I participated in my city. My city was copilot boundriness. Yeah. In the event that happened in Copan was just amazing. We had over 30,000 people that came to the crusade. We had 1,285 people that out decision cards. I remember we had a hundred team members of young people on that trip. And we had an amazing week of ministry, just my team of a hundred people ministered in 64 schools to over 20,000 students. And I remember that together, the 2000 missionaries that were there, ministered face-to-face to more than 1.2 million students in the nation of Honduras and another cool thing that happened. I had the privilege of giving away my book that I wrote for new believers through it was called a welcome to the kingdom. [inaudible] Alana waver, Honduras

 

Rigo Galvez (03:41):

That’s because we call one nature one day, the new Honduras, even the actual present right now, one Orlando Hernandez, anytime that he are open a new things in Honduras or fixing something, he say, this is happening because we are in the new Honduras. We are prophesied through the, through all of these event that we are going to have a new country. And even the politicians and many different people who are not Christians. And that time they, they now are talking about the new Honduras. Wow. And though

 

Daniel King (04:18):

Books that we printed, we printed 520,000 books or half a million books. And those books were put in the hands of all of the people that got that week. I remember you organize it. We had stacks of books that went out all over Honduras to all the cities. And so that when the people got saved, the counselors came, they gave them the book. And in the back of the book, we had a decision causation, the counselor helped to fill out the decision card. And then there was one copy for the person. And then they would rip out the other copy that we could give to the local church so that they could follow up on the neutralino.

 

Rigo Galvez (04:53):

I remember very well that the cover of the book look almost like a passport because people was coming to the keynote gap, but also in the practical way to the new Honduras. And I was like, you are the new citizen of Honduras. That was a really,

 

Daniel King (05:10):

And then in the front change of the book, we also put the picture of the proclamation from the government. Exactly. Numbing us to come preach the gospel. That was a huge miracle

 

Rigo Galvez (05:23):

Happen. Daniel. That was a request from us. The, when we went to the present officer before one nation one day, or course two years before, because took for us to organize that two years to work because never happened before we didn’t have a picture. We didn’t have a clear idea how this is going to be from history. We haven’t chose a vision in our heart. And we went and we talked to the president, mr. President, we would like to do one nation one day in going to look this way. And we painted the picture. How many people will come in for an outside of Honduras to help us, how many medical outreach, how many books would be distributing, how we’re going to help the schools and how many containers of help we come into the nation, but I will need this. And we are one thing we say, mr.

 

Rigo Galvez (06:18):

President King, can you pass a low on the Congress saying that you lied 2013? We are going to, as a Honduran, people would be United as a one family. So you ask the president to pass a law in Congress who celebrate the one nation one day, July, 2013. Wow. That was the re the request. And then we say, mr. President, we need all these soccer stadium. Remember in our countries to talk about our stadium, you are going to use the grass. And first of all, that, that place is expensive. You know, they don’t give it to you, those places free. And then they take care of so much to the, the grass, please. That is just for, to play soccer, the grass, please. Oh, no, no, don’t do that. Don’t, you’re destroying the Holy ground, you know, anyway. And and, and only a stadium, but any spore facility that we will need it.

 

Rigo Galvez (07:20):

And that was one part of the request also to get into the country easily containers will help, you know, open, open con doors on the, on the poor and poor people who were coming for an oxide also to, to be flexible and help the people who are coming. Remember Honduras during those days, Daniel, I don’t know if you remember, was considering especial some Pedro Sula that the murder capital of the world, the water and more people were dying in San Pedro Sula every single day than any other city in the world. He was saying all the time is so dangerous to come to Honduras. And if you remember, the, the governor of United States make a letter or a informed to the, to the community, even the embassy in a United States, 800, do not allow not America to come 200, because I saw how dangerous that was.

 

Rigo Galvez (08:29):

That was difficult to dealing with because the, the policeman was so corrupt. You know, you were sometime you, you didn’t know who you was talking to the right policeman or to the wrong policeman because everybody looked the same. And then the, the military the same. But we put in a request, we were thinking it’s better to be close to those people are not too far away because you don’t know what they are doing. And we say to the president, we need the help from the military whole military system in Hondura has to work and help to may happen one nation one day. And they end the end. Danielle, you know, they say, yes, they pass the law. And I still have in song sauna papers about that. And that was really a miracle,

 

Daniel King (09:14):

A miracle opening up the door for the team to minister, to the military and to, to the police. I remember in our city, we went and ministered at each of the police stations in the city. And it was in the early morning before they would go out to do their duties. They would have their morning assembly. And so we went and we got to preach to all the policemen and we gave an altar call. Many of them got saved. And then I remember we went to the military base in Copan and they gathered all the soldiers together in one room. And I got to present the gospel to them. And then I gave the altar call. And I said, if you want to receive Jesus today, I want you to lift your hand in the air. And the commander was sitting on the front row.

 

Daniel King (10:06):

He lifted his hand. And when he lifted his hand, every soldier lifted their hand. And I thought, maybe they don’t really understand what I’m saying. They’re just doing it because they’re imitating the commander. So I gave the entire gospel a second time. Jesus died on the cross. He Rose from the dead. If you call on Jesus, you can be saved. I presented the whole thing. And I said, now today, I want you to make a decision. I don’t want you to do this because someone else does it, or because your commander does it. This is just between you and God. If you want to give your life to Jesus right now, I want to invite you to stand in your feet. And the commander, he stood up straight to his feet, and then every soldier in the rules stood to his feet. And they all prayed with me to receive Jesus every single one. Yeah.

 

Rigo Galvez (10:54):

And that happened all over the country. You know, whatever, there was a military Daisy, they, they, they w according to the law, they had to participate to be part of the the big event. And, but our people were hungry. You can, you can say that almost anybody wasn’t an desperation plate. And when you brought the gospel and bring the, the, the good news people was receiving very well, that was a very special day for Honduras.

 

Daniel King (11:22):

We saw hope. We saw,

 

Rigo Galvez (11:24):

Ah, God loving the nation and the stadium, you know, the stadiums and the majority the same. We’re so small, for example, in the capital C that they will say, Galper the biggest, biggest stadium was pack in more than 40 times.

 

Daniel King (11:39):

People couldn’t get it

 

Rigo Galvez (11:41):

In for security reason. You know, this saying San Pedro Sula dollar, the big cities, even in Europe, when we don’t even have a, a very nicest stadium that was an open fee, or like maybe five fields together. And one of the preacher get there. He already been in different nation in a big stadium. When he get there, he said, well, this, this play, I don’t know if it’s too big. I don’t know if they see it, it’s too small. But the, the, the, the that testimony was so amazing. They almost, everybody left home alone and they came to the vent. That was amazing, you know? Wow. Yeah. So, so many stories,

 

Daniel King (12:23):

What a tremendous miracle God did for the entire nation of Honduras to, to hear the gospel in one day. But let’s talk a little bit about the, how this idea came to be, how this vision came to pass in how God put it in your heart.

 

Rigo Galvez (12:41):

Well you know, me, I’ve been involved in and doing, I was involved in doing massive crusades. For many years, I learned in frontier loss war a lot. And I think one of the par that, that really he passed to me, or even when he didn’t preach and directly to me, or praying all over me, but, and the way he was acting and lobbying people w the passion that he was carrying to say

 

Daniel King (13:16):

Sold that CLR Osborne, the great missionary evangelist.

 

Rigo Galvez (13:22):

He really impact my heart, my life, and to solve big that never allow me to think different when I see people, you know, and then being with my friend scene or the saying, you know, he was so close to, to TL and I was going to different nation, organizing their events. And and that I was praying one day in my little office and [inaudible] came to my heart. That was so clear, a Isaiah chapter 45…

 

Daniel King (13:59):

Isaiah chapter 45. That’s the passage about Cyrus Cyrus, the King, the King is prophesied to, to impact nations. 

 

Rigo Galvez (14:08):

It was a little crazy because the Holy spirit told me, I don’t know. And during those day, I couldn’t understand everything in my hair, but he say, remove the word Cyrus and put the name Rigo.

 

Daniel King (14:22):

So, so God told you, take out the names Cyrus from those prophecies and put your name Rigo into it. Okay. Let me read Isaiah 45, verse one

 

Rigo Galvez (14:33):

To the seven to the chap, to the

 

Daniel King (14:35):

Verses one through seven. Yeah. Okay. Let me read the first verse of Isaiah 45, please. Verse one for, and I’m going to put your name in it

 

Rigo Galvez (14:43):

For you or listen right now. Get a Bible for you can and put your name there. Don’t put my name. Don’t put the name of the kin. Put your name over there. Something special going to happen right now, Daniel, I feel, or I can tell, I feel the presence of God, and we’ll go into transfer there’s a night and know I didn’t to everyone who are listening right now, get ready.

 

Daniel King (15:08):

Thus sayeth the Lord to his anointed, to Rigo.

 

Rigo Galvez (15:13):

Yes. To Daniel, to Daniel.

 

Daniel King (15:15):

Do you who are listening exactly whose right hand? I have held to subdue nations before him to loose the armor of Kings to open before him the double doors so that the Gates will not be shut. I will go before you and make the crooked places straight. I will break in pieces, the Gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places that you may know that I, the Lord who call you by your name in the God of Israel for Jacob, for my servant sake in Israel, my elect I’ve even called you by your name. I’ve named you though. You have not known me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, there is no God besides me. I will. Gurge you though. You have not known me that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, I formed the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamities. I, the Lord do these things. So I think the amazing thing here in this passage, it says two to Cyrus. I will subdue nations before him. So what did that mean to you?

 

Rigo Galvez (16:26):

Well, I, I was happy watching how [inaudible] Sally been a lot of thousand of people in a one crew say in one city in one city and is, I will say in a small location comparing to one nation, but all we was carrying this idea. Why not that rather than think just in one city, think about the whole nation, but that mean you have to impact the whole country to come in or to be able to preach the gospel. And then another character that was so clear to me during those days, that before we did one nature, one day was Psalms, Psalms two eight asked me, and I will give it to you, the nations. And I always prayed, Lord, give me the idea, how can we reach one nature at the time? And, and I prayed and I’m prayed for so many years. We were doing crusade, our satisfies and so many crusade, but at the same time, deeply my heart, this is not what the Lord is really looking for.

 

Rigo Galvez (17:41):

You. We got to talk to the president of a nation and not just the pastor. One thing is to work only with the, with the church. But another thing is to work with the political leaders who are responsible for the cities and for the nation, you know, or the health, policemen, or military. And I, I always carrying that fire in my heart. And and one day I remember, I will say Daniel, I give up about the normal crusade in my, in my opinion, in my personal way to think in my brain. I, I get, I will say somebody can say born out. I was discouraged. Just curious, because we was spending such a big money. And, and then so many pastors, they are already tired. They don’t want to, they don’t want to do a Knoll. All the crusade, they become, eh, rather than be good friends, they become enemies.

 

Rigo Galvez (18:48):

And I was not really satisfied. I like it. This is something is not going well. And I told my wife for me, crusades are over these or no. Yeah. You almost gave up. Exactly. I, in my, in my opinion, I gave up well and my wife, praise, praise God for my wife. She say, maybe you are you have something in your heart. And I say, no, your wife has a wise woman of God. I say, no, I am okay, no check you heart. And I say, honey, we’re going to be members of our church, the local church. We’re going to pay your tie. We are going to give, offering. We are going to help our children to become ministries. But me, I did enough. This is over anyway. I don’t want to make the long story, you know, the whole, the whole chill today.

 

Rigo Galvez (19:42):

But my wife say take some time to fast and pray, make sure that your car is correctly. And I say, okay, I will do one week. And I was fasting and praying for one week and nothing happened. Then I was the same person. I, I was a little except with the Lord. And I say, I care in this idea that we’ll be one country and looking what is going on. I don’t want to do nothing else, nothing more about this crusade. And I trying to forget the dream that God gives it to me, you know, year like a 10, 15 years before. And, but when in the end of those seven day, I feel like I really need to be clean from whatever bad experience I went to the 21 and I was praying and I start feeling very good in the end of the 21 day to the point that I think, wow, forget about crusade for gout, forget about everything.

 

Rigo Galvez (20:51):

I just need to be in the presence of the Lord. And I say, I told my wife, I want to fail last for 40 days because it is all good. And I remember after the 30 day, the Lord has started [inaudible] he will do something new an, the entire world. And he didn’t ask, he didn’t ask me that I will be part of that. He didn’t talk about to me in that moment. I just get excited for what he will do. And because it’s something new is coming, I was not even thinking about the one crusade to impact the whole nation in that moment. I just feel so fresh at, I feel so good and he’s present and I get to the 40, and I feel like I, I have I, but ruin too fast, a little more. And now my wife, at that moment, she would become a little scared because I was so, so skinning.

 

Rigo Galvez (21:45):

And, and, and she was a little nervous, you know, and the physical perspective. And anyway, I remember getting into the fifties because I knew that we’ll pray. I will go to the 50 day. I, I was, I think, at the 47 days. Wow. Yeah. Not even Jesus did 47 days. During those days, I was trying to drink a little bit on juice because I knew that I would come in and out and I knew him. It has to be very, very wisely and the way I will come out from the class and get an into the normal life. And, but I get why nice. So a week that I was in my physical body, I was dying, but in the spirit, I was so strong that I was so excited. I saw my flesh getting Greek and in my spirit source turn.

 

Rigo Galvez (22:42):

And I was a very unique feeling because I know the guy was taking care of everything. God, I know I’m going to die. My body was dying, but I knew that I had not died. And I just knew, and that will be those hours. And I remember two o’clock in the morning, maybe two 30 God present came. And then I don’t talk too much about this because some people can be making another, another way too sick. And God is no, my idea today, that was so personnel don’t be crazy. You know? And, and, and he, he, he, he did a ceremony. He remind me the nation waiting. Wow. He gave it to me and that ceremony a Reen. And he talking about the covenant that he has with us. And it’s so alive. And then that sermon and they put him the rain to me, remember my covenant.

