In June of 2023 there is going to be a massive gathering of evangelists, missionaries, pastors, and people who care about the Great Commission in Amsterdam. You are invited to be at the table and lend your voice to the effort to reach EVERYONE on earth with the Gospel. Today I talk with Ashley Wilson from Empowered21 about this amazing event and why you need to attend.
The questions we talk about:
What is Amsterdam 2023?
Who should come to Amsterdam 2023?
How can someone register for the event?
What is Empowered21?
What is the Holy Spirit doing in missions over the next ten years?
Be a part:
Come to Amsterdam 2023: https://amsterdam2023.com/
Join the Global Evangelist Alliance: https://globalevangelistalliance.com/
Connect with Empowered21: https://empowered21.com/
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, Ashley Wilson. Thank you for joining me on the Evangelism Podcast.
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (00:11):
Hey, Daniel, I’m excited to be here and, and glad to talk about evangelism and what God’s doing with you.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:16):
Well, we are very excited about what is coming up because in Amsterdam this June 21, 22, 23, and 24, there is going to be a gathering of great commission, believers, evangelists, pastors, ministers from all over the world coming together in Amsterdam. And this is going to be one of the most significant historical events that have taken place in the body of Christ probably in my lifetime. Yeah. And so tell me a little bit about what God is going to do in Amsterdam.
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (00:51):
Yeah, we’re really excited about what’s getting ready to happen in the next few weeks. I want to say if you’re an evangelist listening to this podcast, you need to be in Amsterdam, June 21st through the 24th. If you can’t get there, then make sure that you block out some time during those dates so that you can join us online as well. But it’s gonna be a gathering of several thousand great commission focused leaders, evangelists, missionaries, pastors from all over the world, talking about what we can do to get the gospel to every person on earth in the next decade. 2033 is going to be the 2000 year anniversary of the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And we believe that it’s possible to complete the Great Commission or fulfill the great commission by getting the gospel to every person, all eight plus billion of them on Earth over the next decade. If we work together, I think we can do it. And so we’re gonna be talking about that, praying about that collaborating with one another around that topic in Amsterdam. And I think it’s gonna change the direction of the church for our generation.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:06):
Now, this initiative is led by the Global Evangelist Alliance, which is a, a group of some of the greatest evangelists that are alive today. And the Global Evangelist Alliance is under Empowered 21, which is a gathering of spirit empowered believers who believe in the power of the Holy Spirit and believe that the Holy Spirit is needed for world evangelism. And so tell us a little bit about the history of Empowered 21 and how the Global Evangelist Alliance was launched and how this whole plan for Amsterdam started being birthed. Sure.
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (02:47):
So in Power 21, really the genesis of it happened around 2006, which was the hundred year anniversary of the Asuza Street Revival. When we gathered leaders from all of the different streams of Christianity that could trace their roots back to Asuza Street, gathered them together to celebrate what the Holy Spirit had done over the first century since the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Asuza Street. Fast forward a couple of years, and there were some changes at Roberts University happening, and a number of leaders who were involved in that change said, you know, what’s the purpose of Oral Roberts University? And from that they said, you know, the purpose of this place is to be a, a a a, a vessel of leadership for the Pentecostal and Charismatic Church around the world. So they begin to have some discussions. They begin to talk with a number of these leaders who had been together at the Asuza Street Centennial in 2006.
(03:45):
They said, what is the whole, we know what the Holy Spirit did over the last century, but what does the Holy Spirit want to do in our century? What is he calling us to do together? And out of those conversations, they came up with this vision, which I believe really is the, the heart of God, which is for every person on earth to have an authentic encounter with Jesus through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit by 2033. And so Empowered 21 is a relational leadership network that brings leaders from all the different streams of the body of Christ who believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, brings them together around this vision. Can we get the gospel to every person on earth by 2033? And so that’s what we’re trying to do at Amsterdam.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:31):
Now, in the early years of the Pentecostal movement, going back to a Zeus street, Pentecostals suffered from a lot of misunderstanding and even persecution sometimes where people thought they were a little weird. Well, fast forward to today, and the Pentecostal charismatic spirit empowered movement is the fastest growing movement in the entire body of Christ. And now there are millions of spirit empowered believers around the world, and they are on the forefront of what God is doing. Evangelistically, I love going and doing crusades in, in different nations. And, and at our crusades, we preach that Jesus Christ is the same. Yesterday, today and forever the same Jesus who healed people 2000 years ago can heal people today, the same Holy Spirit that was poured out on the day of Pentecost can be poured out on people today. And we see God do tremendous miracles, tremendous signs and wonders.
