Christmas Wonderland | Daniel King

Merry Christmas from the Evangelism Podcast. On today’s episode we talk about the Christmas Wonderland. We were able to lead over 700 people to Jesus right here in Tulsa, OK. You will discover a great method for sharing the Gospel during the holiday season.

Check out the Christmas Wonderland webpage: https://thechristmaswonderland.com/

Learn more about Terry Henshaw and City Serve Oklahoma: https://www.cityserveok.com/

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Merry Christmas from the Evangelism Podcast. On today’s episode, we’re going to talk about Christmas wonderland and how we were able to lead over 700 people to Jesus right here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. You are going to discover a great method for sharing the gospel at Christmas time. Come on, let’s go and celebrate what Jesus is doing during the advent season.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:41):
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 (01:06):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. If you’re listening, I wanna make sure to remind you to subscribe to the Evangelism Podcast and take a moment to share it with other people. On today’s podcast, I want to tell you about an amazing outreach that we did this Christmas time. It was in conjunction with citys serve Oklahoma, which is led by Terry and Brenda Henshaw.

Terry Henshaw (01:40):
Hi, I’m Terry Henshaw with Christmas Wonderland. We just finished an incredible time here. Uh, over the last 18 days, we had asked Daniel King if he would train all of our ministry people, um, because we were having so many people come through that ministry area. He just did such an incredible job in training every person on how to lead people to Christ, how to, how to engage in conversation with families, and just did this incredible job. And so we’re so grateful to them. I mean, if you have an opportunity to invite Daniel to your church, to train your people in evangelism in outreach, I mean, you are missing an opportunity if you don’t do that. So I just wanna encourage you, we just, just finishing up the most incredible outreach here in Tulsa, Oklahoma with Christmas Wonderland with over 15,000 people in attendance. And so Daniel just did such an amazing job. I just want to encourage you to invite him. Thank you so much.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:39):
Now, many years ago, Terry and Brenda Henshaw were the missions directors at Victory Christian Center, my home church here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And they did a great job as missions directors raising up missionaries, sending them all over the world, and they were also setting up great gospel crusades for my pastor, pastor Billy Joe Daugherty. And he did lots of crusades all over the world. He was a great pastor and a great evangelist. So Terry and Brenda Henshaw, after they were missions directors, God gave them the vision to start a ministry called the 99. And this was a horror house type ministry where people would go through different rooms inside a tent. And the, the 99 was a way to, to show people the 99 different ways that young people typically are dying in today’s world. And so you’d go into one room and there would be a drunk driver who got into a car crash, and it was quite vivid.

(03:47):
There, there would be a crash car there, and they would have someone laying, uh, through the windshield with blood all over their face about ready to die. And then you’d go into another room and there would be a, a, a drug den with someone shooting, uh, heroin into their veins and overdosing that way. And then you’d go into another room and there’d be a, a scene with a person sitting in a chair and they would have a, a gun to their mouth. They’d be talking about suicide. And then as the scene came to an end, the lights would go down, you’d hear a gunshot really loud, and suddenly the audience would be sprayed with water, uh, and it felt like blood. And so then as you came out of all of these different rooms, you would come into a prayer room where people would actually pray with you to receive Jesus and say, if you died tonight, would you go to heaven?

(04:48):
So it was a great evangelistic outreach with this outreach, Terry Hinshaw and the 99, they led thousands and hundreds of thousands of people here in the United States to Jesus. Well, they’re looking for a way to reach out at Christmas time. And so God gave them the idea of doing a Christmas wonderland. And so this year they decided to do the Christmas wonderland here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And they invited me to come and volunteer to lead the prayer and ministry room. And so from December 1st to December 18th, every single night we were there at the Christmas wonderland in the prayer room talking to people about Jesus. And it was so amazing because at Christmas, Christmastime, people’s hearts are open to the gospel. You know, we had so many people come through the prayer room, and some of them were atheists, some of them were Jewish. We had Hindus, we had Buddhist come through.

(05:55):
And then of course, uh, a lot of people from here in the Bible Belt who have had some exposure to church and to the gospel. And we found that people were so open to hearing the Christmas story. And so what the, the ministry of Terry Hinshaw did, it’s called City Serve Oklahoma, they rented the entire second floor of the Promenade Mall. Now, a few years ago, the Promenade Mall was a, a really nice mall here in Tulsa, but a lot of the stores have shut down and now the entire second floor was empty. And so they went and they asked if they could use the Promenade Mall as a winter wonderland. And so they filled up the entire thing with Christmas lights, Christmas decorations, they had music, they had different experiences for the whole family. And so families were able to come in. They were able to go to Santa’s workshop and make yo-yos for the children to take home.

(06:55):
Uh, in another room, they wrapped Christmas presents. They had a Christmas tree maze, and they had Elsa and Anna and Ola characters from the Disney movie. And then they had a petting zoo. They had a reindeer barn. They had, uh, huge room full of model trains. Then of course, the kids could also meet Santa and Mrs. Claus and they could eat a Christmas cookie with hot chocolate. And so this was a, a really great Christmas experience and people lined up every single night for 18 nights in order to go through this event. It was amazing. People from all over the city heard about it and they decided to come and, and so they’re looking for a Christmas experience. Then of course, the most important room in the whole place was a living nativity scene where guests viewed a live enactment of Jesus laying in the manger.

(07:57):
And of course, Jesus is the reason for the season. And so it’s so cool because as people came into the nativity room, they saw Mary and Joseph there, and the kids, especially the little kids, they loved to come up and look at baby Jesus lying in the manger. They like to touch baby Jesus. And the Mary who was there began to tell her story as if it, she was really married. And so she was in her the first person saying, did you know I had to ride on a donkey for seven days to get here to Bethlehem? And let me tell you, it is not easy riding a donkey when you are pregnant. And then we got to Bethlehem and there were no hotel rooms available. And so my husband Joseph was freaking out. I was like, what are we gonna do? My wife’s about ready to give birth.

(08:48):
And this one guy volunteered and says, Hey, you can stay in my barn. And so we went to his stable and there was was a cow, there was a donkey, there was some sheep, and there were some goats. And we were there in the, the barn. And that’s where I gave birth to baby Jesus. And I didn’t have anywhere to put him. And so I grabbed one of the mans that the, the sheep used to, to eat hay out of. And I cleaned out all of their saliva and everything and, and, and all the hey. And I put baby Jesus and laid him in the manger. And the kids were so wrapped, uh, they paid wrapped attention as they listened to Mary tell this story. And then she told about how the shepherds came and how the wise men came. And, and so kids would come up and they would meet Jesus right there in the manger.

(09:38):
And then as people came out of the living nativity, that’s where my part came in with all of my prayer partners. And so we would greet them and say, come this right this way for your next activity. And we would escort them over to some tables where we would have some coloring sheets for the kids to color. And we’d get the kids seated down coloring. And then once the, the parents saw that their kids were okay, they would take a deep breath cuz they’d been running from place to place going to all these different Christmas activities. And so now they had a chance to relax, and then we offered to pray for them. And the, the question that we used was, what is the greatest miracle that you’re asking God for this Christmas time? And some parents started talking about how they needed health. You know, grandma’s sick with cancer.

(10:32):
We just got kicked out of our apartment, we needed a new apartment. Um, we needed a new car. And then some people would shrug their shoulders and say, we don’t really need anything. We’re, we’re doing just fine. And then some people would just say, we need peace on earth. Well, whatever they said, I told all our prayer partners to go ahead, take them by the hand and pray for them. And, and if they didn’t know what they needed, we just prayed a general Christmas blessing over their family. And then once we prayed for the family, we took the opportunity to talk to them about the gospel on the coloring sheets that the kids were coloring. There were three pictures, there was a cradle, there was a cross and there was a crown. And we used that outline of the cradle, the cross, and the crown to talk to the families about Jesus.

(11:31):
I would sit down with the kids and I would begin to explain the gospel to them, beginning with Jesus in the cradle, then moving to what Jesus accomplished for us at the cross. And then talking about how Jesus is now wearing a crown. I would tell the kids, Jesus became the king of the universe and he wants to be the king of your heart. Have you ever made Jesus the king of your heart? Could we pray together right now and ask Jesus to be the king of your heart? And the results that we saw were absolutely tremendous. We, over the 18 days that we were there, we saw over 733 people come to Jesus just absolutely amazing results. We were there for a total of 18 days. We had 72 hours of ministry. We trained over 250 people in evangelism. We had 4,188 interactions and prayers for people.

(12:44):
And then 733 people prayed wi with us for salvation. 23 people said that they got healed while our prayer partners were praying for them. And so it’s absolutely amazing to think that right here in America, 700 people would get saved through an outreach like that. I mean, that is revival. We see thousands of people get saved in our crusades overseas. But you know, the angels of heaven rejoiced just as much when someone gets saved right here in America. And I’m really encouraged by these results because I’ve been praying for revival in America. I’ve been asking God to show me different ways of reaching out here in America. In many countries we do the big crusades, big festivals, and thousands of people come. The challenge with doing a big crusade or festival here in America is that it’s much more expensive here than it is in Africa or in Haiti.

(13:42):
To do a crusade in Haiti, we could do a crusade and it would cost us maybe 50 cents or a dollar in advertising and renting the sound system and in order to put on the crusade. But here in America, you could do an event and it might take $50, $75 per person in order to get them to come to the event. And I think that’s one of the big challenges that a lot of big ministries have had here in the States, is they do a big event and then no one comes. Part of it is because, uh, people have moved more to online, uh, uh, uh, participation in events. And part of it is just a general apathy among churches in the United States to organize and to get the loss to come to events. And so you kind of have to look for creative ways of reaching people.

(14:36):
And and the last year I’ve really been praying and asking, I say, God, could you please give me a way of reaching out to people here in America? And so this last summer we did the Tulsa State Fair Outreach, and that was 11 days long. We set up a a booth at the Tulsa State Fair with a little platform. And we went out there, we prayed for people all day long. We had hundreds of volunteers who helped us with, uh, free prayer shirts. And from the outreach at the state fair, over 400 people gave their lives to Jesus. And now with this Christmas wonderland, we’ve seen over 700 people come to Jesus. And so I think that there really is a way that we can reach people here in the United States that might look different than what we do in Africa or what we do in Asia, but there is a creative way that we can reach people right here in the United States.

(15:32):
Now, I put together a training video for my prayer partners that I want to play for you. Uh, this can be found on our YouTube channel. And so just go to YouTube and type in, uh, evangelist Daniel King, king ministries and you’ll be able to find our, our YouTube channel. Uh, but I wanna play this for you so you can kind of hear about how we presented the gospel to each person who came to the, the table for prayer. And then this is a really great method for communicating the gospel during Christmas time using this outline of the cradle, the cross in the crown. You can use this, I give it to you. Go ahead, use this outline. And, and it’s a great way to talk to people about Jesus at Christmas time. So let’s go ahead and listen to the instruction on how to present the gospel at the Christmas wonderland. Here we go.

Speaker 5 (16:36):
This is our special Christmas wonderland coloring sheet. And this is going to give us the basic outline that we’re going to use in order to share the gospel. Now maybe you are very experienced at hearing the gospel, and that’s wonderful. Uh, maybe you’ve never had the opportunity to, to really share your faith with someone. Well, we’re gonna make this very easy for you. It’s not hard, it’s gonna be easy. And the outline that we’re going to use to share the gospel this Christmas time is the cradle, the cross, and the crown. These are three pictures from the life of Jesus that can become real in the life of the people that we’re talking to. So let me show you how I might use this outline to share the gospel. You know, we’re here celebrating Christmas time. 2000 years ago. Jesus, the son of God, was born as a baby in Bethlehem.

(17:43):
And that’s why we celebrate Christmas because 2000 years ago, Jesus was born at Christmas time. Now Jesus was the son of God and who came from heaven to earth to set us free from pain, suffering, and sin. The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All, every single one of us have made mistakes. And the Bible says that the price for sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ actually died on across to pay the price for our sins. The Bible says in John three 16, for God so love the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him would not perish, but would have everlasting life. Jesus was the greatest Christmas gift that was ever given. Now, Jesus died on the cross, but he didn’t stay dead.

(18:41):
After three days, Jesus rose from the dead. And now Jesus is the king of the universe. And he wants to be the king of your heart. Do you wanna make Jesus the king of your heart right now? If you want to make Jesus the king of your heart, I wanna lead you in a short prayer and I want you to repeat this prayer after me. And we are going to make Jesus the one who came at Christmas time 2000 years ago. He’s going to come and live in your heart. Let’s pray together. Just say this with me. Say, dear God in heaven, I cry out to Jesus. Jesus save me. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. Tonight I repent of everything and I give my life to Jesus. I believe Jesus rose from the death. And right now I invite Jesus to be the king of my heart.

(19:45):
Jesus name, I pray. Amen. So sharing the gospel really is very simple. We just used the cradle, the cross in the crown. Jesus was born 2000 years ago. That’s the reason we celebrate Christmas. Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for ars sin, but he didn’t stay dead. After three days, Jesus rose from the dead, and now he’s the king of the universe. And Jesus wants to be the king of your heart. That’s the basic outline. And you can just make it very simple. Just give each person the opportunity to pray, to accept Jesus, to be their Lord and Savior. And I encourage you to be bold and say, would you pray with me tonight? Would you like Christmas to be real for your family? And take them by the hand and lead them in the prayer. Tell the kids, say, Hey kids, save this prayer with me.

(20:44):
Let’s all pray together. Let’s make Jesus the king of our hearts. Now if you have more time and the family looks like they’re interesting, you can read more scriptures to them, you can expand upon this basic gospel outline. You know, there’s a three different scriptures that we put on the front of this page. There’s a whole outline of the story of Christmas here on the back. And you could go through that entire thing. You could even put in some of your own scriptures and your own ways of communicating the gospel. But I’d encourage you become proficient at just sharing this very basic, simple outline of the gospel, the cradle, the cross, and the crown. And if you’ll just use those as your outline, your three hooks that you’re gonna hang your whole message on that will make it really easy for you to remember and it will make it really easy for you to communicate.

(21:41):
Thank you so much for helping us to minister to these families that are coming here this Christmas time. You know, I believe that through this outreach we’re gonna see hundreds and even thousands of people give their life to Jesus. And the Bible says that all of heaven rejoices when one sinner repents. And so as you leave people to Jesus, I want you to celebrate together. Let’s celebrate all of these people whose lives are being changed by the power of Jesus Christ. Now that is really a reason to celebrate this Christmas time. So thank you for helping us to minister to all of these family. God bless you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:36):
So I would encourage you to use the cradle, the cross, and the crown as an outline to visualize the gospel as you present it to people. It’ll work from the youngest all the way up to the oldest. And it kind of gives you an idea of how to present the gospel. Now, one of the greatest fruits from this evangelistic event was the opportunity to train people in how to share their faith. We had lots of Bible school students from Victory College from Rhema, from Oral Roberts University. We had parents, we had homeschool groups, we had people that traveled from far, far away in order to come and participate in this outreach. And each one, we were able to train them in how to share their faith. And for many of them, they had never had the opportunity to tell someone about Jesus before or to actually lead someone to the Lord. And they were so excited. Uh, one, uh, young lady, she had tears in her eyes when she came to me and said, I just led someone to the Lord for the first time in my life. And there’s so much joy that comes when someone has that opportunity. And so I asked some of them for their testimonies. And the first testimony I would like to let you listen to is from a young student from Germany. Her name is Anna. Let’s listen to what she had to say about the experience.

Anna (24:12):
Hi, my name is Anna and I’m at the Christmas Wonderland. Right now I’m a victory college student and I’m actually from Germany and I’m right now here with Daniel King. And he taught us to pray for people how to pray for people and how to tell people the gospel. And actually when I came here, I, I was kind of excited, but the same time I was kind of afraid because there were so many kids and I, I thought I was not that good with kids, but I found out I’m actually pretty good with kids. And I had a lot of fun praying with the kids and tell me because the gospel. And we were able to provide so many families with, uh, presents and just tell so many kids about Jesus who never heard about Jesus or didn’t really know who Jesus is and what Christmas is really about. And yeah, I just had a really good time here.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:54):
The next experience I want you to hear about is from a young man named Boen.

Boden (25:00):
Hi, my name is Boden and I’m a Victory College student. I, uh, we actually had the opportunity to come serve at the Christmas wonderland through our college. They, uh, gave us, uh, they told us about this opportunity and it was actually for, uh, could actually get a credit for, uh, assignment. So I thought, I’ll just try that. And I really didn’t know what to expect and I thought, eh, I, I really didn’t expect much even when I got here. But Danielle King taught us how to talk to people about Jesus here. But after I had stayed here, after I’d been here maybe about an hour or so, I really had noticed that I had become more comfortable with talking to people, which something I’m not usual, not usually a big fan of. So it’s definitely made me, um, more comfortable talking to people and definitely sharing the gospel cuz that’s not something I’ve really ever done before. So it’s just, um, actually make me, um, grow with some of my friends here at this. So I had a really good time too.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:54):
One more great testimony came from a young lady named Hannah. Let’s see what she has to say.

Hannah (26:00):
Hi, my name is Hannah. I’m here with Victory College here at the Christmas Wonderland. And I was able to, when I first came here, I had no experience in praying. This was my very first time to like actually pray with people about like Jesus and accept them into their hearts. And I first came here, Dan King made it very easy and very simple, and taught us how to pray with the kids and pray with the parents and just, just bless them all. And, um, one testimony that I have from tonight, um, this lady came up to me and she had just banged her hand. And so I was able to pray for healing over her hand. And I don’t know if it got healed or not, but I pray in Jesus name that it does. Thank you very much,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (26:42):
<laugh>. Ultimately, we rejoice in all the people whose lives were impacted by the gospel. Thank God for all the people who were saved. And also thank God for all the people that we got to pray for. You know, people face so many difficult conditions in their lives, so many different issues and problems that people are facing. But at the Christmas Wonder Line, we had the opportunity to meet them at the point of their need to ask them, what do you need? Then for those who needed Christmas presents, we were able to give Christmas presents to them. The ministry city Serve was also able to give furniture away to families that maybe needed a kitchen table or a couch in their house. And so it really had a real impact on people’s lives. One last testimonial came from Angie Hinshaw. She helped organize everything and let’s hear what she said about the impact of this amazing outreach.

Angi Henshaw (27:46):
Hi, my name is Angie Henshaw. I’m with Christmas Wonderland. We just wrapped our 18th night. We are so excited. Over 700 people gave their lives to Christ. It was a powerful night, uh, or this whole, uh, last 18 days. We’ve had a wonderful time loving on thousands of families from across the Oklahoma area. Um, I reached out to Daniel King through his wife Jessica, wonderful friend of mine, and just asked if he could help us in our ministry area, uh, to pray over families, love on families, and connect them to faith-based churches all across the city that could connect them to a wonderful community. They of course, said yes, we’re in, and here we are, December 18th, with over 700 people that have accepted Christ. So it’s been a wonderful event. We are so excited for all the souls that have now come into the kingdom, and we’re so grateful for the King family for joining us on this powerful, powerful event. Thank you guys.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (28:44):
As you listen to this episode of The Evangelism Podcast today, I really hope that the Holy Spirit is inspiring creative ideas in you to reach people for Jesus. You know, there’s many different methods that are effective for bringing people to Jesus. There’s not one method that’s right, and all the other methods are wrong, but if God can use Santa Claus and a lot of decorations for Christmas to bring someone to him, then I think all of the heavens rejoice when someone gets saved. And so I’d encourage you to kind of use this episode to think about creative ways that you can share the gospel. How can you reach out to people? What are some different seasons throughout the year where people’s hearts would be open to having an outreach where you could inspire churches to get involved in an outreach? You know, there is a way for you to lead more people to Jesus.

(29:45):
And I pray that the Holy Spirit would show you exactly the right way to fit your circumstances in your situation. Let me pray for you. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for my friend who’s listening right now. I pray that you would inspire them to lead many people to you, that you would use them to bring many into the kingdom of God. In Jesus’ name, amen. Recently I launched an online training course to help people to learn more about evangelism. And so I’m gonna play, uh, short advertisement for that training school. And if you want to be trained more and how to reach people for the gospel, then maybe this evangelism training school is for you. Let’s listen.

School of Evangelism (30:31):
Are you called by God to be an evangelist? Do you wanna lead millions of people to Jesus? Do you desire to be trained in the practical side of building a ministry? Then check out the Daniel King’s School of Evangelism. Learn how to be an effective evangelist from Dr. Daniel King’s 20 plus years of experience. Daniel King has done crusades all over the world in over 70 nations and has seen over 2 million people give their lives to Jesus. But it wasn’t easy. There was no crusade school. So Daniel traveled the world learning from an observing top evangelists noticing how they successfully won souls for Christ. Now he wants to share decades of knowledge and experience with you. Topics of the Daniel King School of Evangelism include what is an evangelist, how to be a master soul winner, how to give an ultra call, how to organize a crusade, how to raise money for your ministry, and much more. If you wanna be an evangelist but don’t know where to start, the Daniel King School of Evangelism is for you. Enroll today in the School of Evangelism by going to Daniel King ministries.com/evangelism.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (31:33):
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 (32:53):
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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What’s the Difference Between Evangelism and Discipleship?

Two words that are often used in Christianity are evangelism and discipleship. Some use these two words interchangeably, but they are actually two different things. Let’s take a look at what each of them is and how they are different.

What is Evangelism?

Evangelism is the act of spreading the Gospel. It is telling people about who Jesus is and giving them a chance to respond to the Gospel by speaking with them and communicating God’s love to them.

Evangelism tends to be the start of someone’s journey in their faith. Through evangelism, many will come to hear the Gospel, some even for the first time, and either believe and want to know more, or continue on their way.

