1 877-431-4276Gola Tiruneh | Evangelism in Indonesia
Gola Tiruneh shares his journey from being born in Ethiopia to becoming a Canadian citizen and eventually settling in Indonesia. He discusses how he felt called to do missions work in Indonesia, despite initial hesitation from his family. Gola and his wife Esther have been involved in various ministries in Indonesia, including conducting crusades and reaching out to unreached tribes. They focus on preaching the simple gospel and praying for miracles to happen, in order to bring awareness of the gospel to different areas. Gola also expresses his desire to train local missionaries and encourage local believers to be evangelists. He mentions the challenges of working with Indonesian believers, who may have fear or hesitation when it comes to evangelism.
Learn more about Gola Tiruneh: https://ggni.org/
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, Gola Tiruneh from Indonesia.
(00:13):
Now, you were actually born in Ethiopia.
(00:16):
That’s right.
(00:17):
And then you came to Canada, became a Canadian citizen at a young age, and now you are living in Indonesia. Tell me about that journey. How’d you end up here?
Gola Tiruneh (00:29):
Well, yes. I was born in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. I left there at a young age. My family has always traveled mainly for my father’s work. And so we ended up in India for a couple of years. It was about 10 years old at the time, and soon after, two years after that, my family decided to move to Canada mainly for education. And I just completed grade eight at the time. And I arrived in Montreal, Canada and had to learn French so I can continue with my grade nine. So I did grade nine in French and grade 10, 11, 12 finished in Ontario. So my family is in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. That’s where I spent most of my time. And
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:32):
Let’s talk about Indonesia. How did you end up coming here to the nation of Indonesia?
Gola Tiruneh (01:39):
Well, it started during my high school years. The Lord started speaking to me through many different ways, through people would point me out of a crowd and start to prophesy over me going to these places, preaching to thousands of people. And that used to scare me actually, when I used to get those kind of words. And then the Lord would speak to me through dreams and visions and I would see myself in front of Asians, people doing ministry. And so it was a process for the Lord to kind of help me along. I did have a desire for missions, but at the same time I also had this fear in me of going so far from family. Indonesia is quite far from Canada. It’s literally the other side of the world. So I remember when I made the decision to go to Indonesia, my family was not for it, majority of my family. And even I was a little bit not sure what was going to happen. I wanted to go to Ethiopia to do missions, but I ended up to Indonesia in 2004 through a Bible school that I went to in Canada, in St. Catherine’s area near Niagara Falls. And ended up here in October, 2004, about 20 years ago now. And within a few months I loved Indonesia. It’s just everything turned out to be totally different than what it was in my mind and ended up staying here and doing.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:27):
Now you met your wife Esther, here in Indonesia. She’s Indonesia. And how long have you been married now? We’ve
Gola Tiruneh (03:34):
Been married for 14 years.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:36):
And your son Benjamin? Yes. Is 10 years old. Is 10
Gola Tiruneh (03:40):
Years old.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:40):
And so how did God bring you and your wife Esther together?
Gola Tiruneh (03:44):
Well, we met in a church, the church that my team was working with when we first came to Indonesia. And she was also involved in her church. She was a full-time ministry in the church. And so we always bumped to each other. And she was also one of the translators for guests that come to speak. So she translated for me a couple of times and that’s how we met. And six years later we got married.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:17):
And tell me a little bit about your wife’s journey. How did she become a believer?
Gola Tiruneh (04:21):
Well, my wife Esther is from a Buddhist background, and she was saved during the Christmas service in her church. Somebody invited her and it was a long process for her also, but she made a decision to be a believer in her teams also during her teams. And then she joined the church. She’s been working in our church since, and that’s what we ended up meeting.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:54):
Indonesia is a very unique nation, 270 million people. It’s the fourth largest nation in the world by population, and it’s the largest Muslim majority nation on earth, even bigger than Pakistan or Saudi Arabia. When people think of Muslim nations, they often think of that part of the world, but Indonesia actually has more Muslims than any other nation. And it’s a nation of islands over 17,000 different islands. That’s right. And so your ministry here, you’ve gone to many different islands to talk about
Gola Tiruneh (05:34):
Jesus. Yes. So we do a few things here in Indonesia. We do crusades, we call ’em festivals, festival of love. And we’ve done those different parts of Indonesia. They’re set up to reach people outside the church in a very friendly way. And we just focus on preaching the gospel very simple and pray for the sick, expect miracles to happen in these events. We have seen wonderful things that God has done, miracles such as deaf ears opening and people that couldn’t walk and being able to walk. And that brings a great awareness of the gospel in an area. And we have had Christians and non-Christians come into our events and to hear the gospel and to experience miracles. So a lot of what I’ve been doing is sowing seeds into areas, unreached areas. I love to go to unreached tribes. That’s another thing that we are doing in Indonesia currently, actually, we’re in the process of researching about 40 unreached tribes. And we are also formulating a strategy through partners to friends here and also overseas to reach these tribes. And so I spend a lot of my time in doing these crusades in villages at small towns and also working with these tribes. We also have a discipleship ministry that we are doing on a weekly basis in our hometown in Sumatra. And also through our pastor seminars, we encourage local believers to go out and evangelize.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:40):
And so this is real cutting edge ministry because you’re going into tribes that may have zero believers in the entire tribe. Exactly. And you are getting to know them, asking questions. It’s actually very valuable research so that people can know where the most need is. Right.
Gola Tiruneh (08:05):
So that’s my hope, number one, to create an awareness about these tribes. Most of them are very small, maybe like a couple of thousand people in a few villages. So they’re kind of hard to reach. Sometimes it takes days and you have to get on a boat and then get on a motorcycle, go trek into the jungle. But it’s the work that needs to be done. And my heart is eventually to train a local missionaries that will go there and be a witness to them in some form. And we are in the process of doing that. And also we hope it will create an awareness so that maybe there will be other people that will send missionaries there eventually, and so that the gospel can reach to each and every person.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:09):
Now in the Bible it says that every tribe and language, every ethnic group will be represented before the throne room in heaven. And so that’s why this type of ministry is so important because if they’re going to be in heaven, they need to hear the gospel. And if we don’t know who has heard the gospel, who hasn’t heard the gospel, we need to ask questions to find out who are the people that we’re missing that we want to take to heaven with us.
Gola Tiruneh (09:44):
That’s true, that’s true. And sometimes you got to go there to see what’s happening, especially these areas where there’s no believers, there’s no churches. Somebody needs to be there and live among the people and have some kind of a gospel representation. You may not be able to preach the gospel right away, but just having someone there will create opportunities for the gospel to be heard of. And my heart is, especially these tribes that are completely a hundred percent nonbelievers, at least we’ll get one or two families and then it will start to kind of snowball from there. And the best thing I have found in my experiences, Indonesians, reaching Indonesians is way more effective than us coming, for example, me coming from Canada. And they know the culture and they also know how to talk to these people. And that’s my heart right now is to raise local people and to motivate local believers to be missionaries.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:09):
And so one of your desires is even to start a training school That’s right. For people that would from Indonesia come to be trained in how to reach different people groups.
Gola Tiruneh (11:20):
Exactly. Yeah. Well, in Indonesia, the work of the evangelist and the missionaries kind of always the last thing on people’s thoughts. Many believers that want to go into ministry want to be pastors, which is great, but it’s mostly done in Christian areas. So there’s a lot of church planting happening, but in Christian areas, and it’s kind of hard for missionaries to go to these places because number one, they don’t know what to do
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:58):
And they stick out.
