Fire Camp | Christ for All Nations | Gary Smith

Learn more about the CFAN Fire Camps: https://content.cfan.org/firecamp

Transcript: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. Today, I am with Gary Smith. Come on. And we are in Tulsa, Oklahoma with Christ for All Nations. They are doing a Fire Camp here, and it has been just amazing. Tell me what’s going on this week.

Evangelist Gary Smith – CFAN Fire Camp (00:19):
Daniel, first off, thank you so much for allowing me to be here. It’s an honor. What is happening here in Tulsa is next level indescribable, just the presence, the glory of God. So we’re in day five of a six-day evangelism training here, what we call a fire camp. Really just training and equipping people in evangelism, really to just encourage people as everyday believers to share their faith. And what does that look like if you go into the gas station, if you’re at work or wherever you go, just to shine bright for Christ. And so it’s six days of training. So Monday through Saturday from 9:00 AM to about 10 o’clock every day. So really pouring into people, teaching you how to share the gospel, but also then practical things about sonship and identity because Daniel, you know it’s not how well we can preach, but do we finish strong?

(01:12):
Do we really have a personal relationship with Christ, which is paramount? And so we really pour into that. That’s kind of like the first couple days of really going into sonship and identity, hearing the voice of God and also character and leadership because we need to be men and women of character and honor and love and respect for one another. And so these fire camps, we’re going all across America and internationally as well. And so it’s incredible to see what God is doing with fire camps, with Christ for All Nations around the world to really people stepping into their calling. And man, it’s beautiful here because here in Tulsa, we have a major age difference. So we have people in their late 90s or sorry, late 80s and as old as 90 years old. So we have a gentleman here that’s 90 years old. He’s a retired doctor, 90.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:06):
You’re never too old to get fired up about telling people about Jesus. Never too

Evangelist Gary Smith – CFAN Fire Camp (02:09):
Old. Never too old. And that’s what he said. He says, “I want to go out burning on fire for Jesus, a 90 year old.” And then we have people all the way down to the age of 16, I think is the youngest here with her mom. And so it’s just beautiful to see the generations coming together for the sake of the harvest. And I believe that that is a great picture of also family and unity of passing the torch. And that’s what Evangelist Reinhard Bonke did so amazing to Evangelist Daniel Kalinda, passing the torch where this ministry, Daniel, is 50 years. Actually in December will be 51 years of ministry. Now we have seen over, I think it’s over 150 million decisions right now. Multiplying collaboration is a season that we’re in to where we’re doing all of these different trainings, training evangelists and then working together.

(02:56):
And that’s the beautiful part. And so you see Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke passing the torch to Daniel and then Daniel now is imparting into people like myself that he entrusted and said, “Hey, can you help me train up evangelists?” And so that’s what we’re doing around the world, seeing men and women step into the rifle place. It’s incredible season.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:17):
It’s really amazing. Christ for All Nations was the ministry founded by Reinhard Bonke and now led by evangelist Daniel Colindo. And Christ for All Nations has an amazing track record of leading people to Jesus. Like you said, over a hundred million people 115 million people that they have led to Jesus around the world. And now the mandate is to train up a new generation of evangelists. And so what kind of people are coming to these fire camps and what are they getting out of it?

Evangelist Gary Smith – CFAN Fire Camp (03:50):
Oh yeah, that’s a great question. The kind of people who are coming are amazing men and women of God and all kinds of different ages as I just shared. 90 years old is the oldest now and the youngest actually is 12. A 12 year old kid came, he was from the panhandle of Florida area, around Destin. And he came with his mom. He came to the one in Orlando. It was incredible, Daniel. This kid just loves Jesus and he was able to preach on a bus in Orlando, Florida. And somebody gave, two people actually gave their life to the Lord from Ireland. These people from Ireland, Daniel, never heard the gospel.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:27):
Wow.