 

Rigo Galvez (23:44):

I am with you all the time. I am a, I am a, I’m exciting for nations. Not just, I love one soul, of course, but God is looking for the entire nation to come into to his presence, to surrender to him, looking for somebody who are willing to take my Kingdom to the entire nation. And I saw Daniel. Dave was amazing. I was walking and I, there was this like a red carpet. And that was a multitude of people in one side and another multitude of people, all of them like, look like a soldiers or military from the high rank to the small to far away and all day there was say it well done. Well done. Well done was getting closer to the, to the, to the, to the king of kings, you know? And,uand then there was given to me that, and, and then they give it to me like a stick of authority.

 

Rigo Galvez (24:43):

And he say, that’s what I want to bring. My, my, my, my authority, my kingdom to the entire nation. And given to you this, to remember that, that, that I, to be you just follow me, don’t, don’t try and meet to follow you. Please follow me. I, you have the Holy spirit. He will directly, you, he will do the negotiation with you. Think about every time that you will be phasing out present, you are not alone. The Holy spirit would give it to you. The words that you need to talk about it. And I was getting so excited and I, and that’s her money, you know? And the Lord was so clear to me and then he’s give it to me in, he, he gives me to me financials already. He’s he mentioned the nation, that court that was Honduras. I didn’t know if it were going to start with Honduras, but he given Honduras.

 

Rigo Galvez (25:43):

I saw myself getting into the presidential house with that, in that dream. And that was the assignment. And I sending you and I, you, I know you will do it. And that’s the way, and the spiritual arena, Daniel, that’s the way one nation, one day a star. Wow. That’s amazing. And then the, the other side of it yeah. Was organizing everything. And so a lot of that was, was put together by, by my friend, Dominic Russo, who dominate. I was very unique Daniel, because remember I give up that I call traditional crusade, right? Yeah. I don’t know if I’m okay with that. But then Dominic came to Honduras and he came to do a, a juice conference in San Pedro. Yeah. And he called me, I didn’t even want to come to, I said, Daniel, I say Dominic and sorry. And those, those things you are talking about, it is over for me.

 

Rigo Galvez (26:44):

And I didn’t want to come, but something really brought my attention from him was next day, when he was coming back to United States, he called me from the airport of Honduras in San Pedro. He said real unliving back. But let me tell you something. I couldn’t sleep last night when he told me that I would think, Oh man, somebody trying to Rob or steal something from him, something really bad happened. And I said, Dominic, please tell me what happened. I stopped feeling bad because I didn’t want to come in to see him. And I said, no, I read a creature on the Bible that doesn’t allow me to sleep last night. And then he said, is Isaiah 60, say 66, eight can have nature and be saving on a day. That’s scripture, West connecting to my spirit, you know, already, when you say that, that really make me think twice to hear his conversation more.

 

Rigo Galvez (27:43):

And then he’s a real ongoing to the Amazon Peru. And can you come, we can talk about it and see what we can maybe doing Honduras. And he was thinking maybe not a night crusades a day and a day. And I say, no, that is doing exactly what the Lord is wanting, but I’m willing to go to Peru and we can talk and going with him. I connected him with gray ministers in the jungle, and we went together and every night we was riding the ideas and talking how one nation one day would play.

 

Daniel King (28:21):

I mean, I think it’s so neat how God allows us to be a part of, of, of, of what he does in people’s lives. Dominic was actually a student at Oral Roberts University at the same time as me. We were on the same floor and I was talking about doing my first crusade. And one day I wandered into his room and he had a picture of a big crowd. I think it was one of like Reinhard bunkies crowds. And he had cut out a picture of himself and put himself over Reinhardt Bunky. And I said, Oh, you you’re interested in preaching to, to masses of people. And he said, yes. And I, I said, well, I’m going on a trip to Honduras. Why don’t you come with me? We’re going to do a crusade. And so he came with me on that first crusade that we did in, in [inaudible]. And then the next year Dominic Russo and I, we did two crusades together. We did one in Panama, which you helped with. And then we did one in Dominican Republic. Yes. Which was a magnificent crusade. That was amazing that, that you and pastor Fernando Fleming from Dominican Republic help with yes, I don’t remember. And, and, and God began to launch Dominick into crusade, evangelism doing these massive events. And then now doing these entire nation shaking

 

Rigo Galvez (29:42):

Events one nation one day. So you’ve done Honduras, Honduras, you did Dominican Republic. You’ve done Nicaragua and Peru. And right now you’re planning a an event one day LA right here in the United States, which Los Angeles is like a country all by itself. That’s huge, huge. And every, and every area is huge, you know? But it’s I would say it is more a it’s more easy to understand what God wants to do in an LA, because we already have a little history for what he had done in this nation. You know, before, when we did Hondura, there was not pictures about 18 a stadium event and the same time, and only that there was so dangerous that there everybody was in panic hundreds, where people are dying, people was killed. And, and, and, and also we didn’t have all this connection that the dominant high right now, for example, people from South Africa, people from Australia, people from different part of the world, they are coming to be part of this event.

 

Rigo Galvez (31:07):

Now we’re believing for 20 to 20,000 volunteers that will come into serving for one week in Los Angeles. And and it’s going to happen. I am so glad that I’ve been working with the Hispanic pastors in LA or ready, and to see how hungry in and ready are therefore something, a significant peep. I know this Daniel, I believe the church is tire to be doing the same thing and no having different result. So many, they don’t tell you. But the, yeah, I find out the man, Oh, the pastors and song ways, they’re also weak because their faith there is not an action. S N and they probably haven’t activated their, fix it in a practical way. It’s like, if you don’t if you don’t take the right food, the right nutrition, you will be no healthy. It will be not strong enough your physical body. And if, if you get the right food, you will be so strong. Your masters will be so strong is the same way in your faith that you have been not doing so many significant things in own city, that they there’s muscle, that we call fate is not really strong. Now the church need to eat giants. If you get giants, you will be ready to take anything. There is, are trying to control the city of the countries.

 

Daniel King (32:59):

Let’s talk some about the results that you saw in the nation of Honduras. So, so as we mentioned before, hon San Pedro Sula was called the murder capital of the world before one nation. One day it was plagued by drug and gang related violence. But after one year later, statistically homocide went down in San Pedro Sula by 60%. Exactly. That’s the power of the gospel. When the gospel is preached, homocide went down by 60%. Suicide dropped by 15%. And according to the FAO, that is the official UN organization, the food and agriculture organization, extreme poverty in Honduras dropped by 3.4% in the 12 months after the one nation one day. And so after that, a notorious drug dealers and Honduras were apprehended and sent to the United States to face trial. Corrupt politicians were thrown into jail before all the teachers in Honduras were always going on strikes and the children did not get educated because the teachers were on strike.

 

Daniel King (34:20):

But in the one year after the one nation, one day, the teachers did not go on strike. And it was the first year that the kids had actually had 200 full days of, of education. And so the churches were unified pastors from different denominations who used to not talk to each other, we’re working together. And I remember pastor Misael from LACOE SAGIA. He was so excited about how God was using all the churches working together, down there. And then of course, Honduras voted in an election and elected a one Orlando Hernandez, and he gave, he looked very favorably upon the Christian. His wife is a Christian. And, and so what I found really interesting is on October 25th, 2014, Juan Orlando Hernandez, the president of Honduras and his wife, they knelt down publicly and prayed for the nation of Honduras. And that was the first time in history that the president had kneeled down in humbled himself before the nation and cried out for God’s blessing to be upon his people. What a tremendous testimony.

 

Rigo Galvez (35:34):

Okay. Now Israel for the first time in history has a embassy in an office in Honduras. Wow. Yeah, because of this president, of course, is because what God had been doing through the body of Christ in that country. Wow. Now the, the Alliance with Israel is so, so directly between Honduras and Israel, you know, that is really amazing. Then no, another president took the risk because there was so difficult to do it. Anyway. One of the great beside that, one of the greatest miracle for me in Honduras, or course to see the pack stadiums in miracles taking place, but to see for the first time, the body of Christ, the leaders, the pastors getting together for one purpose, because of that, we have one precedent who represent all the bang Gallico churches and the entire nature that didn’t happen before we have like a, before they were saying that there was four different hair.

 

Rigo Galvez (36:45):

We didn’t have a, a church United. We have a Moster because for three different hair, you know, already is not a normal person in any way. They it’s like a monster because it’s having gone in every different direction. And now we have one hair in represent the church facing any institution or organization. It that mean we are very organized. And that, that, that, that really is a miracle. And that is something that we have been able to see. And when we, after we do one nation, one day, the pastor get in unity. It is a tremendous open heaven. When is real unity in the body of Christ, wow. Unity is going to bring the real gospel to the nation is not that we have to do to work so hard creating ideas and how to put it together. These two look so beautiful that the plant less fine unity become one right there.

 

Rigo Galvez (38:01):

When you become one with Christ and the Barack, right, right. There is a blessing from heaven. That’s is one of the greatest miracle happened in Honduras after one nation one day. Wow. That’s amazing. I think it’s so beautiful how God back in Isaiah’s day gave the vision to Isaiah, can a nation be saved in a day. And so God looked into the future and saw what was going to happen. And then God came to you and began to prepare your heart and gave you this idea and gave you this vision. And you began to pray for nations and God gave you a priority

 

Daniel King (38:36):

Over, over nations. Exactly. And then God brought all the pieces together in, so it’s a huge miracle for an entire nation to be saved in a day. What a, what a great miracle that is. But it’s something that, that God has been orchestrating for thousands of years, Exxon and knowing, and I think it’s not finished yet. No. That the greatest days are still in the future. God has more, I can see nations being saved, even continents being saved all of central America at one time. Yes. There is more that God has,

 

Rigo Galvez (39:11):

I will say, let’s get in ready and get open. And exciting for example, right now, I will say there is not a better opportunity for the body of Christ in the entire world than now, because we, we, we already saw how the world system collapsing is so weak. It’s already broken because it’s ready for us to get into the nations with the kin. None of God. The answer for this world is not a man. A politician idea is God’s kingdom in now I will. I say the very confidence that this is the best moment for the church. Less run it. Get into that as a get ready and get into,

 

Daniel King (40:13):

We asked the question. I want you to answer it. Rigo, can a nation be saved in a day?

 

Rigo Galvez (40:18):

Yes. We’re ready.

 

Description: How did Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach, get the opportunity to do his first crusade? On this podcast, Daniel talks with Rigo Galvez, a crusade director, who helped Daniel do his first big event. You will hear the stories of the miracles that God did as Daniel launched out into full-time evangelism. 

Show Notes: 

 When I (Daniel King) was in college, I knew I was called to be an evangelist but I did not know how to be an evangelist. I wanted to choose evangelism as my major at Oral Roberts University until I had a conversation with the evangelism professor and he told me, “Crusades are a horrible way to evangelize. They don’t work anymore.” His words disappointed me because I had studied enough about the lives of Oral Roberts, Billy Graham, and T.L. Osborn to know that the evangelism professor’s opinion was rubbish.

But, where would I learn how to do a crusade? I heard about an evangelist in Tulsa, OK named Mike Francen. I asked him if I could travel with him to one of his crusades to learn about how to do crusades. He invited me to attend his event in San Miguel, El Salvador. I arrived two weeks early so I could watch the process of how the crusade was organized.

Francen’s crusade director was a man from Honduras named Rigo Galvez. He arranged for me to preach in some churches in El Salvador and during the week I traveled with him to watch as he organized the crusade. He invited all the young people from the churches to come together. He split them up into groups of two and gave each group a stack of bright yellow posters advertising the crusade. He gave each team a paint brush and a bucket of hot glue made out of flour, sugar, lime juice, and water. I was assigned a partner and a paint brush and was sent out too. The teams spread out all over the town putting up posters on every light pole and empty wall. Soon, it looked like the whole town was painted yellow because there were so many posters.

The crusade in San Miguel was a huge success. A huge soccer field was completely packed with people. Surrounding the field were lots of trees and people climbed high in order to be able to see the platform. When Mike Francen preached, thousands of people raised their hands to receive Jesus. My spirit was stirred watching the harvest of souls.

On my last day in El Salvador, Rigo came and asked me when I planned to do my first crusade. I replied, “I hope to do my first crusade sometime in the next five years.” I figured I would graduate from college and then figure out a strategy for raising the money to pay for the crusade. Rigo told me, “You need to do a crusade next summer. Come to Honduras and I will help you do a crusade.” He asked me how much money I could raise to put towards the event. I had no idea how to raise any money at all but I stretched my faith as much as I could and boldly said, “I could come up with $5,000.” He laughed and said, “I don’t do such small crusades. Can you commit to putting $10,000 towards the crusade?” Instantly, he doubled my vision. He was a great Evangelism Coach! 

I committed to the event and started to prepare myself spiritually to preach. I decided to go on a forty day fast. Just as Jesus spent the first forty days after His baptism fasting, I wanted to set aside time to seek God before I did my first crusade. Prior to this I had fasted for various amounts of time, but never for forty days.

I set aside almost six weeks to dedicate my life to God. As I spent time in prayer, I cried out for Jesus to be manifested in my ministry. I was tired of just talking about the power of God, I wanted to experience the miracle power of God. I was desperately hungry to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God’s promises are true.

Soon, it was time for me to head to Honduras for the crusade. Listening intently to the Gospel, a massive crowd stretches across a soccer field. A young girl’s deaf ear is supernaturally opened. Three deaf-mute boys utter words for the first time. A woman who has been confined in her wheelchair for eleven years slowly rises and walks. Thousands of people receive salvation in Jesus.

As I watched these amazing events unfold before my eyes, I asked myself, “Why are we experiencing so many miracles tonight?” The answer came to me as I pictured myself three months prior, stretched out on a carpet, facedown in the presence of God. I had discovered the answer during my fast. The answer was Jesus!

On that crusade platform, Jesus answered my prayers. He showed up and showed off. Hundreds of people received a miracle from God. During my fast, I received a great revelation about who Jesus is, and on the crusade field that night Jesus was manifested.

The main pastor who was hosting the crusade said, “Daniel, you are the miracle we have been praying for!” I asked him what he meant.