Gola Tiruneh (11:59):
They stick out. There’s also, of course, the financial thing. So we are trying encourage and motivate people to work in these kind of remote areas. And by God’s grace, we are finding people that have a heart for that. And we are already starting to partner with local people to reach some of these tribes. I’m visiting now.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:25):
Yeah, last night we were eating dinner with a local evangelists, and there was one woman there who said she just came back from a village. She lived there for three days and 35 people. She was having Bible studies with them and very primitive. Then she’s sleeping on the floor and no electricity, no plumbing. So it’s difficult ministry, but it’s extremely valuable
Gola Tiruneh (12:51):
Very much.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:52):
Now, several times you’ve mentioned the gospel preaching the simple gospel, and you’ve seen God work through that. Give me the gospel in a nutshell. What is the gospel that you preach?
Gola Tiruneh (13:07):
Well, the gospel is the good news of what God has done for us through the Lord Jesus Christ. And it’s actually the finished work of what Jesus has accomplished through his death, through his life is death, resurrection. And it is the story of how God redeemed mankind. So it is a simple but powerful story and we just focus in our events to, we don’t so much talk about religious stuff, we don’t compare religions, we don’t do any of that. We just simply speak about what Jesus has done for all people. And we encourage people also to experience this gospel. It’s not gospel of just words, but it’s an action. It’s in power. So I love the book of Acts and some of the things that the disciples did. And so what we try to do is in our events for we help people to experience how good God is through miracles.
(14:21):
And so there’s a scripture that says, come taste and see how good the Lord is. So let people have a taste of how good our God is and what he has done for us and how powerful it is. And especially, we always have miracle testimonies that we try to bring up interview people during our events and so that people will see that God is actually doing something. This is not just a story from 2000 years back, but this is happening now. And that brings an impact to the village or a small town or even the churches in that area. It would encourage them to believe and to continue to do the work that way.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:12):
So right now we are in the city of Kupong, and tonight the gospel festival begins. We went by to look at it last night, and it’s this beautiful plaza area right next to the ocean. And there were lots of vendors out there selling food even before the festival begins. There’s lots of people there, lots of kids running around. They had games and toys for the kids. And so what are you expecting to see God do here in Kupong this week?
Gola Tiruneh (15:44):
Well, I believe there is going to be through what is going to happen. People are going to have a clear representation of what the gospel is. And I’m believing for miracles. I’m believing for people to experience miracles that will lead to ’em opening their hearts to the gospel. So we’ve had events where deaf ears have opened people deaf from birth and things like that. And that causes people to attention, to put their attention to the gospel. It is kind of like the story of when Philip went to Samaria and preached the gospel and says, when people saw the miracles, they put attention to his words. And that’s what I’m expecting, that they will be a moment where people will realize, okay, this is real. Jesus is real, and what is my response to this? And so by the end of those three nights, my prayer is that people will realize, okay, this is not just religion. This is actually happening now and I need to respond to this.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:06):
Now, one of the things as an evangelist I think we’re called to do is to challenge the church as a whole to focus on evangelism. What response have you seen from the churches here in Indonesia? Do they have a heart to reach out to the loss? How are you encouraging them to focus on people who are
Gola Tiruneh (17:33):
Lost? Well, it is mixed response, right? So it is a challenge sometimes working with believers because of some history of maybe things that have happened in the past. And there’s a little bit of fear, hesitation to do evangelism. So most believers tend to just stick to their group or to their churches or their communities. There’s a few tribes in Indonesia that were reached by missionaries like 150 years ago. So they’re mainly Christian. So most of the believers in Indonesia are from this few tribes that are
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:23):
Been, but there’s many tribes here.
Gola Tiruneh (18:24):
There’s many tribes, and it’s from the 217 million, maybe 15 to 20% is Christian, so the rest of them are still yet to be reached. So it’s hard for believers at times because of may be fear or they don’t know what to do or how to approach other nonbelievers. So our festivals actually in a way help that to show them, okay, this is how you do it, or let’s do it together, and kind of helps build confidence in them to go out and do more outreaches. So really, our festivals are always been done in partnership with local churches, and that helps also to bring in enthusiasm, especially when they see, when the Christians see the miracles. Also there’s something that happens and say, wait, we can do this too. We can also preach the gospel. So that’s what we hope will happen also through these events, that it will revive the church and inspire the church to do evangelism in that area.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:39):
Well, it’s absolutely amazing the work that you and your wife Esther are doing here in Indonesia. If you’re listening and you have a heart for Indonesia, I’d encourage you to get connected with Gola. If someone would like to support you or their church would like to adopt you as one of their missionaries, what’s your website? How can they find out more information about you?
Gola Tiruneh (20:03):
We do have a website. Our ministry is a registered charity in Canada. It’s called Global Good News Initiative. The website is gg.org, gg ni.org, and you can go there and you find all the information you need, and you can be a partner through our charity in Canada. Yeah,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:29):
And are there opportunities for people to come to Indonesia to do evangelism or to work with you?
Gola Tiruneh (20:36):
Yes. Yeah. We always welcome people that have a heart for Indonesia, and we can do what we can and what is possible for us to do so that we can open doors also for people. So I’ve worked with different ministries in the past and we’ve had, yeah, we had a good experience also partnering with people.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:05):
That’s awesome. Well, let’s finish by praying for Indonesia, but instead of praying in English, you’ll pray in Indonesia, and let’s just pray for God to bless this nation.
Gola Tiruneh (21:21):
Okay, let’s do that. Alright. Hallelujah. Han Sadia, Indonesia, then Indonesia, they are. And Jesus sai. Amen.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:44):
Amen. Well, thank you Gola so much for being on the Evangelism Podcast. Yes,
Gola Tiruneh (22:49):
Thank you for having me. God bless you. Thank you.
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Daniel Bäckrud | What to Do When God Shows You a Vision
Daniel Bäckrud is young but he has already visited many countries to preach the Gospel. God gave him a vision of an island in Indonesia and he found an unreached people group on that island. Today we talk about his plans to reach out to this unreached people group.
Connect with Daniel Backrud on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daniel.d.johansson.1
Learn about Go Out Missions: https://gautmission.org/
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Daniel Bäckrud is young, but he has already visited many countries to preach the gospel. God gave him a vision of an island in Indonesia, and he found an unreached people group on that island. Today we talk about his plans to reach out to this unreached people group.
Evangelism Podcast Host (00:32):
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 (00:57):
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, Daniel Bäckrud. Thank you for joining me on the Evangelism Podcast.
Daniel Bäckrud (01:08):
Thank you for having me. I’m so glad to be with you today.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:11):
So we are together in the nation of Turkey in Istanbul, and we have both come here for a conference with ace, the Association of Campaign Evangelists. And so this is an organization that is dedicated to preaching the gospel through gospel campaigns in, in many different parts of the world. And they are identifying evangelists, they are encouraging evangelists and giving evangelists opportunities to go to different nations. And so you actually got connected to them when you were very young. Tell me the story of what happened.
Daniel Bäckrud (01:52):
Yeah, so when I was in Bible school at, in my early twenties, I was picked up. There was one of the evangelists in the network who saw the gift in me and he welcomed me to, to this network and gave me the training I needed. And one of the organizations inside the network was training me as a trainee for, for first one year. And then I was sent out as an evangelist inside this network. And, you know, all the different evangelists and their experience and the teaching I’ve got and the access to different fields, what I have been able to travel and preach. It has been so valuable for my, my own ministry and my own journey and the work I’ve been doing for God.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:36):
So you had a period of training first. Can you tell me what that looked like and what were some of the things that you learned?