Whether we realize it or not, all Christians have been evangelized in some way. Whether it was a friend who told you about Jesus and the Bible, or you heard it on the street, that still is evangelism. It is simply the spreading of the Gospel message.

What is Discipleship?

Discipleship takes evangelism a step further by taking someone who has been evangelized and now teaching them what it means to be a Christian.

The word ‘disciple’ means to be a follower or a student of some kind of philosophy or way of living. Think about the disciples in the Bible. They spent endless time with Jesus, learning from Him, hearing Him teach and adopting His ways in their own lives.

Another word for discipleship could even be mentoring. To disciple someone is to take them under your wing and live life with them, supporting them and building them up to be more mature in their faith.

Discipleship is, in fact, the great commission that all followers of Jesus were given when Jesus ascended into heaven:

“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Discipleship was the final command that we were given by Jesus. It is to go and build people up in Christ to be strong believers and followers of Jesus, observing all that Jesus commanded us.

How Do Evangelism and Discipleship Relate to One Another?

You could say that discipleship starts with evangelism. If someone were to come to Christ and then begin to learn what it means to be a Christ-follower from someone else, they would first be evangelized to accept the Gospel, and then begin to be discipled.

The reason why this is important becomes clear when we look at most churches today. Many churches today have nailed what it looks like to evangelize and bring people the Gospel. They’re having events where they preach the Gospel and they’re getting out into the community to witness to people and share their faith with others. However, many are missing out on the discipleship part.

This would be the equivalent of getting someone excited and interested in flying a plane but never teaching them how to fly. When they get behind the controls and get off the ground, when the storms come and they enter a cloud, they’ll, unfortunately, crash and burn.

This is what happens when we evangelize but don’t disciple. We are giving people new life by spreading the Gospel and getting them excited about following Jesus, but we aren’t teaching them how to actually do so. Instead, what often happens is that churches move on to the next evangelism event without discipling and helping those who were evangelized at the previous event.

This often creates a lot of confusion and doubt in many new believers’ minds as to their decision. Some may think that they just had to initially believe and can now go back to living the same way they were living before. Others may have doubt about the validity of the Gospel since they aren’t being helped to understand what to do next. When it comes to evangelism and discipleship, you simply cannot have one without the other.

So, let us get out and share our faith, but let us also disciple those who are learning and build one another up to be mature believers in Christ. Then those disciples can go and evangelize and disciple others, building the Kingdom as it was always meant to happen.

ABOUT DANIEL KING

Evangelist Daniel King, D.Min is on a mission to lead people to Jesus. He has visited over seventy nations preaching good news and he has led over two million people in a salvation prayer. He is often called “The Evangelism Coach.” To support King Ministries in our quest for souls, click here!

What is the Gospel?

What is the Gospel? Especially in Christian spaces, this word gets thrown around quite a bit. However, there are many who don’t actually know what the word Gospel means. Does it simply refer to gospel music, or is it something much bigger? In reality, the Gospel is the greatest story ever told. The best part about the Gospel is that it’s true and has massive implications for your life.

The Gospel starts where all great stories start – in the beginning. According to the Bible, God created the heavens and the earth and as He created everything on the earth, He created humans in a different way than He created everything else. He created Adam and Eve in His image and commissioned them with the job to multiply, fill the earth, and rule over it. However, He had one limitation. They were not allowed to eat from one specific tree in the garden where they lived; this was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

However, they ate from the tree, regardless of what God told them, after being tempted by a serpent. Since they had disobeyed God and rebelled against their Creator, their eyes were open to the shame and guilt that came along with that act. The Bible calls this sin. Anything that goes against God and His prescriptions for humanity is classified as sin.

The thing about sin is that it is self-destructive. Our sinful tendencies have the power to destroy us because as we rebel more and more against what God has designed for us, we become more and more messed up. All you have to do to know that this is true is look around you at the world that we’re living in today.

With sin came death and other consequences, but God gave them hope that one day, a human would save humanity from sin once and for all and would crush the head of the serpent that had tempted them to sin in the first place.

The rest of the Old Testament in the Bible tells of how despite their sin, God desires to partner with humanity to redeem and restore His creation to its perfect state. However, this never really sees its completion because of the sinful nature of the people God chooses to partner with. Despite their acts of faith, they still are riddled with sin and make mistakes, rebelling against the One who created them.

Finally, the story comes to the New Testament. God has been silent for 400 years and the people are still waiting for the One who was promised all the way back in the beginning. Someone is still supposed to come and save them from sin and death once and for all.

At this time, a baby is born named Jesus who grows up to be a great teacher and leader in His community. However, He also claims to be the Son of God and the Messiah, the One who was supposed to save humanity from sin and death. Despite the many signs and wonders that Jesus displayed that showed He was who He said He was, the Jews still didn’t believe Him and desired to kill Him for blaspheming against God.

So, they arrested Him, put Him on trial, and crucified Him, all while mocking Him, spitting on Him, and ridiculing Him for His claims. However, this was all part of God’s plan. What was special about Jesus’ life is that He never sinned. He never rebelled against His Creator and in doing so, His death provided the perfect sacrifice that was needed to atone for the sins of the world.

Through Jesus’ death on the cross, God was able to forgive the sins of all humanity once and for all. Yet the story didn’t end there. Three days after being killed and buried, Jesus was resurrected. He not only conquered sin, but He conquered death as well and paved the way for us to also have life not only now, but for eternity.

What Jesus did by dying and rising again is the true story of the Gospel. The Bible says that when we know and understand what Jesus did and have belief and faith that what He did was true, we can be saved. We can be saved from our sin and from death, and we can be granted life by the blood of Jesus for now and for eternity. No longer do we have to suffer or fear judgment by God. Instead, we can bask in the glorious life that Jesus brings and spend eternity in His presence.

That is the miraculous story of the Gospel.

ABOUT DANIEL KING

Evangelist Daniel King, D.Min is on a mission to lead people to Jesus. He has visited over seventy nations preaching good news and he has led over two million people in a salvation prayer. He is often called “The Evangelism Coach.” Daniel loves helping churches grow, and inspiring believers to share their faith with the lost. To support King Ministries in our quest for souls, click here!

What is Evangelism?

Evangelism is a big word and frequently people do not know what the word means. In the Christian space, we often use big words that can be difficult to actually understand in their entirety. Words like sanctification, justification, or propitiation aren’t exactly used in our everyday language, but they are important to understand as they relate to Christianity. We’re going to be taking a look at one of these words and see what it truly means in the context of our Christian lives. So, what is evangelism?

Evangelism is Spreading Good News About Jesus

Evangelism, at its core, is the act of spreading the gospel or the good news of Jesus Christ. The gospel is the message that our self-destructive sin separates us from God and that in order for us to be reconciled back to God, Jesus, the Son of God, was born as a human, lived a perfect life for 33 years on this earth, and died on a cross to take the punishment for our sins. Three days later, He rose again from the grave, defeating death, and paving a path for us to also have divine life for eternity through Him.

Evangelism is communicating this good news to others. Since this is good news and it has the power to save people’s souls, we shouldn’t keep it a secret. In fact, Jesus, before He ascended back to heaven, gave us a mission to take this message to the entire world so that everyone might have life. Technically, He was charging us to evangelize to the entire world.

Interestingly enough, you may notice that within the word ‘evangelism’ is the word ‘angel’. Whether this was intentional or not, it adds another layer of understanding to the word since in the Bible, angels act as God’s messengers. Throughout the Bible, we see many instances of God sending a message to certain humans through an angel. Similarly, we now act as God’s messengers for the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to go to people and deliver God’s message of truth, grace, and abundant life for now and all eternity.

Is Everyone Called to Evangelize?

Some people may wonder if evangelism is a must or if only certain people are called to evangelize. After all, many people are extroverted and enjoy talking to people. Others are introverted and prefer not to go and talk to strangers about such issues as religion and beliefs about eternity. So, is everyone called to evangelize?

The answer is… yes! Everyone is called to evangelize, whether you’re introverted or extroverted. When Jesus left this earth, He commissioned all His disciples to go and spread the message of His gospel to the ends of the earth. However, He didn’t leave them without some help. He also sent the Holy Spirit to assist them in their mission and to guide them into all truth.

If you are uncomfortable with evangelizing or sharing the gospel with people, remember that you aren’t alone. If you are a born-again true believer of Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit inside of you who is called the Helper for a very good reason. In our times of need, He gives us the right words to say to bring people to God. You don’t have to rely on your own personality or knowledge when you evangelize because God is right there with you through His Spirit. He will take care of you and help you when you need it.

What we also must understand is that the call to spread the gospel is not one that should be undertaken merely out of duty, but out of love for people. Jesus said that the most important commandments are to love God and love people. Sharing the gospel and evangelizing is a way of loving people. In fact, it is the best way that we can possibly love people.

If the gospel is true and Jesus is the only way to true and eternal life for now and all eternity, shouldn’t we want to communicate that truth to people out of love? Evangelizing is the highest form of love to others because it is, in effect, an attempt to save their soul by the power of Christ.

So, don’t think of evangelism as something you have to do. Think of it as something that you get to do. Take time to thank God for partnering with you in His plans to reconcile and redeem humanity to Himself. Rely on the Holy Spirit as you evangelize and in your obedience, God will help you and protect you as you are communicating His message to the rest of the world.

ABOUT DANIEL KING

Wild Expectance | Bryan Citrin

Bryan Citrin wrote the book, Wild Expectance: which explains how to Start Living Your Life How God Designed It. On today’s episode of the Evangelism Podcast, we’re going to discover how to activate the power of wild expectance in your life.

Get your copy of Wild Expectance today:

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Bryan Citrin wrote the book, Wild Expectance: which explains how to Start Living Your Life How God Designed It. On today’s episode of the Evangelism Podcast, we’re going to discover how to activate the power of wild expectance in your life.

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 (00:56):
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, Bryan Citrin. He is the author of a brand new book, which hasn’t even hit the market yet, but you are going to want to get a copy of this book, it’s called Wild Expectance. Bryan Citrin, thank you for being with me today.

Bryan Citrin (01:18):
Thanks so much, Daniel. I’m excited to be here.

(01:21):
All right, so Brian, you’ve been writing this book and I’ve actually been talking to you about it, and we’ve been doing all kinds of things, getting ready for the, the publishing of this book. Um, kind of talk to me about how God put this book in your heart.

(01:38):
So I feel like, you know, God has been dealing with me for a long time just to write down crazy wild God stories for my life, because my life is anything but typical. You know, I was living in Los Angeles for 12 years doing campus ministry at ucla and then usc I was taking countless trips to Haiti. I’ve been there 28 times, six mission trips to Vietnam, but also alongside of all my mission work that I was doing, I was running a business. And I remember I was speaking at this marketing conference for chiropractors, actually, and I was talking to ’em about marketing, and I thought God really strongly convicted me that I have so much more in me than just talking about how to run a marketing for a doctor. And, uh, and I had all these crazy, wild stories in my heart that I knew God wanted me to get out into the world. And, uh, you, within 30 days, I started writing the book in its official

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:34):
Capacity. And so you talk about lots of crazy God’s stories in this book. And of course, everyone who is serving God, they want to experience everything that God has for them. What can your reader get if they read this book?

Bryan Citrin (02:52):
Well, number one, they’re gonna have greater vision for the life because God has such a powerful plan for each and every one of us. But many times when we look on television, maybe we see the, the famous evangelist, the famous pastor, they’re speaking and they’re preaching, and you say, well, maybe God has a big plan for them, but not for me. Uh, maybe God has a big plan for that entrepreneur, but not for me. And it’s really to elevate people’s vision for the life, but then also provide a very practical tools, how each and every person can hear from God for themselves in their everyday life. And then by stepping out in God’s leading that we can enter into wild, crazy adventures that you couldn’t even fathom that God already has prepared for us, that we just have to learn to hear his voice and step out into them.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:33):
Now, you’ve done a lot of missionary work in the nation of Haiti. How many times have you been to Haiti?

Bryan Citrin (03:39):
28 times.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:40):
28 times ministering to the people in Haiti. And Haiti is a crazy country to minister in. And then you’ve also been to Vietnam, which is one of the communist countries that’s still left over from the days of Communist empire. And and how many times have you been to Vietnam? Six

Bryan Citrin (03:59):
Times.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:59):
And, and so you’ve been pouring your life out on the mission field. You’ve been serving God on the college campus here in the United States, going to Haiti, helping the poor kids down there, going to Vietnam, preaching the gospel there. Uh, and you’ve also been an entrepreneur, so you’ve been building business in order to fund the vision and the mission that, that God has for you. And so tell me some of these crazy stories. Give me one that was just absolutely wild that God did in your life.

Bryan Citrin (04:35):
I think one of my favorite stories was when Mc Hammer drove me home after the American Music Awards,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:41):
MC Hammer, the the famous American musician. Yes. All right. And, and so he drove you home from the Music awards. How did that happen?

Bryan Citrin (04:50):
Well, it, it was, it was a crazy series of events. There was like 20 things that had to happen that that built up to him actually driving me home. Um, but more importantly than that though, was what happened after he drove me home. I’d never met Mc Ham before, and, um, God somehow got us into the after party of the American Music Awards. And, um, but even before that, um, I was gifted, um, two VIP tickets to the American Music Awards. And then, so I got into the show, and then somehow I got into the after party because we met somebody sitting in front of us at the show that that got us into it. And through that process, I met Eny Hammer at the after party, and my, my friend had left that I rode with over to the, uh, the award show. And, uh, me, Andy Hammer happened to have a mutual acquaintance.

(05:36):
Um, and in that process, I, um, I was hanging out with him and, uh, and then as the night kind of wound up, uh, I need a ride home. And I asked him if, if I could catch a ride back with him to the area which I lived at, because I knew he was staying near where I lived at, and he allowed me to ride with him. So praise God, he didn’t leave me hanging in, uh, two miles from Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. And, um, but then after that evening, I remember I was walking, um, to go get some tacos. Actually, there was a late night taco truck that’s kind of near where I lived at, and I was just walking to get some tacos just reflecting upon how crazy that night was. And these 20 things that happened that resulted in McHam drive me back.

(06:22):
And as I was doing that, I passed somebody and I felt like God wanted me to minister this man and even give him, um, some of the money they had in my wallet and to help him. And I did. And in that process, I was not only able to pray for him to rededicate his life to the Lord, but he actually, uh, received the Holy Spirit, and it was powerful. And as I was reflecting on the night, I heard the voice of God, um, very clearly speak to me. And he told me that was nothing compared to all those things that had to happen for empty hammers driving home.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:55):
So you had to have 20 coincidental things that happened over the course of a night in order for you to have this absolutely amazing experience that anybody would’ve loved to have. And you know, we might look at it and think that it’s a coincidence, but your hypothesis is that God is actually behind these so-called coincidences and he’s actually doing miracles on your behalf. And, and it’s because you have tremendous faith in God in what you term wild expectance. Is that, is

Bryan Citrin (07:31):
That right? Absolutely. Absolutely.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:34):
And so, talk to me about how your readers will be able to activate wild expectants in their own lives so they get to meet cool people and do cool things.

Bryan Citrin (07:44):
Well, even before that, I think it’s important for the, the listeners to, um, the really glean, you know what? God spoke to me as I was, I was walking back, uh, after I administered that man. God said that was nothing compared to all those things that had to happen for mc a to drive me home. But then he said, but that, that was something that was nothing, but that, that was something, me taking time out the minister to this guy, you know, on my way to the taco truck, you know, give him some money and pray with him and God’s eyes. That was the most important thing, way more important than those 20 other things that had to happen for that night to line up. And, and what that means is like God cares about those around us. God cares about us taking the time out and, and here is still small voice and minister to the those, to our left, those store.

(08:35):
Right? Maybe it’s, you’re going to the grocery store, maybe it’s on your way to work or whatever, God’s, God’s guiding us. And as you begin to hear God’s still small voice. I’m not saying that he’s actually speaking to you in a very loud, booming voice, but it may be a very thank thought. But as you learn to hear God through his still small voice, as you learn to hear those faint thoughts as you learned to hear that and step out on it, then God’s gonna start entrusting you with more and more and more. And because I was able to, to hear the voice of God, I was able to hear him as he was guiding me in the, for that whole night to, to play out. But maybe just maybe that whole night played out the way it, it was supposed to like that just so I could minister that guy, um, afterwards. And a, a mentor of mine once said to me that the voice of God can come as a sudden awareness followed by unique conviction. I’m gonna say that again. The voice of God can come as a sudden awareness followed by a unique conviction. And so maybe you have that sudden thought and that sudden thought that sudden awareness is actually God’s speaking to you. And if you step out on that thought, it’ll transform your life forever.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:52):
Now, another story that you tell in this book I really like because it, uh, features Daniel King, who’s a famous evangelist who goes all over the world telling people about Jesus. That’s me. You actually have a story in here about, uh, about me on page 1 73. So I’m, I’m pretty excited to, to get a story in your book. But, uh, tell me about that story and how that, uh, unique coincidence happened.

Bryan Citrin (10:19):
So that was a great story. I was in the jungle of Haiti, um, and I was preparing for a message. I was actually gonna be talking on the Holy Spirit. And as I prepared the talk in the Holy Spirit, you came to mind. I just got down to watching a podcast, um, from another prominent evangelist. Um, and they’re talking about their school evangelism. And as I was watching this podcast praying about, um, how I should, you know, you know, preach on this topic, you came to mind. So I texted you and you just happened to be coincidentally in the middle of speaking for that school that that other person was talking about. So literally, like I’m in the middle of, of Haiti. I’m watching, I’m watching like a video, and then they’re talking about their school evangelism. And then I text you and you’re like getting ready to speak for them. And then you were able to share some of your, um, some of your methodology, whatever you’re preaching on the Holy Spirit.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:16):
Yeah, I remember that you were planning to speak on the Holy Spirit that night, and, uh, you asked me about my best sermon on the Holy Spirit. And so I shared it with you, and now it became your best sermon on the Holy Spirit. Yeah. And so I freely give my sermons away. You can have it and anything you can do to bring people to Jesus or the Holy Spirit.

Bryan Citrin (11:34):
And now that sermon’s in this book,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:36):
And now it’s in the book, and so now people all over the world are gonna hear it. All right? So your goal is to turn this book into a New York Times bestseller, and that’s something that God has put in your heart. And so you are actually doing a, a major launch where the book will be released. What day will the book be released?

Bryan Citrin (11:59):
February 21st, 2023.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:00):
Okay. So February 21st, 2023. So it’s not even out yet, but it’s already up on Amazon and people can pre-order it. Yep. They can go into their local Barnes and Nobles like their local bookstore, and they can pre-order it.

Bryan Citrin (12:15):
Uh, I sure hope so. We’re trying to get ’em in there.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:17):
We’re we’re getting them in there. And if people will go and ask, of course they will be yes in there. And, and so this book, uh, I’d encourage you go on Amazon and look for Wild Expectants by Brian Ciran, and you can pre-order the book, and then as soon as the release date comes, it’s going to be shipped to you. It’s gonna be a beautiful hardcover book, one that you’re going to love having on your bookshelf, uh, is gonna make you look smart if you have this book on your bookshelf. And, uh, I encourage you to read it because you will be able to activate God’s wild expectance in your life. And, uh, Brian, you come with so much experience on the mission field ministering here in the United States on, on college campuses and just raw faith. Another thing that you’re doing is launching a new non-profit. Tell tell me about the name of your non-profit and what that’s gonna be. It’s

Bryan Citrin (13:14):
Called Ministry Funding.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:15):
Ministry Funding. And so this is going to be a nonprofit specifically designed to raise funding to put into evangelism into world missions. Is that right?

Bryan Citrin (13:25):
That’s absolutely correct.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:26):
And I’m very excited about that. Um, you know, it’s just so neat seeing how God is, is increasing your influence and bringing new relationships into your life. Uh, I’ve actually been friends with Brian for, for quite a few years now. And, and it’s neat how God takes us from glory to glory to glory. And so just recently, uh, you got engaged to a beautiful girl. Tell tell us about that.

Bryan Citrin (13:54):
Yeah, so the secret for all those who are watching or listening that, uh, are single is write a book that’s the secret. Um, and so in the pro writing a book, I, uh, I sent it over to a, a close friend of my cousins and close friend of my cousins. I asked her to read the book because I wanted her perspective on it, because I know women read books more men. And so I wanted to make sure it had good female appeal. I didn’t know in that process that we were gonna fall in love. And so the secret is write a book and be blatantly honest and be very, very truthful about who you are and you will attract, um, who you are.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:30):
Okay? So I’m not promising that you, if you buy this book, you’ll find a spouse, but it’s a possibility. It is a possibility. Uh, if you activate this principle of wild expends in your life, uh, you may find the person that God’s calling you to marry. And so the, the girl that you propose to, uh, Chelsea Perry, she is a girl that I went tou with. She, we were, were in Greek class together, and her parents pastor, a wonderful church over in St. Louis. And she’s a a powerful woman of faith, and you’re a, a man of great faith. I think that once you guys get married, it’s going to be absolutely amazing, uh, what God’s gonna do through you. You’re gonna be a powerhouse couple. All right, so tell your listeners, uh, if they want to get the Wild Expectance book, how can they get it?

