Nick Hurst is a young evangelist who is on the brink of doing big things for God. He was one of the Pulse 100 evangelists who were trained by Evangelist Nick Hall. Over 1.48 million people have already subscribed to Chelsea and Nick’s YouTube channel and today he gives some advice to evangelists who want to be used by God on social media.
Follow Nick Hurst on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialnickh/?hl=en
Check out Nick and Chelsea’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ChelseaandNick
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus Today. I have a very special guest with me, Nick Hurst. Thank you for joining me on the Evangelism Podcast,
Evangelist Nick Hurst (00:11):
Man. Honored to be with you.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:13):
We are in Kenya, and we are involved in a gospel festival here with Love Kenya. It’s organized by the global evangelist or global network of evangelists, a ministry under Luis Palau Ministries. And you came here as one of the guest evangelists, and I’m also here participating in the event. And so it’s been so good to get to know
Evangelist Nick Hurst (00:42):
You. Yeah, man. Likewise, just hearing your story, you know, I’ve looked up to your ministry for a long time, but seeing you in the flesh and hearing details and just what God sent in your life and through your ministry, and the lessons learned along the way, I mean, it’s been really insightful for me as a young guy, you know, just kind of working my way into, you know, the, the festivals a bit more and just hearing different perspectives on it has been really, really valuable. So I appreciate you, appreciate your ministry and appreciate this podcast and how it helps, you know, other evangelists too.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:11):
Yeah, absolutely. Now you say you’re young. How old are
Evangelist Nick Hurst (01:14):
You right now? I’m 25.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:16):
- So you’re just launching out in the evangelistic calling that God has on your life. How did you know that you were called to be an evangelist?
Evangelist Nick Hurst (01:26):
Hmm. That’s such a good question. Yeah. You know, I was 14 years old when I gave my life to Jesus. I was at a summer camp in boiling Springs in North Carolina, and I gave my life to Jesus. But that same night, I sensed that God was calling me to the ministry. Now, in my context where I come from, I thought that I was going to take over the family farm with my brother, and that we were going to be co-owners. And that was really the future that I saw for myself. And then God just really got a hold of my heart, and Jesus really became the biggest part of my story, became the biggest part of my life. He became the central focus of everything and really changed my life in a moment. And I knew that God was calling me to ministry. Now, the tougher part of that story is I didn’t know what part of ministry.
(02:13):
I didn’t know if I was called to be a pastor. I didn’t know if I was called to be a teacher. I didn’t know if I was called to be in worship ministry. I didn’t know if I was called to be an evangelism. I, I, I really didn’t know. So I prayed for six months after I gave my life to Jesus, knowing that I was called to ministry, but seeking an answer from God as to where in ministry I was supposed to be, where he had gifted me and where he was calling me. And so I prayed for six months and in early 2013, so the following year, so summer of 12, I give my life to Jesus. And early the next year in 2013, I I attend an event in Jacksonville, Florida. I’m from the north north central region of the state of Florida.
(02:58):
And I go to event and I hear this evangelist, remarkable evangelist, great friend to you and I both named Nick Hall. And Nick is at this event, and he is preaching. And all of a sudden I just sense the room go quiet. And I thought it was really awkward because I thought, you know, the tech guy’s gonna run out on the stage, you know, give Nick a new mic so that he can keep preaching. But that’s not what happened. And in fact, the whole time that the room is silent, I see my friends who are sitting next to me, who came with me to the event writing and taking notes in this arena, looking down at their notes, looking up at Nick, looking down at their notes and, and writing a bit more. And that’s when I realized that I was the only one who couldn’t hear Nick.
(03:41):
And in that moment of stillness, it was like the Lord placed a a moment of stillness on me and for me, and I just sense God, say I want you to go and preach the gospel, whether that’s big settings, small settings, anywhere in between to the one or to the a hundred thousand doesn’t really matter. But the, the important thing that I took away from that night was, Nick, I want you to preach the gospel to the lost, to those who don’t know me. And so I began to tell pastors, friends, leaders in my life at that point that I sensed God wanting me to go and share the gospel with the lost. And they began to affirm the call as an evangelist. Now, I had never heard that word. I didn’t even know what the word meant. And I was like, an, an evangel, what is an evangelist?
(04:29):
And then that, that’s when I finally understood, like, you know, they take me to Ephesians and they show me that when, you know, God has given different ministries to different ones, and one is evangelism, meaning that we take the gospel to the ends of the earth to the lost. And that day I realized, and it was affirmed and very, very clear to me that to be an evangelist was what God was calling me to do. It’s looked a lot of different ways over the years. It’s looked digital, it’s looked in person, it’s looked festival, it’s looked conferences, churches and then one-to-one peer-to-peer even as well. But that’s what the early days of, of God calling me to be an evangelist looked like.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:06):
Now you just recently finished up a program mm-hmm. <Affirmative> with Nick Hall. You were part of the Pulse 100 where he gathered a hundred people who had a calling for evangelism. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. What was that like? And what’d you learn?