He explained that for over two years, he had prayed for God to send a crusade to his city of Potrerillos, Honduras. Even though he had a passion for the salvation of the people of his city, he did not have the resources to host a crusade. Day after day, he asked God to make a crusade possible.

Finally, out of his desire to see a move of God, he decided to fast. He called the Pastors Association of Potrerillos together and challenged them pray together for a spiritual breakthrough.

In response to this call to meet with Jesus, eighty local pastors and church members fasted for forty days in order to ask God to send a crusade to their city. Amazingly, only a few days after the end of their fast, I called the pastor and asked if I could come to his city for a massive miracle crusade.

I was praying for God to move at the same time the local pastors in Honduras were praying for God to move. Even though we were thousands of miles apart as we sent our petitions heavenward, God heard us. Through a series of divine connections and miracles, God brought us together. The crusade was held and together we touched the lives of over forty-three thousand people.

Key Scripture: Joshua 4:1-7 And it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying: 2 “Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, 3 and command them, saying, “Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.” Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe; 5 and Joshua said to them: “Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ 7 Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.”

 

Transcript: 

Daniel King  (00:00):

Today. I have a very special guest with me. He is one of my very dear friends, very close friends, and he has a very important part playing in my life because he’s the one who helped me do my very first crusade that I ever did. His name is Rigo Galvez. Thank you so much for being here. 

 

Rigo Galvez (00:22):

Daniel, what an introduction. Thank you, my brother. And what a privilege and honor to have this time with you. And I know it’s going to be so good that we are going to enjoy, but also we’re going to bless so many people through this,

 

Daniel King (00:40):

A program. Well, I’m so delighted that you’re here with me and I just have such a tremendous appreciation and love for you and for your, for your family. And one of the reasons I’m so appreciative of you is because you helped me get started as a crusade evangelist. And so I was reading in the book of Joshua chapter four. You remember the story they’ve just crossed the Jordan river and God spoke to Joshua and said, take for yourselves 12 stones from the middle of the river and build them in an altar on the bank. And so when your children come and ask what happened here, what do those stones mean to you? You can tell the story of what God has done. And so that’s what this podcast is today. It’s, it’s going to be looking at one of those stones of what God has done. Wow.

 

Rigo Galvez (01:38):

Wow. Yeah. Please get ready. Because what you going to listen to the world? Change your life forever. I can tell you, I know Daniel, this guy is full of God. Ideas is a Nitin. He has been doing things that are Nope, not too many people is trying because they’re, I don’t know why maybe they’re afraid, but Daniel has so much faith, such a full men of God created ideas and, and another word get ready because you will hear something that will really change your ministry and you life forever.

 

Daniel King (02:16):

So I thought it’d be fun to talk about the, the very first crusade that I did and, and how I arrived at doing that crusade. The first

 

Rigo Galvez (02:26):

Crusade, Daniel, what exciting moment, right? That was in Honduras. It was, it was in, I not remember the year now, but I think it was

 

Daniel King (02:35):

2003 [inaudible]

 

Rigo Galvez (02:39):

Neil Honduras right there in the North coast of Hawaii.

 

Daniel King (02:43):

Right outside of San Pedro Sula. Yes,

 

Rigo Galvez (02:45):

Exactly. The second city, most important city are Honduras that we call the industrial capital city of San Pedro Sula right there, outside. That was your first crusade.

 

Daniel King (02:56):

Yeah. And it was so amazing what God did in that. I mean, in one week we went down there and I took a team of 10 students from oral Roberts university with me. We ministered to 42,000 people in that one week.

 

Rigo Galvez (03:11):

I’m telling you this guy from the first day that I know him, he’s so crazy. Look at, he was so young. I can steal John today. And he took you 10, 10, 10 young people with you, Daniel, and went to Honduras, a Berry hat area. And you didn’t care. You were so hungry for souls. And what amazing crusade. That was really amazing.

 

Daniel King (03:35):

I’m just remembering all the miracles that God did at that crusade. We finished the week with 14,300 people that prayed with us for salvation. We did a fire conference for leaders. We gave away 10,000 books in that little city. God did tremendous miracles. There was a little deaf girl. Her, her ears were opened. There was a woman who had a crippled leg that was healed. There was one woman who was in a wheelchair for 11 years and we asked her mama, what, what’s the problem? And she says, 11 years ago, my husband beat me with his fist and I’ve been in this wheelchair ever since. And so she put her faith in Jesus and Jesus healed her and she stood up and began to walk. She came up on the platform and pushed her wheelchair around because Jesus had appealed her.

 

Rigo Galvez (04:23):

I remember those mirror balls that were in no, only that kind of miracle God did through this crusade through Daniel. But it also, I remember Daniel [inaudible] was able to find all the resources to invest in that particular crusade. And I got a real miracle. That was a real miracle because I was still in school. Exactly. You were still in the school and the university

 

Daniel King (04:51):

Divided the money to make it happen, which was

 

Rigo Galvez (04:53):

Come on. That’s what I’m talking about. And you know, don’t be afraid if you have a dream, if you want to really go and go and solve for Christ, don’t worry about the money. The money will come, but you gotta be like Daniel. So let let’s talk about

 

Daniel King (05:07):

How it happened. So when I first started at, at college, I wanted to be an evangelism major and I went to one of the evangelism professors. And the first thing he told me was that mass crusade, evangelism doesn’t work. So I said, man, I cannot learn how to do crusades from an a professor who doesn’t even believe in them. So I was like, how am I going to learn how to do crusades? And so I heard about an evangelist who, who lived here in Tulsa named Mike Francine and brother Mike was doing tremendous crusades at the time. And I saw the pictures of what he was doing. And so I wanted to learn how to do crusades. So I called brother Mike’s office and said, can I come to a crusade? I want to learn how to do it. And dr. Mike, he said I would love for you to come on a crusade, but if you really want to learn to do it, you need to go early to a crusade. And so the next crusade was in San Miguel Salvador. Yes, Lou down two weeks early. And at that time you were the crusade director. You were organizing everything that was happening there in San Miguel. And so I was very young and I just came and showed up and said, I want to do crusades, teach me everything. And do you remember teaching me?

 

Rigo Galvez (06:24):

Yeah, I remember it a little bit. Maybe one of the thing I remember is when we was put in posters advertising the crusade and you went, you went to the street to, to put those posters and, and talk to people about the event. And I, I still remember the youth, you went for two weeks ahead. Right? And you spend all this time. Yes. Serving, helping us to, to make the crusade ready for dr. My friends. Yeah.

 

Daniel King (06:56):

I remember putting up those posters. You took me out into the front yard of the little house where the office was and you were teaching me how to make glue, to put up the posters. And you say, you have to put some, sorry, I have to put in some sugar. What are the, how do you make glue? Oh my God.

 

Rigo Galvez (07:16):

Those days were so difficult. Everything, you know, but praise God, you don’t do that

 

Daniel King (07:21):

Too much. And then we go and we climb up the ladder to put the banner across the street and you have to make sure it’s high enough that the trucks don’t talk.

 

Rigo Galvez (07:31):

Yes. And how to get the permission from the municipalities have hour to do all of the thin. I think you went with us also to the mayor office and you went to the street to talk to people about the event. I think you went to radio station also, right?

 

Daniel King (07:46):

Radio stations. I went in and talked about the crusade at different churches in the city and, and meetings with the pastors, man. I learned so much that week. Just the organization of what it takes.

 

Rigo Galvez (07:58):

So in your life, then there was obvious is that passion that you caring for soul. I knew it in my heart that you will become a great evangelist. And, and now I am so proud of you, man, how you start. There was so small, but look at what the Lord has done.

 

Daniel King (08:15):

It really is amazing. Now we’ve gone to over 70 nations, 70 and over 2 million people give their lives to Jesus in our services. And it all started. And two, three with nothing. Yeah.

 

Rigo Galvez (08:27):

And nothing. Wow. 17 nation then new, you already been, I am so proud, man,

 

Daniel King (08:35):

That, that crusade in San Miguel was, was powerful. Lots of people came, Oh man, it was a S a soccer field, a football field just jammed, packed with people. You remember there, there trees around the field and people were climbing in the trees in order to see the plow,

 

Rigo Galvez (08:53):

You are refreshing to me a memory. I really don’t remember now how people was even on the tree trying to, to, to see the, the, the evangelism be part of that amazing crusade. That was such a great crusade. It was, it was powerful. It was a Brack. The people was it for people? For the city. Yeah. Yeah. The mayor was very impressed. He will be getting involved in, in the end. He was so happy. And he many years after he said real, please come back, do something else because we love it. Wow. So then at the end of that crusade, see, see it for those two weeks,

 

Daniel King (09:29):

I had been talking to you out telling you I want to be a crusade, evangelist sharing my dream with you. And so I think the last night of the crusade, you came to me and you said, Daniel, when are you going to do your first crusade? And I was thinking maybe three or four years from now, when I get out of college, I can raise some money. You know, how could I do my first crusade? And you really challenged me and says, why don’t you do your, your first crusade next summer? Exactly. Don’t wait, don’t wait until you graduate.

 

Rigo Galvez (10:01):

Do it now. Yeah. You say, I have no money. I had no nobody to help me. And I said, Daniel, find something and yeah, let’s do an this coming summer, right? Yeah. Yeah. And so I was, I was

 

Daniel King (10:16):

Thinking, okay, Mike, how big is my faith?

 

Rigo Galvez (10:19):

My faith in my faith, I think,

 

Daniel King (10:22):

Okay, I could do this. Let’s try to do a crusade for, for $5,000. That was like the biggest, my faith good thing was let’s. I think if I worked really hard all year, I could raise $5,000 and I told you, could we do it for 5,000? And you laughed actually. Yeah.

 

Rigo Galvez (10:39):

Yeah. I still laughing today. Crusade sometime there is a very expensive, you know?

 

Daniel King (10:44):

Sure. And, and, and you challenged my fades. You said, why don’t you believe God for 10,000?

 

Rigo Galvez (10:52):

Yeah.

 

Daniel King (10:53):

Instantly you double my faith. Wow. And so I started raising money and by the time we did the crusade, I think we ended up investing about $14,000 into that. And God provided everything. We had all the resources amazing. It was a miracle, a miracle, and another miracle that happened. That was really cool. I remember you challenged me to do the crusade. We put the day also to see how serious

 

Rigo Galvez (11:22):

And passionate you asked us about Zoe, because I met a lot of people. Sure. They will say, I want to, I would like to do this. I would like to do that. And then the moment came, when you, your dream, it has to produce everything you need. And you know, but they don’t willing to take the step of faith. And I was thinking through the whole two weeks, this guy had been really working very hard, but they’re the real point is coming. Is he willing do whatever it takes an Orleans to win salt. And that’s what I saw in you. You was, you was ready to do whatever it takes, even beyond and Northern to wings, salt. That show me how you love people. That was really the real, the real thing, you know? Yeah, you’re right. There are lots of people.

 

Daniel King (12:15):

I want to do something big. They say, Oh, I want to be on a platform in front of a big crowd, but they’re not really willing to do the work,

 

Rigo Galvez (12:24):

To do the work the behind the scenes, the money to raise the money. Yes.

 

Daniel King (12:27):

Share the vision. They just want the picture in front of a big crowd, Dan

 

Rigo Galvez (12:32):

To the result already, especially when they have being able to read it or see it on TV, those beautiful, a massive event coming together. You know, they, they love that part. But what is behind is the, the, the real thing. Yeah. You did amazing. Now, how did I pass the test? Don’t ask me please. How many books are you real evangelist? Come on. How many books have you already writing about evangelists diamond? I’m sorry.

 

Daniel King (13:04):

20, 22 books written and another 20 on the way Dwayne T2. And I’m writing another 20 right now. So, wow.

 

Rigo Galvez (13:12):

Yeah. Some man that, what is what a, what a beautiful gift that God has given to you, and now you are using for his glory. Thank you, God. Amen. Well, I was

 

Daniel King (13:25):

Need to share the us another great miracle that happened at that crusade. We had, we had talked about doing the crusade in, in Honduras and we picked dates, put dates in the calendar, and then we wanted to go find inappropriate city to do the crusade in, in Honduras. So you went to Honduras and you’d talk to pastors in one city. And, and you told me the, these pastors are ready to do the crusade. But then like, just a few weeks later, the pastors came and said, we don’t want someone. So

 

Rigo Galvez (14:00):

Yeah, come into our city. And so

 

Daniel King (14:02):

Who is this guy? He never did anything before. And they said, we don’t want to work with him. And so you said, Daniel, you need to pray that God would provide the right city where the pastors would be ready,

 

Rigo Galvez (14:14):

Have to put in on your picture mustache and to make you look so old, you know, because they didn’t want the, they told me this is a little kid, what he can do. And I talked to them and it’s like, w we don’t trust the young guy, you know, or it’s say to John, come on radio. And I was, that was a little difficult, you know, but so then

 

Daniel King (14:37):

You told me, Daniel, you need to pray that God would provide a city. So I decided to go on a 40 day fast. Wow. And to pray because I was getting ready. I wanted to get myself spiritually ready. I wanted to make sure when I got up there and began to pray for the sick, my heart was right. So I said that, man, the best thing to do, I need to go on this fast. And so I was praying for 40 days. I was just in my apartment, shut the door, no food, just water. And was, was praying. And the whole time I was praying, God, give me the perfect city, just city that we’re supposed to go to help Rigo find someone who will trust that a young guy like me. And so at the end of the 40 days, you called me and you said, Daniel, I found a city. You said there is a city called [inaudible].

 

Daniel King (15:36):

And it said, the pastors association has been wanting to do an evangelistic outreach for over a year, but they’ve not been able to find anyone to come and help them with it. And you said in the pastor of this, that one of the main pastors there, he gathered all the other pastors together and says, we need to pray and ask God to send us an evangelist who can do a crusade here in the city. And he challenged the pastor to pastors. We’re going to fast and pray for 40 days asking God to send someone to our city. And so it was right at the end of that 40 days of their fasting that you called them amazing. And they said, yes, we want, so I was fasting and praying and asking God to give me a city to go and do a crusading. And at the same time, those pastors were fasting and praying for 40 days saying, God, please send us an evangelist.