Daniel Bäckrud (02:42):
Yeah, so I was traveling on, on campaigns first as just to watch. And then I started to doing warmups to, to pre preaching on other campaigns. And then I got at my third campaign, I got the one of the nights on my own to preach. And, and my fourth campaign, I had the whole campaign myself. So it has been a, a progress of training where, where I learned how to, how to preach, how to do an call, how to pray for the sick, how to show the testimonies to to be clear and, and to, to be so that people can, can really sense that the, the testimonies.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:23):
What was the first country that you went to and how did you feel when you first stepped out on a campaign grounds and saw all the people?
Daniel Bäckrud (03:33):
Yeah, so the first campaign I was, and I’ve been on other mission trip before, but the first campaign was was in Pakistan. And I I had a warm up there and I felt that this is the thing I would do for the rest of my life.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:49):
And then where was the campaign where you got to preach for the first time and then where did you go, where you did the whole campaign on your fourth one?
Daniel Bäckrud (04:00):
Yeah, so both of those was in India where the organization I’ve been serving has been, been serving in the northeast of India. And we have had lots of campaigns there and I have been also having many campaigns there afterwards. So, so yeah, it was in, it was in India.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:20):
And tell me where you have been going since then. What, what doors have God opened and what are some of the countries that you’ve really enjoyed visiting?
Daniel Bäckrud (04:31):
Yeah, so, so through the organization, I am serving as an evangelist in Go Out Mission and the network of Ace, I have been able to, to do campaigns in, in India, in Sri Lanka, in Pakistan, in not campaign, but missions in, in Thailand campaigns in Western Africa, Guinea and Togo, and also Madagascar. So there are quite, quite many countries that I have been traveling the past five years. So
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:55):
You’ve been to a lot of countries. We’ve gone to many of those countries. I love Madagascar. We did five campaigns there in Madagascar over the years, and it’s such a beautiful country. All right. So recently I heard you share a testimony of a quite impactful thing that God did in your life. You were on a zoom call and someone began to speak in tongues and, and prophetically God spoke to you through this te tell me what happened.
Daniel Bäckrud (05:28):
Yeah, so we had this ACE (Association of Campaign Evangelists) conference online,last year, September. And,there was one of the evangelists who spoke in tongues. And as she opened her mouth, I started to shake and my sight became blurry and I started to cry and I started to, to uto, to sweat. And,I saw a vision in front of my eyes where there was a map of Indonesia. And you have to, to, to, to understand that I did not know anything about Indonesia before this. I could not describe the map. I didn’t know the names of the islands, and I didn’t know so many of the islands. I know the, the, the big one to the left and the, the big one to the right and the two in the middle. But I didn’t know anything but that. But I saw a red spot, God, God showed me a red spot in the sea between one of the biggest islands, two of the biggest islands.
Daniel Bäckrud (06:20):
And I went to the Google Maps searching for, for what is on this red spot. And I found out that there were two islands on this, this red spot that I did not know of before. And I felt God speaking to me, you must go here. And I went to, to Joshua Project and other databases over unreached people groups. And I found out that there are two groups that are considered unreached on those islands. So we reached out to one of our friends that are working in Indonesia, other parts of Indonesia, a woman called Susan Hoover, a wonderful woman of God who have done tremendously work. And you have been working with her as well?
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:59):
Yeah. So Susan Hoover, a great woman of God from the nation of Canada. Yeah. She originally went to Indonesia as a missionary from Peter Youngin’s ministry. And God gave her a gift for languages. And so she very quickly learned how to speak Indonesian and now speaks it fluently with the accent of the people. And people are always surprised to see her. She’s as white as can be, but yet she speaks perfect Indonesian. And so she has a bible school in Madan, been doing many campaigns in different parts of Indonesia, and, and she’s a, a, a dear friend of my wife and, and our family. And so she’s doing great work there in Indonesia. So you knew that she was there working in Indonesia. You called her What happened?
Daniel Bäckrud (07:51):
Yeah, so we had a sue meeting with her. It was, this was during the pandemic, so, so the, the, the borders was close. The immigration policy of Indonesia was very strict, so we couldn’t travel there. It was impossible to get any visa. So we were, we, we were reaching out and planning this and said, as soon as the country opens up, we want to come. And she promised to, to provide interpreter for us in send one of her staff to, to interpret for me. And I was refreshing the, the immigration policy on the, the websites like every week since. And suddenly in in the spring this year, 2022 the, the, the, the country opened up for, for, for some countries in Sweden. What is included? Well, one of the first ones. So I booked the ticket one week after the, the country opened up, and a few months later I went there and yeah, Susan provided an interpreter that traveled a long way with me.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:53):
And so you took your interpreter, you went out to these islands that are just dots on the map in the place where God gave you a vision, and you went and looked at some of the databases like Joshua Project that gives information about unreached and unengaged people, groups people groups that don’t have any church or any believers that are reproducing in their society. And it gave you some information about those islands and some of the people that were supposed to be there. And, and so you just went to investigate? Yeah,
Daniel Bäckrud (09:34):
Yeah. It was you know, investigating trip and we, we went there to do some research to, to finding some way to, to reach those people. And my first goal was to, to find those people groups that was in the database. And
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:49):
So what were the names in the database of the people groups
Daniel Bäckrud (09:53):
There, there to its Banca and it’s Beletu,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:55):
Okay. And so tell me that process. You’re, you’re there on the island and you’re looking for these unreached people groups. How did that go?
Daniel Bäckrud (10:03):
Yeah, so we wanted to, to like have a local foundation to, to put our feets on the ground. So we went with a motorbike,me and my interpreter, he was driving it and I was sitting on the back and we went, looked at Google Maps because we had no connections. So we went look at Google Maps and we find some churches and we went there, we knocked the door and we asked for the pastor and we talked to the pastor, interviewing them and, and asking, Do you know about these people? And, and,where do we find them?
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:33):
Okay. And and what’d they say?
Daniel Bäckrud (10:36):
Yeah. So the problem was that we, we went from door to door speaking with 10 15 pastors, and no one ever heard about those groups.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:46):
Okay. So you’ve, you, the database says that there’s on reach people groups there, and you go and are looking for the banca people. Yeah. And people are saying, I don’t know where they are. Yeah. So, so then what happened? You, you, you said that you had like a recording of the language. Yeah,
Daniel Bäckrud (11:05):
Yeah. So we, I was staying in, in a home of Su Susan had a student that was originally from this area. So we were invited to sleep in the house of, of his grand, her grandparents. And they were, they were Muslims original from Malaysia. And we, we really blessed to, to, to stay in their home. And you know, as we, as we were traveling around asking for, for this group that was called Banca in the database, I, I had the recording in my phone that I got from, from Wcl, that is translating Bible and, and giving resources. And I played it because we, we never find the people groups. So I, I, I tried to play this and I asked, What language is this? And it turns out that that was Hacka, which is a Chinese language. And it turns out that all the pastors that we were met were from that tribe.
Daniel Bäckrud (12:04):
And then I asked, What, what about all these other people that are Muslims? What, what are they? And they said, they are the malai, they are from, from Malaysia, and they, they live total separate life from the Chinese. And it turns out that this Malai people, they have developed their own dialect of Malaysia, Malaysia language Malai. And it has, that language is called Banca. So the tribe that was in the database called Banca is locally called the Malai because they are originally from Malaysia. And so I’ve been traveling all over the island searching for a people group, and at the end of the day, it, it, it’s turns out that every night I came home eating dinner, sleeping in the bed, talking with people who was the people group banca.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:01):
Wow. So you, you finally found them. I did. You you went searching. Yeah. You’re on a treasure hunt. Yeah. And you found this people who God loves very much. And, and, and God led you there. God gave you a vision that that led you to this place. Yeah. And, and so that was just the beginning. You, you, you didn’t know anyone at first. You just had an interpreter go with you. You met some people and now you’re, you’re planning to go back and you, you’re actually putting together a plan that’s going to take several years to complete to, to actually reach these people. Yeah. And so it hasn’t happened yet, but you’re in process, so you’re about to go back. And can you kind of explain what you’re doing on, on the second trip and then what you hope will happen in the future?