(05:37):
And because of that, a lot of people get saved and the churches grow. And we found that around the world, especially in the the majority world Africa, Asia, the churches that are growing are the ones that believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. They’re casting out demons, they’re praying for the sick, they’re praying for people to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And, and so there seems to be a transition in the body of Christ that to towards an acknowledgement that we need a fresh move of the Holy Spirit, if we’re really going to fulfill the Great Commission, we need the Holy Spirit. Yeah,
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (06:17):
I think you’re absolutely right, Daniel. And you brought up some good points. You know, Todd Johnson from the Center for Global Christianity at Gordon Conwell he says that there’s approximately 650 million and that data’s a couple years old, but 650 million, what we would term spirit empowered Christians in the world right now. So from from zero at approx, you know, a few handful at Asuza Street in 1906, fast forward a hundred and, you know, 15 years later, and there’s 650 million. So this is the spirit empowered movement within Christianity is one of the fastest growing movements in history. Religious movements in history and what’s happening around the world is explosive. The truth is the formula of the Book of Acts works when you believe that God is breaking in and intervening in people’s lives, and that he can heal, he can deliver, he can set free, that Jesus is who he says he is, and he can do what he says he can do then the Holy Spirit breathes on that.
(07:22):
And God does amazing things. And so that’s why we’re seeing this explosive growth. And the truth is, when you think about the number of people on Earth today, there’s 8 billion plus. We went over the 8 billion number in November, according to the United Nations, 8 billion plus. My dad likes to, to say, if you tried to count to 8 billion starting from the day you were born and never stop, to take a breath, to go to the bathroom, to have anything, to eat, to sleep, you could count for 120 530 years and still not reach 8 billion. Just trying to count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. There’s a lot of people on planet Earth. And the truth is to reach them is gonna require a variety of different strategies. But we believe that the Holy Spirit is creative enough that he’s gonna birth inside of us and birth inside of his church and inside of his people, all of the different ways and ideas and methods that are needed to get the gospel to every person on earth, from the Wall Street millionaire in New York City, to the child who’s living on a trash sheep in Manila, Philippines, Jesus died for each and every one of them.
(08:35):
And we believe God is gonna give us the the ability to reach them with the gospel.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:41):
And the work that Jesus did on the cross to bring salvation to all of us is really the, the heartbeat of Amsterdam 2023 and what God is going to do there. And so, let, let’s talk about Amsterdam 2023. What are some of the things that are planned? Who’s coming and why should people do everything they possibly can to get there? Yeah. And to participate? Yeah.
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (09:05):
Well it’s gonna be really a who’s who of leaders from all over the body of Christ, not just in the Pentecostal and charismatic stream, but a number of our evangelical brethren are gonna be joining us serving with us the Palau organization, the Billy Graham organization’s gonna be there. Christ for All Nations is gonna be there. Rick Warren is gonna be there. Christine Kane is gonna be there. They’ll be over 150 key leaders from all over the world who will be speaking and sharing in general sessions and in workshops. But all of that’s gonna happen over the first three days of the event when we’re at the Rye Convention Center. But I really believe the heart of the meeting is gonna happen around round tables. We’re gonna have collaborative sessions every day where leaders will gather with people from their region who speak their language and will talk about the themes of the meeting and how they can contextualize that into where they live.