 

Rigo Galvez (16:37):

Exactly. And that was the right city. What I beginning, because like you say, the, the miracles take place, the pastor was so exciting that it’s no easy sometime that you go to a city and do a crusade. And the pastor doesn’t get into siesta, Nevada. And they, all of them, there was believing for the right evangelist for the right preacher and God provide the eye and everything wasn’t miracle and how everything takes place.

 

Daniel King (17:11):

I was very grateful for was the involvement of pastor [inaudible] he’s he’s

 

Rigo Galvez (17:18):

For all of those people that maybe doesn’t know me. [inaudible] One of the greatest pastors, not the only in Honduras, because he becomes so in France or in the rest of the, of the continent of the Latino, you know, even in Spain, he, he really had been doing some much in, in those countries, in, in Honduras that everybody know him. And he endorsed the idea. He loved the idea to, to, to give, given a platform to a young new evangelists. And that, that, that was a very big open door, you know,

 

Daniel King (17:57):

It really was. And so I remember on the posters we put pastor [inaudible] picture, which of course, everyone in Honduras knows who he is. And then next to it, we put my picture and he came and he introduced me. And he’s the pastor of the largest Foursquare church in the world. He’s got a huge church there in San Pedro Sula. He’s done many crusades in Honduras and he’s on television. Everyone knew who he was. And so it was a real miracle. That was a man to come into really endorse my ministry. But he was so generous with his, his time. And, and to, to say, yes, I want to help a young evangelist who has a passion for souls.

 

Rigo Galvez (18:44):

So Misael is an amazing person. And he really been helping a lot of junk people, you know, to start their ministry and still doing today. Yeah. And he, you know, he loves you. And, and always when sometime we talk he asked me how Daniel is doing. He, I say, Daniel is another person now who I he’s growing. He’s blood

 

Daniel King (19:05):

Now I’m married. I have kids now.

 

Rigo Galvez (19:07):

Exactly. He’s a doctor now.

 

Daniel King (19:10):

Anyway, my doctorate. Yeah. Well, I am so grateful for what God did there in the city of [inaudible]. It was my first crusade. God moved, there were miracles. And it was really the start, the launch to what has now become a, an international ministry, going all over the world, telling people about Jesus. And so Rigo, thank you so much for helping to launch me. You know, when a, a spaceship goes up into the sky, takes off to go to space. The hardest part is the first few seconds where they burn rocket fuel and it starts to, it just shakes the whole ground in the Rockville. And it just starts moving slowly, slowly, slowly. And then when it gets into the atmosphere, it, it goes very quickly. And so Rigo, you were the rocket fuel. Wow. That launched me into crusade ministry. So thank you. No,

 

Rigo Galvez (20:12):

Not Daniel is a, like I say, it’s a great honor and privilege to not just was able to launch in and start your ministry in Honduras and Puerto Rico to help you in that. But also to be friend, I really am. I appreciate, and I value so much the, the, the, the friendship with you. And of course, I will say you has always a special place in my heart because not only a quality friend, but also love souls is obviously thank you for allowing me to be with you today. Thank you, Rigo. It was great to have you.

On YouTube, atheists often share their de-conversion stories about how they became atheists. But on today’s podcast, Dan Corse shares about his spiritual journey from being an atheist to becoming a passionate follower of Jesus Christ. He is interviewed by Evangelism Coach Daniel King, the author of Proof God is Real. 

Website: https://www.lookinguntojesusalways.org/about

Notes: Dan Corse grew up in a Christian home but was not following God. In college he made a friend who was a anthropology major who was a militant atheist and because of the friendship he declared he did not believe in God. He was always looking for answers and since he could not prove there is no God, he became a weak atheist and later he became agnostic. The Holy Spirit began to work in his life, and he became a Christian after having an encounter with God.

Dan reveals the danger of having friends who do not believe in God.

Dan talks about how it is important to always look for answers.

What do you say to someone who is an atheist?

How should a Christians handle the pain and suffering that often occurs in this lifetime?

Key Quote: When I was an atheist, I often asked myself, “What if I am wrong?”

Transcription: 

Daniel King(00:00):

This is Daniel King. And I’m excited about leading people to Jesus, especially atheists – people who say that there is no God. And today I have with me a special guest who was an atheist, then he became an agnostic. And now he is a believer. Mr. Dan Course, thank you so much for joining us today to be with you. Tell me about your spiritual journey. You grew up in a Christian home. 

 

Dan Corse: Yes, my mother was a Christian. 

And then at some point you decided that you were an atheist. How did that happen?

 

Dan Corse (00:38):

Well, it actually happened at age 15. I was going to a Baptist church where my mother went and I got big enough fruitfully, physically big enough. She couldn’t force me to go anymore. So I finally decided that I don’t want to go here. And the truth of it is when I quit going there, it wasn’t that I was an atheist. I didn’t have any problems so much with God, but I didn’t want God being Lord. I didn’t want Jesus being Lord. I knew there was something about committing my life that I needed to do. But as a result of that, I then took a journey running as far away from God as I could get. And I proceeded to in my late teens, got around an anthropology major and a psychology major who were hard atheist. And I saw that my relationship with them was not going to be very good when I answered their question one time.

 

Dan Corse (01:28):

And what do you think about God? And they were like horribly offended. My me even bringing that up. And so I began to look at myself because as I said, I’d run away from God, his presence. I had no awareness of, of him in my life. Nothing to me said he really existed. So I said, why am I bothering to even profess this? Something that really is nothing to me. Cause I don’t know this. God, I don’t know anything about him. So I proceeded from that point forward. I said, you know, atheism makes the most sense to me because I don’t know him. Who is he? And I, as I said, I’d gotten so far away. This had been years over a period of years, very dark, very dark time in my life. So I was never aware of God’s presence ever in my life. During that time period,

 

Daniel King(02:09):

While you were in the university, you got around some friends who didn’t believe that there’s a God. And you said, I didn’t feel that there’s a God anyways. I never feel his presence. So you agreed.

 

Dan Corse (02:21):

So I basically agreed with him. I thought I’m like, it was more important to be received by them by then, by somebody I really didn’t know. You know?

 

Daniel King(02:30):

Okay. So you became a hard eighth, as you said, there is no God, but then later you moved from hard atheism to agnosticism. What, what happened?

 

Dan Corse (02:40):

What happened was this over time period? You know, looking back, I can see now where God was drawing me in my life, but I didn’t know what to call it back then, you know, but I was always looking for answers. I mean, many of us are consistently as nonbelievers are, why am I here? What’s the purpose of this life? Is this all there is, you know, in many ways when I read the book of Ecclesiastes, these, I can see a lot of that in my journey back then those days. Cause it’s like all seem to be vanity. I used to sit and say, well, what does it matter how much I do with my life? Whatever good I do with it in the end is not going to matter anyway, if there is no God and there is no hereafter, what does it matter? It’s all vanity.

 

Dan Corse (03:21):

It’s just people putting up facades of what they consider to be important, but there’s no greater being at all or anything. So I was continually looking for answers and it wasn’t that I was I wasn’t going to read in the Bible. Like I’ve heard some people say or those sorts of thing. I wasn’t going from church to church. I did look at different philosophies and different religions you know, and beginning to study about them. And it’s just like, eh, none of those really made sense to me either. Kinda like, nah, I don’t like any of the above. So I kept searching in the morning. I kept looking for answers. I came to the place of what someone would call weak atheism, which is basically the idea that, you know I really can’t prove there was a God. I mean, I found it to be an intellectually, a phony perspective to say, well, I, because I say it, therefore it is, well, that’s not true. I mean, because I say it doesn’t make it reality and I couldn’t prove there was no God. So weak atheism became more are, are slipping over into agnosticism where it wasn’t, I didn’t have any faith. I didn’t have any belief, but I also didn’t have any it’s like when I wasn’t saying I could prove there wasn’t either. So I was alone. It was a softening of my heart though. I wouldn’t have looked at it at that way at that time. But that’s what it was

 

Daniel King(04:36):

Now. You’re not an atheist. You’re not an agnostic. Now you’ve decided to trust Jesus for salvation. How did you come to the point where you became a believer in God?

 

Dan Corse (04:47):

Well, I’ve now been a believer as of this week, 42 years. So it wasn’t like this yesterday that I became a believer, but also to tell you how I got to the point, as I said, I continued to look like, okay, what is, what is I used to do? A lot of creative writing. My writing was always searching for answers. I would read literature that was about people searching for the truth. You know, I read things like there’s a philosophy philosophic type writings, and I kept reading them, but I didn’t find any true, but that’s, there was a hunger in me to know what, what are we here for? What’s this all about? And then in my life back then, I wouldn’t have known what to call it, but in my life now, I definitely know. After 42 years as a Christian, there was a Holy spirit in my life.

 

Dan Corse (05:28):

And I just began to have this knowing, not a knowing that I could learn by reading a book, not a knowing. I could know by somebody lecturing me for an hour and a half. Not any of those kind of noise. It was just like this inner knowing that there was beings beyond myself. And I’ll just put it really honestly the way I looked at it as like, I began to know that there’s one being that loves me dearly. I don’t know who he is for all I knew back then it could have been Moe and Larry, you know what I mean? And the other one I knew hated me. And I knew that those two beings we’re working, seeking to do things in my life. One for my good one, not for my good. And so that’s where I began to and I still didn’t have any answers.

 

Dan Corse (06:10):

I just knew there was something beyond. So at that point in time, I, you know, no longer an agnostic, not saying I had faith, but I didn’t know what I had faith in. You know what I mean? It’s says hi, something higher than myself. Something beyond a human being that I’d gone to church as a child hurt salvation messages. Many time never was born. Again. Never did embrace Christ as savior. As I said early, I didn’t want that Lordship him in my life. Like, no I’ll be bought, you know? And I went to a funeral, my aunt’s funeral, I had to go there and my aunt was a Christian and the pastor I had seen on a float trip and bet around him some and unlike many people in my life, that was my Christian experience before he didn’t shove things at me was just, seemed like he’s a normal human being decent guy.

 

Dan Corse (06:56):

I liked this guy. So when he began to speak, you know, I was interested to see what is it he has to say, you know? I mean, I haven’t, I wouldn’t go to church, even though I was no longer a, you know, an atheist or agnostic. I still wanted nothing to do with churches because my, my Christian experience like Nick, that’s not the answer. It’s not there. It can’t be there. I was there for 15 years as a kid. I didn’t find it what I wanted there. And, and obviously the enemy deceives us a lot and clouds your mind with the reality of what really was. But anyway, I go to this funeral and he began to give a salvation message. And I had not, as I, as I experienced God’s presence at that time, I had not. I remember all of a sudden it became real to me again, it was like, I remember that experience way back then, presence way back when I was a kid, you know, when I would say things like you’re, my mom would be on my, my father was an alcoholic.

 

Dan Corse (07:51):

And at that time he didn’t know Christ. And I would say things to my mom like mom, if I could, I would die for dad. I’d rather go to hell and see dad go to hell. Those are the kind of things I said. I mean, obviously those aren’t, that’s not possible, but I mean, that was a young kid trying to show his love for his father and a father who had a lot of challenges and later became a Christian, which is wonderful. But, but that was later much later. And anyway, so I’m, I’m at this funeral. I began to experience the presence of God and yeah, all of a sudden, as I said, he preached a salvation message. And at that moment I believed, and as Paul says in Romans one 16, he said, I’m not ashamed of the gospel of the power of God under salvation for basically you could put it, I’m paraphrasing everyone.

 

Dan Corse (08:37):

And I believed, and at that point moment in time, it was like, I didn’t know what to call it at that point in time. But it’s like, I went out of there that day. And I myself was an early stage alcoholic at that time. So by that time I’d gotten into the bondage of the dark and I was an early stage alcoholic and looking answers. That was part of my search too, was that I was looking for answers. How do you get freedom from this? How do I get free from that? You know? And that old wheel thing out, I’m going to will it to me. So it didn’t work. And that’s what, that’s what addiction is about. Loss of control. And so anyway, so I go out of there that day and I find myself beginning to say, wait a minute here. I’m talking about God all the time.

 

Dan Corse (09:18):

And I’m not talking anymore in a philosophical sort of intellectual. It’s in a way of a personal, okay. It’s like, God, this and God that, and I find myself begin to say, well, I really do want to go back to church. I want to start crying. I’m like, but my head would say, who’s that talking? That’s not what you say. You don’t say you want to go back to church. And that’s why you and I understood even from a very, what had happened to me, wasn’t an intellectual thing. On every level, it was something spiritually had happened to me inside. What I know now was made a new creation in Christ the new birth. But anyway, so I I started going to a church again and then I proceeded to go this church and went there for a while. And that was in 19 spring of 1979. And I haven’t quit going to church since. And I thank God for the growth that I’ve seen in my life that growth in grace. And

 

Daniel King(10:11):

Talk to me about what you would say to an atheist, someone who is looking for proof, that God is real. What would you say to an atheist that you meet? Well,

 

Dan Corse (10:23):

A lot of it’s going to depend on the atheist. I mean, as you, as you understand, some people are completely closed. There was a time when, if you would have, would try to have this conversation with me. It wouldn’t have gone anywhere because it’s like, well, it’s great that you love people and want to see them know Jesus. I’m not interested in that. Thank you. I’m going out the door. You can go talk to somebody else, but so you have to really be sensitive, sensitive to the Holy spirit and sensitive to what’s going on in the atmosphere around you. I mean, if you see somebody scowling at you, there’s a good possibility. You know, you might want to try a different approach, but then again, if the Holy spirit says, no, keep going that route, then do it. But my, my, my advice would be basically, really get in tune God, what are you wanting me to say to this person?

 

Dan Corse (11:09):

What are you? Cause some people unlike me, some people simply say the raciest and I’ve met those who, frankly, they’re really not atheist. They’re just trying to post somebody string. They’re trying to yank the chain so to speak. But in my case, I really was. And what I would say is just, you know, don’t preach it. The person don’t shove it at them, ask the person why, what it is they believe, why are you an atheist? What did you, what brought you to this? You know, we know in, in Romans one, it talks about there that, that we all should have the knowledge of God, but some people don’t retain that knowledge of God. They reject it for whatever reason, like me, a couple of people that are atheist, what I’d rather be friends with them. I re I rejected that. And then you get, so when you get away from things, as it says in the scriptures, their foolish heart was darkened.