Daniel Bäckrud (13:49):
Yeah. So at the first trip at the end of the week, we met with one pastor who is a very, very much a man of peace. He’s a very honorable man. He’s an ex-marine and he’s a pastor who has built up lots of churches among the Chinese tribe. And he’s a wonderful man of God who has done tremendously work the past 30 years. And we, we had a hard connection with him and we have been communicating with him both when I was there the last time, but also with, with phones and zooms meetings since then. So this time I’m invited to, to his church, have a couple of conferences to speak to both leaders and youths and their congregation. And you know, right now I’m building more relationship with him so that we find trust in each other to, to, you know, pull out a vision how to, how to reach those people because there are one, 1.5 million people unreached on those islands that have no access to the gospel. Right now, there are no Bible in the language. There are no churches, there are no pastors, there are no worship songs. There are nothing in their context. So it’s a lot of work that has to be done.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:10):
Indonesia has a unique situation because many of the Christians in Indonesia come from a Chinese background. And since they’re Chinese, they are good in business. And so when they come into the church, the, they give money to the church. The church is, is well off. But then you also have lots of groups that are Muslim and they tend to be poor. And so in many countries that you go to, the Christians are very poor, and then the, the, the other people are rich. But in Indonesia, it’s kind of flipped. The Christians are rich, but they don’t always know how to reach people. I think in talking to them every Indonesian Christian I’ve talked to wants to reach people, but sometimes it’s difficult to work cross culturally cuz even though they’re in the same country, they often speak the same language. They, they have a different culture. It’s Chinese versus Muslim, and there’s lots of differences in culture and, and that type of thing. And, and so part of reaching the Unre people is giving a vision to the churches that come from a different culture, how they can develop missionaries that will go from their culture into another culture. Yeah.
Daniel Bäckrud (16:37):
Yeah. Everything you see is, is absolutely correct. This is cross-cultural missionary we’re looking for inside the nation. And yeah, we, I i, if we do this again next day’s conference, maybe I have more, more answers because we are, we are in the process and we are in the beginning of the beginning of this journey in this province bunk be. So yeah, this is this is the challenge we have in ahead of us, but we believe in God’s grace, in God’s miracles and God’s favor. And we just pray that the Holy Spirit will lead people into the heart of a missionary Yeah. On those islands.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:18):
Well, I, I really admire your boldness in going, you don’t have a contact, you just have a, a vision from God, and it takes great faith to, to go to just start knocking on doors of churches that you find on Google until you find the the right man of peace. Who can you explain kind of what a man of peace is? What, what is that?
Daniel Bäckrud (17:44):
Yeah, that probably, there are many definitions, but to me, a man of peace is, you know, the local person who has access to both other churches and also the society and has keys to reach into different, both churches, but also among the, the people that we are about to reach and who has the heart for, for missions, who has the heart to reach people, who has the burden of souls in the heart and is also open to cooperate with, with, you know, the, the person we need to accomplish what God has put in our hearts that the matter. Peace.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:21):
Another thing I think you’re being really smart with is developing relationships, going in, starting to, to talk to people, develop relationships, asking a lot of questions. I think sometimes foreigners come and they feel like they have all the answers and they know this is how you reach people. Yeah. But you have to work with the people that are there, the in work within their culture and how they, they do things. And so, so you’re, you’re doing this step by step. This is not something you want to accomplish immediately. This is something that you want to make a commitment to for, for years to come. Yeah.
Daniel Bäckrud (19:01):
Yeah. You know, this, this job includes so many things. We are starting to, to train people during this upcoming week. I’m hoping that we can have a, a group that are committing to cross culture missionary and that we can train them for, for several months, and that we can send them to, to, to this tribes. And that we can follow up on that by doing evangelistic events or festivals or campaigns or crusade or whatever name you wanna put on it. But, but reaching people in, in masses in those, those villages that’s what we want to do long term and, and checking villages by villages to, to to really have an impact in this, in this people group.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:46):
Well, I really think that your story can inspire people who are listening, who are wondering, you know, where should I go? God, you know, maybe they have the desire to go, but they don’t know where to go. Well get a vision from God. Go find an island that needs Jesus and, and just go, You may not have context. You may not know what to do. Just go, you know, Jesus said in Mark 1615, Go into all the world Yeah. And preach the gospel. And so two thirds of God’s name is go and <laugh>. And so you have to be like God, and, and, and go. And if you’ll just go, then you’ll begin to see miracles happen. And I know that you will see miracles happen. I know that you will see people in this tribal group come to Jesus, You’ll see churches established. And, and so I think we should make an appointment to talk again in two or three years to share the testimony of how you can reach a whole island for Jesus
Daniel Bäckrud (20:45):
<Laugh>. That is wonderful. Thank you for your faith and your encouragement. Just to add something about to, to what you said of course we don’t need like a clear vision of a place to go, just to go. We don’t have to, to wait on the, the fire scripture on the wall. It Bible is very clear. Go into all the earth, lot of places included in that challenge,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:09):
<Laugh>. Yeah. So if you go somewhere on the earth, you are in God’s will He told you to go. You can expect him to go with you.
Daniel Bäckrud (21:16):
Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, I have been traveling as an evangelist for, for five years before I got this vision, having tremendous success in many places, seeing so many miracles and people say to God. And yeah. You know I, I never had anyone telling me what country to go to before that. I just went with wherever it was possible. And yeah. Suddenly I got this vision and I, I have to be faithful with that because not many people get that clear vision.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:49):
Amen. Well, let’s finish by saying a word of prayer. Yeah. For these people, obviously they’re on God’s heart. God gave you a vision, and, and so let’s just pray for them.
Daniel Bäckrud (22:01):
Yes. So, Heavenly Father, we just place this people group banca and the people group of Bella tomb before your heart. Thank you that you have created them. Thank you that you love them with your heart. Thank you that you are their father. And let me be the tool to realize, let them realize who their father is. Lord, thank you that you love them so much, and I pray that you will put your love for this people in my heart. Let me feel what you feel. Let me see what you see. And we just pray for those churches that exist among other groups. We just pray that you will send your fire, that you will send your, your, your strength and your power and your will and your, your, your, your eager to reach those people for these churches. Lord, we just pray that upon them. We thank you for all the work that has been done. We honor everything that has been been happening in the past, and we just thank you for all the tremendous work that those pastors has been doing. But we pray that you will give them visions further to reach new tribes, new places where your gospel has not been preached before. Amen.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:06):
Amen. Well, thank you, Daniel for being on the Evangelism Podcast.
Daniel Bäckrud (23:09):
Thank you for having me.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:11):
Thanks so much for listening today. I am excited about telling people about Jesus, and I want to invite you to be a part of helping us to rescue people from Hell and take them with us to heaven. There’s two things you can do to help. First of all, can you go find the Evangelism podcast on Apple iTunes and leave us a positive review by giving a review. You will help other people find these valuable resources about sharing our faith. And second, would you become a financial partner with King Ministries. Every single dollar that people give us enables us to lead at least one person to Jesus. And so that means for only $1, you can help start a party in heaven. And so today I want to invite you to become a monthly partner. You can start out for just a dollar, but if God puts it on your heart to do more, of course you can do more. But please go to king ministries.com and become a monthly partner with us today to help us to lead more people to Jesus. Thank you so much, and God bless you.