Bryan Citrin (15:23):
So if you actually go to wild expectance.com and pre-order it on there as opposed to Amazon, you can get the PDF today.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:29):
Oh, you can get the pdf? Yeah,

Bryan Citrin (15:31):
You can. So if you buy, if you get the hard back actually on my website, as opposed on Amazon, you actually will get the hard back, which will come out in February, but then you’ll get the PDF immediately and you can start reading it, um, tonight. All

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:45):
Right. So go to wild expectance.com and get yourself a copy. Brian, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism Podcast. I appreciate

Bryan Citrin (15:53):
It. Hey, thanks so much for having me on

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:55):
Here. 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 (17:15):
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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Brigada Today | Hacks for Great Commission Christians

Doug Lucas edits the Brigade Today website and e-mail list. The goal is Brigade is to identify and promote resources and people that can help Christians fulfill the Great Commission. If you are involved in telling people about Jesus internationally, you will benefit every time the Brigade e-mail hits your inbox.

Subscribe to Brigade today: https://brigada.org/

Read more about Doug Lucas and his mission work: https://teamexpansion.org/

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Doug Lucas co-edits the Brigada Today website and email list. The goal of Brigada is to identify and promote resources and people that can help Christians fulfill the great commission. If you are involved in telling people about Jesus internationally, you will benefit every time the Brigada email hits your inbox.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:36):
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 evangelist, Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:01):
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, Doug Lucas, thank you so much for joining me on the Evangelism Podcast.

Doug Lucas (01:14):
It’s an honor to be here, Daniel. Thanks

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:16):
Brother Doug. For many years I’ve been receiving emails in my inbox.

Doug Lucas (01:23):
I’m so sorry from, please forgive me,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:26):
Brigada… these emails are full of very important resources for missionaries, for people involved in missions, for people who have a passion for the Great Commission. Tell me a little bit about Brigada and, and what the focus of these emails are.

Doug Lucas (01:49):
Sure. I was serving as a worker in the, what we would now call the former Soviet Union, uh, back in 1991. And I would see these, uh, refugees that would come in from Central Asia building homes and the place to which they were returning. And when they did, so they would work as a team, as a unit, and they would even pass the buckets of concrete or whatever to more the foundations in a kind of a brigade form and in the language that they were using. The word was, uh, briga and it stuck with me that they were, they were doing a kind of a bucket brigade. It all worked together toward this common cause. And when I came back, uh, shortly afterward, I was asked to lead the run up to a big missions convention that was trying to create a lot of, uh, momentum toward finishing the task of world evangelization. And it, uh, it led me to, to kind of think about doing that together across churches, across streams, across orgs. And so I propose, well, why don’t we start, uh, this conversation between each other, uh, maybe just a weekly, uh, some kind of weekly thing that could bring us together. And we got really good, uh, reinforcement from a ton of other people in several circles and started up in 1995, uh, with that idea. And it’s been weekly ever since Daniel, and that’s where we got the name Brigada.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:12):
So if someone is a missionary or passionate about world evangelism, who wants to be involved in the Great Commission, why should they go and sign up to receive emails from you? What, what are some of the benefits that they would receive?

Doug Lucas (03:40):
Brigada. It’s a, an eclectic, uh, collection of resources for people that are both goers and also sins for people who are active in cross-cultural work overseas, as well as those who are advocating and praying for the great commission to be accomplished in sending countries. And so I think that they could, they could end up liking it because out of every week’s, uh, version, hopefully they’ll take away at least one new resource or conference or some kind of, uh, uh, you know, app or idea or trend, maybe some new piece of information that they can get. And it’s, it’s a free resource at the end of each year. We ask folks, uh, if they wanna participate by, by pitching in on the expenses, and we raise just exactly the expenses we need, and we don’t take any extra money. Uh, if people gave money, I, I suppose we need to return it or put it toward the next year, but that’s never happened beyond the minimal expenses that are need just to run it. And it’s always, uh, it’s always been a lot of fun. It’s been going weekly since, uh, January 95. People have told me before that it might be the longest weekly easing on the internet of any kind. I don’t know if that’s true, but some people told me that.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:59):
Well, I’m really impressed with all the work that you put into this and how much you’ve helped so many different people that are involved in the Great Commission. I really like what you, you say that it, these are hacks for the Great Commission. And so let’s talk about like some of the different hacks that you’ve put out in the last year or so. What are some of the different features and articles that would really help missionaries? Uh, more recently,

Doug Lucas (05:28):
Some of the, some of the ways that Brigada is sort of different than maybe another typical eine is that one of the things we do is we throw out a sample of something that we found that works, and then we say, have you found something better in this particular genre? So we might throw out an example of, say, a website that short-term teams can use as a way to build their momentum before they go and, uh, you know, have you found something better? Well, the next Brigada user might comment, yeah, but this one lets them raise funds. And the funding goes through the, through the, through the website, and they only charge 2% for the funding. And then the next guy gets on and says, this one lets them raise funds and it’s one and a half percent plus, they also do newsletters. The people are sitting.

(06:17):
And so what you get is this kind of aggregated set of knowledge about particular genre. And we’ve done things about, for example, travel agents and travel services. We’ve done, uh, trip cancellation insurance policies, which ones are the best we’ve done, uh, what are the best ways to start new churches and multiply groups and multiply disciples, and where’s the best place to learn about that? And what’s the best book about it that you could read? Um, what’s a, an agency that helps you raise support and trains you how to raise support as a missionary? Well, what’s an agency that trains the people that train people to raise support? You know, all the, all the apps and the services for not only the kind of retail goers, but also kind of the wholesale ciders that operate at the, at the cinder level. We have a lot of folks who are very popular in the Misso Nexus world and the, the world of finishing the task and the world of, of, uh, Bible translation and a lot of folks that are kind of out of the old days of what we used to call the Association of Church Missions Committees.

(07:37):
We have a lot of local churches involved and a lot of international people. At one time, I think a guy did a survey about 10 or 15 years ago and found that half of regatta’s readership are international workers in places like Europe and Africa and Asia, Australia, New Zealand, all around the world, since it’s a lot of fun and it’s kind of a global stream that says, let’s get this done.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:59):
Well, if you’re listening and you have a heart for missions, I’d encourage you to go to brita.org and sign up today. And you can also look at past archives of recommendations for various services that are really beneficial that, that missionaries need to know about. It is very important to, to know best practices and which websites and which apps are the best ones to work with. And there’s no time for one person to keep up with everything. But through Brita, you can have recommendations from a wide variety of people who are out there in the field working. And so that’s, that’s it: www.Brigada.org. Now, Mr. Doug, you are very involved yourself in the great commission and leading people to Jesus, uh, through, uh, your, your ministry team expansion, uh, which can be be found TeamExpansion.org. Could you tell us some about the, the overall vision and, and, and mission of, of what you’re doing? Buratta is just one part of that, but, but talk to me about, uh, what you’ve been doing, uh, around the world for so long.

Doug Lucas (09:10):
Thanks. Thanks, Daniel. Brigada is kind of like crowdsourcing missions information and trends and resources, but that, that, that’s not how I’m paid. You know, my day job is actually to work at team expansion where I serve as a president. We have about 400 full-timers in 50 countries. And what we all do is try to make and multiply disciples and churches among unreached people. So when I try to write Brigada , um, I’m writing as a practitioner myself rather than as some marketing person that’s trying to start some website that I can someday develop into a full-time gig. I have no, you know, designs at all to try to do websites full-time. It’s kind of moonlighting on the side to try to share kind of one beggar telling another beggar where to Find Bread. Team Expansion is a mission organization in its own right. That started in 1978 in a little prayer meeting in a, in a dorm room.

(10:06):
And we all signed our names by different countries on the map. And, and, uh, the rest is history. I started out at the lawyer’s office from day one as the, as the president has somehow gotten stuck with the job ever since. And I’m always willing to hand it off to anybody else that wants it, but nobody else has wanted it yet. And we keep growing and we keep, uh, learning. Most of our workers are involved in simple practices that reproduce. We don’t have large, for the most part, large institutions and, and big properties. Were just simple reproducing disciple making movement strategies in, uh, unreached areas. So mostly among Muslims, Hindus, Buddhist, atheists, animus, those are the places where we work. We’re based with the Louisville, Kentucky have a little 61 acre campus here where we, uh, spend time praying and, and do retreats and training people to be able to go in the missions is what we do.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:04):
You have a tremendous focus on reaching on reach people groups and reaching every tribe, nation people with the gospel. What are some of the, the things that you’re finding are most effective at reaching into sometimes very difficult areas to, to talk to people about Jesus?

Doug Lucas (11:26):
You know, Daniel, the thing that’s helped us the most is just simply embracing the tools, the practices, the strategies of disciple making movement, uh, strategy. So dmm, and you could sum those up into, uh, maybe, uh, a handful of practices, a lot of prayer for, for the lost, uh, focusing on helping people obey rather than simply trying to transfer academic content. Um, trying to share a lot about my story or God’s story. In other words, abundant evangelism just everywhere. And just, just always involved in sharing that story, uh, training other people to do the same. That’s a big emphasis in disciple making movement strategy. And then, uh, gathering people into groups, small groups that would utilize discovery, Bible study type, uh, approaches, uh, three-thirds groups, some people call. And so focusing on simple reproducible groups as a means of being the motor for church growth.

(12:31):
And then, uh, I guess multiplying those groups and focusing on multiplication instead of just me always thinking that I have to be the one that adds, making sure that I’m trying to train this new believer so that she or he can multiply as well, and trying to do that out to many generations. And then, uh, focusing on growth among all those people so it’s not, uh, a mile wide and an inch deep, but instead everybody’s growing deep roots and reading a lot of scripture on applying it. So that’s kind of what we’re focused on. That would be the simple practices we would recommend. And

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:06):
Now on your website, it talks about statistics on unreached people groups and, uh, is, as I said, 7.84 billion people in the world today. I think now, maybe a few days ago I heard we’ve gone over 8 billion people, right? It says that there’s 17,409 known people groups, and 7,402 of those groups are considered on reach. K kind of explain the criteria for why one group would be considered reach and another group might be unreached.

Doug Lucas (13:38):
Yeah, it’s a great question. We, uh, have largely followed the kind of the industry norm of saying that an unreached people group would be a significantly large grouping of individuals who perceive themselves to have an affinity. They are perhaps linked by a, an ethnic or a language, uh, likeness with each other. And it’s like the largest number of individuals through which the gospel could flow before it encounters a barrier of understanding or acceptance. So what that means is you could use basically one simple strategy, and it could flow as fast and as hard and as long as it could go. But when it hits that wall of the next language group, then it might take a different, uh, startup in that next language group. Well, that would be defined as an unrich people group. And if you use that definition, that’s where we get those, uh, numbers that you mentioned, probably 7,000 or so, it’s hard to be exact, but around 7,000 groups that still don’t have a viable chance to know about Jesus.

(14:47):
And the typical statistics that you’ll hear used are somewhere between 2% or 5% or less of that group would, would claim to be, uh, an evangelical Christian of any kind. So they’re, they’re basically, by self definition, are they claiming to be a follower of Christ and active in doing that? Well, if that statistic is 2% or less, and if the place where they live doesn’t have some kind of a nominal Christian, uh, followership anyway, like a, a giant, you know, kind of cloud of Catholicism or some kind of, uh, adherence of Christianity, then that people group probably has essentially zero chance to hear about Jesus, you might as well say. And those are the groups, uh, through whom we focus now in this day and age, talking about literally right now in these years, we’re kind of adding in the idea of focusing on unreached places as well. So it’s gonna be unreached people and places as we go forward. That’s kind of the direction in the future. And the places would be simply, you know, districts or states or villages that don’t have a church. So people couldn’t hear about Jesus there either.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:04):
And why do you feel that it’s important for the church to pray for unreached people groups and then to, to start to engage them? A lot of people when they first start getting interested in missions, they might go on a short term trip to, to Mexico. And of course there’s, there’s lots of, of churches in Mexico, but why, why should the church care about these outreach people groups, and why should we put resources towards that area of outreach?

Doug Lucas (16:29):
It, it is, uh, a great, great question, Daniel. I’m glad you asked first because of course, we want the church to grow into all those peoples and places because it’s the vision that, uh, John records in Revelation seven. You know, it’s the promise of the end of the ages. In fact, was it Matthew 24 14 or so, we’re told that the gospel will, you know, be spoken and preached to every person, and then the end will come, um, the every nation, and then the end will come. Well, the, the expectation is that God is sort of leaning against the guardrail of heaven waiting for something to happen, and he’s waiting for apparently every single nation to have had a chance to hear. And then revelation seven, the vision will happen. All people’s, all nations, all tribes will be gathered and there’ll be representatives from every nation and tribe standing before his throne in a white robe.

(17:33):
There’s no way we can have that vision accomplished until we go to all those places. Then a secondary vision is we know that when the gospel does travel there, people can have peace and they can be happier. And in general, life picks up, you know, they have a hope, and that’s important. But then a third reason we do it is because Jesus said to, I mean, it’s just a simple command. In Matthew 28, for example, uh, 1920, Daniel Jesus said, make disciples of all nations. And you know, that word for nation is not the word that we would have expected it to be in English. If we were to use the word nation today, we think of a political nation, but the root word back then, it was a word that’s more likely would’ve been translated ethnic group. In fact, they didn’t even have political nations like we have today back in Jesus’ time. So these would be tribes or casts or kindreds. And if Jesus said, make disciples of every ethic group, you know, teach them to obey what I’ve told them to do at every ethic group, I just figure we ought to be about it. We ought to be doing it.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:43):
Amen. Well, if you want to learn more about reaching on reach people groups, I encourage you to go to team expansion.org, find out more about Doug Lucas and about reaching unreached people groups. And if you wanna support reaching Unre people groups, I encourage you to go and support their ministry. Mr. Doug, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism Podcast. I appreciate it.

Doug Lucas (19:07):
It’s an honored, Daniel, thank you for doing it and wish you best in, uh, all of the stuff that you produce. Thank you for the work that you do.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:34):
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 (22:55):
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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Jared Buswell | Transformed Hearts Transform Nations

Jared Buswell is on the board of Favor International, a ministry founded by Carole Ward. The ministry was birthed in South Sudan and Uganda during a time of war when the rebel Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army were killing and kidnapping. The ministry started as a prayer movement and has grown into a Book of Acts turning the world upside down movement. They send out teams to host portable Bible schools and thousands of people in Africa have been impacted.

Check out the Favor International Website: https://www.favorintl.org/

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Jared Buswell is on the Board of Favor International, a ministry founded by Carol Ward. The ministry is birthed in South Sudan and Uganda during a time of war when the rebel Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army were killing and kidnapping, the ministry started out as a prayer movement and has grown into a book of acts turning the world upside down movement. They send out teams to host portable Bible schools and thousands of people in East Africa have been impacted.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:31):
Jesus said, Go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls in the name of the Lord shall be safe.

(00:42):
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 (01:06):
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, Jared Buswell, and he is with a great ministry called Favor International. Thank you so much for being on the Evangelism Podcast.

Jared Buswell (01:24):
Thank you, Daniel. It’s an honor to be

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:25):
Here. Now, our friendship goes back to when both of us were at Oral Roberts University. I graduated about 20 years ago, and we just recently reconnected at the U Homecoming. Yes. And I was hearing about all the amazing things that you are involved in ministry in Africa, and I’m so delighted to get to hear more about what you’re doing.

Jared Buswell (01:53):
Yes. Well, I’m excited to share. The Real stars and heroes are African missionaries, the indigenous missionaries who are led by God and compelled by the love of Christ to share the gospel with their neighbors and the far off places of the

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:07):
Earth. Let’s talk about Favor International. It’s actually a ministry that was founded by Carol Ward. Yes. And you are on the board of that ministry, and you’ve been very involved over the years in raising funding for the ministry and also helping to implement best practices for the ministry in Africa that takes place in Uganda and in South Sudan and other parts of Africa, which we’ll talk about. But kind of give me the quick synopsis of how the ministry got started with Carol Ward.

Jared Buswell (02:44):
Okay, yes. So we have the 32nd version, and we could do the 30 minute version as well. So in 30 seconds, there is a brutal demonic war in Northern Uganda. Started by, not started by, but continued, made famous by Joseph Coney and the Lord’s Resistance Army. The lra, as a lot of people know, up to or around 50,000 child soldiers were abducted, trained, and brutally traumatized to traumatize others. And this is a demonically motivated and inspired war, just a trolley on a choli. There’s no political sense to it whatsoever. There’s no political solution. The Uganda government can’t solve it. God solved that war a prayer, an organic prayer movement ended that war and favor of God ministries as it’s known locally, formed out of a house of prayer and a public prayer movement. During that time, from around 2002 is when they first started gathering at the House of Prayer.

(03:44):
By 2006, the war was over. A lot of events transpired in between. Then during that time also, a lot of people were moved by the spirit to bring the gospel into the prisons or into let’s start a school, or we need to care for these orphans who have no parents anymore. And so all these little different ministries just started out of a house of prayer. And without funds and without supplies. God divinely provided the ability for this small organic group of leaders to see the book of Acts open up and an organization was started. The Ugandans themselves said, Carol, you need to go back to the states and tell what God has done. And Carol had gone to sow her whole life and to stay permanently in Uganda. She did not want to go back, but God led her to go back and continue telling these stories that people in America wanted to start an organization. She said, Great, You do what you do here. I’ll go do what I do there, and we’re gonna see God’s kingdom come in as we’ll be done. So things got rolling and I came into the mix in about 2011.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:54):
Let’s talk a little bit about the importance of prayer, because this whole ministry really started as just a prayer meeting in a house, and now it is impacting that entire region of East Africa. So talk to me about the importance of laying a foundation and prayer and missions. Yes.

Jared Buswell (05:17):
So prayer and missions are absolutely essential together. I personally know this is, I personally know a many American missionaries who are well trained, called by God, equipped, financially supported, committed, who go with their whole families to live full time in a foreign context. And within two to three years, they’re back in the States having been beaten up by spiritual warfare and other things going on. And besides the lack of training in some of the spiritual warfare aspects of things, and this is all denominations, this is not a particular denomination I’m talking about, but prayer is laying our whole lives down before God and his will and seeing what he does through us. And when we’re entering into what God’s already doing, there’s a whole level of success there. Unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain and we really have to watch him build it. And so as we pray, we pray for his purposes, we pray for the people around us, we pray for situations, then we see God open those doors and unlock things that he wants to open up. And so it’s absolutely imperative for the Lord to be moving first before we go into the territory he’s already bought and purchased, and then we just go in and claim what he’s already won.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:43):
Now favor International has a variety of strategies for vo, both evangelism and for discipleship. You’re working in Uganda, you’re working in South Sudan, you’re sending out teams to other parts of Africa. So talk to me about some of the strategies that you’re using to both evangelize and disciple.

Jared Buswell (07:08):
Yes. So the main bread and butter Ministry of Favor is something called the Portable Bible School. And this comes from the inherent need in Africa for strong theological training for access to the word of God, but also knowledge as to how to use and apply the word of God to everyday situations such as raising your kids, maintaining a healthy marriage in addition to being a pastor, reaching the lost and training the next generation. So we bring in at least a minimum of two indigenous missionaries who live in a village full-time for two months and full-time Monday through Friday, nine to five. The students, the enrolled students are being trained in the Word and the ways of God. They’re all trained to be pastors. They’re all trained to be leaders. There’s no difference between the professionals and everybody else. We train everybody. And these villagers who would’ve had no access to a school, much less a theological education, maybe have never even seen a Bible in person graduate with their own Bible or an oral Bible if that’s required in their language.

(08:21):
And a healthy church is either revitalized or newly planted in that context, oftentimes multiple, if it’s near city, there may be multiple denominations coming together for this training. Our guys are intentionally nondenominational so that we can serve the local population in any language and in any denominational background that they’ve been exposed to in the past. But the kingdom of God comes in and there’s just revival in the city and the whole city life, the village life now centers around that healthy congregational planting. Now for the next several years, we follow up with longer term unique development. So our portable Bible schools are underneath a larger department ministry that we call Reap, R E E P, which stands for the Rural Evangelism and Empowerment Project. And so that REAP program encompasses the portable Bible schools, which are linked to other ministries such as women’s empowerment or church building, construction or adult literacy centered on the word of God.

(09:30):
So there’s many, many different ministries that have been moved by the spirit of God that are linked in strategic way in a long term transformation of a village. So we’re looking at changing a nation through transformed hearts, not just doing social aid. Everything is gospel centered. First and foremost, there has to be heart transformation, but heart transformation occurs best when the whole village transforms at the same time, when whole families enter the kingdom at the same time and pass on that heritage to their children and their children grow up knowing the kingdom of God from a young age.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:05):
And last year, how many of these portable Bible schools did you send out?

Jared Buswell (10:11):
Last year? We completed close to 150 portable Bible schools,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:18):
And each one would have two people going and living in a village for at least two months.

Jared Buswell (10:23):
Two full-time missionary staff,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:24):
Full two. But these are missionaries from Sudan or from Uganda? Yes, yes. And so you’re sending them out indigenous missionaries, they’re going into a village, two months living there and teaching every day?

Jared Buswell (10:36):
Yes, they are. In addition to additional teachers with specialty skills, whether in health or in marital counseling or other skills. So we have traveling teachers, and we do this all in strategic waves. So we have, it’s very complicated getting missionaries out to areas where there’s very little roads. We have to fly missionaries, different places. They’ve got to foot it walking, but the term they use is footing it over through the bush into a village, and we drop them off. So we might have a truck go, Okay, we’re made relationships with these four villages, we’re gonna drop you off, boom, boom, boom, boom. All your schools are gonna start at the same time and end at the same time. And we transport food, Bibles, diplomas, everything in a strategic and efficient way.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:21):
And talk to me about the evangelism component of what you’re doing. How are you evangelizing people who maybe from an animus background or up in Sudan, Muslims? Of course, yes. You have Sudan, <affirmative>, which is mm-hmm. <affirmative>, mostly Muslim, and then South Sudan, which has a higher percentage of Christians. How are you actually evangelizing?