Evangelist Nick Hurst (05:18):
That was incredible. You know, that was really incredible to learn from someone who, you know, has really traveled the world and in such an extensive way, like Nick has. And I have so much respect for Nick. I’m fortunate to call him friend, as are you. And you know, Nick’s a Nick’s an incredible man. He’s an incredible leader. He’s a faithful husband and and father to his children, and a great father of Jesus. So I have a immense respect for Nick. Being a part of Nick or being a part of Pulse 100 Rather, was truly a privilege because I think that, you know, I took away so much learning how much my story matters in the context of person to person, evangelism and, and even presentation proclamation, evangelism. People want to relate to a story. They want to see that you’re a real person, that it hasn’t always been rosy and, you know, and wonderful for you in every regard.
(06:14):
And so that was one big takeaway that I learned at Pulse 100. The, the other really big thing when people ask about my experience and time in Pulse 100 that I just always refer to, is, I think it just reaffirmed the importance of relationship. And I think it reaffirmed the importance of being in collaboration with other people who are like-minded as you, and want to see the same gospel of Jesus Christ, go into the world, reach every soul, and by God’s grace, save every soul, which it absolutely has the power to do. And so you know, I was just re-inspired, reinvigorated I think equipped in many ways. And then just the relationships that come with something like that was just so, so incredible. I call many of the peers that I went through Pulse 100 with great friends today, and that’s a real joy and privilege to, to do ministry in partnership and in collaboration with other people.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:10):
Now, you’ve developed relationships with several different organizations and great evangelists. What have you learned from some different evangelists that you’ve been able to spend time with?
Evangelist Nick Hurst (07:23):
Yeah, great question. I consider it the, the absolute grace of God to have built relationships with, you know, the Greg Laurie team and guys like Clayton King and the Billy Graham team and Louis Lau team, and obviously Nick and, you know, men like yourself as well. And that’s not to name drop. I mean, that’s just the, the grace of God and just the kindness of him. And I, I, I honestly joke a lot of times with people, and I’ll say that God had to give me the advice from all of those people because he knows that without them, there’s no way that I would be able to ever do it. So very fortunate for their input in my life. You know, one of the big threads that comes up the most when I think about what are the big ticket items that I’ve just learned from all of these great men and leaders, and I think the biggest one is that the personal life and the integrity and the character by which you walk in when no one’s looking is the biggest thing that matters more than anything.
(08:22):
God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. If I’m not living a life in private that I project in public, then God is not going to favor that. So that I think is one of the biggest things. And a lot of times when people are listening to this podcast, even I think that they will think, yeah, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that. But like, what are the practicals, Nick? And there are many practicals, but I think if we skip past the personal life, and if we skip past building our character and building our integrity and building our on the right focus and in the right way, then everything else is, is meaningless. I can have all the contacts, I can have all the practicals, I can have the biggest ministry budget, but if that house is built on the wrong foundation, you can be assured it’s going to fall.
(09:11):
So that’s the biggest thing that I, I would just say on the front end of things. The other things that I, I think are really relevant as far as practicals are taking the time to develop as a communicator and become dynamic. Learn how to speak with one person, learn how to speak in front of many people, learn how to become a great storyteller. This is something I love about you, Daniel, is that I, I, you know, I was telling you this last night in private too, but I just think that you are one of the master storytellers of our day, and that’s something that I look to your ministry for inspiration in. And so becoming a dynamic communicator is a really, really important thing. Knowing what to share, when to share, having a great knowledge of the scriptures is very, very important. And not only a knowledge of the scriptures, but a heart understanding and allowing God to change you and mold you as you minister and as you pour out.
(10:01):
Many times as evangelists, we’re so enamored by how this is going to change the lives of other people that we rarely ever sit and reflect on how God is working and ministering in us through the work that we get to do for his kingdom and with him in partnership. So those are just a couple of the really big ones that come to mind quickly. The last one that I’ll share is how important it is to leverage the opportunities that are right in front of us for the sake of the gospel. Everyone in this modern day and age where we’re all connected has some ability, has some has some fortitude to actually go forth and share the gospel in some way, whether it’s peer to peer, personal, small group, digital however that looks most natural and comfortable for each and every person. But we need to be taking the opportunities that God is putting in front of us and maximizing those to the fullest extent. That’s something that Billy Graham did, who you and I both look up to a lot. He would take every opportunity that was at his disposal, whether it was radio, whether it was newspapers or magazines or tv, anything like that. He would leverage every opportunity to bring the gospel to the front of humanity. And I think that we would be probably wise to do the same.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:20):
This is your first time preaching in Africa, and last night you had the opportunity to preach at a festival mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. What was that like doing that in that context for the first time?
