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

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

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

Transcription:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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