 

Dan Corse (11:59):

And that’s what happened in my life. A foolish art was more and more and more darkened till I saw nothing in my life until that period of time again, where, and when I said the Holy spirit began to reveal things, not through the words of others or through books, or, but just to an inner knowing. So I would say, and I would say two, and then two, this is, you know, they often want to argue that they get very adversarial aggressive sometimes when, and I would back in those days, but it’s like a, for a person who is a believer and they’re walking in fellowship with God, they have a knowing that that person has no conception of what you’re talking about. You know, it’d be like me talking about you know, I’m going to make a fake name, Mary Quicken, beard, who lives in Thailand.

 

Dan Corse (12:50):

And me talking about knowing her, I know nothing about her, I know her name and that’s it. They can talk about God, but they have no understanding about God. They have no conception of what it is to know God or to walk with God. And when it comes to Romans eight 16, one of the beautiful things about that verses it says his spirit, talking about believers, his spirit bears witness with our spirit, that we are his children, you know? And that’s why, w w when I, when I say to them, people that don’t believe it said, you know, look, I’m not trying to be condemning. It’s just, it’s kind of like this. If you spoke to me in Russian, I don’t speak Russian. I have no conception of what you’re talking about. I can get all caught up in human pride and say, well, I know what you mean.

 

Dan Corse (13:34):

No, I don’t. And then when it comes to bathe theist who are blind and don’t walk in the truth, we know the God of this world has blinded their minds. That’s what he did to me, you know, but when you’re talking to them, they have no way, if you do it calmly, reasonably, and a few of them will still argue then, and you know that, but, but with, with those who are at least thinking, what may be perhaps, could I be wrong? Could I, you know, that was one of the questions I often ask myself too, when I was in my youth is what if I’m wrong? What if I’m wrong? You know? I mean, there is a possibility because I found out long ago, I’m not the fount of all knowledge. I’m not omniscient. I don’t know everything. So what if I’m wrong?

 

Dan Corse (14:17):

What if I’m wrong? What are the consequences of if I’m wrong? You know? And at that time, I wasn’t even thinking about it about Christian and that aspect of belief system. I was just thinking about wrong terms of God in general, but, but what if I’m wrong, but just letting them know. I think it’s wonderful to hear when I started hearing people, instead of preaching at me, started talking about the blessedness of the relationship with the savior, what that’s like to fellowship with him, you know, to go through a tough time in your life. Like, you know 15 months ago, I lost my only biological son unexpectedly. And well, I tell you what, that’s devastating for a parent to lose their only biological child. And I mean, it was, I mean, I’d never, I’d had lost parents, had lost family members and those sorts of things, friends, but losing my son was, is like, Oh, and my older brother, you know,

 

Daniel King(15:12):

How did you deal with that? Because that is an extremely painful situation. How did God help you?

 

Dan Corse (15:18):

Well, that’s, that’s exactly it. And I’m glad you asked the question, but anyway it’s exactly, it goes back to that relationship with he who bears witness with my spirit. I was just very aware of, I was aware of his presence. He was there, comforting, comforting me. I was, I was aware that he was around me. I certainly knew that I did not find, and I was angry at times as, as when you lose your child, like, you know but I didn’t find God picking fights with me or any of that kind of crazy stuff. He was there in a comforting sort of way. And there’s still all that things I don’t understand about it. And let’s be real there’s things we don’t understand about life on this planet. Why did this, why did that, why did this? We are not omniscient, you know?

 

Dan Corse (16:03):

And, but, but yet what I do know is that he was always there. He’s always been there. He’s comforting me at times what it’s like. And I I’d be literally saying God, I mean, not just talking about crying, but crying and crying out to him and his presence. He, you know, he’s able to comfort you through the power that why it’s the Holy spirit called the comforter because he comforts that’s part of his ministry. He comforts us. So that’s how I got through it. And, and also I find too that second Corinthians talk about that. We can comfort others of that, which we are comforted. So I’ve found that people that are going through those kinds of things, like sit down one at a time. It was a store in st. Louis. Don’t remember the name of the store, sit down on a bench and started talking to a guy and he’d lost his child.

 

Dan Corse (16:46):

And, you know, and, and in a horrible sort of way as well. And so I was able to, to share with him what God was doing in my life. I saw that my comfort that I’d received from him, God could use that to comfort him too. So that’s just, you know, I don’t hear this. I’m not saying God caused my son to die. That’s not what I’m saying at all. What I’m saying is a horrible thing that I believe the enemy spiritual enemy, our spirit meant for harm. God was able to take in my life and has been able to use it to bless others.

 

Daniel King(17:16):

Well, thank you so much for sharing. I am just about to publish a book called proof. God is real, and my heart is to reach out to atheist with the good news of the gospel. And so I’m so delighted to hear your testimony of how you went from atheism to Jesus, from darkness to light, what a tremendous testimony it is. And mr. Dan, thank you so much for being on the podcast. Wonderful life. It is.

 

 In 2018, Evangelist Daniel King organized a massive evangelistic outreach in the nation of Belize. Ten evangelists joined together and did ten crusades simultaneously. One of those evangelists was Pastor Michael Moonoo. He has continued to go back to the same island where his crusade took place. In today’s episode, he shares about the continuing fruit that has been produced in Belize since the nationwide outreach.

Show Notes: 

What fruit do large evangelistic events produce? Today we talk to Pastor Michael Moonoo. In 2018, he participated in our massive outreach to the nation of Belize called the Belize Festival of Hope. Since then he has gone back to Belize several times and on today’s podcast he shares testimonies about some of the long-term fruit our outreach produced in that nation. 

Website: https://www.destinylife.org

Pastor Michael Moonoo started in ministry as the youth pastor at his church in Houston, TX.  He attended Bible College in Columbus, Tx where he eventually became a faculty member. Her also met his wife there. They moved to Dallas and became youth pastors and later associate pastors. In 2007 the Lord spoke to them to start Destiny Life church. 

 For the last several years they have taken teams from their church down to the nation of Belize. They participated in the Belize Festival of Hope and they have continued to see great fruit from that event especially on the island of Key Caulker. 

Questions:

What fruit have you seen on Key Caulker since you participated in the Belize Festival of Hope? 

What is God doing in Belize right now? 

What plans do you think God has for the nation of Belize? 

Key Quote: Some plant, some water, some bring in the harvest. When you did the big national event, you planted a huge seed, we came in behind what you were doing and were able to do the cultivating, the pruning, and the nurturing and bring in the harvest. It takes everyone doing their part. 

Transcription 

Daniel King (00:00):

Welcome to the podcast. I’m with my good friend, pastor Michael Mooney from destiny life church. And several years ago, we did a massive outreach in the nation of beliefs. It was a nationwide outreach. We took 10 evangelists, did 10 crusades simultaneously all over the entire nation of beliefs. And, and pastor Michael was already working down there and beliefs, but he joined in on the outreach that w God had put in our hearts to do for the whole nation. And where did you go for your crusade during that event?

 

Pastor Michael Moonoo (00:34):

Well, we went out to key caulker there it’s a little Island, 20 miles off the coast to believe. So how do you get to key Cocker? Well, there’s two ways. There is a little puddle jumper airlines, but they’re kind of expensive. It’s a five minute flight, I believe. However, you can take a 50 minute boat ride for like 36 bucks round trip, and it was, it’s an experience. So that’s what we did. We had a blast.

 

Daniel King (00:56):

And so you participated in that nationwide outreach and people were saved during the outreach. They’re on key Cocker, but you’ve continued to go back to the nation of beliefs and go back to that, that particular Island tell us what’s been happening since then. Well,

 

Pastor Michael Moonoo (01:15):

So, you know, after the crusade that you had set up out there and it was such a privilege to get to be there and take part what you guys were doing. We, we had so many miracles that happen on the Island, and I believe those pastors really, their eyes were opened up. There was a couple in particular, this absolutely ate up the word. And so when, when we left, we contacted about a month later, contacted some of the pastors and they asked us if we would come back. And from that point on, I think we’re five years going now that they’ve been so receptive to the word of God, we are still seeing people say, we’re still seeing people healed people delivered, and they’re receiving the word of God and their ministries are increasing. They’re doing bigger things for God. We’re seeing their faith rise up one pastor in particular.

 

Pastor Michael Moonoo (02:04):

You know, he, he has a tent for his church and he puts it on a rented land. This guy is believing big and we’re believing with him, but he started a kid’s ministry on the Island and he would maybe have 15, 20, maybe 25 kids. And he consistently, every Saturday morning he would meet with those kids. He would feed those kids. And later on because of that door, that was open at the crusade, we wound up bringing a team of about 22 people from Amarillo, Texas last year. And we did a camp for the entire Island will now pass

 

Daniel King (02:40):

Oscar for all the children on the Island for all the children on the Island. And so how many kids came to them?

 

Pastor Michael Moonoo (02:45):

We have our, our number by the end of the week was about 109. I believe

 

Daniel King (02:49):

We’re not talking about a very big Island. That’s almost every kid on the whole place yet

 

Pastor Michael Moonoo (02:55):

Was told. The elementary school only has about 80 something kids. So you had more kids

 

Daniel King (03:00):

At your event than actually go to the elementary school.

 

Pastor Michael Moonoo (03:03):

Correct? That was great. And it was one of the biggest things the Island has ever seen. And and so with that now, after we left the kids ministry for pastor Oscar, it’s basically doubled. And so he has anywhere from 40 to 50 every week, he feeds them. And, and even during some of the trying times like the, you know, all the different virus stuff going on, he made a vow that he was going to keep feeding those kids. And some of those kids that might be the only good meal they have during that week.

 

Daniel King (03:32):

Wow. So you’ve continued to have an impact there. And then have you been going to other places and beliefs as well? What’s been happening in those other places?

 

Pastor Michael Moonoo (03:39):

We have, we we’ve been going down to Punta Gorda for about six years to another church down there in that area. But then last year in November, a door opened up there was a pastor in Dan Grega that we had, we had met through Facebook and, and we kind of follow each other and different things. And we were going to Belize to bring Christmas presents, to get to the Island. And so since we’re going to be in Belize, we, we never really could schedule this gentleman because of our, our time so limited, but since we’re going down anyway, we scheduled him. That door opened up. We had so many great things happen during that week of teaching and ministering the word, administering the anointing. And so now the re that region in the town of van Grega has opened up. And we’ll be we’re planning on going back during Thanksgiving this year, but it’s now he has a feeding program and he’s feeding every single day. Well, I have such a great love for the nation

 

Daniel King (04:33):

Beliefs and all of the wonderful pastors that are there. It’s such a unique country. Half the people speak English, half the people speak Spanish, you have the Caribbean feel to it, but then you also have the Latin American fields kind of like Guatemala. You also have the Mayan that are down the Punto Gorda area up North in the orange walk area. It really feels like part of Mexico,

 

Pastor Michael Moonoo (04:58):

The nights in in some of that area

 

Daniel King (05:01):

Also. And then you have Mennonites and then you have the, the, the, the people, the, the [inaudible] people that are there as well. So you’ve got all these different cultures and different people. And God’s hand is upon the nation of beliefs. I think it is perfectly situated to have an impact on nations all over the world. It can have an impact on the Caribbean. It can have an impact on Latin America. It’s only a short plane ride from Houston, Texas, so it can have an impact on, on the United States. And it’s still considered part of the British Commonwealth. And so sometimes the British Navy comes and docks their ships there, so it can have an impact over in Europe. And so I think God’s eye is upon the nation of beliefs. And I believe that revival is coming to the nation.

 

Pastor Michael Moonoo (05:50):

Yeah, I believe that. And you know, you mentioned some of those nations, we found that there’s, there are tons of Israelis that go to the Island, tons of Italians that go to the Island and tons of Canadians. So you’re so right when you mentioned that that is a hub, and it’s almost like a launch place. As a matter of fact, our pastor friend in Punta Gorda has actually sent someone from his church to minister in Canada. And so now we’re seeing that we’ve sent people to Billy’s for years. People still go to Belize, but now believes is sending people out into other regions and sending the gospel out from the country.

 

Daniel King (06:24):

Wow, that’s tremendous, you know, years ago, God spoke to me and said, Daniel, the mission field will become a mission force. And so lots of mission trips have come to beliefs. I mean, they, they get on the plane from Houston and sometimes on one plan, you’ll have two or three different mission trips that come down and they’re ministering. And so beliefs has been considered a mission field by, by many, but I think the day is coming where beliefs will become a mission force and reach out to the nations all over the world and have an impact. And, and I love the pastors down there and, and the people of beliefs, I’m just praying for God’s spirit to be poured out on the nation.

 

Pastor Michael Moonoo (07:05):

Absolutely. You know, they’re doing such a strong work down there and what I’ve noticed, you know, it’s, you know, the, the, the, the nation is not a very wealthy nation at all. It’s very poor. However, I see these pastors, they, they go beyond themselves and giving to their people and bringing good things to their people, and they really make big sacrifices for their churches, for their communities. And they’re so selfless. That’s what I see. They’re so selfless. I’ll tell you real quick. One of the pastors down there, we were down there a couple of years ago, he showed us some land that they were blessed with. And he told me his vision was to to grow cacau, that the thing they make chocolate out of. And of course, it’s very lucrative. Well, you know, he, he did plant some cacao, but then he planted a lot of fruit trees.

 

Pastor Michael Moonoo (07:52):

Well, at the onset of, of some of the, the, the pan, the COVID stuff, these fruit trees had started bearing fruit, and that he will pack up a little small pickup loaded with fruits and vegetables and take it out to the villages and all these people can eat. And so nobody’s going to starve out of this guy’s jurisdiction because there’s tons and tons of fruits and vegetables that he and his people have made a community garden. And now they’re, they’re just going. And so he could have planted cacau and made all kinds of money, but he was thinking, what can I do for my people? And the timing was perfect because nobody would buy, look a cow, any in the world because nobody’s going in or out. So this is perfect. And we’re seeing that kind of thing happened in Belize.