Jared Buswell (11:45):
Yes. So the Africans themselves are bringing the gospel, and it happens in a multitude of ways. So a lot of times, sometimes our men go again based on prayer, based on the direction of the spirit. We need to go now to this specific village or tribe. So there’s that call from the Holy Spirit. Oftentimes we’re invited by the government, so we’re going into areas where there’s tribal warfare or there’s been Civil War or other kinds of strife. And the government has heard the reputation of this organization. And so they say, Hey, we’ve got this problem between this tribe and this tribe. Can your team come in and do something about it? Or it happens with the schools. The schools have to shut down because of a demonic manifestation of some disease or something. But it’s really demonic oppression, just really shutting down. The teachers can’t teach, so the government or businesses or schools call us to come in.

(12:45):
And so our missionary teams will bring in, just like Jesus, bring in healing the sick, restoring people to their right mind, and then proclaiming the gospel and teaching everywhere he went. And so our men and women, mostly men, are going around doing what Jesus did evangelizing first. And this just creates opportunities in open doors. Then we tell them that we have portable Bible schools that are free of cost. There’s no charge that can be followed up on, but that always follows up after an evangelistic event. We do crusades. There’s very successful and popular. We’ve got equipment to do that. We do smaller events, and so there’s different sizes of evangelistic events, but there is always some kind of evangelistic outreach. Or we’ll work with another ministry. If another ministry or another evangelist is coming through, we will partner up and provide the logistical support. And our men will provide a lot of that hands on and prayer support for God to have a successful event. The Gospels proclaimed people come to Christ, and it has to be immediately followed up with discipleship and training.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:04):
I’m Act actually very amazed at everything that favor International is doing. On the website, it talks about how you’re doing community development. You’ve got portable bible schools, trauma counseling, which because this area has gone through wars and a lot of attacks over the years, I I’m sure that’s very important. Yes, you’ve got the woman empowerment, church planning, church construction, and then in prayer of evangelism, you’ve got houses of prayer. You’re doing outreaches and crusades and then prayer mobilization. And then in education and discipleship, you have a primary school, you have a God’s Institute for Transformation Leadership Training Institute, then you’ve got radio ministries and Bible distributions, and then also economic empowerment where you’re doing agricultural business projects and retail and service business projects. So this is a multi-pronged ministry that’s doing and accomplishing a lot, and it takes a lot of resources to do something like that. So talk to me about the importance of sharing the vision with people and getting people involved financially in what is happening in Africa.

Jared Buswell (15:19):
Yes. So none of this happens without the power of God and without prayer and without practical fuel. Money is the fuel that went combined with the spirit and when combined with lives that are already laid down in love and in prayer to serve their fellow man, once you bring that whole combination together, then it’s explosive and great things happen and money is multiplied. So we see God take a hundred dollars, a thousand dollars, $10,000 and multiply it so many times over into so many lives changed and doors open, reputation protection. We have never lost a missionary due to violence in any of these spheres where we’re working. And so it’s just incredible to see that financial support. When I first started with favor, at one point I made a mind map, but I just was listening to all the things the team was doing. I hadn’t been to Africa yet, and I was talking with some of the African team virtually, and I was talking with Carol and I said to Carol one day, I said, Carol, there are at least 48 distinct ministries that Favor is doing. And we can’t, can’t talk to Americans about 48 different ministries

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:33):
Like pick one or two.

Jared Buswell (16:34):
We gotta pick a just one or two because for each, every time you talk to in honoring financial supporters and givers, it’s really important to have a clear business plan in place, written down a knowledge of if you were to fund this whole vision, what would happen? How long would it take, who would do it? Why does it work? Who’s accountable? And it’s just necessary to have a lot of pieces in place before you go talk to somebody and ask for financial support. So I said, Kara, we can’t ask for financial support for youth sports programs and for the medical clinics and for the radio station. And so after a lot of prayer and a lot of discussion for a long time, the team settled on let’s group everything into four broad categories. And so the REAP program that I described falls under the whole category of community development.

(17:34):
And our website reflects this. It’ll show what we do. We do four things. So we do community development, which is the whole outward push with holistic transformations. That includes evangelism, discipleship, and practical help. Again, that follows the transformation of the heart already. So this developing whole, transforming whole villages at a time is a community development. And that’s the outward push. Then what we call education discipleship are all the ministries that train and build up leaders from our home base. And what that looks like is we have schools, we have two home bases, one in Gulu, Northern Uganda where we started, and in Juba, South Sudan, which is the capital of South Sudan. So from those two headquarters, we have a school at each location, and we’re building a secondary school at each location. This was originally done to educate the orphans who were coming into our cares.

(18:32):
So other ministries that were either leaving the area because of the bullets or for a variety of reasons, were dropping kids off at our doorstep. And we didn’t have the financial support to just pay the tuition dollars at first to pay for these kids to get educated at other schools. So we quickly put our own schools together. And those are now, they’ve got 10, 15 years of history of great academic success and tons of stories. So we’ve got a school at each place. We’ve got a radio station at each, And this again came from the people, the heart of the people. So we’ve got Christian programming coming out of both Gulu, Uganda and South Sudan. The South Sudan station has boosters that are broadcasting and gospel even further out. And we’re hoping to get that daily programming all the way into Sudan proper, but through the airwaves.

(19:25):
So that’s been a long and powerful story to see God move in those areas. So that’s the education that education discipleship is the leadership development at home. We also have a leadership training institute, which is a university education that all our staff are required to go through. And now that’s open to the community as well for tuition to get professional kingdom based leadership training. So this is creating the next generation of leaders who then serve on the mission field and serve in the places of influence, whether in business or government or wherever God is gonna have them go. So that’s that. Another department, whole area is the prayer in evangelism. This is the fuel, this is the foundation of the whole ministry. So we have a house of prayer at each headquarters, but we have houses of prayer at most of the main hubs where our teams serve.

(20:13):
And this is what really blesses and protects all the work that God is doing. Our evangelism teams are housed within the prayer teams. So as far as the way the organization is structured, if you were to come onto favor i ntl.org and give a donation, and if you were to devote it to prayer and evangelism, that’s supporting that specific, those departments that work together on both the whole evangelism side and the prayer side. Our prayer teams are full-time prayer warriors who not only man the House of Prayer, which is always open, 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM every day to the whole community and is a non-denominational community focal point for everybody of all walks of life to come and hear the word of God, pray, worship, experience, healing, miracles, revival breaks out every once in a while and they have to expand into evening services. And again, that’s totally a gift to the community.

(21:10):
And the community uses it, and it does not compete with the local churches. So it’s a very beautiful thing that God’s doing. So it’s prayer and evangelism. And then the newest area of focus is the economic empowerment programs, which has been on our heart for a lot of years, but we’ve had to seek out the capital funding and those kind of things to get agricultural projects started and other businesses sewing and training. And that also provides vocational opportunities for all the young students who are our family, who are growing up under our care. So it all works together in an efficient system.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:41):
Let’s talk about the role that you play. I’ve been reading a lot of business books lately, and one book that’s really good is called Traction. It talks about how there’s visionaries and then there’s implementers. Absolutely. And visionaries tend to be all over the place. They’re just really good at communicating vision. And usually a ministry is founded by a visionary, somebody who’s got big vision. We’re gonna go, we’re gonna impact lives, we’re gonna change people’s lives. But then there needs to be an implementer to come in behind the visionary, to really put flesh on the bones and kind of show what it’s going to look like, and then developing the systems that maintain it over the long term. And just listening to you, I feel like you probably are more of the implementer type in helping to build the business plan. And so talk me through what you do and what that process has looked like for this ministry. This is

Jared Buswell (22:43):
A very important principle for ministry, business and families. And it’s very important for people to watch how God has designed us to serve, in particular capac particular roles and capacities. And this observation that the eos Executive Operating System traction system, author noticed that in business, in successful business, there’s often a case where you have a strong, strong visionary who finds an implementer, a strong, strong implementer, they find each other. An implementer without a visionary is very useless and vice versa. But when the pair of them are together, big things happen. So I have been an implementer to Carol’s visionary. I’ve used the term before. I learned this language. I’ve always seen myself as an anointing, amplification. So there’s this anointing on our founder

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:39):
That could be the spiritual lingo for what’s a business term? Anointing. Anointing, amplification. That’s

Jared Buswell (23:45):
What we’re doing. And so that’s the language I’ve used internally. But I wanna share this. This is important. When I, I think I was about 19 years old, I was attending church regularly under a very strong visionary pastor. And I remember the Lord talking to me. I am a visionary actually by nature and design. I am full of visions. I’ve had to at many times just kind of quell and put down that part of myself. But I’m getting ideas all the time and just brilliant, creative things. So I see all this visionary capacity. But I remember when I was young, the Lord told me strongly, He said, Jared, you need to learn to serve me in what I’m doing now. Yes, I’ve given you ideas. Yes, I’ve given you a calling, but I’m moving right now through this man, and I need you to serve this man’s vision.

(24:36):
And Carol is out there, and she’s devoted her life to serving. She has beautiful messages on serving another man’s vision. She’s out there serving the Africans visions, the African missionaries are on fire and supported in doing what God’s called them to do. So it’s really their vision that we’re all supporting, and we strongly communicate to the whole US team the importance of our hearts being genuinely devoted to serving the visions of our African brothers and sisters, many of whom we might not have the opportunity to meet, but we’re here to serve them. So I’ve been for the last 11 years, serving our founder, serving the people she’s serving, and I’m serving another man’s vision, and I love it. And I know I’m a visionary, but that’s for a later time where God is moving now. I need to serve there now. And I think we all need to do that. When we all get all hands on deck, then God will move mountains.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:33):
Well, I really admire you finding a place to serve. Jesus said, the greatest in the kingdom is the servant of all. And I think sometimes in ministries, everyone wants to be the figurehead, but some people are gifted by God to do what you’re doing, <affirmative> and to help implement the vision. And I think if we had more people willing to do that, we could accomplish a lot more for God. All right. So favor international. You mentioned the website once, but let’s just mention a gift someone wants to help to support what you’re doing or see more about what you’re doing in Africa. What is the website where they can find out more information?

Jared Buswell (26:18):
Yes, the website is www.favorinternational.org. And it’s shortened, F A V O R I N T l.org. If you type in the whole name, you’ll also, it’ll forward you to favor i ntl.org, but that’s our website.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (26:35):
Awesome. Well, Jared, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism Podcast. It was great having you here.

Jared Buswell (26:41):
Thank you very much, Daniel. It’s

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (26:42):
A pleasure, pleasure to see what God’s doing through you. 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 (28:05):
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

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The Evangelism Podcast is also available on iHeartRadio

Jeremy Richardson | Bringing God’s Word and Power to Generation Z

Jeremy & Tara Richardson are called by God to be revivalists and to take Holy Spirit fire around the world. On today’s Evangelism Podcast you will hear the amazing testimony of how Jeremy got saved and hear about their journey as they launch Word and Power Ministries. They have a heart to reach Generation Z with an authentic encounter with God.

In this episode, you will:

Learn about how Jeremy Richardson left a life of sin and got radically saved.
Hear about Jeremy & Tera Richardson’s plans as they launch out into ministry.
Experience a powerful prayer for revival in our nation.

Check out Jeremy and Tera Richardson’s Website: https://wordandpowerministries.com/

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Jeremy and Tara Richardson are called by God to be revivalists and to take Holy Spirit fire around the world. On today’s evangelism podcast, you’ll hear the amazing testimony of how Jeremy got saved and hear about their journey as they launch Word and power ministries. They have a heart to reach generation Z with an authentic encounter with God. Here we go.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:28):
Jesus said, Go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls in the name of the Lord shall be safe. 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 (01:04):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. I have a very special guest with me, Jeremy Richardson. Thank you so much for being on the Evangelism Podcast

Jeremy Richardson (01:17):
Evangelist Daniel, thank you so much for having me today. Honored to be with you guys.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:21):
All right, well let’s start at the beginning. You have a powerful testimony of how you got saved before you came to Jesus. You were living in the world. Tell me about your testimony. How’d you get saved?

Jeremy Richardson (01:34):
Absolutely. So I grew up going to church, sometimes Easter, Christmas, really in a religious background. And when I became a teenager, I never had an encounter with God. And if you get to your teenage years without an encounter with God, it’s like the enemy just catapults you into the darkness. And so that’s what happened to me. 13 years old, started drinking alcohol, getting addicted to drugs, just immoral lifestyle. And really I was lost and just looking for answers in the wrong places, looking for fulfillment. And so 13 years old, 14 years old, throughout my teenage years, just got deeper and deeper in the lifestyle of sin and darkness and lust and drugs and alcohol. And I remember when I was 16 years old, Daniel I was driving a car on my way to community service and I was would a felon at 16 years old, like I said, addicted to drugs and alcohol.

(02:24):
And I was lost and I was driving my dad’s car and as I’m on my way to the community service on drugs, I’m smoking in the car and I get lost and I’m speed up really fast and I make a U-turn at an intersection and as I’m making that U-turn right in the middle of an intersection, not paying attention at all, I leaned over in the car cuz I was turning and I felt the hand pushed me on my left side and it pushed me over in the car and a truck slammed into me going 50 miles an hour, totaled the car, pushed me 30 feet from the intersection and I got outta the car without a scratch on me. And I remember looking at the faces as I got outta the car in amazement, people were putting their hands on their face. How is he getting outta the car?

(03:07):
What happened? This is amazing. But the hand of God protected me. And what happened is my dad had gotten saved and I was a teenager, started praying for me and my brother and God miraculously just was protecting my life when I was living this lifestyle. And then when I was late in my teenage years, I remember just selling drugs, having money, just didn’t have to work a job because I had money. But I became dissatisfied in that lifestyle, Daniel. And what happened was I cried out to God and I said, I remember going, laying on my bed before I went to sleep at night saying, God, if you’re real, reveal yourself to me for about two weeks. I prayed that prayer and my dad was dragging us to church during that time. And I remember one Sunday right in the middle of praying this prayer, he took us to church and the preacher was talking about heaven and hell. And when he got to the altar called something came all over me in my seat, which I knew later it was the Holy Spirit of course. And I was frozen in my seat and I couldn’t move. And he gave the altar call, but I didn’t go down because I couldn’t move. And that night I surrendered my life to Jesus and got radically saved. And then shortly after that got filled with the Holy Spirit, turned my back on the world, turned my back on sin and never looked back.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:13):
Wow, what an amazing story. And now you are in full-time ministry. How did you discover the call of God that’s on your life?

Jeremy Richardson (04:22):
That I love that question because that is something that’s just burning on the inside of me. I remember when I got saved, there was this intense desire on the inside of me to share Jesus, this intense desire on the inside of me to experience the presence of God. One side tasted of the presence of God. I realized all the drugs and alcohol was a counterfeit. It was just a counterfeit. So when I got saved and experienced the presence of God, I quickly knew God has a divine purpose just inside me. There was a divine purpose. I knew there was a heavenly race for my life. And I prayed that prayer. I said, God, I, here I am, I don’t know much, but send me. So at the job I was working at when Bible school, I started getting people saved, telling people about Jesus. But right when the Lord outta Bible School led me into business for a few years, God bless us in business, that was a great time. And then shortly after that he launched us into where we serve on staff at the church for five and a half years as pastors.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:17):
And that’s actually where we know you from is Victory Church here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. You were serving as their campus pastor out in Manaford and did a great job out there. I know that that is a thriving congregation now that that’s been growing and increasing and your kids are actually in school with my kids. And so my wife is a preschool aide at Victory. And so I think she’s had some of your kids in her class.

Jeremy Richardson (05:49):
She has Miss Jessica, we call her, has done a great job. She’s a great teacher. And I believe Anna Bell and Jackson, my two youngest both had her in pre-K.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:58):
All right, well hopefully they got ready to launch out into their academic career there in pre-K. Okay, so Jeremy you were at Victory for the last few years and now God’s been speaking to you to launch out <affirmative> into this ministry that God has called me to. And that takes a big step of faith to really come to a point where you’re launching out and actually Victory is a great launching ground. A lot of people come and they’re on staff at Victory for a few years. And Victory has birthed more ministries, I think, than almost any other church because they launch people out and send them out. And some of the people that used to be on staff at Victory now run some of the greatest ministries in the world. But talk to me about that process of what God has been speaking to you <affirmative> and how you’ve gone through this step of faith to now launch out and tell me what comes next. What is this ministry that God’s called you to going to look like?

Jeremy Richardson (06:55):
Absolutely. So we’ve had these desires in our heart for years to go to the nations for evangelism really to see the power of God touch lives cuz that’s what happened to my wife and I. She was facing 25 years in prison. Jesus miraculously came into her jail cell. She got radically saved. But what happened to both of us was that the tangible presence of God touched our lives, set us free. And so the greatest desire in my heart is seeing people touched by the anointing, touched by the Holy Spirit and experience God. The Lord spoke to us years ago and said, Jeremy, people will leave your meeting saying surely God is real. And we have encountered him tonight. And so that’s been our focus, our mission for years is that people would encounter the presence of God. So as we were serving on staff at Victory, which we had the privilege to do, it was such a blessing, such a privilege to serve, to help pastors Paul and Ashley to help pastor Sharon for years drive the vision of reaching the world through victory.

(07:48):
But we have these desires stirring in us and we believe that one day God was gonna launch us into those things and we just wanted to be faithful, continue serving. But in March of this year, Daniel the Lord, I was sitting in the parking lot and I had a vision. And without going into all the detail of that vision, it was like the timeline of our lives flashed between us before us. And I saw the race of heaven for our lives. And I felt in my spirit that God was saying, I’m preparing you to launch out. And of course we were getting ready to start our summer camp and my wife and I were the camp directors as well. So we thought, well surely it’s, it’s not gonna be before camp. So we finished strong with camp during the summer, 2300 kids came through camp.

(08:24):
It was amazing. But when we got into August in September, we just had that witness inside of our spirit as the Holy Spirit leads people that it’s time to launch Genesis 12, one for us. And that’s what the Lord spoke to me is that Jeremy, as you launch out Genesis 12, one, the Bible says that God said, Get outta your country from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I circled the get out part, and I was telling our kids the get out part comes before the I will show you part. So we knew that as we took a step of faith, that God was just gonna meet us, God was gonna show up. And so when we did that just about six, eight weeks ago it was amazing how opportunities started coming, relationships started coming. God started speaking things to our heart about upcoming events that he wanted us to start pioneering and start moving towards really with the focus of first Restonians one, five, where Paul said, Our gospel did not come to you in Word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit into much assurance.

(09:20):
And the story goes on in first Exonians one that you see how the Bible says they turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. And that’s what I believe that God’s called us to do, Daniel is to just be obedient to him, to be a vessel for him, to bring the power of God to the next generation, to young people, to youth, to our generation as well, to the nations of the world, that people would have true encounters with the living God and be equipped by the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Spirit, and then go out and win souls in their daily life.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:49):
So as you’ve launched out in ministry, you’ve already been doing some revival nights, you’ve been going into some communities here in Oklahoma and gathering people together. And then you’re already planning a missions trip this spring to Arizona. So talk me through what do those revival nights look like and what is God doing? Absolutely.

Jeremy Richardson (10:13):
I’m glad you asked because it’s been so exciting. It’s been amazing to watch what God is doing. And when we were at Manford, when we were at the Manford campus, we had anywhere from 25 to maybe 40 ORU students that were driving out every Sunday. And they had such a hunger and a thirst on the inside of them. And so what was happening is that we just had an amazing move of God out there in Manford, which is about an hour away. And so once we stepped out in this new season, we felt to do these revival nights, which was really a focus on the Holy Spirit, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and then being equipped by him to go win souls in your daily life. And so we thought, okay, we’re gonna do the first one. And amazingly, 50 people showed up at our house and we did worship.

(10:53):
And really we just flowed with the Holy Spirit when my wife and I preached some of the messages we’re talking about right now, just preached on the fire of the Holy Spirit and how God is gonna answer by fire in this next generation. And it was amazing to see people’s hunger and thirst and getting touched by the Holy Spirit. I had some students come up to me and say that they’ve never fallen out in the spirit before, not that it’s about falling out, but they were experiencing a true encounter with the presence of God. And I say this sometimes as the Lord put it on my heart, that when a teenager gets touched by the Holy Spirit, when an adult gets touched by the Holy Spirit, no one’s gonna talk them out of the holy. No one’s gonna talk them out of believing in Jesus as people come up in this next generation. So that’s the desire of a heart is to see people touched by the power of God and then take that touch on their lives and go and share it with others. And that’s happening on these Sunday night revival nights. And we’re believing that they’re gonna happen as we go to these cities, to different cities. And as you mentioned, the missions trip next spring. Yeah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:50):
Let’s talk about this generation because it seems like this generation faces challenges like no other generation <affirmative>. When you think about all of the influences that come on social media, on TikTok, the issues that this generation is dealing with, they’ve got so many different pressures. What do you think it’s going to take to really see a move of God, a great awakening among this generation?

Jeremy Richardson (12:20):
Yes. You’re asking all the questions that are stirring so deeply in me. I believe with all my heart, it will take the demonstration of the Holy Spirit in power. And that’s what Paul said in First Corinthians chapter two. He said, My preaching and my teaching was not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and the power. And we found that out with young people that I can’t tell you how many young people came up to have come up to us in this last season or when we were young adults, pastors years ago and said, I’ve never truly tasted of the presence of God. I never really experienced the presence of God until tonight, but I grew up in church. And it’s amazing that when young people truly encounter the presence of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, it awakens them to the reality of God.