Evangelist Gary Smith – CFAN Fire Camp (04:28):
They got on the wrong bus. They were like the only ones on the bus. And this little boy, 12 years old, gets up sharing the gospel. A husband and wife gave their life to the Lord. And here’s the beautiful thing. I was able to get them connected to our office in the UK for follow up. And this husband and wife were weeping and crying because never heard the gospel. And then they see a 12 year old willing and having boldness to proclaim the gospel. Ultimately they gave their life to the Lord. It’s incredible. So we’re seeing all kinds of different people, all kinds of different ages, all kinds of different backgrounds. Some people raised in church, some people just give their life to the Lord, many different denominations because again, we are the body of Christ and it’s incredible to see the unity. One of my favorite scriptures is Psalms 133, especially with the context of what we’re doing.

(05:17):
He says that when we come together in unity, that the Lord will command a blessing. And so when we come together in unity, laying aside different things, denominations, theologies or whatever, at the end of the day, for the sake of the harvest, that’s what we’re after. And so we’re just seeing the hand of God bring people together in his unity. And then after these six days of evangelism training, they’re going out and they’re starting doing outreaches. They’re going out telling their family. I mean, don’t you think it’s important for us to shine bright for our family? And so we’re seeing people come out of these fire camps and all of the different trainings, not just going to the multitudes, but also being willing to sit down with their family and share the love of Christ. I really believe that this year, Thanksgiving and Christmas is going to look a lot different.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:04):
Amen. Yeah. So Christ for All Nations has been training evangelists at a variety of different methods. So you have the fire camps and then you have the school of ministry, which I’ve had the privilege of teaching at. The evangelism bootcamp, which I’ve been able to teach each generation that’s come through the evangelism bootcamp. And then also you have the one-to-one training. Tell me about that.

Evangelist Gary Smith – CFAN Fire Camp (06:32):
Yeah. So our one-to-one training is a really cool tool that we just recently launched here. Evangelist Glenda is working on for quite a while actually. But that tool now is for us to go into local churches and it’s a Saturday training. We typically do it on Saturday, six hours. And really it’s very basic of the foundations of sharing your faith. And one of the biggest things that we really want to teach in that one-to-one training, Daniel, is just a simplicity that all of us are called to share the gospel. Sometimes people say, “Wow, I’m not an evangelist. I’m not the one to stand on the street corner and shout, and I’m not the one that’s want to go before the multitudes.” But we all have a sphere of influence. And so we just want to encourage people to say, “Hey, if you’re born again, the spirit of God is upon you and the great commission is for every one of us.” And so that’s the heart of the one-to-one training and for them to go and just sow the seed of the gospel everywhere they go.

(07:30):
And so it’s really been an amazing, effective tool to come in and activate the people, to encourage the people, and pastors are loving it. And so we’re booking it. So if you’re interested in it, reach out to us. We’re ready to come to your church. It’s a free training as well, Daniel. We’re not asking the church for anything and we just want to come and be a blessing because we know as people get excited about Christ and share their faith, the church grows

(07:57):
And people are getting saved and healed and delivered and it’s really, really incredible. So that’s really Daniel’s heart is to be in every church, every denomination, just to partner with them for the sake of the harvest.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:11):
It’s really cool being here in Tulsa because you are holding this at the First Methodist Church in downtown Tulsa, and it’s a beautiful church building historic for our city here. And it’s just so beautiful to see that in this church that has been here for over a hundred years, there are people that are on fire for God and for evangelism.

Evangelist Gary Smith – CFAN Fire Camp (08:35):
So true.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:35):
And I was looking at some of the pictures in the hallway, the history of this church. It was founded because some rowdy cowboys got saved. And that’s the same heart that drives us today that everyone, even rowdy cowboys would find Jesus.

Evangelist Gary Smith – CFAN Fire Camp (08:51):
Amen.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:52):
Yeah. So if someone has a heart, a passion for evangelism, how can they find out more information about how they can get in on one of these trainings or maybe invite the one-to-one training to their church?

Evangelist Gary Smith – CFAN Fire Camp (09:06):
Yeah. So the easiest way would be is to go to the website and that is cfan.org. And then there’s a tab that says training. You click on that and it shows all of the different trainings, like you had mentioned, the one-to-one, the school of ministry, which is a two-year training that we have. Our bootcamp is three months. That’s coming up very soon here in 2027 in January, three months of really just training and equipping gospel crusade preachers and then our fire camps as well. And so there on the website has all of those different trainings, the requirements, what does it look like and that type of thing. And also social media. We have CFAN USA on Facebook and Instagram. We have Evangel Daniel Kalenda social media as well. If you’re not already tapped into Evangel Standard Kalenda’s podcast, I would highly encourage that. He really, really drops some really good content.