(10:03):
So we’re gonna talk about this vision of reaching every person. What does that look like to re personalize the Great commission? You’ll gather with people around round tables and talk about that. We’re gonna talk about what are new strategies that are emerging, new methods of evangelism, and how can you use those in your context? And then we’re gonna talk about Gen Z and Gen Alpha. You know, I’m a a dad of three teenagers. I don’t understand what my teenagers are saying half the time because they speak a totally different language and operate and think in a totally different way. If we’re gonna reach every person on Earth, then we have to know how to reach Gen Z and Gen Alpha. And so we’re gonna talk about that in these collaborative sessions where you’re meeting with leaders from around the world. Then we’re gonna take those sessions, the input that you give us from those round tables, and we’re gonna compile that and come up with some trends to say, okay, this is what we see the Holy Spirit is doing. This is what the Holy Spirit is saying around these issues. So I think it’s very important if you’re a leader of any capacity that you’re there in the room in Amsterdam, so that you can have some input into this process as we talk about reaching every person on Earth.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:17):
Yeah. One of the benefits I think of going is going to be the relationships that are going to come out of this, because you have so many like-minded people coming together in, in one place. The people you’re gonna meet, the, the friendships that are going to develop relationships are the currency of the Kingdom of heaven. Just yesterday, I was talking to a friend from Pakistan, and I’ve done some crusades with him in Pakistan, and he was asking me, you know, why should I come to Amsterdam? What’s, is this just another conference? Cuz he goes to conferences from time to time. I said, no, this is gonna be much more just a, a conference. This is going to be an event. And it it really is something spiritual that happens too. Back in 1983 mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, the Billy Graham organization hosted a big gathering in Amsterdam.
(12:08):
And at that time, they brought thousands of evangelists together from around the world. And in that meeting in 1983, really set the tone for what God has done. And now this big event Amsterdam 2023 is almost to the day, 40 years later from what God did through Billy Graham and is his heart for evangelism. And I remember when I was a young evangelist, I found a big book mm-hmm. <Affirmative> that Billy Graham’s organization had put out with all of the different sessions from some of the, the great evangelists from 40 years ago. And that book really impacted my life as a young evangelist. I was gonna say, man, I wish I could have been there just listening to the heart of all of these great men and women of God talking about God’s heartbeat for the world. And, and so at this Amsterdam event 40 years later, I really feel that this could set the tone for what God is going to do in a new generation.
(13:09):
It’s a new era of evangelism, it’s a new time of, of evangelism. The the heart of God is the same, but the methods are different now. We live in a completely different world. The challenges we face are probably even greater than the challenges that they faced 40 years ago. But I think by coming together and talking and building relationships and hearing about what God has put on different hearts and different organizations, that we’re gonna see an amazing synergy that’s gonna come out of this for especially this next decade leading up to 2033, the 2000 year anniversary of the day of Pentecost.
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (13:47):
Yeah. you know, Daniel, you, you, you know the history well, I also had that compendium from the 1983. I got it when I was, I think 22 years old. Someone gave it to me. And I flipped through that over the years many times. It’s a, it’s a great resource. What Graham did in 1983, and then they had another meeting in 86 and another meeting in 2000 was groundbreaking. And I believe it set the direction for the church in the previous generation from those grand meetings really came a lot of the impetus around unreached people groups focusing on the 10 40 window, focusing on unreached people groups. And I personally believe that that was the challenge for my father’s and grandfather’s generation. But for my generation and your generation and the generation of my children, I believe the Holy Spirit is raising the bar.