(13:03):
Maybe they’ve heard about God growing up, but they’ve never truly experienced him or encountered him. And I feel like God is more willing to encounter them than we realize or given credit. And I think we’ve just gotta give God, we’ve gotta give him space. We’ve gotta give the Lord space to work, to move and to let him touch the young people that are coming up in this next generation. And we found that when we give God opportunity to move, he moves. And young people get touched, but answer your question specifically, the depression, the atheism, the humanistic mindsets, all those people getting kind of stuck in their heads. I believe that’s breaking off of people. And I feel like we see that in the book of Acts. We see that in first eons chapter one, that by the power of God, people can move from stronghold of the mind to an encounter of God in their spirit.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:53):
And give me some testimonies. What have you seen God do in the lives of individuals that you’ve ministered to give me something that God’s been doing recently?

Jeremy Richardson (14:04):
Yes, Yes. Well, there’s a couple that come to mind. There’s a couple that come to mind and one of ’em, there’s a young adult named Spiff, and that’s kind of his short name. He’s from Ukraine and he is a young adult, mighty man of God. And I remember when he kind of came into our lives in this last season, how the power of God was touching his life. The Holy Spirit was becoming more real to him, and even personal evangelism was being birthed on the inside of him. And I remember him coming with us on a personal evangelism trip and he was like, I don’t know. Can you witness as someone like this, can you just share Jesus with someone on the street and them actually get born again?

(14:43):
And through what happened with him getting touched by the Holy Spirit, touched by the fire of God, and then going out and winning souls, it was amazing. He as a totally different person, he witnesses about Jesus everywhere he goes. In fact, if you go anywhere with sp, don’t have a calendar, don’t have a timetable because he is gonna be witnessing someone. He’s gonna be laying hands on someone and he believes that God’s called him to be a missionary too, back to Ukraine and back to Russia. And so that’s one and another one, there’s a gentleman named Mike that we’ve recently connected with. He’s been coming to these revival nights on Sunday nights, and he and his wife came the first night. I didn’t know them. They were actually from Michigan. And they heard about what was happening and actually came down, which was amazing. They heard about some of these services and actually wanted to come down from Michigan.

(15:31):
And they came to the service that night and they were sitting in the very back and God gave me a word about something specific going on in their life. And I call ’em out from the very back, laid hands on and the power of God minister to them. They fell out in the spirit. And just the whole night, it was like the presence of God was just washing over them and imparting certain things into them. Well, he sent us this long text the next week, so this is just have been about 10 days ago that where he was ministering at a homeless outreach and God had really stirred some passion, some desires and some fresh fire on the inside of him. And he was witnessing as someone and he laid hands on him, and this guy just fell out in the spirit, was touched by the presence of God.

(16:09):
And he got up and he was like, Oh my goodness, God is real. God touched my life today. He surrendered his life to Jesus and got radically saved. And so Mike sends us this testimony just amazed at how God flowed through him. And that’s what it’s about. Daniel and you, you’re a huge believer that you’ve been preaching this for years, that if people can get touched by the fire of the Holy Spirit, if people can get a reality of Jesus on the inside of them and then share that with others, God can flow through anybody to bring deliverance and salvation.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:37):
Amen. Well, you’re launching out in this new ministry, and if someone is listening and they really have a heart to help you and maybe even invite you to come preach at their church or to come for an opportunity for ministry, how can they find out more about you? What’s your website?

Jeremy Richardson (16:55):
Yes, absolutely. So our website is word and power ministries.com, word and power ministries.com. And on that website, you can contact us, you can read a little bit about my, more about wife and I and our four kiddos and just see some pictures and some upcoming events that we have going on. But you can also partner with us. There’s ways of partnering on there or just simply contact us. We are in a season where we would love to come and be a blessing, wherever God sends us, wherever God opens a door that we have a witness about, we are ready to come and serve people to love God, love people, and carry the gospel.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:29):
That’s awesome. Well, let’s finish up this Evangelism podcast today with revival right here. There’s a lot of people listening who they have a passion and a heart for evangelism, especially for seeing God move here in America. Yeah. And would you just pray a prayer, a revival, fire prayer for everyone who’s listening, that we would see more of the Holy Spirit’s, fire and power in our lives?

Jeremy Richardson (17:58):
Absolutely. I’d love to Father in Jesus’ name. God, we thank you for this time, for this moment. Lord, I thank you for every single person listening, Lord, and that will listen truly. It’s not on accident, Lord, that you’re calling them, you’re drawing them and that you want to use them. Father, I pray you would stir up a pure desire on the inside of every single person that hears this podcast, Lord, or that people that hear about through other people, Lord, you would stir up a pure desire on the inside of them. Lord, you said, if they’re hungry and thirsty for righteousness, we will be filled, filled with your power, filled with your presence, and filled with a vision to reach the world around us. Father, I thank you that you also said in the last days you would pour out your spirit on all flesh and that your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

(18:38):
Lord, I pray you would pour out your spirit of fresh and the cities of America and our schools and our colleges upon young people upon generation Z. Lord, awaken them and raise them up, Father to win souls, to make an impact in their generation, to make an impact in the nations of the world. God, I pray that there’s someone listening right now, Father God, that they’ve been, they’ve been doubting, They’ve been questioning the call of God in their life. Maybe they’ve even been drifting away from, and I pray you would reignite them right now in Jesus. Amen. Rekindle that desire. You are called of God. You have a calling on your life. God can use it. God will through flow through you. The gifts of the Spirit will flow through your life to bring deliverance to the world around you. In the name of Jesus. Father, thank you for awakening America to the call of God again in Jesus name.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:25):
Amen. Well, I am in full agreement with that prayer. I do pray for revival to come to this generation here in America and around the world. Brother Jeremy, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism Podcast with me.

Jeremy Richardson (19:39):
Evangelist Annual is such an honor to be with you today. Thank you,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:41):
Bless you. 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 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 (21:03):
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

Billy Bimba | From Liberia to the Nations

Billy Bimba is an evangelist from rural Liberia in West Africa. In 1986, he attended the Reinhard Bonnke Fire Conference in Zimbabwe. His life was transformed and ever since he has been on fire and he preaches about Jesus all over Africa. On today’s podcast you will hear about how God healed him from cancer and about how God has used him raise up spiritual sons like Rob Enge.

Connect with Billy Bimba: https://billybimbaglobalministries.org/

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Billy Bimba is an evangelist from rural Liberia in West Africa. In 1986, he attended the Reinhard Bonnke Fire Conference for evangelists in Zimbabwe. His life was transformed, and ever since he’s been on fire and he preaches about Jesus all over Africa. On today’s podcast, you will hear about how God healed him from cancer and about how God has used him to raise up spiritual sons that are continuing to impact the world.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:44):
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 (01:12):
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, Evangelist Billy Bimba. Thank you so much for being on the Evangelism Podcast.

Billy Bimba (01:26):
Thank you. I am so excited to meet you and to have this opportunity to be on your podcast and to share my experiences since, uh, God saved me and called me to ministry.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:38):
Now, Evangelist Billy, you have been an evangelist for many, many years now. Yes. You were born in Liberia. Yes. And God has called you and anointed you to take the gospel around the world. Tell me a little bit about your testimony and how you became an evangelist.

Billy Bimba (01:59):
Praise the Lord. I was, uh, born in Liberia, the northern part of Liberia, um, in the largest country from Liberia is, uh, Lofa County. And I was born in foyer district. That’s where, um, Jesus met me and saved me. And, uh, it was under the Swedish Pentecostal mission that was established there and a church. And my dad happened to be the senior pastor of that church during the great revival that broke out there when the Swedish Pentecostal mission sta established there. That was, that was when I received Christ through the preaching of the Swedish missionaries that that started u uh, youth services for the young people in the rural era of Liberia.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:41):
Now, how old were you when you gave your life to

Billy Bimba (02:43):
Jesus? Oh, I would say I was probably 14 years old. Okay. Yeah. 14 years old. So God arrested me when I was in the very early age because he had a great plan for using me in the earth. So I was, I received Christ 1972 and 74, I received a baptism and the Holy Ghost. And man, from that time forward, it was just an explosion in my life. I began doing village evangelism. I began to go from village to village, and I started, um, establishing teams to go with me. So who could go to villages, to towns and preaching the gospel everywhere. It was like a daily thing. One week after the other month after month, I was having this burning desire. We didn’t have vehicles to do that. No bicycle, no mo a motorbike to do that. We would go mine sometime 20 miles, sometime 30 miles, and sometime we’ll cross over to the border between like, uh, Liberia and se Leon and Guinea. So I started evangelism at a very early age.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:45):
And tell me, what are you seeing that God is doing in Africa?

Billy Bimba (03:50):
Africa is right now at a place I, this, it seems that God is shifting a move to Africa. It’s like there’s a concentration of God’s effort to bring source out of darkness into the kingdom. I mean, everywhere I look around, there’s people that are going there to do, to do evangelism, to preach, to start churches, either to equip pastors, to, to equip evangelists. I just recently came from Zambia, uh, one day to do a church girl conference. And man, the Holy Ghosts was moving so powerfully. The, the young pastors, the older pastors, they were just pouring into the meetings and God was just transforming their life through the team that I carried there, they were teaching and I was preaching revival as well, and salvation healing. And they were just on fire. And they immediately, before we left the bishop who was our host, he said, This month I’m gonna have evangelism all over my city. In, in Luaka. Before we left here, he already organized a, a great evangelistic efforts. I mean, and they were before even we left, they started, they started evangelism. So Africa is really ready right now. There’s a level of expectancy, there’s a level, there’s a shift right now in evangelism in Liberia. I mean, in, in Africa as a whole. I believe that this hour is a special hour for the harvest in, in Africa as a whole.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:22):
One of the things I love about African evangelists is you are full of red hot fire, full of the Holy Spirit, enthusiastic about preaching the gospel all over the world. And in years past, people from the United States and from Sweden went to Africa as missionaries. Yes. But now God is raising up Africans Amen. Who are full of the Holy Spirit Yeah. That are bringing Holy Spirit fire. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> to, uh, the parts of the world where they’re used to send out missionaries. And so you have now come to the United States, and you’ve been here in the, the United States

Billy Bimba (05:57):
For since 1993 for,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:59):
For quite a while now. Yes. And, and tell me, what have you done in the area of evangelism here in the United States? You’ve built lots of relationships.

Billy Bimba (06:06):
I’ve built a lot of relationships God has really connected me with churches. Like when we came as refugees, we settle in upstate New York and in upstate New York. God gave us a lot of connection with churches there, pastors. And we began to preach in 10 meetings. We saw so many, we saw so many souls saved during the 10 meetings. The revival, so many souls save. I mean, America is ripe for the hav. And you know, you just mentioned you send missionaries. Yes. Hundreds of years. You send missionaries to Africa. But you know, what you saw is what you read. I believe there’s a ho there’s hope for America, regardless of what is going on. I believe there’s hope for America, because there are, number one, Africans are praying for America. And two, there are sincere remnant dedicated Christians in America that are praying for this nation.

(06:56):
So no matter what the enemy is trying to do, we will win because our gospel is the power of God onto salvation. And I’m so happy that I met you, that you are on fire. And when I saw your pictures of the countries, the Lord is touching through you. It’s just excite me. I can’t wait to bring you to our country Liberia so we can, you know, work together and spread the gospel. But there’s hope for America, no matter what they say. There’s hope. Because this gospel we preach is the power of God onto salvation.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:24):
Amen.

Billy Bimba (07:25):
Amen.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:25):
You and I have a mutual friend. He works for Christ for All Nations. Oh, yes. He is the personal assistant to Evangelist Daniel Kolinda. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, who is the successor to Reinhard Bonke, great evangelist, leader of Christ for All Nations. And so our mutual friend, his name is Rob Enga. And your ministry actually had an impact on him. Tell me that story…

Billy Bimba (07:51):
To God be all the glory. I went to visit, uh, I was invited by his local pastor, his mom, local pastor, and uh, and I had a revival service there. And one of those, in one of those services, Rob Enge, the laws saved him, deliver him and set him free. And he was transformed in a, I mean, just like God just did it in one second. Rob was transformed. And after Rob became a Christian and born again, he wanted to just follow me. He said, I want to follow you. I want to carry your back. Whatever you want me to do, I want to go with you. So I said, Rob, I wanna, I want you to stay with your local church and get inside house training. And he said, Whatever you say I’m gonna do. So I said, Okay, Pastor, let Rob Enge stay here for some time and serve in the local church.

(08:44):
Immediately I give you an assignment. I said, Rob, you are supposed to clean all the bathrooms in this church. He said, No problem, I’ll do it. And the pastor told me every Friday, when young people are going out, you know, messing up their life, that’s the time Rob took to clean all the tallest, to clean all the, you know, to make the place look ready for services. And when I called the pastor to check on him in Tulsa, I was living here in Tulsa. I called the pastor, Pastor Bob, How is Rob doing? He say, Man, you can’t believe it. Rob is doing a tremendous work in the church. God’s using him. He’s cleaning the toilets, his bathroom. Sometimes when I go in to look after him, I can almost see my face in the commod. That’s how diligent he is. So we kept the relationship going, and later on, my wife and I decided to go and visit.

(09:29):
We went back and then the mom and the pastors said, It’s time for you to take Rob. We say, we need Rob now to come on the road with me. So Rob actually is my son. He, he was birthed out of my ministry. And God gave me the grace, my wife and I, to receive him as, you know, as if he was my biological son. I, we took care of him. We help him guide him, pray for him. And I said, Rob, you’re gonna be my assistant. He said, No problem. He drove me all over the United States, here, everywhere I went to do camp, uh, Crusades revival. Rob was the one who was serving, driving and doing everything, taking appointments and making sure that everything is okay before I preach. So Rob is, is, is, is a gift from God to the kingdom of God. And I’m so blessed to see him serving as an executive assistant to this wonderful brother whom I have met, which is Brother Daniel is one of the most humble men of God I’ve ever seen. I have met Daniel and he took good care of me when I went to Florida. I’m so grateful that God, you know, move him on to go and serve Daniel. And I believe his future is greater, better than what he can see.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:38):
What a tremendous testimony, you know, Jesus said, If you’re faithful with the small things, that’s it. I will place you in charge of many things. That’s Rob. And so now, uh, Rob Inga is helping to reach literally millions of people all over the world, the ministry of Christ for all nations. They’re sending evangelists all over Africa and other parts of the world. They’re, they’re going and doing youth crusades and all that. Wow. They, they are having such a tremendous impact. And it all started with just cleaning the bathroom <laugh>. And, and, and you trained him how to be a personal assistant. And now God is using him in such a tremendous way.

Billy Bimba (11:17):
I mean, I, God was just using me to train. I never had somebody from another culture get saving my ministry and train. He was the first American, you know, to, for me to serve because that you, you understand culture difference. If it’s an African, I know the culture, but he, he was going against everything in his, in his culture. But he was men. He was serviceable, he was open to God, whate. I mean, Rob would sleep on the floor, Rob would sweep, love, would, would wash, Rob would pray. As long as I want him to pray, he would pray. Whatever we told him, he did it. And I’m not surprised that God has elevated him to that. You know, at one time I sent him to Africa. I said, I’m want to test him. Let him go to Africa and represent me. And when they, he went to Africa to book enough Faso, the president of the, uh, of the assembly of God, then who’s not our father, he who’s not in law, to my daughter, he called me and said, Man, the drop is a very, very diligent, humble and and powerful man of God.

(12:21):
When he came here, he did everything you told him to do. And he went beyond, you know? So I’m very grateful to go and give God all the glory that he brought us, our ministry in his life, and, uh, that he’s, uh, developed now. He’s a great man of God.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:34):
Let’s talk a little bit about your testimony, cuz you were attacked by Satan with cancer. Yes. But now you look very healthy. You look very whole. <laugh>. Tell me, what did Jesus do to set you free from cancer?

Billy Bimba (12:48):
I was attacked. I was attending Oral Robert University and I was almost about to graduate and I got hit with cancer the first time and they say it was a lymphoma. So I was to the point of death and my wife, Queen Elizabeth, she’s a prayer warrior. She’s decided like, I’m gonna pray for my husband. I don’t believe it’s time for him to go. God has plenty your work for him to do. I’m gonna stand with God to get this thing out of his body. And she is also an herbalist. So she was praying and using her, praying and using herbs. And God gave us a direction to go to Mexico in South America. I mean, uh, Mexico right across the border with San Diego went to Oasis a hope for treatment. And while we’re there, I went for treatment. It turned into a mission field.

(13:38):
The owner of the hospital said, I read your record. I found out that you are an evangelist. And these patients that are coming from all over the world, they don’t know Christ. I always come and give them Christ yet. So today you are gonna preach for me. I said, Wow. My wife came and told me, say I sick. I mean I was sick. And then my wife said, You thought you came here for treatment. But today I was told by the, the, the, the owner of the hospital that he wants you to preach his chapel. I said, Okay. I pray to the Lord. The Lord said, Go and do it. And when I stew on that platform, I was so thin and so sick, I I stew on that platform, the power of God hate me. I began to preach and miracles started happening. People’s lives were just transformed.

(14:21):
After this, after the service, a Buddhist was in the service, came to my wife. He said, Hey, Mrs. Biber, can you, can I talk to you? Miss be said? Yes. He said, I was in the meeting yesterday when your husband was preaching, I’m a Buddhist, I’m not a Christian, but what he had to say, Touch my heart. Can you please come and pray for my mom? And then we said, Okay, before we pray for your mom, we want to introduce Christ to you. She sat down, she received Christ and went, and we pray for her mom. Those were some of the miracles that were happening in the, the hospital and the patient. And all these patients now are going bring, I mean all the, uh, the caregivers that carry their patients were in the meeting. They were bringing their, their, their, their patients out of the, their room, their their hospital room to come to my room to for prayer.

(15:06):
This was the miracle that was happening. And then the pastor in Mexico, who was a chaplain in that hospital, when he saw the move of God, he said, I’m a pastor in town here. I work in this hospital, but half my church, the move of God that is in this hospital, I would like you to come and preach in my church. I said, This is crazy here what God is doing. So I said, I told my wife, what can we do? She said, Well, let’s go. We went there. I, I mean, two months, you could see two months. I mean, my stomach was. So I went in, preach and people, God bless people, God deliver. And it just, the story went on and on and on and on. And at the end of the day, and an American missionary who was in that survey was so touched with what God was doing in that service.

(15:48):
He said, I know you came here for treatment and you are sick. We just had an earthquake in that part of, uh, Mexico, way down in the Border of Mexico. The pastors are devastated. I believe your ministry’s going to encourage them. Can you imagine that? We drove how many hours, honey? We drove about two, three hours in the Border of Mexico. We went there 110 degree. So hot. And I mean, they have to open all the doors in the, in the building because in the church building, because there’s no way you could, you could stand the heat preached under that intense temperature and the power of God move, miracle took place. And then we drove back to the states. So these are someone saying God was doing in Mexico, and God just opened that door. And many, many people were riched with the, with the gospel through the hospital and, and the church that I minister to.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:41):
Wow. Well, let’s talk about Africa. You were born in Liberia. Yes. You have ministered in Sierra Leone, in Bukino Faso ,Guinea, many Pakistan, many other places, Sweden, and Africa. But, uh, what is it that God has put on your heart? Tell me about your vision for reaching people for Jesus in Africa.

Billy Bimba (17:03):
I really believe that through the local church, we can have good substantial evangelism. We can go out there and have these cru says, and hundreds or thousands of people show up. We believe that building the, and strengthening the local pastors in any region is God’s strategy for, uh, uh, uh, preserving the harvest. Because when you build relationship with pastors and show them how important they are in their region and work alongside with them when you go and harvest, they’re the one that going to preserve the harvest. Yeah. So one of the strategy for Africa is I like to, I like to build relationship with pastors. I like to encourage pastor, I want to help them, them to see the bigger vision, just, just than just their local church that God has called them to, to carry the kingdom further than their local church. And, and, and when we do that, we do the intrude, the seminars, they are build up, They see the vision, they are excited.

(18:02):
So when we do the crusade, people get safe. Now they can, they can disciple those people. So in Africa, I’ve seen that when you go make pastors your best friends, help them encourage them, pray with them, and, and share the vision that God’s giving you, enriching their community for them. When you do that, when you leave that place, there’s going to be greater testimony to the glory of God. So right now for me, as your question is God is specifically calling me to back to Africa, but my base is Liberia right now, my wife and I in preparation, trying to raise support to go back so that we can reorganize things because I got sick with cancer and got miraculously heal me. I mean, have cancer in my lung, cancer in my, in my small power, cancer in my boom boom, marrow cancer in my bones. I was a dead walking man. Hard. I was alive for these two and a half years. It’s only the resurrection power that was sustaining.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:01):
And now Jesus has healed you

Billy Bimba (19:03):
And I touched my body.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:04):
And you’re gonna go tell everyone what Jesus has done.

Billy Bimba (19:06):
Yeah, man. That’s what I, I immediately, the doctor released me. I went to booking a Faso, thousands of people in, in churches, buildings, in cities, two cities. We, we, we touch in Burkino Faso, God moved so mindly in science and wonders and, and we have created a base there to reach the francophone countries in West Africa. But Liberia is going to be my concentration. And in next coming, uh, yes,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:31):
If someone is listening and they want to help to support your ministry and help send you to Liberia and to the rest of Africa, what is your website? How can they find out more about you?

Billy Bimba (19:43):
They can go to www.billybimbaglobalministries.org. www.billybimbaglobalministries.org.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:53):
Okay, So that’s B I L L y. B I M B A, Billy Bimba. Well, it is so wonderful to have you on the Evangelism podcast. I love your passion for Jesus. Amen. Your enthusiasm for serving him. And I know that God is going to do amazing things through your ministry in the years to come.