(10:04):
It’s incredible. And so yeah, we’re all over social media. If you’re interested in the one-to-one as well, same thing. You can just send us, “Hey, my church would love to have this in our church.” Or if you’re a pastor, please just take and go to that website on the one-to-one training there. There’s a couple little questions that we’ll ask you and then I’ll have our team reach out to the pastors and we will find a date that works best for you and your church and we will come and it’ll be amazing.

(10:33):
Any way that we can partner with you guys, we’re here for you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:36):
That’s awesome. Let’s finish with a testimony. Tell me about what’s been happening here every single night. You have a Jesus party. What’s been going on in the hearts and lives of the people who are attending the fire camp?

Evangelist Gary Smith – CFAN Fire Camp (10:50):
Yeah. Here in Tulsa, like you had said, Daniel, first and foremost, the church is stunning. I mean, just absolutely beautiful. But to see the people’s hearts change and transform day after day after day. And so every night we do what you call a Jesus party. Basically it’s just a revival church service. And just to see them encounter the Lord in such a beautiful way, it’s been incredible. And so even last night, here we are, this Thursday night was last night. We’re recording this on a Friday, but even last night, so they had four days of these Jesus parties, but people are still going deeper in the presence of God, laying all of themselves down and saying, “I don’t want to have any other idols. I don’t want to worship any other God or anything like that. I don’t want anything in front of me, whether it’s social media, whether it’s my family, whether it’s my church, my pastor, my ministry, whatever.” No, Jesus, you are the answer.

(11:51):
You are the way. And I want to sit at your feet. And it was a beautiful moment that swept in last night of just people really encountering the love of Christ and just sitting and resting in his presence. Sometimes, especially as us, Daniel evangelists, we can get so caught up in doing a lot of stuff for God, but sometimes we can even miss the reality of who we’re doing it for.

(12:16):
And it’s imperative that we have the intimacy with Christ. We have fellowship with him and not just preach about him, but to know him, that I know Christ Jesus as my Lord and savior. He is my everything. And that’s what I love about our trainings, fire camps, our one-to-ones, our bootcamps, all of that, is the teaching the reality of the intimacy with Christ because –

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:41):
And then our ministry flows out of that intimacy. It’s

Evangelist Gary Smith – CFAN Fire Camp (12:44):
A byproduct.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:44):
But we have to have the intimacy first.

Evangelist Gary Smith – CFAN Fire Camp (12:46):
Yeah. It’s a byproduct of sonship. When we truly know that we’re accepted and loved by an amazing father, out of that flows the love of Christ. And so ministry or evangelism doesn’t become works. It’s a delight. It’s because I know that I’m loved so much by him and I’m going to love so much that no matter who I come to, they’re going to see the love of Christ. I remember this one time, Evangelist Reiner Bunke was sharing an interview and the lady that was doing the interview said, “Evangelist Reiner Bunke, when I look at you and I look into your eyes, I see Jesus.” And he was a German, so he had an amazing accent, but for the sake of the viewers, I won’t try to replicate that. But he said something that was profound, Daniel. He said, “Yes, that’s because Jesus lives inside of me and sometimes he likes to look out the windows.” And sometimes, Daniel, we don’t need to do anything but to smile or to just look at some people to show people kindness and show them love to initiate.

(13:57):
I love the t-shirts. I love the stickers. I love all of that stuff and I love the proclamation of the gospel,

(14:02):
But sometimes people just need to see that you truly care. And that’s what I love about Christ for all nations. That’s what I love about our teachings here, all of our teachings is the very foundation is intimacy with Christ and sonship. And out of that is the byproduct of love, the fruit of the spirit starts with love. And so if we know that we’re loved, we’ll show love and ultimately it’ll go to the rest of the entire world because the world’s looking for true love and it’s only found in Christ.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:32):
Amen. Well, brother Gary, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism Podcast.

Evangelist Gary Smith – CFAN Fire Camp (14:36):
Thank you so much, Daniel. I appreciate it. God bless you guys.