 

Daniel King (08:33):

Wow. What a tremendous testimony. Well, I really consider what you’re continuing to do to be part of the fruit of the, the massive beliefs festival of hope that, that we got to do. And I’m so delighted that you’re still down there working in beliefs, that, that you didn’t abandon the country, but you’re continuing to work because ultimately to change a nation, you can’t do it all at one time. It did, it takes a process building up disciples. And so thank you so much for continuing to work in the nation of beliefs.

 

Pastor Michael Moonoo (09:05):

Thank you for planting that seed. You know, you mentioned it so well, I believe some plant some water, some bring in the harvest. And when you did the, the big, big national event that you did, that really was a major seed. And then we came in behind what you were doing. And we were able to do the cultivating after that and do some of the pruning and nurturing, and then also bringing in some of that harvest. So it takes everybody doing their part. Amen. Everyone do their part.

 

Description: Robbie Leaf is a Native American who has a heart to reach Native Americans with the Gospel.  He wants to see representatives from every Native American tribe in heaven. Today, as Daniel King, “The Evangelism Coach” interviews him, he shares on the challenges and rewards of ministering to indigenous people in America.

Show Notes:  In American there are 562 Native American tribes. Many of these tribes have their own unique language and culture. More than 3 million people in the U.S. are from a native American background. The biggest tribes are the Navajo, the Cherokee, and the Sioux.  Many Native Americans in the United States struggle with issues of alcoholism, drug addiction, and suicide. Indigenous Americans need Jesus.

On today’s podcast, we will hear for Robbie Leaf. He is a Native American who has a heart to reach his people and other Native Americans with the Gospel.  Robbie Lead is Cherokee  on his father’s side and Muskogee Creek Nation on his mother’s side. He recently returned from a ministry trip to a reservation in South Dakota. On today’s podcast, he will discuss some of the secrets of reaching the Native tribes of America.

 In Rev. 7:9-11  it says there will be representatives from every nation in front of the throne room of God, After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and unto the Lamb. The Greek word translated here as “nation” is the word “ethnos.” So this means every ethnic group will be in heaven including representatives from all the tribes. God loves Native Americans.

 Here are some of the questions Robbie Leaf answers in today’s podcast:

 * When you were younger you had a fascination with the supernatural. Tell me about that and how that fascination helped you find Jesus.

* How did a Native American like you get saved at the age of 22? 

 * Why is it hard to preach the Gospel to Native Americans?

 * I have heard native Americans say, “Don’t trust white people. Don’t trust the government.” I am a white evangelist, what can I do to build trust with native Americans so I can talk to them about Jesus?

 * Where did Robbie get the nickname “Mad Dog?”

 Key Idea: Robbie Leaf says that in order to reach Native Americans, the evangelist needs to:

1. Come with no agendas.
2. Serve them.
3. Be patient.

Transcription 

Daniel King(00:00):

Hi, I’m Daniel King and I’ve traveled to over 70 nations around the world in a quest for souls. And today we have a special guest with us that I’m so excited about because God has anointed him to reach a special segment of society that needs Jesus. His name is Robbie Lee. Robbie. Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate you being on the podcast.

 

Robbie Leaf (00:29):

Thank you, dr. King. It’s a very, very blessed an honor to be

 

Daniel King(00:33):

You’re here now just a minute. I’m going to tell them why you’re special. In just a moment, I’m going to tell them about the special area of ministry that you’re anointed to do. But first let’s talk a little bit. How did we meet?

 

Robbie Leaf (00:51):

We met it was a C fan bootcamp. You were an instructor, you were one of them evangelist instructors. And I was at the cross for all nations bootcamp evangelism bootcamp, and I was one of the students. And that’s where I’m at, where I’m at, dr. Daniel King.

 

Daniel King(01:10):

And so what are, what are some of the things that you learned during those sessions?

 

Robbie Leaf (01:16):

I learned a lot about surrender about submitting, about being obedient to God and learning just how continuing to dislike. ’em Die to self in every area of my life, learning how to be physically fit for, to afford a mission field in Africa and onward, wherever God leads me. And there’s, and of course, evangelism a lot of different people from different walks of life and different countries learned a lot through them, just their, the evangelism, evangelism styles, their their personalities. And there’s so much, really, so much to talk about with that, that it’s just, as, it’s not a life changing experience, you know, on, on all.

 

Daniel King(02:08):

I’m so delighted that you’re here on the show with us. Robby Lee is a native American and he is specially gifted by God to reach other native Americans with the gospel. And he has a heart for reaching American Indians, indigenous Americans with the good news of Jesus Christ. And so tell me a little bit about your, your heritage.

 

Robbie Leaf (02:35):

Well, my heritage is I’m on my dad’s side, I’m Cherokee and on my mom’s side I’m Creek Muskogee Creek. And I was pretty much raised in some of the ideology of native culture. And yeah I’m other tribes, but I am registered with the Cherokee and the Creek nation. And you live in, in

 

Daniel King(03:00):

Tulsa, Oklahoma, where I live, which is the heart of Indian territory. And there’s actually lots of people in our area that, that are native Americans here in America. There are 562 native American tribes. And many of these tribes have their own unique language. They have their own unique culture. And in total there’s more than 3 million people in the United States who are from an native American background. So the biggest tribes are the Navajo, the Cherokee in the SU. And I was thinking about these, the, these different tribes and nations in the, the verse from the Bible that comes to mind is revelation seven verse nine through 11. And Robbie, let me read this to you. It says after this, I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation tribe, people and language standing before the throne.

 

Daniel King(03:59):

And before the lamb, they were wearing white robes and were holding Palm branches in their hands. And they cried out with a loud voice. Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and onto the lamb. And so this verse tells us that every nation tribe, people and language are there in heaven, standing before the throne and the, the, the Greek word, which is translated as nations in English is actually the Greek word ethnos, which is where we get the word ethnic from in today’s language. And so this means that every ethnic group, every tribe of people will be there represented before the throne in heaven. And so this tells me that God loves the various tribes. God loves the Cherokee tribe. God loves the Muskogee Creek tribe. God loves you. You’re going to be one of those standing in front of the throne. And, and, and talk to me about God’s heart for native Americans.

 

Robbie Leaf (05:02):

Well I just remember Billy Graham said back in 19, I believe it was 1967, gave a prophetic word about the, the native people are a sleeping giant in this nation. And right now I feel like the sleeping giant has awakened with the native people. I feel like not just me, but there’s other native people all around this country and this continent that God’s raising up to go back to our, to our heritage, to the people and bring the fire and the passion of the Holy spirit of Jesus to them to bring healing, to bring deliverance and to set free the captives of so many strongholds for four generations. There’s so many strong holds of, of addiction of alcohol, drugs, poverty S premature death. There are so many strongholds. I’ve been over a fan over to native families and, and generations over native people. And I’m seeing a new, a new vision of God coming in and raising up people to go back with the fire God, with a passion with that zeal to lead our people, many people into, into salvation, the lead, into breaking the chains of those addictions and those strongholds. And it’s captaining. Now I’m seeing a beginning stages of it. And I’m excited for the future of what he’s going to do, continue to do in native culture.

 

Daniel King(06:40):

Now, were you raised in a Christian home?

 

Robbie Leaf (06:43):

I was not raised in a Christian home. I was raised pretty much a little bit about what the native, the native ideology about. This is my little story. I grew up in a secular home. No, there was no, no Christianity, anything like that. I wasn’t raised in church or anything like that as I was raised a little bit with just a mentality of don’t trust, a white people and don’t trust the government and don’t trust non native people. So, yeah, no, I wasn’t raised in a Christian home.

 

Daniel King(07:16):

Did anyone from the church ever reach out to you when you were young?

 

Robbie Leaf (07:20):

I just remember when I was a little kid my mom, I think it was my mom. There was a, there was a pre, there was like a children’s church near my town is Wagner, Oklahoma. And I went for a month, just checked it out. It was a children’s church or whatever, but I had to get, I had to take a bus, like they had to pick me up and I think as a month, month and a half, and then they didn’t pick me up. That was my only exposure to church. When I was,

 

Daniel King(07:47):

They forgot about you, they stopped picking you up and you were never exposed to church again. Okay. So then how did you end up becoming a Christian?

 

Robbie Leaf (07:55):

Well, as a young age, I was into like I had an unusual fascination with the S the supernatural, like ghosts and unexplained phenomena and horror movies and books about the unexplained and hornos and stuff like that. And then I, so I started getting it, started going to heavy metal music and punk rock music, and all kinds of this junk this, this worldly horrible stuff. I mean, it would take too long to talk about it, but yeah, I was pretty much into that. That was what raised me. I didn’t really have anybody in my life, not even family members to really say that, you know, just give me a sense of worth or sense of self esteem that I can do something to my life. So basically those horror movies, those horror books, heavy metal, punk rock, pretty much raised me in.

 

Robbie Leaf (08:56):

And I basically grew up on that and it felt when I was bullied at school, it just felt that I just had that anger, just all that stuff, all that frustration of not feeling like I fit in anywhere, or I belonged anywhere. It fed a lot of anger and a lot of frustration, and then reinforce some of what native, native family members and native people. I was around. Like, don’t trust a white people, see, look what they’re doing. They don’t treat you right. They’re bullying you, you know, don’t trust a white people. Don’t trust nothing, anybody that’s not native. So that reinforced my anger and my hatred towards society for my youth, most of my youth. And but I came to a point I was even atheist. I didn’t believe in God. And if he did exist, I believe that he didn’t care about me or my people. So that was my mindset when I was young. Just that if there was a God, he didn’t care,

 

Daniel King(09:52):

You didn’t even believe that there was a God. So, so then when did you have an encounter with God? What brought you to now? You believe that there’s a God?

 

Robbie Leaf (10:01):

Well, like I said, I was kind of like a militant atheist. I had a little ideology of that native mindset of not trusting people, but a year before I got saved, this was in spring of 1995. I was like just into that darkness and all that depression, all that blackness. And I was cold hearted, but this man, this, this old, this elderly man came to my apartment one day. And he was cleaning the carpets and he was singing hymns, like Christian hymns. And I was like, who is this guy? You know, I was making, I was mocking him. I was making fun of him, you know, like it’s Christian Guy. And I’m like, is he

 

Daniel King(10:41):

Amazing sweet? Like that

 

Robbie Leaf (10:46):

Stuff like that? Like, who is this guy? You know? So I actually asked him if he was a Christian and he said, yes, son, I am. And I kind of like, well, I don’t believe in your white God. And I don’t believe, and your white, white man’s religion, stuff like that. And then, you know, it was like, instead of really just give it to me. Well, I probably deserved it. He was, he was like, I’m sorry, you feel that way, son. I want to pray for you and nothing. No, I’m, I’m cool. You know, but he was really gentle. I just remembered this gentle, humble man. When I was like making fun of him, he was so gentle and gracious towards me. And he said, he gave me a scripture, a piece of paper. It was scripture. And it was a poem, also a poem called a touch of the master’s hand.

 

Robbie Leaf (11:34):

And he gave me that, he said, son, I’m going to pray for you. You know? And Jesus loves you. And he still, no matter what you say to him, he still loves you. And he still has a plan for your life. And he walked out that door and it just stuck with me. I was, I was just lying to myself. I was depressed. I was having suicidal thoughts. And for that whole year, that man, what he just did, just his demeanor, just his presence just was haunted me, I guess you can say. So I came to the point in the spring of 1996.

 

Daniel King(12:09):

How old were you at that point?

 

Robbie Leaf (12:11):

I was 22 years old,

 

Daniel King(12:13):

Two years old. And you heard this man singing and you, you impacted your life. You started to think about that.

 

Robbie Leaf (12:21):

Yeah. I didn’t know. I didn’t want to think about it like, but something about that, man, just the presence that he held. It was like, it, it just, like I said, like kind of haunted me even when I was in my sin, haunted me. So that spring, I found myself, like I said, depressed, I had suicidal thoughts. I felt so worthless and empty and feel like trash to the world. And I found myself at night, it’s a spring and 96, one night just crying and looking in my ceiling ceiling. And I’m in my bed saying, God, do, are you real? If you’re real, show yourself to me. I don’t think you’re real. I don’t think you care about me, but if you’re real show yourself to me because I don’t want to live anymore. And I’m for two months, two, three months, every single night, I found myself doing that. This weeping like so miserable, I was wanting something real. I tried to find it in pot smoking and all these other things. And I wasn’t finding any peace. I wasn’t finding any joy, any fulfillment or worth in anything I was doing. So I found myself as an atheist, as you know, a person that hated felt like I hated God and hated Christians crying out to him. Are you real? Show yourself to me? And then like two, three months into this, something happened to me. It was him, his presence. I felt

 

Daniel King(13:52):

A love. I felt a peace.

 

Robbie Leaf (13:55):

I felt an acceptance that I never felt in the world. It was a supernatural presence of love that came into my bedroom. And I was transformed that night. Like you are real. And instead of tears of pain and suffering, I started crying tears of joy. And then that night I’m like, well, I need to go to church. I need to get my rifle. Right. And I didn’t know what church to go to, but he led me to guts church

 

Daniel King(14:23):

Guts church there in Tulsa, Oklahoma pastored by pastor, bill Scheer, bill share. Great man of God. I love that guy. Yes. So you went to guts church and what happened?

 

Robbie Leaf (14:36):

Well, it came in, they’re kind of still skeptical Cole. Like I had long hair, had sunglasses, had abandon a back pocket and wore a baseball shirt, kind of looking like a thug. I thought, Oh, the other kind of rough. So I know what to think. I went there by myself, got all this courage. I had to go in there by myself and check it out. And I just knew that I saw the love of Jesus on these kids that were sitting in the bleachers when they, when they were looking at me and just to love. And it convicted me almost like the devil that night was telling me, you don’t need to go up to the alter. You don’t need to give your life to Jesus you’re too.

 

Daniel King(15:15):

So the devil was whispering in your ear trying to stop you from getting saved. Yes, he was. And was the Holy spirit talking to you at the same time?