Billy Bimba (20:14):
I wanna mention one more thing. I want to give the credit to, to who the credit belonged to. I thank God for, uh, uh, uh, late Reinhard Bonnke when I started my ministry in the ruler eras of Africa. He didn’t know me, but I, somebody who saw what God was doing through me, send my name to South Africa to Reinhard Bonnke. And he pray over the names that were, you know, presented to him. And I was choosing as one of these delegates, participant of the fire conference that took place 19 19 86 in Zimbabwe. Wow. In Zimbabwe. American preachers came. European preachers came. That’s what, that was my first time I saw Kenneth Copeland. That was my first time I saw Mohan, and, and saw African preachers from Rhema. It was just an awesome conference. It was there. God really transformed my evangelistic ministry.

(21:12):
Reinhard Bonnke released the anointing upon the evangelists, and he said, Right now under this tent, I want you to go and practice any sick person you find. Lay your hand on them. I met a person whose nose was black on this side. He could only, they could only breathe through one nursery. And I lay my hands and the stuff came out and the person began to breathe normal right in the tent. The fire fell in that tent. From that day when I came home to Africa, Miracle started happening in Liberia in our home church. One of our church worker daughter was scraper, and the missionaries were having a, a meeting. And God spoke to me to go and pray for that, for that young lady. And she got, she got raised up and I saw some cripples, some blind. It was just an awesome fire that I, that, that ran Bonky ministry released into my life.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:01):
What a great testimony. You know, I have read stories about that great gathering of evangelists in Zimbabwe in 1986.

Billy Bimba (22:10):
I was there,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:11):
But it’s so wonderful to hear the testimony of what God has done. And all these years later, you continued to have that same fire for

Billy Bimba (22:17):
Eventually Oh man. It’s just going on and on and on. Wow.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:20):
Yes. Well, Brother Billy Bimba, you are a great evangelist. It is so wonderful to meet you and to hear your story. Thank you for sharing today on the Evangelism

Billy Bimba (22:30):
Pipe. Thank you so much for having me. Jesus. Bless you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:33):
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 (23:54):
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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Calling All Evangelists | Global Evangelist Alliance

Daniel King & Siegfried Tomazsewski talk about the Global Evangelist Alliance and why every evangelists should be a part. We also talk about the online Evangelism Masterclass designed to train and inspire evangelists. Plus we invite every evangelist in the world to come to Amsterdam 2023 on June 21-24 for an amazing event that will launch a new era in evangelism.

Join the Global Evangelist Alliance: https://globalevangelistalliance.com/

Sign up for the Evangelism Masterclass: https://masterclass.globalevangelistalliance.com/

Register for Amsterdam 2023: https://amsterdam2023.com/

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:01):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. Today I’m with a very special friend, Siegfried Yes. Well, you are the director of the Global Evangelist Alliance, the GEA. Tell me a little bit about the GEA and what the purpose of it is.

Siegfried Tomazsewski (00:31):
Yeah. Well, this is something I’m, I’m getting excited about because, you know, as an evangelist, we have been focusing at individual places. We have been preaching. Now, suddenly there is the vision of the Global Evangelist Alliance. That means we are networking and trying to build a net with many evangelists. Actually, every evangelist from all around the world can join the ge, whether it’s a large crusade evangelist, a street evangelist, a church evangelist. We want every evangelist, actually everyone who has a heart and passion for the lost to join in so we can reach the globe for Jesus.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:10):
Amen. And so if an evangelist wants to join the GEA and be a part of what God is doing through the Global Evangelist Alliance, how can they join?

Siegfried Tomazsewski (01:20):
Well, number one, there’s no entrance fee. Because what we want to do, we want to offer help for every evangelist by networking with, with street evangelists, one on one evangelists, large crusade evangelists. So we can benefit from one another. We can learn from one another. We can pray together. We can encourage one another. We can collaborate, we can cooperate. Everyone knows what’s going on, where and when. And we can strategically plan also where nothing is happening. So joining is very simple. Go to the website, www.joinge.org or global evangelist alliance.com. It’s the same thing. And you will find the website and you will find how to join on your click on there, and you apply from membership.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:10):
All right. And so if you’re listening, I want to encourage you right now, go to joingea.Org. Join with us with the Global Evangelist Alliance. And together, I think that we can reach the world for Jesus. We must do it together. We cannot do it separately. Now, one of the very exciting things, which the GEA is doing, is a conference coming up in June of 2023 in the city of Amsterdam. What Yes. Will be happening in Amsterdam.

Siegfried Tomazsewski (02:45):
This is truly exciting because we not only want to network, but we want to really work together with every evangelist on the world. Now we are calling evangelists from all around the world, representatives from every nation, every region, every continent to come for four days, three days are in death conference. It’s not like the old day conference where there comes a speaker and we are all blessed, and then we go back home. No, we really want to sit together. We want to discuss, we want to pray. We want to seek the, the Lord, how we can reach every tribe, every culture group, every language group so that we can learn from those people from the different regions, and then we can see how we can work together and help those people who are out in the bush or out in a rural city, out in the major cities from around the world.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:34):
So this is going to be June 21, 22, 23. Yes. Of 2023 coming up very, very quickly. And we are calling all evangelists from all over the world. We’re going to have delegations that are coming from Africa. You have worked in Africa for many years, first with Reinhard Bonnke. Yes. And now through one God, one day, one Africa, and, and you have done so much building networks of evangelists and Africa. So we’re calling the Africans together. Yes, absolutely. Right now we are in South Korea and we have just finished a conference with the Pentecostal World Conference where we called the Asian evangelist to come. Yes. We also have a brother, Jean-Luc Trachsel. He is one of the leader of the Global Evangelist Alliance, and he is from Switzerland, and he is working so hard putting the invitations together for the evangelist of Europe, and of course, North America, Central America, South America, anyone who has a heart for evangelism, we’re calling them together.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:43):
Yes. Because we feel that this is going to launch a new era of evangelism. Yes. And what’s really significant about the conference in Amsterdam is it’s going to take place almost to the day. Exactly. 40 years after Billy Billy Graham went to Amsterdam in 1983. Yeah. And of course, I was just a small boy at that time, but I’ve read the transcripts, the books that they put out from that conference. And, and at that time, Billy Graham had thousands of evangelists come from all over the world. And it really set a focus for evangelism for this past generation Yeah. Of evangelists. I mean, for 40 years almost every evangelist that’s elderly that I know had some type of impact that came from Amsterdam. And so now God is calling us together as evangelist in Amsterdam to strategize and to plan and to think about what God is going to do in the next decade. And God has given Dr. Billy Wilson, who is the head of Empowered 21, they’re helping to sponsor this conference in Amsterdam. And he’s also the President of Oral Roberts University. God’s given Dr. Billy Wilson this vision that we could reach everyone on Earth before 2033. Yes. Which is the 2000 year anniversary of Pentecost.

Siegfried Tomazsewski (06:22):
Absolutely.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:23):
Yes. And the goal is to reach every person on earth with the gospel of Jesus Christ through the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Yes. What a great vision

Siegfried Tomazsewski (06:33):
It is. It is. You know, and, and what’s extra ordinary on that conference? You mentioned it three days collaborating, strategic planning, prayer and so on. But you have not mentioned the, the cherry on the cake. I mean, that, that’s the, the highlight because the last day, the 24th, the fourth day on Saturday, we are not only going to reach out to the city of Amsterdam and all over Holland, but this is going to be an impartation and anointing and sending or commissioning meeting in the stadium. There will be gospel preaching, there will be healing and everything. But we want to send everyone back to their nations filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, and then do what we are called to do so we can reach the globe by the year 2033, as you had said.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:20):
And I think this is going to be so significant for so many, especially young people who are looking for a calling. Yeah. They’re looking for what their assignment is for God. They’re crying out, say, God, I want to be used by you, but I don’t know where I’m supposed to go or how I’m supposed to be used. And if they will come to this conference and then to this great commissioning service in the stadium right there in Amsterdam, I think that question will be answered. Yes. And they will, they will have visions. They will see dreams. They will, God will speak to them. They will have the sense of calling to know that this is the time for the harvest, that Jesus is coming soon. We need to make every second count for God. And the greatest harvest of history will happen in this next decade. Yeah. And the Global Evangelist Alliance is going to be very involved in helping to strategize and plan ways of reaching every person on Earth. Can you talk

Siegfried Tomazsewski (08:26):
About that? Y yes. What what truly excites me is in the past there was some individual great men and women of God, and we honor them. We respect them. I mean, I love them. They are great examples for us. But there is a, a young generation, I tell you, there is a, a young generation on the horizon. They are standing up there rising up, but they don’t know what to do and how to do it and so on. And in the past, the individual in evangelists, they were doing their, their job wonderful and fruitful and everything. But what I see now in the conference and in the Global Evangelist Alliance, now suddenly the evangelists of the old are connecting with the young generation. We don’t want to stand there as the big teachers. We want to mentor, we want to encourage, we want to train. We want to be there to encourage and to, to send them ours expo, send them into the harvest, and then be with them every time they have a need. They can, we can have zoom calls, we can have regional meetings where we invest in the new generation so that the work of one evangelist is not only expanded, but it’s multiplied. And I believe in multiplication and investing in the new generation, in the young generation, in this generation to come. This is the, the secret of the revival of this decade.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:46):
Now, one of the resources that the Global Evangelist Alliance offers to those who join is a great training course online.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:57):
It’s called the Evangelism Masterclass. Yes. And already involved in the Global Evangelist Alliance. We have 30 of the leading evangelist from around the world, from many different continents and context that are really expert in telling people about Jesus to this new generation. Yeah. And so we gather them together and each one of them recorded a 45 minute training session with the very best of their anointing and their, their insight and their understanding. And we’ve put this together into the Evangelism Masterclass, which is available in, in two different versions. So we have one version, which is offered for free on the website for anybody who joins the Global Evangelist Alliance. Yeah. And, and they can have access to this. And it is on personal evangelism, learning how to witness one on one Yeah. To those who need Jesus. And then we also have the second part of it, which is a series of videos specifically recorded for those who feel like they’re called by God to the office of the Evangelist. Many people they know they’re called to be pastors or maybe they’re called to be a professor. But I think that in this day, God is raising up more and more people who will be called to be evangelist. And so we want to train them. And so that’s available for a very small fee for people who, who want that calling and, and want to learn the very best practices Yeah. In how to operate in their calling as evangelists. Yeah.

Siegfried Tomazsewski (11:38):
I, I need to add to that because this is something I believe the world has not seen before. Number one, because we know from statistics that the majority, I don’t wanna say a percentage, but the majority of the church people don’t know how to witness. That’s why they don’t witness, They go to church. But inside they would actually love to, but they don’t know. And that’s why nothing happens. They leave it to the evangelists. But here, for the first time, they have a tool they can learn. I, I don’t want to say, you know, gospel sharing for dummies, you know, forgive me. But, but that’s so simple. The barrier is so low because it is easy. And it’s not from some scholars teaching in the university from the, from the books. But what I see in both courses that are high experts from around the world, they are not coming from the pulpits. They are coming from the, from the fields. When we teach, for instance, about witchcraft, demonn possession, how to deal with different,religions and so on,those are people who not talk about what they have been doing. They are doing what they are talking about. So they are evangelists who are doing right now, what they teach. And from the,from the practical point of view, they are teaching. So everybody can identify with what they are doing. I truly say, I, I’m excited. I’m excited. <laugh>.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:59):
Amen. Well, if, if you have a heart for evangelism, I encourage you to join the Global Evangelist Alliance. Yes. Go and sign up for the Evangelism Masterclass. Yes. This will benefit you in great ways. You will learn so much. And another part of the vision is building networks of evangelists in each country. Now, I actually have many people who listen to the Evangelism podcast in Africa, in Asia, and in different parts of the world. And, and so there is a desire to, to build networks Yeah. In each of these countries of evangelists who will work together, who will encourage one another. And you have really been at the forefront of putting that together. Can you talk a little bit about how those networks are being set up?

Siegfried Tomazsewski (13:47):
Yes. Number one, it’s not only one network that we are aiming for, but there is already wonderful existing networks. They are many times not known. Some are known. There’s the African enterprise talking about Africa. There is the African network of evangelists with Dr. Steven Matura. There is the global network of evangelists. There’s the global evangelist network and, and so many networks already existing. And we want to get all those networks together, number one. Number two, I’m on my way to ka maroon right now. And in, in three weeks, I’m down in Africa again, seven countries. We want to join the evangelists to to come together as an a network. We have 24 regions in the globe. And, and every region has about 7, 8, 10, 12 countries under them. So we want representatives from in, from each country under the leadership of the, of the regional, under the leadership of the continental representative, and the whole ge a global executive team.

Siegfried Tomazsewski (14:52):
Now, it’s not a hierarchy, it’s that everyone can connect with everyone who is specialized in some field. Now, the, the beauty of it is we will have common zoom meetings where we can share, where we can encourage, where we can learn from one another. And since we are focusing on Africa, on Asia, on Europe of Latin America, so we can have groups specialized for those areas. And when we speak about networks, I’m not only talking about the evangelists, but if we really are serious about reaching everyone by the year 2033, the evangelist is kind of the body who, who carries the gospel out. But we need the wings. So we have connected with the world’s largest intercession and prayer networks, but also church prayer networks, because they need to prepare the ground. When the evangelists come, they need to pray. Why? While the evangelists are going out, we are connecting with the apostolic ministry, with the churches.

Siegfried Tomazsewski (15:53):
Because Jesus never said go and count raised hands. He said, Make disciples. So we are very much after souls to be discipled. We work together with the church planting networks. So then when evangelists comes, there is no church. We plant churches, but not the evangelists. But together with the church planting and unreached people groups, I just was just on an email together with Wcl Associates. They are a part of it. They are doing Bible translations in areas where there is no Bible translation yet. So when the evangelist comes, we know that people are have the Bible ready for them. You see, I’m getting excited because when we are serious about reaching the globe, all the evangelists, small, big, known unknown, can come together, learn from one another, have the support of the intercessors, know the people who come to Christ will be followed up by the churches. I, I mean, it’s exciting.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:45):
<Laugh>. Wow. What a great blessing. All right. So if you’re listening, I want you, first of all to join the Global Evangelist Alliance. You can do www.joingea.org. Yes. Second, I want you to sign up for the Evangelism Masterclass. Yes. And you can get advanced level training in different areas of evangelism,

Siegfried Tomazsewski (17:05):
Really important.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:07):
Third, I want you to come to Amsterdam. 2023. Yeah. June 21st, 22nd and 23rd. Come to Amsterdam, there’s going to be thousands of evangelists and ministers that are going to come together for that. And the inspiration, the information that you get there, I think will help to launch you into the stratosphere with what God wants you to do. This really is a, a new era of evangelism. God is moving in a great way.

Siegfried Tomazsewski (17:39):
Absolutely is. And

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:39):
God is speaking to many different ministers and ministries around the world saying, This is the time to go after a harvest. Yes. This is the time there, There has never been an initiative before that really was able to reach every single person on Earth, Everyone. And that is the goal, everyone on earth to encounter Jesus Christ. Yeah. It almost seems impossible in human terms, but with God, all things are possible.

Siegfried Tomazsewski (18:09):
You know, somebody said to me once, If, if God tells you to do something that’s possible, you know, there is nothing needed, He doesn’t even need to tell us. But if I receive a vision from God, like this one, what Bill Wilson received, and we know it’s impossible. We know it’s from God. We know it’s from God. Because he would never tell us something that’s impossible. If we wouldn’t, He be in it and he is in

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:34):
It. Amen. Well, thank you for being on the Evangelism Podcast.

Siegfried Tomazsewski (18:37):
Thank you for allowing me to be here. Dr. King. I, I really love for everyone evangelist to join and to reach the globe with us. Amen. Amen.

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Shawn Brann | Ignite Europe & Flower Evangelism

Shawn Brann assisted the sports chaplain for the Dallas Cowboys and was the Dean of Students at The King’s University. But he left it all in order to become a missionary in Zürich, Switzerland. He started Ignite Europe. Today we talk about what God is doing in Europe and you will hear about an innovative evangelism method using flowers.

Learn More About Ignite Europe: https://igniteeurope.com/

Buy Shawn Brann’s book Go & Tell:

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. I have a very special guest, Sean Bran, and he is the author of Go And Tell. It’s a book about evangelism, and he is a missionary in Zurich, Switzerland. Thank you for being on the Evangelism Podcast,

Shawn Brann (00:20):
My honor to be here. I’m so glad to be part of this podcast.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:24):
So let’s just start out at the beginning of how you ended up in Zurich. Yes. Talk to me about how God got you There.

Shawn Brann (00:32):
Absolutely. So before I moved to Zurich six years ago, I was working at the Kings University at Gateway Church as a dean, the dean of students. And my wife kept telling me over and over that God was calling us to Europe to evangelize. And over and over I kept telling my wife, No way. I didn’t, I didn’t really fill the call to Europe. It wasn’t on my heart. It wasn’t burning on my heart to move to Europe. But over time, the Lord started making it very, very, very clear that this was what he wanted us to do. And so six years ago my wife and I took the step of faith. We gave away our cars, sold everything we own, bought one way tickets to Switzerland, and flew to Switzerland and said, Okay, let’s do this. And that’s where we’ve been for six years.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:14):
And in some ways, Europe has a very rich history of Christianity. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, but in other ways it is really territory that is very unreached and there’s lots of challenges there. Yeah. So what are some of the greatest challenges of ministering in Europe?

Shawn Brann (01:32):
Yeah, so I can for sure speak about Switzerland, and we’ve been all over Europe as well. But what you find is people generally think that the church is something that’s archaic. It’s old, it’s, it’s, it’s not updated. It’s not relevant for today. And so when you start talking about the Bible, it’s almost like telling someone about a Shakespeare play and, and saying, Okay, turn to play number four on the seventh page. And they look at you like, What are you talking about? Like, Shakespeare is long gone and dead. And you see that oftentimes in, in Europe and especially in in Switzerland, you, when you talk about the Bible, people look at you like you’re crazy. And so they just need to know that Jesus is alive. The Bible is for today. And whenever you just share the simple message of the gospel of Jesus, lives are changed. And that’s what we do.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:25):
You told me about an innovative idea that God gave you for reaching your village and telling people about Jesus. Tell me about that.

Shawn Brann (02:33):
Yeah, so when my wife and I first moved to Switzerland, we were there for about two weeks, and I obviously was there to evangelize. And so I went to the main station and the main train station, and I started to evangelize this guy and he thought I was crazy. And he scooted over like 10 foot from me. And so I go back, obviously the conversation was over. I go back to my wife and I said, Babe, pack your bags. We’re moving back to Texas. And I just kind of licked my wounds for a couple weeks. Like, Oh, what am I doing in Switzerland? What am I doing in Europe? Well, two weeks later, I decided, I’m gonna try this again. So I go on this, on the streets, actually, I go to the train station that was selling the tickets in the ticket box area, and I start telling this person about Jesus.

Shawn Brann (03:17):
And again, it just wasn’t connecting as hard as I was trying, nothing was happening. And again, I’m driving home just feeling defeated. But having this passion to share the gospel, not only to people in Zurich, but really to my village, my little town of 600 homes. And I got home and I was just, I just was so discouraged. I said, Jesus what can I do? And in my prayer time, one of the things the Lord told me that night, he said, Sean, I want you to be a voice, not an echo. You’re copying people. And you know, when you go to like the Louv in Paris, you, you go to see them on Lisa, and it is worth $300. But when you go outside, they have all these copies of the Mona Lisa that are $1. And the Lord was just saying, You know, I I, I don’t want you to be a cheap copy.

Shawn Brann (04:05):
I want you to do what I’ve called you to do. And I said, Well, Jesus, what do you want me to do? And so the next morning I woke up and the Lord reminded me that when we first moved to Switzerland, someone gave us a bag of vegetables, and they put them on our front porch, didn’t ring the doorbell, didn’t knock, just left them there. And I asked my neighbors, Why did they do that? And my neighbor said, Well, that’s a sign of affection that, that they care for you. This is how they showed that they’re glad you’re in the neighborhood. And and then all of a sudden the Lord told me, I said, Sean, I want you to give everyone in your town a flower. I thought a flower, Are you kidding? I’m from Texas, you know, like, I, like, I’m going to Switzerland.

Shawn Brann (04:45):
I want to be bunky, you know, not, not a flower evangelist. You know, like, what is this? I’m from Texas. You wish me carry guns. No. So I said, Are you kidding me, Lord? And he said, No, this is what I want you to do. And I’ve learned that God has created us to create, we are creative to create. He’s a creative God. He gives us creative ideas to get his gospel out. And so I said, Okay, Jesus, if this is what you want. And so we bought these really nice flowers around 15 US dollars per flower, The the whole, the whole thing. And in the flower we put a card that said, just as a seed goes in the ground and dies and rose again to this beautiful flower. So Jesus came to the earth, died, went in the ground and rose again for you to have eternal life.

Shawn Brann (05:30):
And then we had a website link on the bottom that says, If you want to know more, go to this website. And we went to our village and we just sat ’em on everyone’s front porch. We had some really cool divine connections where we were able to pray for people to get healed. And that was really neat. But generally speaking, 600 of the flowers really were just sat on the people’s doorsteps right outside their front door. And what happened was amazing, within 24 hours for every 100 flowers, we put out 300 people in the village, went on the website and read the gospel message. And it was amazing. Like my heart, my desire was to share, share the message of Jesus. And it wasn’t the way I ever would’ve expected I ever would’ve done, but it’s what the Lord had us to do. And so we did that for all 600 homes, shared the gospel, Everyone got to read or hear or had a chance to hear the gospel of Jesus. And now there’s a village beside us that’s over 15,000 homes that were, we’re now doing this thing called the Seed Project to those homes.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:36):
And so you’ve heard of Holy Spirit power. Well, this is flower power with the Holy Spirit. Yes. And, and so people re they look at the, the website and you’re able to track that.