Evangelist Nick Hurst (11:32):
Yeah, that was such a full circle moment for me in many ways. As a young man sensing this call to evangelism, I’m sure this is similar for you too. God begins giving you these dreams. He begins giving you these visions of what a ministry could look like one day, and, and believing for that and praying for that, and leaning into that and toiling. And, you know, working in partnership with God over all these years and just slowly developing those relationships is just such a, a valuable thing. But to see it come to pass and to, to see God deliver on what he promised, you know, to me as a young man, I think of, you know, 14, 15, 16 years old, just having these visions and dreams of what God may want to do with my life and, and, and seeing that happen in its context was just a really full circle moment for me.
(12:27):
And, and I just sense the kindness of God and his face turned towards me in that moment last night. It was a, it was a very beautiful thing and a real honor and a real privilege to get to share the stage with men like you and and some other friends that we have here with us. And more than anything, it’s, you know, not about me. It’s not about the evangelists. It’s not about any of that. It’s not about you or I, or, or even the program that we’re doing. It’s about the message of Jesus Christ. And so to be able to share his message with a generation and with a city, I just consider it a joy. And and I’m very humbled that God would use someone like me to, to, to do that. I, I don’t deserve it. I don’t earn it. I’m not good enough in any kind of way or any kind of facet, but, but he is, and he’s faithful to his promise, to to, to save people. And so he’s calling people to himself. He’s calling cities to himself, nations to himself, and a world to himself. And I believe that we’re just on the front end of it
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:28):
Now. You are right now laying the foundation for the ministry that God has called you to, and you’re going through a strategic planning process. Just thinking through how you’re going to communicate with our generation mm-hmm. <Affirmative> and what God has called you to do. What do you see in the future for what God has called you to do?
Evangelist Nick Hurst (13:50):
Yes. I do personally, I do not think that larger evangelistic events have completely subsided or gone away. I know that there’s a sector of people who really don’t believe in the larger event anymore. And I just think that’s really unfortunate. ’cause I believe that we have a big God, and I believe that he created a big world, and I believe that he created a big message in the gospel. And I believe that big events are awesome. We even see it in the Book of Acts. I mean, considering the amount of people that would’ve attended in acts at, at this day of Pentecost scene that we really see set. And to see this large crowd just gather together, enamored by this message that’s being shared I see that picture still working and still being leveraged and still and, and God continuing to be faithful to it in the days ahead.
(14:39):
I believe that God honors big vision. I believe that God honors big dreams. I believe that he smiles when we believe that he can do big things. And so I don’t see that going anywhere. And I would be telling you a fib if I told you that I didn’t believe that the big event, that the larger Evangelistic crusade event doesn’t work anymore. I just don’t believe that to be true. I believe they still work. I believe that God still has a unique position in place for them. And so over the next few years, I can’t give you a real 10 year, 20 year strategy because it never looks like what you think it will. But over the next five years, what we want to begin to do as a ministry is really break into the university sector. And we want to partner with on-campus ministries in the universities that are maybe collaborating in some sense, but they’re not really coming together for a large evangelistic outreach mission to reach their school.
(15:36):
I personally would love to see state schools, private schools, and every school in between come together for the sake of the gospel, every on-campus ministry from every sector and denomination of the faith to really to, to, to come together for a night of worship or a series of nights of worship, see the gospel proclaimed, have a great evening, and then call the loss to be saved. And then see them funnel back into these on-campus ministries and the churches that they’re partnered with for follow up and further discipleship and, and obviously us doing our part to stay connected with them, bolster them, uplift them, encourage them in any kind of way that we can, and remain in friendship, remain in partnership, and remain in ministry together in the days ahead. So really into that university sector. In the coming days, I just don’t believe that there is hardly a greater place on earth where we see a young lost generation, so concentrated, so gathered in the same place, and the opportunity is ripe to see a harvest for Christ in universities today. I truly believe that
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:41):
Now you’ve been blessed to grow a significant YouTube following and you even coach people on how to be effective at using YouTube. So what advice would you give to listeners who want to use YouTube to tell people about Jesus?
Evangelist Nick Hurst (17:02):
Great question. First thing I think I would say is that it is hard and that it takes time. Many of the creators I talk to get very discouraged early on because they’re not growing. They’re subscribers all that fast. They’re not growing, they’re video views all that fast. But in reality, it’s just like anything else. If a young baseball player steps onto an M l B field, they’re going to be severely outshined. And the reality is that it takes time to develop and to get good at something. Your skill in communicating the gospel is like very few on earth. I mean, you are a true master at, at, at sharing the gospel in every context. And I highly doubt that you just came out of the gate as a young evangelist with such a skill, with such a variety, with being so dynamic. And certainly God has gifted you, but it takes time to hone that craft.