Evangelism Podcast Host (24:29):
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.
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Andres Hartanto | Evangelism in Indonesia
Andres Hartanto has organized over two hundred crusade meetings in the nation of Indonesia. This Asian country has 17,508 islands and it has the largest population of Muslims in the world. Today, Evangelist Andres shares about what God is doing in this nation with a population of 270,000,000 people.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/New-Jerusalem-Evangelism-128977423783263/
WhatsApp: +62 8888 503303
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Andres Hartanto has organized over 200 crusade meetings in the nation of Indonesia. This Asian country has 17,508 islands, and it has the largest population of Muslims in the world today. Evangelist Andre shares about what God is doing in this nation with a population of over 270 million people.
Evangelism Podcast Host (00:38):
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 Daniel King.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:02):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. I have a special friend with me from the nation of Indonesia evangelist, Andres, thank you for being on the evangelism podcast today.
Andres Hartanto (01:18):
Thank you for everything for the invitation and for being with Pastor Daniel King.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:26):
So you have worked in Indonesia for many years. You are from Indonesia. Can you begin by telling us about the nation of Indonesia?
Andres Hartanto (01:37):
Well, Indonesia is one of the largest Muslim country, but there are a lot of also Christian people over there. And from the statistic, we know that the many, many years ago, Christian people only amount to 5%, but by no, it could have been around 20% because government statistic only shows something like 10%. The statistic run by some judges prove that number of Christian people can be 20% by now. And of course, Indonesia consists of a lot of island, 13,700 islands with big five big islands, Summa JFA BOSI and Papua.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:43):
So Indonesia is a huge harvest field. There are so many people there that need Jesus and your ministry has been going from island to island from city to city, preaching the gospel, telling people about Jesus. Talk to me about the spiritual need in the nation of ind Indonesia. Are the people hungry for God?
Andres Hartanto (03:11):
Yes, you are correct completely. We see that actually many of a education people, regardless of their basic religions, they are very much sick and God. And for Christians people, especially after this coffee, 19 PMI we believe that they are very hungry and some other people also they are trying to find gods and that’s the opportunity to preach the gospel of God and to realize the Greek commission of Jesus Christ, all Indonesia.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:53):
Talk to me about your strategy for doing crusade meetings in Indonesia. How do you mobilize the local churches? How do you get people to come?
Andres Hartanto (04:08):
Yes. we basically work with many churches of many denominations because if we work only with one, two denomination, we cannot gather a lot of people. So that’s why we base our mission on the all community, the many churches basis. And we set up a local committee this consists of many churches of local judges, and we know that they, they got the problem of finance basically because to gather people and to bring them to the one big location, to arrange permit, to arrange everything sometime you also provide food and all those things, we need the some amount of money. That’s why we have to gather some financial sources coming from people got the children who believes in the same faith to do the Greek commission all over the nation. And then we set up the committee with the local churches and we gave them authority to gather people they brought from their own and from neighboring neighboring people of their congregation. And then we supported the transportation costs. Sometimes we also supported some, some food costs for them so that we could attend the meeting with the, without burden, without the financial burden.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:01):
How long do your meetings usually last are they one day, two days, five days.
Andres Hartanto (06:08):
We used to conduct the meeting, the Cruset for two days mostly, but sometime three days with one day seminar and very well, we conducted only one day because we did that in the weekend. So we use Saturday and Sunday as our basis for meeting performance.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:32):
And are your meetings open to people of all religions? Are they open to, to Christians and Hindus and Muslims?
Andres Hartanto (06:41):
The Crussade were open for everybody with all backgrounds? Of course not only Christian, but also from other religions, they could come and also they could join us. So usually the local people, local churches, they brought some people from their neighbors and their friends to gather. And then also some people who happened to have houses around the soccer field, where we conducted the meeting, they gathered as well because they saw some kind of festival and they would like to see and to join
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:26):
Now, what is the Indonesian word for crusade? What, what do you call it?
Andres Hartanto (07:32):
We call it Kiki R abbreviation of que Kahan means the congregation to raise the spiritual level.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:48):
So a meeting to raise the, the spiritual level of the people. Right. And, and how do you say it again?
Andres Hartanto (07:55):
KA Uhhuh.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:58):
Now you have conducted more than 200 meetings across all of Indonesia in every single district and all the different islands. Tell me, how did you first get started in doing this type of ministry?
Andres Hartanto (08:20):
It was actually my ridiculous, because my background and my wife, we were actually just ordinary people and we work, I work as engineer, my wife work also in the bank, but we did the tri we did visit to Israel in 1998, where at the time there was the Asian economic crisis. And in Israel, we met the Reverend, the pastor that we didn’t know, but he came to us and he told my wife that he got to fishing about us and mentioning that our Lord Jesus Christ was standing. And beside him, it was a map of I Donia. And Lord Jesus pointed from Subang to mechi Subang is the, the author, most of the Western part of I Donia and mechi is at the Eastern part of Indonesia. So when we asked, what is the meaning of that? He couldn’t mention, he said he didn’t know, but it was what he saw. So finally we prayed, we prayed, we prayed. And then we got understanding that we had to go to preach the gospel of God, the great commission all over Donia. And that’s why finally we met the, some pastors, some people gods, man that had the same faith and same hungs to preach the gospel of God, all of Indonesia. So we finally gathered some people who who were able to perform then.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:26):
And tell me about what results you’ve seen at these crusade meetings. You, you pray for the sick to be healed. You pray for people to be saved. And then the local churches are involved in helping to follow up on the, the new believers. So, so tell me what results have been reported to you from these meetings? We
Andres Hartanto (10:51):
Conducted the meeting and usually after the votes of God, we call the people to the author of God. And we always saw many, many people came usually from 10%, until more than 50% people came to the author. And many of them, us for healings, for economic condition, for touching of God, for suffering God, and also asking to be baptized basically. And we prayed one by one because we came with a team and sometime our team consists of more than 10 people. So we split together with also the local Reverend local pastors. We prayed for them under finish, and we have seen some mys happen. I myself at the first time, I, I couldn’t believe what God had done at that time, because I saw personally that apply people suddenly could heal, could be heal and could see. And I tested myself.
Andres Hartanto (12:18):
So he couldn’t see the number. I showed him my fingers, 1, 2, 3 until five, and he could mention the correct number. So everybody surrounding me at that time was suddenly pressing God. And I, I knew that it was actually my record that had happened in front of my eyes. Also some little girl. The first time I met him, I met her. She was actually deaf and couldn’t speak anywhere after we prayed several times and I asked her to speak something. It was only his sing sound coming out from, from her mode. But finally I said, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And she tried to admit it. She, she Jesus, after sometime finally she said, Jesus. So it was actually a great time for us because it was the, the first that we saw miracles that happen. And it was also nothing less than what happened in the gospel. So for us, it was the present of God. And also that God bless our meeting and our surface.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:53):
What is your prayer for Indonesia? What would you like to see God do in the nation of Indonesia?