Shawn Brann (06:47):
Absolutely. Yeah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:48):
Having a, a tremendous impact. That that’s amazing. Now, you wrote this book, it’s called Go And Tell, and it’s very innovative how you wrote it, because you, you went through the, the last 2000 years of church history and every century you pulled out a story in order to emphasize a little lesson Yes. On evangelism. Yes. Okay. So tell me some of your favorite stories,

Shawn Brann (07:16):
Facebook. Well, what started was, I was reading the, the gospels and Mark, Jesus said, Go into all the world and preach the gospel. And the Greek word for go is Pru. And Pru obviously means to go, but it, it’s also transfer. And it’s, and it’s a word that would be used whenever, like a runner’s transferring a baton, a runner’s baton to another runner. And so generally speaking, when Jesus was talking to these disciples and he looked at them and he said, Go into all the world, It wasn’t just, Hey, go, go, go. It was Jesus saying, I’m giving you a baton, like I’m now all authority and heaven and earth is being given to you. I am with you always to the end of end of the age. So God, Jesus was given us this baton to run with, and that baton has been, message has been passed down through all the centuries to where we are today.

Shawn Brann (08:07):
And so yeah. So I go through every Century 21 centuries, and I highlight a story and, and a need for evangelism, and then countering an excuse. So for example, you know, we say the Great Commission the, the early believers, they received the baton. And I talk about the Holy Spirit. It’s called the Great Commission. But if you really look at us, the Great Commission, it’s us doing ministry together with the Holy Spirit. And we can’t evangelize without the Holy Spirit working with us, doing it with us together. And so to be an effective gospel bringer, effective runner of the gospel baton, an effective deliverer, we must be men and women full of the Holy Spirit and fire. And you know, you look at the life of Peter, he, he couldn’t evangelize to, to three people around a fire when Jesus was being crucified.

Shawn Brann (09:01):
And yet, we read a few pages later, and he’s standing in front of crowds preaching the gospel. Well, what was the difference? It was the Holy Spirit living in him, equipping him, filling him, filling him up. And people say, Well, I don’t feel comfortable sharing the gospel. And as you and I both know, you know the Holy Spirit is a comforter. And so the, the second chapter here in the, in the first century, I believers, the very first thing they did was they were filled with the Holy Spirit and he comforts you and he goes with you. And so I go through all these different stories. Creativity is one. When the first bubonic plague hit the world the in, in, I think it was five, the five hundreds, the, generally speaking, the pastors and the leaders, they, they were afraid and closed the church doors.

Shawn Brann (09:48):
But it was the ordinary men and women who took the gospel out in, into the, the into Europe with creative ideas. And so God will give us creative ideas to share the gospel. And we all have giftings and talents that are needed and, and, and creativity that is needed. And, and God has given you these abilities to share the gospel that could be writing a poem and you put it on social media, you know, that that’s maybe the way God wants you to share the gospel. And so yeah. So we just go through, Yeah. 21 Centuries of Church History. It’s a, it’s a fun read. I think you’ll like it.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:25):
So the book is Go and Tell by Sean Bran. And I really like your metaphor of passing the baton down. Yeah. My pastor Billy Joe Doherty, he once had a vision where he saw that a race track, he saw that we were in a race and Jesus took the baton, passed it to the first generation of disciples. Wow. Peter, James, and John. And then they passed it on to the next generation, you know, Irans and Telian, and yes, those great men have gotten in. So from century to century it’s been passed down to, to Martin Luther and now coming down to us and the, the baton has been passed to us. Yes. And we’re running. And then he saw in his vision that we are close to the finish line, and that we’re actually in the last lap of this marathon that the church has been running for Yes.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:19):
For 2000 years now. And he saw that Jesus is coming soon and we need to make every single second count for God. And, and then the vision zoomed out. And he saw that surrounding the racetrack is a stadium. Yes. With all the saints who have died in gone to heaven. And he said that all of these saints, all these great men and women of God know Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Peter, James and John, and all these great heroes of the faith like you write in your book about Saint Patrick, and you know, these great evangelists that have gone out into the world. And he said they, they weren’t sitting in their seats. They were standing up on their feet and they were clapping and applauding and say, Go run faster. Jesus is coming soon. This is the greatest hour of evangelists. And and if you think about it, we have so many opportunities here today to evangelize that people in centuries past never had there’s actually more people alive today than have ever been alive all throughout history.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:25):
And there’s actually more Christians in the church alive today Wow. Than if you add up over the last 2000 years. And so, so the, the church triumphant is actually smaller than the church militant here on Earth. Wow. And so that means that the greatest harvest of souls in history will happen in just the next few years. And we have the privilege of of being a part of that. And heaven is on its feet. Heaven is cheering for us and watching and saying, You’re, you’re, this is the greatest Come on of church history. Come on. You’re gonna see thousands and millions of people come into the kingdom of God. And I, and I think that’s true.

Shawn Brann (13:06):
So good. I I’m like on fire right now because Absolutely. Yes. if you could grab the, the curtains of eternity and just pull it back as, as the writer of Hebrew says, We are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses and, and the, the Greek word cloud as the word that was used for like the nose bleed, bleacher seats of the, of the stadiums. And they’re standing there going run, run, run. And many of these people you’ll read about in this book, but many of these people, they died as a martyr. They gave their lives, they laid their life down for Jesus like they were killed because they told their neighbor or their friend about Jesus, and they’re in heaven. And they’re saying, Run, run, run. And the baton is now in our hands, the, the, the subtitles, This is your moment to run because this is your moment in history.

Shawn Brann (13:55):
This is it. And all of heaven is saying, Run, run, run, run, run. I went to a professional baseball game and it was the New York Yankees were playing the Texas Rangers. It was the first time the Rangers went to the, the World Series and it was the final game before the World Series. And the, the Rangers had played this great game all the way up to the ninth inning, and they bring in their, their closing pitcher. And I remember we all got on our feet and we were cheering cuz I was a Ranger fan and we was in Texas. I was cheering go Rangers. And this closer, he wound up through it, struck out Alex Rodriguez, the baseball player for the Yankees. And the stadium went crazy. And I was reminded about where we are in the timeline of world history, that we are closers, that we are on the final stretch.

Shawn Brann (14:42):
And they’re all saying, what? And it’s not about, it’s not about us. It it’s not like our generation is greater than any other generation. We just happen to have the privilege to have the baton in our hand, the ball in our hand when the game is coming to an end, the standing ovation. And one day we’re gonna stand before Jesus. And, and with all of our brothers and sisters who went on before us and let it be set of us that we ran, that we grabbed that gospel baton and that we, man, we gave, we gave it our very, very best because these men and women were not martyred for us to just have big churches and big social media channels. They were martyred. They lived their lives for the gospel so that we would push it through the, the finish line with the, with the good news of Jesus. And what an incredible time in world history to be alive. Amen. We, we are, we are, we are blessed. We are a generation. David Livingston installed in the future, this blessed generation who’s gonna reap this in time harvesting, I believe we’re that. I believe we’re that, that that generation. And man, what an honor, and I would just say run. And you’re running so hard, Daniel, we respect you and honor you for what you’re doing.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:59):
Well, if someone wants to know more about your ministry or to, to find the book, what is your website? What’s a good way for

Shawn Brann (16:07):
Someone to Yeah. The website is called igniteeurope.com. Or for the book, go and tell Go and tell.online. And you can buy it if you’re in the US at Walmart, Target Amazon, Barnes and Noble. If you’re in other places, maybe in Europe, you can go to Book Depository, You can go to any bookstore and and buy it. It’s in, in pretty much most bookstores around the world. So. Awesome.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:32):
Yeah. Well thank you so much for being on the Evangelism podcast. I appreciate it.

Shawn Brann (16:36):
My honor. Thank you, Daniel. God bless you all.

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Free Prayer Booth at the Tulsa State Fair

Revival in America?

We have seen God save thousands of people in over seventy nations around the world. But often when I visit churches here in North America, people ask me, “Do you think God could do something like that here at home?”

In Acts 1:8 Jesus told the disciples, “You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem [the disciple’s own city], in all Judah [the region the disciples lived in], in Samaria [the country next door], and to the uttermost ends of the earth [everywhere else]. Jesus wants us to be a witness in our own cities, in our own regions and countries, in nearby nations, and ultimately, we are called to take the Gospel around the world.

That’s why I have been praying and asking God for opportunities to reach people for Jesus right in our own backyard. God wants to move overseas, but He also wants to move in North America. Even when traveling far and wide, we must not neglect our neighbors who need Jesus.

Free Prayer Booth at the Tulsa State Fair

We just finished hosting a Free Prayer booth at the Tulsa State Fair. The results were amazing! Here are some of the numbers that tell the story:

11 Days of Outreach
132 Hours of Ministry
We engaged in a total of 1,001 conversations about God.
Our team prayed with 1,844 people.
We led 479 people in a prayer of salvation.
60 people testified they received a physical healing.
A total of 318 volunteers came to help us pray.
2 Sunday morning church services for Carnival workers.

International volunteers at this outreach came from Peru, Russia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Uganda, Eretria, Canada, England, Germany, Puerto Rico, and Brazil. We also had people who came to volunteer from Colorado, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas, Texas, New York, Florida, and of course, Oklahoma.

The Continuing Impact of the Free Prayer Booth

Many of our volunteers at the Free Prayer booth were teenagers or college students who had never had the opportunity to lead a person to Christ before. We used the Free Prayer booth as a way to train these young people how to share their faith. Now that they have seen God move through them, they will continue to be bold in telling people about Jesus.

Now that the Tulsa State Fair is over, I have a vision for this type of outreach to occur at State Fairs across America. We have proved this model of ministry works. We are in the process of writing a manual that we can use to inspire and train churches and ministries across America to do this same type of outreach.

Testimonies from the Tulsa State Fair

The first day Kevin Wagner saw Michael smoking drugs near the tent behind us. Two days later, he approached our booth with tears in his eyes. He started weeping and said, “My mother just died yesterday.” It turns out that he had been trying to mask his heartbreak by the use of drugs the day before she died. The team at our booth consoled Michael and shared the Gospel with him. We told him, “Jesus gives us hope in the midst of heartbreak.” We asked him

to give his life to Christ and he was eager to do so. We spent time ministering to him and he left with the hope of heaven in his heart and comfort from his mother’s death. By being out here, we were there when he faced a big need.

Across the street from our prayer booth was a bathroom. Robert, the bathroom attendant, heard our messages for eleven days. Several people from our team prayed with him. He asked us to pray for his wife who suffers from a stomach problem. That night he went home and laid hands on her stomach, and his wife was healed.

Jonathan Cowerd asked a man if he needed prayer. The man yelled, “No, I need to go to the bathroom” as he rushed towards the restrooms. Five minutes later the man came back and said, “Actually, I do need prayer, there is a lot of bad stuff going on in my life.” Jonathan prayed with him and he accepted Christ as his Savior.

Joshua Wagner shares, “Nate was the last person I prayed with on Friday night. Nate accepted Jesus as His Lord and Savior for the first time! Not only that, but he also got delivered from alcoholism. He had just bought a huge, overpriced beer that was completely full. After he got saved and delivered, I told him he didn’t need that beer any longer, and he happily agreed, and together we threw the full beer in the trash!”

Thank You!

It is because of your generosity we are able to do outreaches like the Free Prayer booth. Your gift this month will help us write a manual so we can empower other churches and ministries to do their own State Fair outreaches. Click here to give a financial gift today.

If you want to host your own Free Prayer booth, our team has written a manual to help you figure out all the details:

Download the Free Prayer Manual

Download the Free Prayer Logo

Download the Free Prayer Follow Up Book

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Free Prayer Booth at the Tulsa State Fair | Daniel King & Joshua Wagner

Our ministry hosted a Free Prayer booth at the Tulsa State Fair. The results were amazing! In eleven days, we had 1,001 conversations about God. We prayed with a total of 1,844 people. We led 479 individuals in a prayer of salvation. 60 people testified they were healed by God of a pain or sickness. We had a total of 318 volunteers show up to help us pray with people. Many of these volunteers were teenagers or college students who had never had the opportunity to lead a person to Christ before.

Transcript:

Evangelist Daniel King (00:00):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. Today I am on location at the Tulsa State Fair at our free prayer booth, and my guest right now is Joshua Wagner. Thank you for being with me.

Josh Wagner (00:17):
Thank You, Daniel.

Evangelist Daniel King (00:18):
And so we have been out here praying with people. It is about the eighth or ninth day nine of the festival of the, the Tulsa State Fair. And we’ve been out here every single day praying with people talking to them about God leading them to Jesus. And we’ve already seen just tremendous fruit. Josh, what are some of the testimonies that stand out to you of what God’s done while we’ve been here?

Josh Wagner (00:49):
Well, thank you, Daniel. It’s been an amazing time of fruitful ministry. Each day, God has used us to pray with so many people. We’ve seen many people saved. I think about one young man yesterday, his name is Zian. He came and when he came up, at first he was so sad and he just had a forlorn look on his face. He’d not accepted Jesus. I got to tell him about the story of the gospel. He wanted to accept Jesus, his Lord. And if you could have seen the before and after picture between his demeanor when he first came up, and afterwards the smile he had on his face, you could noticeably see the difference in what Jesus had done in his life. He was so excited. He got his own Bible. He asked me, I took a picture with him. He says, Well, you send me the, that picture cuz I wanna show people about how I prayed to accept Jesus.

Josh Wagner (01:45):
And so he gave me his number. I sent him the picture, and he said, I’m gonna come by again later on and, and talk to you again. He was just so thrilled about the, the experience that he had had. We’ve had so many conversations like that. I also, we’ve seen not only people get saved, we’ve seen people get healed. One woman came to the fair, she complained about having pain in both her right leg and right foot. I prayed with her believing that Jesus would heal her. As of course we see him do in the scriptures and as he does at our crusades all over the world. And right there on the spot, she says, You know what? My leg pain at foot pain is gone. Jesus has healed her. One more testimony I’ll give you is this one young man came up to me last night.

Josh Wagner (02:28):
His name is Brian. Brian was already a Christian. But as I’m talking to Brian, I, I really felt the Lord was giving me a word of knowledge for Brian. That God had wanted to he wants to use him, that he has a call of God in his life, in ministry, specifically in evangelistic ministry. And so I shared with him, I said, Brian, I feel like God’s telling me that he wants to use you in full-time ministry and to be an evangelist. I love. And as I shared that with him, he said, I, that totally makes sense to me and I believe that and I want that. And so I was able to pray over the call of God in his life and he received this amazing word of knowledge. And it was just amazing to see God impacts so many different people impacting unbelievers, getting them saved, impacting the sick, getting them healed, impacting believers, speaking to the call of God in their lives and, and so many more interactions as well. So it’s just been an amazing time here at the Fair, Daniel.

Evangelist Daniel King (03:23):
Amen. This has been such a tremendous time. And going back to really the beginning of the story of what God did here. Yeah. My friend Evan Herman came out and had a prayer booth last year at the Tulsa State Fair. And over the course of a week, he prayed with about 700 people. And he was telling me about the fruit that he saw from this. And I really saw an opportunity because I’ve been praying about ways to reach people here in America. Yes. You know, people always ask me when I tell them about all the big miracles that God is doing overseas and, and we see thousands of people getting saved. They say like,

Josh Wagner (04:06):
Why

Evangelist Daniel King (04:06):
Don’t we see stuff like that happening here in the United States? Right. And, and they actually like, Why don’t you do big crusades here? Yeah. And, you know, I think that would be an an awesome idea. One of the challenges about doing things here in the United States is that things are a little bit more expensive here. Like we can go to the nation of Haiti. Yeah. And it, we can reach people at a very low cost comparatively, per person. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> here in the United States, when you start talking about renting a venue, paying for sound system, professional gear and everything, it can very quickly add up to thousands of dollars in a very high cost per person. Plus the marketing side of it trying to, to get people to attend. And so I’ve, I’ve been praying like, God, how can we reach people here in America? And really doing a, a booth here at the Tulsa State Fair really isn’t that expensive. Right. We have three different ministries that are involved in it. My ministry, King Ministries International, you have Wagner Ministries. And then Evan Herman, his ministry is called Evangelism Now. And the three of us kind of partner together, and each of us put in a third of the cost towards renting the booth. Yep. And it really is not that expensive, but we are seeing

Evangelist Daniel King (05:26):
So many people who are so open That’s right. To God. That’s right. And we’ve just seen tremendous things that, and it actually took a little bit of a process to, to get here because we started asking them if we could do a booth and then have a little platform with the sound system. Back in November, last November started sending an email and, and asking the state fair if we could come and have permission to do this. And it took all away from November until February to get a meeting with them. And so finally in February we went, we sat down with them and, and presented the, the concept of, of what we could do. And then I didn’t hear back from them. We, we kept texting them and asking them, and we didn’t hear back from them until June. And, and so that all those months from February to June, I was thinking, well, they don’t really want people out there preaching to all the fair goers.

Evangelist Daniel King (06:23):
Right. And there really isn’t a a, a place that they would want for us to do that. But in June, when they called us back, we had just absolutely tremendous favor place God, because not only did they say, Yes, we want you to come, we want you to do a booth. We want you to have a, a platform to be able to have music groups and, and youth groups come and do dramas and stuff. But we also have a Sunday morning service for all the fair workers. Would you be willing to come and preach at the Sunday morning service on both Sundays while we’re here? And so, not only did they allow us to have the booth, but they also opened the door for us to have this Sunday morning service to minister to all these fair workers and, and, and carnival people and also vendors that are here. And so, you know, Josh, I I think it’s so important for the church to go out where people are, sometimes churches get so focused on getting people to come into the church and the people who aren’t saved, they really don’t have any reason to come to church. They don’t want to come to church. Yeah. And, and so I think that if the church, if the, if the world is not coming to the church, the church needs to go to the world.

Josh Wagner (07:45):
Well it’s, it’s totally a great point. And, you know, think about the first word of the great commission that Jesus gave us is go because he knows that it is not normal for an believer to approach you with asking how to be saved. That’s why we have to go out and find them. And so I’ll tell you here at the Tulsa State Fair are many lost people. And we have come to them. We are going into this part of the world, sharing the gospel with them. And God is rewarding our obedience because we have seen so many people impacted by the gospel. So we do praise God so much for what he has done through this ministry here. And Dana, one of the things that’s also amazing about this week is not only the many people we’ve been able to interact with here at the fair, but literally the now we’re approaching hundreds of volunteers that have come and helped us at the fair. People who are already Christians, believers, many of which have never maybe shared the gospel evangelistically before, many of which who have never led someone to Jesus. And we’re able to train them and help them to do this work. And now people who started out shy and timid are becoming emboldened to preach the gospel that they’re leading people to Jesus praying with complete strangers. And it’s been an amazing opportunity as well for the church to be trained and and grow in their evangelistic calling.

Evangelist Daniel King (09:15):
Yeah. So let’s celebrate some of the numbers here. For every person that we talk to, we, we keep a record of actually talking to them. Yep. And so here we are, ninth day in. Yes. And so far we’ve had 587 conversations about God. And so these are interactions with people who are interested, have some question about God or will stop for a moment to talk to us. And then for prayer, we’ve actually prayed with 1060 people so far who wanted to take that moment to have a connection with God. And then now here’s the exciting number. We have 288 people that we’ve prayed with for salvation, and today we will go over that 300 marks. So super excited about that. And then we’ve had 36 reports of people that were healed, that we’re touched by God and feel better amazing physically than when they arrived.

Evangelist Daniel King (10:17):
And then you’re right about the volunteers. We’ve had 201 volunteers. There you go. Who have been out here helping us pray with people. That’s fantastic. And this is such a, an important part of this outreach because many of these volunteers, they’ve been students from Victory College where you’re one of the teachers there. Yep. They’ve been students from, or Roberts University. Yep. We’ve had some from Rayma, we’ve had just some older people. We’ve had younger people. We had a homeschooling group that came out Yes. The other day. Yes. tomorrow all of Victory reach from Victory Church is gonna be out here. Youth groups. Youth groups. Yeah. And music groups. Music groups. We even had people come in for a long strength teams. Yeah. We had the, the team Extreme from Kansas City came down and did feats of Strength. And so all these different people have been here, and many of them have never had the opportunity to lead someone to the Lord before. And this fair outreach has given them the opportunity to lead someone to the Lord. That’s right. And I think they’re gonna take that with them going into the future where they will be bold with sharing their faith with others.

Josh Wagner (11:26):
And that’s, and that’s the, the one of the benefits of this event is not just the people that we are impacting who are coming to the fair, but those who are part of this opportunity that are being trained in evangelism. And so we praise God. And even the numbers you shared, which are already fantastic, we’ve still got two and a half days left, and those numbers will only increase over the course of this weekend. And so, and there’s no telling how many people that we impact, of course, will go home. Like the Samaritan woman who goes home to her family and her community and tells them all about what Jesus has done for her. Many we believe are, are going to do the same for you.

Evangelist Daniel King (12:07):
Yeah. And let’s talk a little bit about how we are following up on with people, because that’s one of the very important things about ministering to people. So, you know, follow up is always difficult in a situation like this for, for some people we’re able to get their phone numbers and Right. And be able to interact with them. But I made up a, a flyer here Yes. That says free prayer, do you know God? And then it has the four spiritual laws. Yeah. Usually when I talk to people, I talk these four spiritual truths that God wants you to know. Because law sounds a little tough. Yeah. But truth sounds good. So number one, God loves you. Sin separates us from God. Jesus died for our sins, and you can be safe. Amen. And then there’s a little salvation prayer here. Yep. Some people call it the Sinner’s Prayer, but I like to call it the Salvation Prayer because it’s a little positive. Yeah. but then we have a place where they can download their free ebook. So if they just point their cell phone camera at the QR code, they can download the book. This is

Josh Wagner (13:09):
That ebook in physical form.