(18:01):
It takes time to develop and to move and begin a really gaining skill. And YouTube is no exception. It takes time to develop the muscle for YouTube. It takes time to develop the muscle for social media. But as we are faithful to that, as we identify who we want to talk to, and, and the YouTube sector, we call that our target audience. As we develop our channel focus, meaning, you know, are we gonna have a channel around tech cooking vlogging, or are we gonna have evangelistic missional content on our channel? That’s the, if that’s the channel focus, then our target audience obviously needs to be the lost. And so we need to be positioning ourself not from a preaching, not from a, here’s my message. Very rarely does a lost person go on YouTube and type in a message about how to know Jesus Christ.
(18:50):
Most times a lost person is going to look for how to have hope, how to have peace, how to deal with the anxiety that I feel. And Billy Graham was a real master at this. His crusades would be censored around how, how to have hope in the midst of crisis and things that were pertaining to a broad audience. But it was something that everyone was dealing with, and it was a question everyone was asking. And so I think the more that we can center and position ourselves like that, if we are evangelists and, and begin to grow an audience in that way, that people come to us looking for hope. And the hope message that we have is the gospel. It’s everything. It’s the, it’s the central message of how we have hope now and how, how we have hope for eternity. And I believe that growing is social media audience is not just a numbers game.
(19:43):
I believe it’s a community game. For the longest time, it was, how many followers do you have? How many subscribers do you have engaged? Where the real emphasis now is moving towards a community, fostering a group of people, and, and almost in a sense, creating a family, a family dynamic where everyone is exchanging ideas, everyone is in communication with one another. Everyone is rallying around the same idea in harmony, almost like a big volunteer team. In a sense, that’s kind of the new community dynamic of social media. And I personally, I would much rather have a very highly engaged community of 25, 30, 50,000 people than I would have a large subscriber audience of three, four, 5 million people. Because the reality is we’re gonna get so much more done with those 50,000 who are all in, bought in a hundred percent with you than we are the three, 4 million people who it looks very impressive from a numbers standpoint, but you boil it down and you only see about five, 6,000 people engaged. Engagement is the key ticket item today in social media. And so that’s what I would encourage creators to look for, and that’s how I would encourage them to grow their channels.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:58):
If someone wants to connect with you, find out more about what you’re all about, what is a good way for them to follow your ministry?
Evangelist Nick Hurst (21:06):
Yeah, that’s a, that’s a awesome question. I appreciate you even being willing to tee that up. So my personal best way to connect is honestly over Instagram. I’m official Nick h on all socials. And my wife and I, we have a YouTube channel. You can go and find it. Just type in Chelsea and Nick, it’ll pop right up.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:27):
Now, how many followers do you have on YouTube?
Evangelist Nick Hurst (21:30):
We have a million and a half subscribers on YouTube. That’s
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:33):
Amazing. On YouTube. And, and what does your channel focus on?
Evangelist Nick Hurst (21:37):
Honestly, our channel is not an evangelistic channel. Oddly enough, our channel really focuses on our life and kind of our family dynamic with one another. And the things that we’re learning and the things that God’s teaching us, it’s more of a place for us to take time and, and devote videos to that. More than anything, it just tracks along the way as we grow as a family, as God’s teaching us, as he’s changing us and molding us and some adventures here and there along the way. So that’s the real impetus of our channel, and it’s a real joy to share those things with the world. And I appreciate you even allowing me to be on the podcast today. Yeah. It’s a real honor, real privilege. So I appreciate you and your ministry a lot, Daniel.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:16):
Well, I believe in your ministry. It’s been a pleasure to get to know you this week, and I believe that God’s hand is on you. And in the years to come, God’s gonna give you a great harvest of souls. Mm. I think God’s raising up a new generation of young people who he’s going to, to use to reach millions around the world. And it’s really exciting what God is doing right now. Like, like it’s amazing that someone could start a YouTube channel, even at the age of 25, and, and have an audience that would number in the millions, like technologically that wasn’t possible 50 years ago, but it’s possible now. And so even for young people who are dedicated to serving God and they, they’re, they’re willing to give their all for Jesus, I think God’s looking for people like that and he’s promoting them very quickly. Amen. And so what past generations took 50 years to do, I think your generation is going to see happen in a 32nd TikTok.
Evangelist Nick Hurst (23:16):
Mm-Hmm. Wow.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:17):
So thank you so much for being on the Evangelism podcast. I appreciate
Evangelist Nick Hurst (23:20):
It. Yeah, it was a real privilege. Thank you, Daniel.