Andres Hartanto (14:04):
I believe that Indonesia is one of the nation blessed by God, because freedom for Christian people are there. And also we conducted so many Crues without problem, basically only origin, some permits and some spots for the local churches. Then it could happen that we, so the hungriness of the people must be fulfilled as also our Jesus, our gods already said that there are a lot of rice fit’s already ready for the harvest, but the problem is there are only few people who can harvest the rice fit. So it is our calling and it is also your calling to involve and to participate directly and indirectly to give support to the evangelization, especially in Indonesia, because we have more than 260 million people, and many of them, they still live under their own beliefs. And they do do know Jesus Christ, even if they know they still do not believe him as the savior as Messiah for them
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:55):
Evangelist, Andres, the name of your ministry is new Jerusalem evangelism. And if someone is interested in contacting your ministry or praying for you they can connect with you with your, your WhatsApp number, which is plus 62 8 8 8 8 5 0 3 3 0 3 brother. Thank you so much for being on the evangelism podcast. It is amazing what God is doing through you. And I’m so encouraged to hear these stories of what God is doing in the nation of Indonesia. My wife and I have been to Indonesia several times, my, my wife used to work for a Canadian evangelist. And so she went to Indonesia several times to help organize events for him. And then I’ve done three different crusade events in different parts of Indonesia. And I fell in love with the people of Indonesia, such beautiful people, and they are loved by God. So much that in the, the culture is, is so rich. The history of Indonesia is so rich. And I believe that Jesus loves Indonesia very much. And, and I believe that all of Indonesia is for Jesus and Jesus is for all of Indonesia. Amen.
Andres Hartanto (17:24):
I mean, yes.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:25):
Well, let’s finish by praying for the people of Indonesia, brother, would you lead us in a prayer for Indonesia to come to know Jesus
Andres Hartanto (17:37):
Let’s pray, father God, in the name of Lord Jesus Christ. We are happy for this being togetherness for this opportunity to broadcast words of God conducted by pastor Daniel King, man of God. We thank you for everything for the anointing, for the words of God, for the discussion and for all the people who happen to hear this broadcasting, blast them block and move them, know them as well. So that all the people that you want to reach will be able to participate in the Greek commission. And we are praying that you yourself will bless Indonesia because Indonesia actually is one of the country that give freedom to all people, to worship their own God. And that’s freedom also to preach the gospel. So we pray that your blessing and your love will cover all parts of Indonesia.
Andres Hartanto (19:12):
And during this heart situation and condition, especially economically yet you touch your people. You bring them, you save them. You are bring for the selfish vision of many people who are looking for their God who are looking for the truth, that your blessing will come up on them. And you withdraw to yourself and you Lord, and your strong hand, we submit our nation, our beloved people, our beloved country, that your power will be up on us and to give our nation also salvation from the economic troubles and the selfish and for the eternal life to be together with you bless all the people of Indonesia. Thank you lot. And the name of Jesus, we are already pray. Amen.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:30):
Amen. Thank you brother. Andres. Thanks so much for listening today. I am excited about telling people about Jesus. And I want to invite you to be a part of helping us to rescue people from hell and take them with us to heaven. There’s two things you can do to help. First of all, can you go find the evangelism podcast on apple iTunes and leave us a positive review by giving a review, you will help other people find these valuable resources about sharing our faith. And second, would you become a financial partner with king ministries? Every single dollar that people give us enables us to lead at least one person to Jesus. And so that means for only $1, you can help start a party in heaven. And so today I want to invite you to become a monthly partner. You can start out for just a dollar, but if God puts it on your heart to do more, of course you can do more, but please go to king ministries.com and become a monthly partner with us today to help us to lead more people to Jesus. Thank you so much. And God bless you
Evangelism Podcast Host (21:52):
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.
Subscribe to The Evangelism Podcast on Apple iTunes
Listen to The Evangelism Podcast on Spotify
Subscribe to The Evangelism Podcast on Google Podcasts
Find The Evangelism Podcast on Stitcher
Listen to The Evangelism Podcast on Amazon Audible
The Evangelism Podcast is also available on iHeartRadio
John Kingma | Church Planting that Works
John Kingma spent time as a missionary in Indonesia. Now he is taking the lessons and techniques he learned on the foreign mission field and using them to plant a church in St. Albert, Alberta. On today’s episode, he will share a church planting method that actually works.
Connect with John Kingma: https://www.facebook.com/john.kingma
Connect with Life Church in St. Albert: https://www.facebook.com/Life-Church-St-Albert-105181072061422
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
John Kingma spent time as a missionary in Indonesia. Now he’s taking the lessons and technique he learned on the foreign mission field and using them to plant a church in St. Albert, Alberta. On today’s episode, he will share a church planting method that actually works.
Evangelism Podcast Host (00:28):
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 (00:51):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast and I’m Daniel King. And I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. I have a very special guest with me, John Kema in St. Albert Canada. Thank you for being on the evangelism podcast.
Pastor John Kingma (01:05):
Well, thanks for having me, man.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:07):
Now we first met in Indonesia. That’s right. You were living there at the time and we came and we got to do a gospel festival with you and we had tremendous results and you actually went there as a missionary, right. And you married a beautiful girl. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> tell me about how that all happened.
Pastor John Kingma (01:29):
Wow. That’s a long story, but make it a little bit shorter. I always said to the Lord, you know, I’m just gonna follow you with all my heart and soul, and I’m not gonna be distracted by looking for a mate in life. And if you have someone for me, you know, my address and you know how to get ahold of me. And so a friend of mine in Indonesia asked me to come and do a series of meetings in his church. And after the service, people were just filing out the church and just shaking hands and saying hi. And when my wife passed by and shook hands with me, I felt the hand of God go in, literally go inside of me and pull me towards her. And so prayed about it and felt this is something of the Lord. And then that’s what started it all. And yeah, within a few months we had made the decision to get married. So
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:22):
Now tell me a little bit about the, the type of ministry that you did when you were in Indonesia.
Pastor John Kingma (02:28):
Wow. That was very varied as well. We would do large crusades. We did that probably some of the largest ones. We had crowds of around 10,000 people in some of the largest events. But we also about once a month, we go into a village somewhere like remote, many of which had no electricity. And so it was a real missionary experience, but I love villages. I grew up on a farm. My wife is from a village. And so we would go into those places be in a church, set up some sort of small crusade type event. And then during the day we would go and knock on people’s doors and just pop in and visit them and pray with them and whatever, and do that. And then later on, my wife had a word from the Lord about feeding the poor, and we started to feed people on the streets, the street, people that were living on the streets. And eventually that led to her starting a home for homeless women that had mental difficulties. So yeah, that kind of, that’s kind of what we did mostly.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:38):
And so now you’ve come back here to Canada and you are currently living in St. Albert and you are planting a church right here in Canada, but you’re really approaching your church planting with a missionary type mindset because you are reaching out to people that that may not be Christians. So talk to me about how you’re doing this church plant.
Pastor John Kingma (04:07):
Yeah, well, it was very important for us to do it that way because I believe God wants to start a church planning movement. And I saw a lot of churches being planted where they would either send a large, you know, group of people from one church to start another, or they would do something over the internet, try to attract as many Christians as possible. And we wanted to be very organic and, and really reach local people. So when we came here we just started with people we had met and and gotten to know. And then a lot of what we do is just go out in the community, try to meet people. We go to things like farmer’s markets, car shows anywhere where people get together and try to make a friend or two. I also have a business card done up with dream interpretation and divine healing.
Pastor John Kingma (05:01):
And we’ve had a lot of people respond to that, you know, wanting to know what their dreams mean. And then we are able to show them how this relates to what the Bible says, cuz God’s very consistent with what he tells people. And so translate it for them out of scripture and show them how God is actually inviting them into a conversation. And that’s born good fruit as well. And just believe in God, words of knowledge, sometimes whatever, you know, you just go out on the street and meet people and make friends and, and let the Lord move in that.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:35):
And so you’re not trying to reach other Christians or send people from one church out to start another church. You’re actually going into the community, looking for people who maybe don’t know anything about God and you’re trying to reach them.