 

Robbie Leaf (15:23):

Yeah, that whole sermon he was doing. I felt a tug in my heart that I need to go to the altar. That, that what he’s saying, like give my life to Jesus, go to the alter, walk up there and give your life to Jesus. What the devil was lying to my head and my, and my thoughts saying you don’t need to go up there. You’re too cool for that. What are you going to do? You’re not going to be, nobody’s going to like you anymore. And I’m always going to care about you to the people I was hanging out with the old crowd of, of people that were as messed up as I was. They won’t like you anymore. So the devil was lying to me, even though I knew in my heart, I need to go up there. So there was a war in my spirit that night.

 

Daniel King(16:04):

And so what ended up happening who won the war

 

Robbie Leaf (16:06):

That night, Satan Satan won out. But when I left there, I was so convicted that every single day I’d call the guts church, the guts TV hotline, and said, I need to talk to somebody. And the, the, the, it was the receptionist or whatever. It’s like, okay, give us her your name and your phone number. We’ll have somebody call you as soon as possible. So waited. I went to work that Monday. Nobody called me. So I called again second day it’s Tuesday. I need to talk to somebody. We’ll get somebody to you. So Friday finally, I’ll call them again. And then just before I went to work, I had an evening job that night on Monday through Friday, before I went to work on Friday, a guy named Darryl called me and said, Hey, I’m, I’m calling you. And I’m wanting to just touch base with you and tell you what’s going on.

 

Robbie Leaf (17:00):

And I told him, I think I, I don’t know about Jesus, man. I’m, I’m just miserable. And I’m having suicidal thoughts and I’m feeling alone and misunderstood. And I don’t know about this, but I just tell me something about him. So he ministered to me and he prayed over me and he said, I wanted to meet you show up an hour before church on Sunday night. I want to meet you. And so I did. And that was Sunday night and he comes in and we talked for an hour before service. And what was his name? Darrell there.

 

Daniel King(17:38):

Darrell. And so you came in, you started talking to him. What, what did he say to you?

 

Robbie Leaf (17:42):

Basically just loved on me. I mean, like you said, Jesus loves you, man. And it wasn’t anything fancy, anything eloquent is like the love of what he would. I, when you said that I care about you and Jesus cares about you and loves you and he wants to change your life. I knew it. I mean, like he was, he wasn’t giving me some lip service. It was real. Cause I could see it the way he was talking to me. So it was, it wasn’t this basic just Jesus loves you. He has a better plan for your life than what you went through. And I believed it because I saw it as love. And that was genuine with him. That relationship with Jesus was genuine with them. Cause they exuded from that to me. So yeah, that night I went to the altar, I got saved and they were having baptism all night that night. And I got baptized.

 

Daniel King(18:36):

You got baptized the same night you got?

 

Robbie Leaf (18:38):

Yes, that was June 30th, 1996.

 

Daniel King(18:42):

Wow. Congratulations. What a tremendous story. And now you’ve discovered that that God has a call on your life. I heard that you went to a school down in Brownsville during the Brownsville revival with a evangelist Steve Hill, who was a great evangelist. And he called you mad dog. T tell me about that.

 

Robbie Leaf (19:06):

Yeah. then the mad dog named the nickname. I got right just before I got saved. I was working at ups. That was my part time job just before I got saved. So I got a reputation of a, of a short tempered and angry guy. So my supervisor at ups called me mad dog. But when I shared my testimony at Brownsville and March of 1998 I mentioned that I just kind of was making a joke on onstage about my, during my testimony to my neck, call me mad dog. You know? So from there, Steve Hill would say, mad dog that’s that’s, Robbie’s native American name, you know? But

 

Daniel King(19:48):

So we got Robbie, Matt dog leaf with us today, but now he is saved and loving God. But that wasn’t really your, your native American name.

 

Robbie Leaf (19:58):

Yeah. Till this day, people are still people at Brownsville say it’s Robbie’s native American named no, it’s just a nickname. That’s the infamous nickname I had before I got saved.

 

Daniel King(20:09):

Now, while you were there in school, you got to know Daniel Kolenda, who at that time wasn’t a well known evangelist. Now of course he’s become Reinhard Bonnke his successor and taken over Christ for all nations. You also knew a Russ, Russ Benson, Russ Benson, while you were there. And so what were they like when you were in school together?

 

Robbie Leaf (20:31):

They were, it was it’s, it’s amazing that we’re older now, but back then were, were a bunch of us were kids that just loved the Lord, but were goofy. You know, the sense of humor, those guys. I still remember that. It’s like just there, we’re all just goofy guys. Just love Jesus. We went out witnessing together and perming together, but we’re just a bunch of goofy guys that just kid around

 

Daniel King(20:55):

And now look at how God is so powerfully using you for preaching the gospel, you and Daniel Kolenda. And it’s amazing. All right. So, so just recently you went to South Dakota and you preach to native Americans up in South Dakota. Tell me about that. What happened?

 

Robbie Leaf (21:15):

Yeah, last week I was invited. I was actually originally before I got accepted to Christ nations evangelism bootcamp. This year I was on the mission field and the Jenkins sea reservation and Wagner South Dakota for 14 months. So I was there last year and the friends I made up there, they invited me there. They were doing evangelistic outreach on main street on Wagner, South Dakota. And they invited me to come and speak and preach. And I came up last week and did some outreach, did some, you know, just one-on-one evangelism here and there. And then last Saturday night around this time, actually they set all the speakers up and they had a native American worship band there leading worship and did outreach right on main street on Wagner, South Dakota, and had me preach, had me share a little bit of my testimony and preach and just, just be, just do it. There’s Wagner considered a reservation. Yeah, it’s right on the reservation. It’s like, so what’s the tribe. That’s there, it’s a Yankton Sioux, Yankton Sioux.

 

Daniel King(22:24):

And so how did people respond to this outreach?

 

Robbie Leaf (22:28):

Cool. Well, actually it was like, there was about, I’d say 80, 90 people that showed up, which is pretty good because there’s, there’s so much of a story, a backstory to it, but I’m,

 

Daniel King(22:40):

You had native American music from one of the church bands and then you preach, what was your message?

 

Robbie Leaf (22:47):

It was a tied it in some of my story of what I’m sharing with you guys. And then about how he redeemed us. Like he all he can make what we go from the old man to the new man that the old things have passed away and all things can become new in your life. And I shared mostly about any of you, maybe struggling with what I used to struggle with, with the music, with the movies, with, with sexual lust or what, or addictions or whatever, like Jesus Christ. I’ve basically just preached a simple message. Just like,

 

Daniel King(23:25):

How did people respond to the message?

 

Robbie Leaf (23:28):

There are actually a lot more responsive than I expected, because to be honest with you, some native people they’re very hostile to the Christian message. They were represented as a white man’s religion or white man’s God. And there’s so much bad, bad memories from the past of assimilation or whatever, but they actually received it very well. It was also though, they were kind of scared when it comes to the ultra call that was given, I was like, this is the first person like, they’re wait for, they didn’t want to be the first person to be up there. They were like I don’t want to be up there if you’ll go, I’ll go kind of like, there’s still that little hesitancy in that fear, I guess you could say, but it was amazing nights. Seven people got baptized at the end of the night.

 

Daniel King(24:19):

Wow. Seven people got baptized on the reservation. What a tremendous miracle. That’s amazing.

 

Robbie Leaf (24:26):

Yes. And it was a very, and that’s good. I mean, because

 

Daniel King(24:31):

That’s great fruit. That’s amazing. That’s wonderful. All right. I got a question for you. You’re you’re called by God to be an evangelist. And because you’re, you’re native American you are able to, to speak in a credible way to others who come from a similar background to you. Now I’m an evangelist to as you can see, I’m white. I don’t know if you can see on the podcast, but I’m about as white as they come. And you know, I’m an evangelist. And so I go to different nations and we talked to people from many different cultures, many different colors, and I love everyone. But you, you talked about how many native Americans are taught. Don’t trust white people don’t trust the government. So, so how can, can someone like me who who’s a white evangelist, who, who loves people, cares about people? What can I do to build trust with native Americans so that I can talk to them about Jesus

 

Robbie Leaf (25:38):

First, no agendas. Like you go in there when it comes to a native person, most native people, if you’re not native, there’ll be like, what is this non native person or white person, whether they want, they, what they want from me as not in every case, but most cases that are like, why are they, what do they want from me? So you gotta come in with no agenda. Like I’m, I’m here to love you guys. I’m here to just serve them. Whether it’s like helping, if they’re going through a hard time, helping them with groceries or a few bucks here or there, and have no agenda, like have not have nothing like trying to like put fire and brimstone or whatever, you know, just love them. Just simply just love them. Like I’m not here to to judge you or try to beat you over the head with something you got to simply just come love them and continue to love them and have them just have, have them trust you and have no agenda about it.

 

Robbie Leaf (26:40):

Once some people are different, more different than others. Some will open up more, but some are really so closed off. And so wounded from the past and what they’ve been indoctrinated with that you just gotta be patient. You’ve got to continue to be patient and persevere and just love them. And just, just shared a love of Christ with people before they were going to have really listened to like a gospel message, this like really intently. You’ve got to the show, I’m here to love you. I’m here to serve you. What can I do to help you and just be your friend or, or just serve them in some way. And then they’ll open up.

 

Daniel King(27:22):

Yeah. I heard someone say one time that people don’t care how much, you know, until they know how much you care. And so I hear you saying, number one, have no agendas. Number two, serve them. Number three, be patient number four, just befriend them. And then that’ll open up a door to, to share the gospel with them. I have two stories for you. One is a success story. One is a, an unsuccessful story. So, so the, the, the bad story first I was just last week I was participating in a food outreach where people were coming in cars and we were putting food in the trunk. And as we were giving them food, we were praying for people. And if they weren’t saved, we were telling them about Jesus, inviting them to give their life to Jesus. And so there was one man, his name was Jack.

 

Daniel King(28:17):

He was native American. And I ended up having a 20 minute conversation with him. Most of the cars, I would spend one or two minutes with him, pray with them, and then they’d go on their way. But Jack he, he was willing to talk for a long time and he was native American. He was, he spent some time sharing with me, some of his beliefs about how there’s a great spirit up in the sky. He told me that he doesn’t believe in the devil. He says, I’m not against Jesus, but he does emphasize that that’s not how his people get to God is through Jesus. And he also shared with me several near death experiences. He had with people that were right on the edge of death. And he got even to be in the room while they passed over to the other side.

 

Daniel King(29:02):

And so he was talking to me about that. And then he really resented that white people had stolen his language and stolen his culture. And so I spent about 20 minutes talking to him and I asked him if he would pray with me, the prayer of salvation and, and he declined and he wasn’t ready for that, but, but I was able to at least plant a seed in his life talking about what I believe, listening to what he believed. And I spent most of my time listening because I think by listening, it’s a good way to show that you care. Then here’s the good one time. My wife and I got to lead a teen mission trip to a reservation up in Canada and up in Canada. They call them the first nations people cause they were the first people here.

 

Daniel King(29:57):

And so the place where we went is called LA shh. It’s up in North, Northern Canada. And it’s a, it’s a first nations area, a very poor, lots of trouble with, with, with drugs and alcoholism and poverty. And it’s really sad, but a lot of people in that reservation struggle with depression. And there’s a split. You heard of suicide that attacked many people in that area. And we were told that in the year before we arrived, that many, many teenagers had been committing suicide in that community. And so many teenagers were committing suicide, that they actually had a tree that they called the hangings and tree. And [inaudible] teenagers had gone to this tree in hung themselves. So one did it. And then the other teenagers were coming along and imitating, I mean, negative peer pressure and they committed suicide on the same tree.

 

Daniel King(31:04):

So, so we went and we preach the gospel and we prayed with people for salvation. And then we took all the teenagers from that community and went out to the hanging tree. And we broke the curse of death that was over the hanging tree. And we said that Jesus died on a tree so that you wouldn’t have to die on a tree that he took the curse of sin and poverty and disease and even alcoholism and drug addiction upon himself. When he hung on the cross, he hung on a tree and he hung on the tree so that you don’t have to hang yourself on a tree and through Jesus, you can be saved. And we, we actually took note cards and wrote down on those note cards messages of hope and inspiration and hung those messages on the tree. And we said, no longer, is this a hanging tree?

 

Daniel King(32:12):

Now this is going to be a place of hope. And it had such a tremendous response there that we, we heard a year later, a year after our mission trip that a year later, not a single person in that entire community had committed suicide. And that’s the power of the gospel. The gospel can change people’s lives. Even people that are in difficult circumstances that are depression attacked by the spirit of suicide, Jesus can set them free. The Bible says he whom the son sets free is free indeed. And he can set you free from the spirit of suicide. So, so if you were, we were with a group of native Americans today, what message would you give to them?

 

Robbie Leaf (33:02):

That the same Jesus Christ that changed my life. That turned me from an atheist, a person that hated God considered that he was a white God and white P and I, my hatred of white people, if he can change my life, completely transform my thinking my life from depression, from suicidal thoughts, to joy, to peace, to loving my brothers and sisters, no matter what race they are, he can do the same thing for them to exactly even, even greater, greater things than what I’m, what I’ve been able to do. And he’s 24 years. So that’s what I would say. That he’s the same Jesus. The Bible says Jesus Christ at the same yesterday, today and forever. The same Jesus Christ Rose from the dead 2000 years ago is the same Jesus Christ. I can come in and change your life and transform every single aspect of your life. Mine, no matter what it may be. Even this area or life, what he’s done in my life, he can do the same thing in their lives. That would be my message.

 

Daniel King(34:07):

Wow. That’s tremendous. Robbie mad dog leave. Thank you so much for being on the podcast today. I appreciate it. You are a tremendous evangelist and God is going to use you to reach many people for his kingdom. I’m very honored to have you. God bless you.

 

Robbie Leaf (34:26):

Thank you for having me, dr. King I’m I’m I’m. I’m just, I’m just thankful for you to have me on this podcast. Thank you so much.