(14:43):
It’s not enough just to reach the nations of the earth, but I believe God is also interested in reaching each person on earth. That’s why Jesus said in Matthew, go and preach the gospel to everyone. That’s why Paul says to Tim, to Timothy, I want prayers for everyone because God, our savior wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. And so I think what is happening is we live in a day and age when it is possible to get the gospel to every person on earth, but it’s gonna take a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit and it’s gonna take us collaborating together. And so what’s gonna happen, I believe in Amsterdam, is the Holy Spirit is gonna raise the bar. He’s gonna raise the target for our generation, not just every nation or every people group on earth, but let’s get the gospel to every individual on Earth in the next decade.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:40):
And that is going to be an amazing initiative, everyone on Earth. It’s a, it’s impossible in human thinking, but with God all things are possible. Absolutely. And I think if the body of Christ comes together and, and starts thinking, how do we reach everyone on earth, that God will give us the creative ideas to make it happen, and it’s gonna take the entire body of Christ working together, collaborating together, celebrating one another, and the Empower 21 and the Global Evangelist Alliance as, as part of this 10 year effort to reach everyone on earth, we’re going to be targeting entire nations. We’re talking about next year going to El Salvador. Yeah. And reaching every single person in El Salvador. And so I brought this vision to my home Church Victory Church here in Tulsa. And they said, oh, we want to send 120 teenagers from our school to come down to go into the schools to minister to the people in El Salvador. And so the whole purpose of this is to mobilize from the youngest to the oldest, the entire body of Christ to, to go out and to lead people to Jesus.
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (16:55):
Yeah. And, and I’m super excited about where I, I see God leading us over the next 10 years. You know, the g is taking great leadership in this process. And, and you know, we could, we could choose a country every quarter and still not get anywhere close to being finished with all the nations on earth over the next 10 years. But I think what the GE is trying to do is to set a catalytic example to say, okay, we as a team are gonna collaborate together and we’re gonna take this nation and we’re gonna say every person in this nation is gonna hear the gospel over the next year. And so I think that’s an amazing example. And what’s gonna happen, I believe as we go through the next decade is God’s gonna touch the hearts of people all over the world, and they’re gonna grab that vision and say, what’s it gonna take for me to get the gospel to every person in my neighborhood, to every person in my city, to every person in my nation, to every person in the places where I live and work and have influence.
(17:58):
And as that happens, we’re gonna see God begin to move. And then I, I also believe there’s gonna be people that are be challenged to say, okay, what does it look like to get the gospel to people who have absolutely no connection to Jesus and no way to know about him. You know, when we’re talking about getting the gospel to every person on earth, the real challenge for us is gonna be China and North India, to be honest. I mean, those are the places where there’s billions of people who have not heard the name of Jesus. And so I think one of the things that’s gonna happen out of Amsterdam is God’s gonna really inspire some creativity in people and put some seeds in people’s heart that are gonna help us get over that hump and help us reach those people with the gospel in an accelerated fashion as we head towards the 2000 year anniversary of of Christ’s sacrifice for us.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:47):
So if you are excited about the Great Commission, if you are a leader or a future leader in what God is doing here in the world, I encourage you to go and sign up to come to Amsterdam 2023. The website is Amsterdam 2020 three.com. And I’d also encourage you to check out the global evangelist alliance.com because by joining the, the ge, the Global Evangelist Alliance, you can get connected to all of these big evangelism initiatives that are going to be taking place over the next decade. There’s some great resources, therefore, evangelist, we’ve got an Evangelism masterclass with many of the greatest evangelists that are live today teaching on evangelism and, and equipping people on how to witness how to share their faith both to one-on-one and to the masses of people. And then if you wanna find out more about Empower 21, go to empower 20 one.com and you can find out more about what the Holy Spirit is doing around the world.
(19:55):
But the main thing I’d encourage you to do right now, go to Amsterdam 2023 and Amsterdam 2020 three.com and sign up to come to this amazing event that’s gonna take place in Amsterdam, June 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of 2023. It’s coming up really quickly and, and so, but there’s still time for you to get your plane tickets, to get some hotels over there. Come to this massive gathering of great commission believers because we need you at the table. We need your ideas, we need your contribution to the discussion of what God is going to take place, and I think it will do something significant in your life.
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (20:39):
Yeah, absolutely. And thank you, Daniel for for allowing me to share today. And if you’re listening to the podcast, make sure that you, you find me at Amsterdam 2023 and say hello. It’s gonna be an amazing gathering of, of people who are on fire for Jesus and excited about reaching every person on earth with the gospel.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:01):
Ashley Wilson, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism
Ashley Wilson | Empowered21 (21:04):
Podcast. Thank you, Daniel.