Pastor John Kingma (05:50):
Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. I mean, the thing is, is, you know, if you get a transfer growth comes with its own set of problems, cuz usually disgruntled people stayed disgruntled, no matter who’s in front of them. But the purpose of planting churches is to reach people. I, I personally believe that God wants to do something in this city. That’s gonna result in growth in all churches. And rather than, you know, you always think about as a business person, I’m a business person. You look at where your greatest potential is for growth in your market. And if I’m competing in this space for Christian people, well there’s churches with big budgets, there’s churches with all kinds of stuff, you know? I don’t want to compete in that space, but if I go after people that don’t know Jesus, there’s a lot of less competition and a lot more opportunity. So, and so it’s about identifying who you are, what God’s purpose for you in your community is and connecting with people in that community. And it’s amazing how often God matches you with people that are exactly with what you’re dealing with. It’s just interesting.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:09):
Let’s talk about being by vocational. So you are in ministry, you always have a heart for ministry. You’re always ministering to people. You’re, you’re planting the church. But you also have a business, a carpet cleaning business, which my father ran a carpet cleaning business for, for several years. And so you’re cleaning carpets, but you’re also looking to, to clean hearts. How does that work out? Doing both business and ministry?
Pastor John Kingma (07:37):
Well, it’s hard. I’ll just be honest. It takes a lot of hours. I read a verse the other day in Corinthians where Paul was talking about how the churches were growing because they worked <laugh>. You have to work to get people to come to Jesus. It’s work to get out of the community and meet new people. You know, there’s nights. You don’t feel like it. You feel like sitting at home and watching a movie, but you get off your butt and you go out and you meet someone and you wind up having a great time doing it. And the joy of the Lord shows up in the middle of that thing. But when it comes to work too, you, you know, you need to switch your mindset. I I’m about my father’s business. Now I’m about my father’s business. See, I’m a son of the king.
Pastor John Kingma (08:19):
And so I’m about the kingdom business. So when I come into a home and clean carpets, Jesus wrapped a towel around his waist and he washes disciples feet. And he says, as I’ve served, you, you serve others. So when I’m there, I’m all about serving that person. Cuz that’s what Jesus told me to do. I’m about my father’s business. So the way I do business and the character that I do business with and, and how I’m accountable for what I do and how I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make it right for people and other things that we do in, in the business realm, we’re actually bringing God’s kingdom there. And when the opportunity comes we teach our people in our church. The one question that every Christian needs to be an expert at asking is can I pray for you? And you would be surprised how many times we’re in a home or we’re in a restaurant or we’re in some situation. And there’s an opportunity to say, Hey, can I pray for you? And people respond to that. It’s it’s really amazing. Yeah.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:17):
So let’s talk about the power of that phrase. Can I pray for you? It’s a very simple phrase, but it really opens up people’s hearts. Do you have any testimonies of what people have asked for prayer for when you’ve been asking them this? Oh
Pastor John Kingma (09:32):
Wow. I have a lot of testimonies. I remember being on at a bus stop in Edmonton guy, sat down with beside me and I just turned to him and said, Hey, you know, I’m a Christian and I’m out here. Can I pray for you? Weirdest response I ever had, he just grabbed my shirt with his two hands and put his head right here and just started a ball. And I found out that he was a backslidden Christian <laugh> and he was on his way and he was gonna go have a bender. And he was just like, you know, God just convicted him. Right there, turned his life around. I remember just the other day we were cleaning a carpet for a guy who owns a restaurant. He was complaining about his back and everything like that. And I just turned to my wife and said, we need to pray for him. So <laugh> we went and we prayed for him and it just he’s like, yeah. Okay. I guess, you know, and he, and then you’re able to pray in those situations. It’s it’s really amazing. Really amazing, you know?
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:30):
Yeah. We just did a great outreach in broken arrow, Oklahoma down in the United States at a street fair where we put up a booth and just put up a big sign that said free prayer. And then as people walked by, we gave them a, a drink of water. We had bottles of water and we said, Hey, we, we’re also praying for people it’s free. What do you need prayer for? And we found so many people to be open and it’s over a three day period. We prayed with over 300 people. We had 56 give their lives to Jesus and pray with us for salvation. And so we’re gonna take that same idea to the Tulsa state fair, awesome this year. And they’ve given us permission to have a booth. We’re actually gonna have a little platform with a sound system and then a, a, a prayer tent. And as people come through, we’re going to pray with them last year. 1.1 million people came through the Tulsa state fair. And so I think one of the challenges of evangelism in the church is, is people think people are well, if they want to get saved, they’ll come into the church. But really I think the church needs to go to where the people are. Talk to me about that.
Pastor John Kingma (11:43):
Okay. Well the Lord challenged me in this cuz a lot of churches talk about, you know, how do we get outside the four walls of the church? And the phrase the Lord said to me is forget the walls, just have church outside. And the thing is, is people are not coming to a church unless they have a meaningful relationship with someone. Who’s a believer. I remember doing an evangelistic campaign one summer. I worked in a church as a on staff evangelist. We did an evangelistic campaign. We did follow up, we did all that stuff and I collected data. And what we found out was that 100% of the people that followed through with their decision to follow Jesus and wound up in a church, had a significant relationship with the Christian before they accepted Jesus a savior. So your friendship is everything.
Pastor John Kingma (12:36):
And our, you know, in our church, when we build our church, coffee, pot is one of the most important things. We want to have time for fellowship. We want the, for us, that’s just as important as the service cuz it was in the, in the, in the new Testament. They continued in, in the apostles doctrine and in fellowship in breaking of bread and in prayer. And so those were just as important as prayer. And so that’s vital. That relationship is what brings about discipleship. You think about it. Are you going to go to a complete stranger and say, Hey, what about this in my life? No, but will you go to your friend? Absolutely. So natural discipleship flows along relationship. So we don’t just go out on the street and just randomly talk to people, pray for ’em. Okay. See you later. We always have a point of contact.
Pastor John Kingma (13:30):
So we are continually running an alpha program in our house because we find that’s a very safe place for people from non-church backgrounds to come and discover Jesus. And so we have that constantly running because we can plug people in as we’re meeting them. You know, we’re meeting people, we wanna follow up at Tim Hortons with a coffee, you know, or Starbucks or wherever they like to hang out. And we want to have that relationship beyond going because if you don’t, you’re gonna lose him. You absolutely hard. The relationship is everything. Look what Jesus did. He walked with people for years. He didn’t just randomly call disciples and then take off. He walked with 12 guys for three years and that was a real relationship because they slept in the same place. They went and ate in the same place. You know, they followed him everywhere. That was very important. Concept is the relationship aspect. And to miss that means that you’re not gonna get quality discipleship.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:28):
I really like what you’re saying. That discipleship requires relationship. I think one of the, the challenges of many discipleship programs, a lot of people are, are moving online and they think if I can just put videos together and training materials, then I can disciple thousands and thousands of people. But it’s really hard to disciple someone without that, that face to face connection. It is. So not only are you planning a church, but you also want to train church planters. Yep. Both in the Canadian context and also in the international context you have lots of experience in Africa and Indonesia and other parts of the world. And so we have lots of listeners that have a heart for evangelism. I’m sure many of them would like to plan a church. What advice would you give to someone who has a heart to plan a church?