 

Daniel King(34:33):

Absolutely. And remember everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

 

Description: Joe Franklin grew up as a pastor’s kid serving his father Rickey Franklin, the pastor of New Day Church in South Lake, Texas. But from the age of five he knew he was called to be an evangelist. For three years, he became a youth pastor for his father’s church, but now he is launching out into full-time evangelism. On today’s Podcast, Daniel King, the Evangelism Coach, interviews him about his decision to become an evangelist and about an evangelistic outreach he is doing today.

Show Notes:  

Joe Franklin was a pastor’s kid as he grew up but his passion was always for evangelism. Now after attending the Christ for All Nations Evangelism Bootcamp, he is transitioning to becoming a full-time evangelist.

In today’s podcast, he shares about how he has been organizing evangelistic outreaches in several American towns including: Wincheter, Tennessee; Nashville, Tennessee; and Dallas, Texas.

 Transcription 

Daniel King (00:01):

I’m evangelist Daniel King. And my favorite verse in the whole Bible is everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. I’m with my friend, Joe Franklin. And he is excited about evangelism, Joe, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast.

 

Joe Franklin (00:18):

Yeah. Thanks so much for having me, dr. King. It’s an honor.

 

Daniel King (00:21):

Now you’re here at new day church in South Lake, Texas. Your father’s the pastor here. His name is Ricky, Ricky Franklin. And tell me a little bit about how you grew up as a pastor’s kid.

 

Joe Franklin (00:39):

Yeah, so I grew up with, I’ve not eight brothers and sisters, six brothers, three sisters. And so I grew up in a big family and with a pastor’s kid, my parents always invited us into ministry. So if a candidate share my testimony real quick, we actually went to our revival meeting and I saw this vision of myself riding into heaven on my parents’ back. And they were on roller skates and they’re riding into the pearly Gates. And as they go in, I get pushed back off their back. And I hear Jesus’s voice say, I want to know you for you. I want to have my own personal relationship with you. I grew up learning a lot about God when I was five years old, I told the Sunday school teacher, you’re not telling the story, right. It goes like this. And I got up there and taught the class. So I knew about God, but it wasn’t until I was 13 that I really knew. God is a personal Lord and savior and it changed my life forever.

 

Daniel King (01:31):

And so that vision was an encounter with God. And did you ever resent being a pastor’s kid? I didn’t. I loved it. Did you ever have a time of rebellion or running away from God?

 

Joe Franklin (01:43):

No, not really. No. No.

 

Daniel King (01:47):

Really. I was actually raised by parents who were Christians and they were missionaries in Mexico. And so to be part of our family was to be part of the ministry. I’m a big believer that God does not just call individuals. He calls families. He’s a generational God. He’s the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And so he’s the God of Ricky Franklin and Joe Franklin. And you’re not married yet. You don’t have any kids yet? Not yet. So no kids yet, but someday you’ll have kids and the anointing increases from generation to generation. And so you’ve, you’ve been involved in ministry growing up here at the church, but now you feel called to be an evangelist. You, you, you actually were youth pastor here at the church for how long were you? The youth pastor? I was youth pastor here for three years. Okay. And then now you, you feel called to be an evangelist. Tell me how did that happen? How did you know that you were called to be an evangelist? When I was

 

Joe Franklin (02:44):

Five years old, me and my four siblings are sitting in the van and the, the sky prophet from New Zealand to just spoken at the youth group. My dad is the youth pastor at the time and he came over to the van and he just began to prophesize over each one of us. And when he got me, he just said, I see the nations coming to you. I see you going all over the world and preaching the gospel of Jesus and bringing millions of people to Jesus. And just prophesied that over me, this calling of evangelists on my life. And ever since then, I’ve always been drawn to people and drawn people just come to me and they tell me their life story. And I’m able to just share Jesus with them and just have a heart to see people come to know Jesus.

 

Daniel King (03:25):

How old were you when that man gave the prophecy? I was just five years old. Wow. That is very similar to my story because when I was five years old, someone prophesied that I was called to be an evangelist. So my father pastored a little tiny church in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. It was just a very small, like 12 people in the church. And one day he invited a prophetess to come. And so God woke her up the night before and said tomorrow morning in church, there will be someone wearing a blue shirt in your, the prophecy that the person wearing the blue shirt is called to be an evangelist. So she came looking for whoever had a blue shirt, no one was wearing a blue shirt. So she preached for a while, hoping someone would come in, but no one came in late. And then she remembered that all the kids workers were downstairs.

 

Daniel King (04:07):

So she turned to my dad and said, could you please bring all the kids workers? God has given me a word for someone. So they all come up and none of them are wearing a blue shirt, but there’s a long line of kids. And at the end of the line was this cute little, five year old boy wearing a blue shirt. And she said, God, is this the one that God said? Yes. And so she prophesied over me that Dan says you are called to be an evangelist and go to the nations to preach the gospel. And so from one five-year-old evangelist to another, gimme five. That’s amazing. And I didn’t waste any time. I preached my first sermon when I was six years old, come on and we still have the cassette tape from it. My parents do. And I sound like an evangelist on that cassette tape. One of the things I say is if you are saved, stay saved. If you’re not saved, you better get saved. So, so when you were growing up, that’s awesome. Did you look at books of evangelists and stories of evangelists? Tell me about how you fed that, that passion for evangelism.

 

Joe Franklin (05:04):

Yeah. Growing up, that’s funny. My extra, my first sermon was people get ready. Jesus is coming.

 

Daniel King (05:09):

That’s a good sermon. How old were you when you were like five years old? Five years old? Yes. All right. So, and as far as books

 

Joe Franklin (05:17):

We read my parents read to us every night. And so they read to us the heavenly man by brother Yan, they’d read to us Heidi Baker’s books on unconditional love. They read to us these old missionary stories and these old evangelists going across the world and preaching the gospel. And so, and grow. I grew up hearing about Reinhard bunkie. I actually got to meet Reinhard Bonnke he, when I was 10 years old and he just inspired me, so, so much to go after it and to preach the gospel everywhere and to believe God for big, big things. So who would you,

 

Daniel King (05:46):

He says your favorite evangelist. It’s gotta be Reinhardt. It’s gotta be Reinhard amen. He’s he’s an amazing man of God is led over 80,000, 80 million people to Christ in his lifetime. What a tremendous achievement. And so that’s actually where you and I met at the Christ for all nations evangelism bootcamp, which is being hosted by Daniel Kolenda, who is a Reinhardt Bunky successor. And so you were a student there and I was one of the instructors to tell me some of the things that you learned in school. And did you learn anything in my class?

 

Joe Franklin (06:24):

The other guy, amazing things from dr. King. I think my favorite thing where the five smooth stones, right? The for the sermon, a story, a solicitation, a scripture a good structure in it. And the last one is, is really important and I’ve forgotten it.

 

Daniel King (06:42):

Those are actually Daniel Kolenda. And so he told me to preach it. He gave it to me and then he says like, this is the structure I want you to follow. So I’ll give him credit. But

 

Joe Franklin (06:52):

The other one, it was good from you. Dr. King was, I told this chicken story, dr. King tells this amazing story and he puts his whole heart and soul into it. And I learned how to tell a good story and put your whole heart and soul to it. And I’ve actually told that same story and fallen on the ground just like you did in class.

 

Daniel King (07:08):

So, so can you show our audience how I did it in class? Yeah.

 

Joe Franklin (07:11):

So in class he gets up and he tells the story of the chicken and this chicken dies and he goes around the room and he goes, and he falls over completely on the ground and make the best chicken noise. We heard all for the whole six months of bootcamp.

 

Daniel King (07:28):

That’s awesome. Okay. So since you graduated so much from bootcamp, you were launched out into evangelism and now you’re going to be a full time evangelist. Yes, sir. And you’ve already been starting to do outreaches here in the United States. And so you’ve done an outreach in Winchester, Tennessee in Nashville, Tennessee, and then in Dallas, Texas, it tell me about those outreaches in who participated and how did those come together?

 

Joe Franklin (08:00):

Yeah, so we just had a heart, like just feeling the Lord, drawing us a couple of different people to do something while we were here in the United States, our trip to Africa got pushed back. And so he said, let’s, let’s do something for God right here. The harvest is ripe right here in America. So let’s see what God will do right here. And so we went to one student, Eric dykes, his hometown and in Winchester, Tennessee, and we saw 30 people give their lives to Jesus. We saw a youth group of we saw a couple of youth groups come together and there was about 75 youth there on Wednesday night. All of them left, healed, filled with the Holy spirit and saved. And so that was awesome right there. We got to see God break off depression off of people. Eric’s cousin got radically saved and set free of a lot of demons and was on dope 20 minutes before one of the services and came and got delivered of those demons. And then didn’t have any detox symptoms at all, all week long. I’m sure that he can come on and tell that story,

 

Daniel King (09:02):

But yeah, we’ll definitely listen to his story. Now, tonight, we are here in South Lake, Texas at your home church where your father pastors and we’re, you’re doing an outreach. Tell me about the outreach. How have you organized it? What’s going to happen tonight and what are you expecting God to do?

 

Joe Franklin (09:23):

Yeah, we, so we started organizing it by calling my dad, passed tricky and getting him to get on the phone and to call some other local pastors and just create a little bit of a buzz and to say, Hey, we’re going to do this. And we’re going to do something in the midst of a pandemic. We’re believing God that souls are going to be saved. Lives are going to be changed. People are going to get healed. People are going to get set free. And this week so far, we’ve seen over six people give their lives to Jesus. Hallelujah. Wow. That’s amazing. That’s great malls and all over. Yeah, it’s been incredible. And tonight we just organized the event. We got these bounce houses from from our church organization has these bounce houses at the ready and available for churches. And so we were able to get those and rent those out. We called the food truck and got a food truck out here. And then we just said, let’s just believe God for miracles. Believe God for salvation. And so we went around and we invited the public and went door to door.

 

Daniel King (10:16):

How did you get them to go? You were going through the neighborhoods door to door, putting flyers out, inviting people to come. Yes.

 

Joe Franklin (10:24):

Yes, exactly. And we made an event on Facebook and asked them to come on Facebook and just had all of our church people share it with all their friends and say, please share, share, share, invite your friends via Facebook, and then hand out flyers and personal inventory.

 

Daniel King (10:40):

Before we started this podcast, I noticed that out there, there are already kids that are in the bounce houses there. They’re bouncing there. They’re having fun. You’ve got the food truck. People are eating food. I saw you had a little platform set up with, with some chairs. And so we’re going to have a time of ministry to people tonight. And how many people do you think might come

 

Joe Franklin (11:03):

Even God for a hundred people. If we had a hundred people, it’d be just absolutely amazing and would just blow, blow me away.

 

Daniel King (11:10):

I think that’s tremendous what a tremendous vision, because you know, a lot of people think about doing crusades over in Africa or in Asia. You see thousands of people that come, but you know, we also need to reach people right here in our backyard right here in America. And so for a local church to do an outreach, I think every church should do at least four or five major outreaches a year. At least every quarter, they should be out there in the neighborhood, inviting people to come doing an outreach. And that’s the way that the church grows is if you’re out there telling people about Jesus. And so tell me some about how how does the gift of the evangelist function in a local church setting? So, so obviously you’ve been here, you’ve been serving your father and his vision. You have this calling as an evangelist. And so how do you function as of in advance Solice but in an American local church setting? Yeah,

 

Joe Franklin (12:13):

I think for me the biggest thing is bringing that faith to the equation, the faith to believe God for big things. The pastor’s wife, my mom last night said, this is the most exciting thing we’ve done in two years. Wow. She said, this is so exciting. She said, I thank you so much for coming. Thank you so much for bringing some friends with you that would say, Hey, we believe God that he can do mighty things, even in the midst of everything that’s going on in this nation. And so I think just bringing that faith to believe God, that God can break things open and that the gospel is powerful and still effective today. And that the gospel still works.

 

Daniel King (12:52):

And so as evangelists, we are like fishermen. Yes. And we’re looking for the right bait to catch people for Jesus. And just a little bit ago, you showed me some costumes that you guys made as, as bait because kids like costumes. Tell me about the costumes that the church made. Yeah.

 

Joe Franklin (13:11):

Yeah. So the church does a vacation Bible school every year and they made the costumes for that. And they wrote scripts that just teach kids about the Bible and teach kids about God using these characters like monsters, inc. Can we say that again?

 

Daniel King (13:24):

Yeah. Go, go for it. So, so you did, you did monster

 

Joe Franklin (13:27):

Zinc Madagascar. We did. 

 

Daniel King (13:30):

I won’t tell gloomy Disney, if you don’t despicable me.

 

Joe Franklin (13:35):

And we use all those characters to tell the story of Jesus. It just in creative ways. And actually the lion from Madagascar is actually at home in Mexico right now helping a missionary there to preach the gospel.

 

Daniel King (13:48):

Wow. That’s tremendous. And so you’re using different ways to attract the kids to come and then to be able to share with them about Jesus. Wow. What a tremendous blessing today.

 

Joe Franklin (14:00):

Yeah. We went around with a big minion costume and people were running. People were running to us. Usually we were running out to the people, you know, but the people were running to us and we got to share the gospel with them through that minion being out there as well.

 

Daniel King (14:12):

Awesome. And so you feel called to be a full time evangelist. So you want to do crusades. Tell me what happens next. Where are you going to go and start preaching to big crowds of people? Yeah.

 

Joe Franklin (14:23):

So I’m going to Southeast Asia going to Pakistan and we’re going to do a crusade there and October, and it’s going to be incredible. And then believing God to do one in a crusade in Burkina Faso as well, and also in India. And so just believing God for mighty things next year is going to be amazing. We’re also going to do a crusade in Mexico and then maybe do a couple outreaches at home in Dearborn,

 

Daniel King (14:47):

In Baltimore as well. So you’re doing events here in the States and then also going overseas. Wow, sir, you’re going to see such tremendous fruit. I’m so honored that you were one of my students and I’m so proud of you because you didn’t just listen in the classroom. You’re putting it to work. You’re already leading people to Jesus and seeing fruit from that. And I know that all the angels in heaven are rejoicing for all the people that are getting saved. So I I’m, I’m proud of you. I’m amazed, Joe. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. It’s great to have you on today. Thank you, dr. King, bless you.