Pastor John Kingma (15:22):
Just do it, just do it. So in our church and with people that we’re discipling, we always talk about let’s redefine church. Okay. So we’re always talking about it. You know, most modern churches is a building central location. But Jesus said where two or three are gathered in my name I’m right in their midst. And so that means that you have to have people gathering together, not just for the sake of gathering together, but Jesus has to be involved. So just getting together and sharing food is not church, but when you get together share food and talk about Jesus. Now you’re having church. So when you redefine church that way, then it’s about, and the other thing that’s exciting is Jesus never said all three of the people had to be Christians. So if you’re sitting there with two, your unsaved buddies and you’re talking about what Jesus is doing in your life that’s church, Jesus is gonna show up and so go and have church as much as possible.
Pastor John Kingma (16:26):
I mean, use the local coffee shop, use a local restaurant you know, your breaks at work. You’re, you know, wherever it is that God opens a door for you, you can just go and have church and then start to take that and take the relationships that come out of that and start to put it together into a regular ongoing thing where it could be in your home could be a small location. You rent. Usually it’s really good to start in the home because that is what church is about. So our goal is to raise up people that will think like entrepreneurs, because everywhere you go, you’re gonna have different things. Even you go in the same country to a different city, you’re gonna have different things to overcome in that city. There’s gonna be a different mentality in the people. There’s gonna be different strengths and weaknesses as you go in and you’re just gonna have to figure it out.
Pastor John Kingma (17:21):
So as an entrepreneur in the business world, what you do is you try an idea. If it fails, you learn from it. Try another idea until you find an idea that works and you can build a business that makes money well in the Christian world as a church planter, I go and I try something. If it fails, I learn from it and I try something else. And I keep going until I find something that works and that’s gonna work in that community that people are attracted to, or that people connect with. And that we start getting traction and start making disciples of Jesus. So that’s kind of, if you’re a new church planner, just go try it, just try something. How can I have church here? Help me. Holy spirit. Talk to me, show me the opportunities. Ask that little question. Can I pray for you that opens so many doors and yeah, just go for it.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:12):
Well, let’s finish with a word of prayer. Would you pray for people who are called by God to be church planners and to build relationships that lead to discipleship?
Pastor John Kingma (18:23):
Awesome. We’ll do so father, we just lift up those who are either watching or listening. And Lord, we just pray for them. Father there’s many people that the fire of evangelism burns strong and in their heart, but they don’t know how to connect that to a local church. And I know Lord Jesus, that church planning is a great way to do that. And for many people who have this thing, they want to see the kingdom advanced. They want to see God’s kingdom move forward. And they’re not sure where to go, father. I just pray for them. Lord Jesus, that you would just somehow through this conversation, that there would be just an idea, a spark in their life that would just take hold and that they would just be able to go for it. I just pray for boldness like you, like it was prayed for an acts of boldness and that when they pray for people, people would be healed. That demons would be cast out when they prayed for people that you give them authority and Jesus’ name and that you would give them wisdom as they talk. And they share about you in Jesus’ name.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:28):
Amen. Amen. Well, thank you for being on the evangelism podcast.
Pastor John Kingma (19:32):
Well, thanks for having me. That’s a lot of fun.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:33):
Thanks so much for listening today. I am excited about telling people about Jesus and I want to invite you to be a part of helping us to rescue people from hell and take them with us to heaven. There’s two things you can do to help. First of all, can you go find the evangelism podcast on apple iTunes and leave us a positive review by giving a review, you will help other people find these valuable resources about sharing our faith. And second, would you become a financial partner with king ministries? Every single dollar that people give us enables us to lead at least one person to Jesus. And so that means for only $1, you can help start a party in heaven. And so today I want to invite you to become a monthly partner. You can start out for just a dollar, but if God puts it on your heart to do more, of course you can do more. But please go to king ministries.com and become a monthly partner with us today to help us to lead more people to Jesus. Thank you so much. And God bless you
Evangelism Podcast Host (20:53):
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Indonesia
Kupang, Indonesia
I am excited to share with you about our Gospel Festival held recently in Kupang, Indonesia. At this outreach we witnessed a powerful demonstration of God’s love being poured out upon the city and God performed incredible miracles of salvation and healing.
Kupang, Indonesia, is a vibrant city located on the western tip of Timor Island in Indonesia. It serves as the capital of East Nusa Tenggara province and is known for its picturesque coastal views and lively urban atmosphere. The city boasts a rich cultural heritage with a blend of indigenous Timorese traditions and influences from Portuguese and Dutch colonial history. Kupang’s bustling markets, friendly locals, and scenic waterfront make it a charming destination. Our Gospel Festival was held in a plaza at the waterfront at the foot of a beautiful lighthouse.
The Gospel Festival Almost Did Not Happen
Twenty-four hours before our Gospel Festival in Indonesia was scheduled to start, we did not know if it was even going to happen. The problem was the lack of a permit. To host an outdoor event in Indonesia the government requires churches to get official permission. This permit cannot be obtained locally. It has to be issued in the capital city of Jakarta. Our team applied for the permit long in advance, but because of bureaucratic red tape our permission was delayed.
The problem is that the churches are not permitted to do any advertising until they have the permit in hand. If they put up any posters or banners without the permit, the local police will take down the advertising. So, not only did we not know if we could do the event, but we were unable to do our normal level of marketing.
But, right in the nick of time, we received word that the permit had been issued! Halleluiah! We leaped into action to start advertising. Sound cars immediately started driving around the city of Kupang announcing, “If you need a miracle, come to the Gospel Festival and Jesus will heal you.” All the Christians started texting invitations to people on WhatsApp, a popular messaging application. We used Facebook advertising to tell people about the exciting event.
Even with the last-minute advertising, we were blessed because the location of our event is in a public square right in the middle of the city. The plaza is located right next to the ocean and it is popular place for young people to hang out as the sun goes down. Many people come to this location to eat, to walk along the beach, and to spend time with their friends.
As our music team played upbeat songs, people were attracted from near and far. They enjoyed watching our choir of young girls waving flags and playing tambourines. After the music attracted everyone’s attention, a local leader opened the event by striking a gong. All the pastors released doves into the air. Once the birds were set free, I preached about how Jesus can set sinners free. When I gave the altar call, many people gave their lives to Jesus.
Jesus Sets People Free
Each day at the Gospel Festival, the message of Jesus Christ was proclaimed with boldness and clarity. Hearts were touched, and lives were transformed. The Holy Spirit moved among the crowd. Many people responded to the call of salvation and accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. It was a moving experience to see so many come forward to the front, surrendering their lives to the One who loves them and who died for them.
In addition to the salvations, we also witnessed many miraculous healings. By the power of Jesus, individuals were healed of various physical aches and pains. People who had been suffering for years walked away disease-free, and others experienced a restoration of health that only God can provide. These testimonies of healing are a testament to the living power of Jesus Christ, who continues to work signs and wonders among us today.
We are grateful to everyone who prayed for and supported this event. Your faithfulness and prayers played a crucial role in making this festival a success.
Jogjakarta, Indonesia
Watch Daniel King in the nation of Indonesia as he reaches out to Muslims who need Jesus. At our Gospel Festival in Jogjakarta, Indonesia we were in the shadow of a Muslim Mosque. Our message was clear. Only Jesus can save people from their sins. When the name of Jesus was mentioned, some Muslim leaders became upset and a riot almost started. But despite the opposition, many lives were changed forever!
Deli Tua, Sumatra
Kisaran, Indonesia
Daniel & Jessica King went to Kisaran, Indonesia for a Gospel Festival.
CAN YOU HELP US REACH PEOPLE FOR JESUS?
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