Evangelist Daniel King (13:11):
Yeah. And so some people, they, they want the physical book. So we have the physical book ready to give to them. We also have bibles that we’ve been giving out to everyone. So we’ve got these, these cute little New Testaments Yep. That are just really beautiful. And I noticed that kids really like these are teenagers. Then we’ve got some complete Bibles that were donated to us. Yep. And we’ve got some Spanish Bibles. And That’s right. So I think over the course of this whole time, we’ll end up giving away over 160 Bibles, probably 250 books that will give away. And many, many flyers Yes. That point people to Jesus. Then for kids, we also have stickers for them. So this is the, the three circles illustration, which it’s a, a, a, a nice little way to show kids visually how they can get to God.

Evangelist Daniel King (14:03):
And, and it’s amazing we just, a few minutes ago, a couple of kids walked by. Yeah. And I, I first of all offer them a Tootsie role, which of course every kid wants candy. And so they, they get their Tootsie role, but then I say, Would, would you like a sticker and give him the sticker? And then start with the first circle, which has a heart on it, and say, This heart means that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. And then there’s a picture of a man running away and I ask, What, what do you think this guy’s doing? And they say, Oh, he is running away. He’s like, That’s right. He’s running away from God. Is that good to run away from God? And the kids say, No. And, but then there’s another picture of a man praying. And so, so the kids quickly see that if you pray to Jesus that you can be restored in your fellowship with God. That’s right. And so those two kids gave their life to Jesus. Hallelujah. And, and praise God, they had an encounter with God today. They did.

Josh Wagner (14:54):
They

Evangelist Daniel King (14:54):
Did. And we’ve also just had such a tremendous time just praying for people. One of the testimon that really stands out to me last night Robbie Leaf or two nights ago. Yeah. My friend Robbie Leaf was out here preaching, and he was preaching for about 25 minutes. Yeah. Just sharing his testimony. He says, I used to be called Mad Dog because I was mad at everybody and I was crazy. And, but Jesus set me free. And so his testimony is really wonderful. And so he’s just sharing in a loving way, his testimony, Well, after about 25 minutes, this one man just comes walking over and kneels down right on the pavement in, in front here. He says, I need Jesus. I need God’s help. Yes. And so Robbie prayed with him then I, I spent some time talking to him. Good. And he, he was crying. He, he was having some issues and his marriage and he, he, he was a little bit drunk and but he was just so moved by God Yes. And saying, I need prayer. Could you please pray for me? I need God’s help. And, and right there on the pavement Yeah. Kneeling down, he had an encounter with God.

Josh Wagner (16:06):
And those sorts of things we believe are moments that they’ll take with them for the rest of their life. You know, one other thing I wanted to mention Daniel about follow up is on that flyer that we have there, you can scan the QR code and you can of course download the book, but you also get their name and their information and Yeah.

Evangelist Daniel King (16:26):
We’ll get their email address. And so then we’re going to be able to send them some follow up material, some videos and, and some ideas that will help them.

Josh Wagner (16:37):
And because we’re here in Tulsa, you know, we are familiar with many of the churches in Tulsa. We’ve been able to direct many people to attend good Bible teaching churches in this community. One other aspect of this too, that we’ve been able to minister in, in a way that we’ve been able to minister, is we are surrounded by different vendors, other people working at the fair. And we have been able to pray with so many of the people here at the fair who are working the fair. And they, they I believe have been very encouraged, many of them by our presence here, hearing us preach the gospel, seeing us pray with people. You know, even people that are working at the fair far distances from where we are when we walk around with our shirts and they’ll say, Oh, we’ve heard about your booth, You know, very positively. And so word is getting out, People are hearing the gospel, people are being saved, healed, and delivered and encouraged. And we just praise God for it.

Evangelist Daniel King (17:36):
Amen. And so I think this is an idea that churches across America should pick up and start doing. You know, there are fairs that go on all over the place. In fact, right in Broken Arrow they have a, a fair, they’re called Rooster Days. It’s been going since like 1918. Sure. And so we set up the same little tent out there for three days. Yeah. And in those three days we prayed with over 300 people. We had 56 people give their lives to Jesus. God. And so people are just walking by and, and out there we were giving away free water and stuff cuz it was really hot. Yeah. And it just had such a tremendous impact. But why shouldn’t Jesus be lifted up in these public venues? That’s right. They have every other type of thing that is being sold. I mean, you could buy a pickup here at the fair.

Evangelist Daniel King (18:26):
Right. You could buy an ice cream cone. Yes. You could buy a hot dog. Yeah. You can buy a, a running machine. You can buy yogurt. I mean, they’ve got all kind, You could buy a tornado shelter. Sure. I mean, they’ve got all kinds of booth here. Sure. But why shouldn’t Jesus be lifted up? Absolutely. And so I think that across America, if churches would look for outreach opportunities like this and say, you know, we’re gonna do a prayer booth. And this is a really easy way for people in the church to get involved in the outreach. Anybody can come out and pray and, and, and it’s it’s nonthreatening. Yep. We’re just offering to say, Hey, is there anything you need prayer for? That’s right. That’s right. It’s, you don’t have to be a theologian. That’s right. In order to do this, just a normal, everyday Christian can go out and pray. And then with a little bit of training and some simple tools, anybody can be equipped to go ahead and lead someone to the Lord.

Josh Wagner (19:19):
That’s right. A hundred percent. Not only is it something every church can do from the standpoint of logistics, but it’s also a very inexpensive thing comparatively to the work that we’re doing. Like you mentioned for us to do, crusades overseas is much less expensive than it is to do them here. But even this is less expensive than most of the crusades we do overseas. And so we just I I would echo what you’re saying. I encourage all churches to work evangelistically in your communities. This is a very simple way that you could create a schedule and have a rotation of your people coming and helping to man the booth, giving them opportunities to share the gospel. And it’s great practical way for people who are in the church to be able to exercise their their love for the Lord evangelistically.

Evangelist Daniel King (20:12):
Amen. And so if you’re listening, I want to encourage you to find a fair that’s going on near you. Yes. And think about doing a prayer booth at the fair and using this tool in order to lead people to Jesus. I think that if churches across America would do this, we would see revival. Yes. If the world is not coming to the church, the church must go to the world in what better place than to go to a fair where people are walking around Right. With a Turkey leg in one hand and a Coca-Cola on the other hand and they’re just looking for entertainment. Yeah. Something to do. Why shouldn’t they have an encounter with Jesus? That’s right at

Josh Wagner (20:52):
The fair. Amen. Amen. A hundred percent. And you know, not only is the fair bringing all sorts of centers from different backgrounds, even the nations of the world at the fair, there’s so many people wherever you live, you’ve got many immigrants from many nations to, to obey the commands of Jesus, to go into all the nations of the world and preach the gospel in many ways, you attend your local fair, you will get many nations of the world coming here. People of all different ethnicities and languages, all of ’em need Jesus. So go and do it. Yeah.

Evangelist Daniel King (21:26):
We we had a Hispanic concert here at the fair the other night. Yes. So there was lots of people that spoke Spanish here. And so we actually did one of our presentations in Spanish and prayed with many Spanish people, Spanish speaking people to receive Jesus. Yeah. And we’ve had some Burmese people out here praying with us. And, and it’s just been amazing to see what God has done.

Josh Wagner (21:49):
Amen. Well, we praise God for what he has done, what He’s yet to do, and what we believe God is going to inspire many of you to do as well in your given communities.

Evangelist Daniel King (21:59):
God bless you and thanks for listening to the Evangelism podcast.

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Jeri Hill | Together in the Harvest

Did you ever hear of the Brownsville Revival? It was one of the greatest revivals in the world in the past fifty years. Jeri Hill is the wife of the late Evangelist Steve Hill who was used by God in a powerful way at the Brownsville Revival. On today’s podcast she tells the story of the Brownsville Revival. You will learn how to activate a passion for souls in your heart and some secrets of revival.

Learn about Together in the Harvest: https://www.togetherintheharvest.com/

Enroll in the Steve Hill School of Evangelism: https://www.togetherintheharvest.com/soe

Support Ryan’s Hope: https://www.ryanshope.net/

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, Jeri Hill. Thank you for joining me today.

Jeri Hill (00:10):
Well, thank you for having me, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus too. <Laugh>. That’s

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:16):
Awesome. Now you are leading together in the harvest. Yeah. A ministry that you started with your husband, Steve Hill. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And you and your husband are well known because of the Brownsville revival. God moved in such a tremendous way. Can you kind of tell me a little bit about how the Brownsville revival got started and then what God did during that time?

Jeri Hill (00:45):
Well, it was pretty exciting for a whole year. Well, it, it’s hard to explain all of this. You know, how your hunger for God grows and how you keep going after God and how you want more of God and how you want him to have his way. And so you’re going along, you’re just trucking along, doing whatever you wanted, you wanna do for God, and you’re talking to people about Jesus. You’re going to services and, you know, and then all of a sudden here I am pregnant, I just gave birth to our, our last child. And I was two and a half. She was two and a half weeks old. And that Friday, it was not on the schedule for Steve to be at Brownsville, but he and John had just been talking and Steve’s schedule was totally booked up. He was gonna be in the Czech Republic in a couple of weeks after Father’s Day.

Jeri Hill (01:50):
He was gonna be in other parts of the country. He had been going to different places in the country, in the world. And he talked to John and he said, John, the only day I have open his father’s day. And he goes, I know you don’t want to have me come in to do a missions meeting and raise funds for the mission field on Father’s Day, so I know that’s off. And he goes, No, wait a minute, Steve. Wait, wait, It’s okay. He goes, Let’s do that Father’s Day. And so they put it on the calendar, and Steve’s plan was that we were gonna go on vacation the following week. So he was gonna go in for that one service. Kelsey was two and a half weeks old that Friday. I told Steve, I said, I believe the pastor’s gonna ask you to stay.

Jeri Hill (02:44):
And he said, Nope, I’m coming home. We’re gonna go on vacation. I’m going for one service and I’m coming home, and we will celebrate before I go to the Czech Republic vacation. I need a vacation. You need a vacation. I hadn’t been allowed to travel for the whole nine months of the pregnancy. And so he, I said, Well, I’m just telling you that the pastor’s gonna ask you to stay. And so he goes, That Saturday meets with John and Brenda, and they have supper that night, he didn’t even have Steve sit on the platform that Sunday morning Father’s Day. He didn’t want the people to be going, Oh, wait a minute. Somebody’s on the platform who, you know, this is different. What’s going on? So he had Steve set on the front pew, not even on the platform with him, and he invited Steve to come up to preach.

Jeri Hill (03:41):
He had just lost his mother. John Kirkpatrick had just lost his mother five weeks prior. So he wasn’t really feeling up to preaching or whatever. And he was excited to have Steve come in and Steve preached this message about the wonders of the Lord and all Heaven came down. And I didn’t hear from Steve till four o’clock in the afternoon. And he said, Honey, all heaven came down. And I said, I knew it would. God had been moving for a long time, been really pouring out his spirit. And when that call came at four o’clock, he said, John, kill Patrick would like for you to fly in tomorrow with a seven year old, a three year old, or four year old, and a three week old. And we’ll vacation here this week and I’ll preach in the evenings. And so it sounded like it was gonna be a one week service time. And I said, Well, that sounds like a fun vacation, <laugh>. That’s, that’s.

Jeri Hill
I said, Well, that sounds like a fun vacation, <laugh>. That’s, that’s the perfect vacation. Right. And so I flew in the next day, and five years later we never left. But the, not the first year, we did move nine times because we didn’t know how long we would be there.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:21):
And the revival was happening every night of the week? Yes. It broke out. People started coming from all over the world, all over the United States. They lined up for hours in order to get into the revival. Yeah. And people were repenting. Yes. Every single night. Every single night. And, and so what was that like for you as the wife of the evangelist and suddenly he is studying all day, preparing for his sermons, ministering every night. Yeah. People are getting saved. It must have been a glorious time, but what was that like for you as, as the evangelist wife?

Jeri Hill (01:03):
Well, because when I first got saved and I found out that my life was not my own, I wanted to do and be a part of whatever God wanted to do it, this revival was not manmade. It was not man planned. God showed up. God started touching people, and I was on board with whatever God wanted to do. From the time I got saved, that did not change whatever God wanted to do, that’s what I wanted to see done. And so, you know, staying in a hotel that first week, then the resident’s in for two months, a woman’s house. We rented for two months, another house we rented for two months, We go home for Christmas, Steve comes back saying, you know, going back for that Friday night to see if people were gonna show up. And he said, they’re showing up. It’s just as if we had never taken a Christmas break and they’re showing up.

Jeri Hill (02:08):
So there were certain times we did take breaks, and sure enough, we go back and we stayed there for a couple more months in somebody else’s house. Somebody else’s house for a couple months, because this, this was along the coast. So they had vacation homes that you could rent for a few, few months. We did that and moved nine times the first year. And then we decided to sell our house in Texas. And we felt like we were supposed to stay. And it felt like you were in the river and you were being floating in this river of God, and his presence was enveloped around you. These messages, I think it was because for six, we had been married 16 years. So I think for 16 years of staying in the word of God, staying in the presence of God, and wanting him that we wanted it then too.

Jeri Hill (03:15):
It didn’t change only it was like the desire of our heart to see God’s power, to see his presence, to sense his presence, to walk in his presence the whole time. And it, you know, I sat on the edge of my seat for me, watching Steve preach like that, I was like, I was blown away by the messages he preached. I was like, Go, baby, Go. Yeah. Come on. Come on, baby, Come on. You know, I would, That’s how I felt sitting there on the pew. But also I was praying for everybody who was listening to these messages that the message and the word would fall on the soil of the heart that was ready. God prepare their heart to receive, prepare their heart to want more of God, prepare them for. And so that’s how, even though I didn’t get a chance to speak, but I felt like I was there for Steve, there, for the kids, and there for the people, you know, that they would get right with God. Yeah. It was exciting. Five years. It was very, very exciting.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:33):
Right now, you are working on writing a book, telling the story behind the story. And I think your book is gonna be absolutely phenomenal once it is released. But let’s kind of go through the story of how you got to Brownsville and then what happened in your life after Brownsville. So the beginning is before Christ. B.C. Tell me a little bit about that and what that was like.

Jeri Hill (05:07):
Well, I was not raised in church, so I have no foundation like that. My mom was raped and I was born out of that rape. And, but my mom, she made me feel, she told me this as I was older. She goes, I was a good thing that happened in a, from a bad situation, but I still felt like I was not created by God, that I was created of the lust of man. And so, because of that being my foundation, I had a lot of issues to deal with. My mom married, had two sons in that marriage, divorced on welfare, social services, and food stamps, everything very poor. She was raising three kids all by herself. She was not a victorious woman. She, we went to church periodically, Generally. It was Eastern Christmas, so I knew about the birth of Christ and the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, but I didn’t know how that applied to me, had never had that come alive to me.

Jeri Hill (06:20):
So by the time I’m 10, she remarries 12. I’m smoking and drinking 15. I’m smoking pot 16, I’m doing and selling drugs. And at that same time, we moved from North Dakota to Michigan. And in Michigan as soon as we get there, this pastor comes and knocks on the door and invites us to his church. Well, I’m not interested. Okay, thank you. Goodbye. Shut the door. And then he came back the next Saturday. And to shorten the whole story, I was full of hate and bitterness towards men, ma hatred towards God. I thought if God was really real, then all these bad things wouldn’t have been happening. And there was a lot of hatred in the home, a lot of fighting, a lot of beatings and, you know, cursing and everything. It was just a horrific life. And this pastor’s showing up and saying, Jerry, Jesus loves you and has a plan for your life.

Jeri Hill (07:21):
Yeah, right. You know, I’d roll my eyes. He came for two years telling me that Jesus loved me and had a plan for my life. Kept coming back, leaving teen challenge tracks writing a note on the, on a piece of paper if I wasn’t there to let me know that he had come by. And I, I thought, This man is a pest. He just will not relent. He keeps coming back over and over and over. And I ended up in jail for selling drugs. And that started God showing him, showing up and making himself real during that time. And he spoke to me in jail and he said, Jarris, don’t you understand. Don’t you really understand? But it was my mom’s voice 25 miles away. And I hear it in jail, but I know that that was God, that would, God would be the only one who could do that.

Jeri Hill (08:26):
And I get outta jail and I ask my mom about it, and she said she’d been fasting for me because she had gotten saved in there. There was a change happening in my mom. And I think that that pastor was inan answer to her prayers. She knew I needed help. And so she kept praying for me, and she was very encouraged to hear that. I’d heard her voice in jail. But immediately I leave somebody shows up and I go off to Flint, Michigan. Well, there’s a billboard in Flint, Michigan that has John three 16 in it, on it. And I hear God, speak to me for I loved you. I was like, You might as well leave me alone. This is not, I, I’m not worth it. Give up everything. And I hear it for a whole week. Every time I pass that billboard for I to loved you, for I to loved you.

Jeri Hill (09:21):
I was like, God, leave me alone. I can’t change and I’m not worth it. So just give up. And then I go from there, and I’m staying in a farm, a farmhouse up in the attic, laying, sleeping on a mattress up in the attic. I’m a hippie back in the seventies, and I have a dream. And Jesus is standing at the foot of the bed and his hands out stretched blood dripping from his hands. And he said, For you, I died. And I sat up in the bed expecting to see Jesus there at the foot of the bed. And he wasn’t there. I started weeping. I grabbed my knees and I’m weeping. I’m saying, God, I cannot change. Give up on me. And then I go to a bar and end up with friends going to their house. And I’m there for 10 days and nothing’s going on.

Jeri Hill (10:14):
But for five weeks, every single day I’m hearing something from God. And then I’m in this mobile home and a knock comes at the door. And there was that pastor, I’m out in the country in Michigan, outside the city. He was doing his normal visitation rounds. He went to every house in every city that he ever pastored and knocked on every door, and only stopped knocking on that door if they were already involved in a church. He he was about to faint when he saw me. He said, Just this morning, I said, God, I’m not giving up on this girl. Where is she? And he goes out for his normal door knocking, and there I am.

Jeri Hill (11:03):
And he came in and talked to me. He was by himself. And he said, All I know is that Jesus loves you and has a plan for your life. And he leaves. And I’m standing there in the kitchen, and God says to me, If you don’t give in to me, I’m gonna give up on you. And that’s what I had been saying to him. So he did this reverse psychology on me. I don’t know what it was, but it made me call the pastor and tell, or call his house. He hadn’t even gotten home yet. But I called his house, talk to his wife, and said, if he could work it out for me to go into Teen Challenge, I was ready to go. And sure enough, he calls me the next day. He had, there was a bed at Teen Challenge. It would be available on Monday that my mom would pick me up and take me.

Jeri Hill (11:51):
I was so angry at Life. Bitter. God had to really get a hold of me and show me that he loved me. And it doesn’t do it the same way with every person, but he loves every single person. But because I didn’t believe I’d been created by God in the beginning, he had to show me that he did have a plan. And if I could manifest to you the anger and bitter bitterness that ruled and reigned in my life it would be the opposite of what I feel today. Totally. The opposite. Well, I went into Teen Challenge on that Monday, gave my heart to Jesus. Didn’t know what that was gonna look like. Didn’t know how that was, didn’t know anything. Didn’t even, I had opened the Bible once and I thought, nobody can understand this. And I closed it. And they, in that first year, unfolded the whole word of God for me, and showed me from Genesis to Revelation in the first year. And it taught it to me. And I, I thought, Oh my gosh, my eyes were opened and I knew that I was I was his and whatever he wanted, I was going to be a yes girl. I was gonna say, yes, God, whatever you want, that’s what I want. And oh, it was the most eye-opening thing. And my eyes have never been clouded over since. And it, they stayed.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:27):
And then at what point did you meet Steve?

Jeri Hill (13:31):
Well, I met him at Bible school. He had, at age 12 had been smoking, drinking, doing drugs and everything.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:39):
So was this when you were in Teen Challenge or This was after Teen Challenge.

Jeri Hill (13:43):
After Teen Challenge. Okay. But he had been doing drugs and Jim Summers had witnessed to him in 69. And then Steve ended up in jail in 75, and he had been arrested 13 times. He was facing 25 years in the penitentiary in 75. And he had an experience with God. And two weeks later he was arrested, put in jail. He gets he’s in jail until February. I’m in Teen Challenge, and God leads me to the altar to pray for my future husband in February. That weekend. He leads him, leads me to pray for him. God, something’s happening in my husband’s life. My future husband’s like this month or today. I felt like it was that day. And then come to find out later on in Bible school, when Steve and I met that it was in February, that February 8th, that his lawyer and judge had gone playing golf. And Jim Summers had asked for them to probate Steve Teen Challenge. And I know that I played a part in Steve getting probated.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:58):
God had you already interceding for him before you had even met. Yes. And so that was with, with David Wilkerson. Talked to me about the impact that, that David Wilkerson had on your

Jeri Hill (15:11):
Life. Well, after he went through Team Challenge, I went through Teen Challenge. We ended up in Bible school, David Wilkerson School in Texas, and

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:19):
The Twin Oaks

Jeri Hill (15:20):
Leadership Academy. He the 25 guys. 25 girls. I didn’t even notice Steve really until December. And then I got moved into the office. I’d been cleaning Brother Dave’s house, and they moved me into the office and Steve was the gopher. So he had to come into the office, get the list, and I noticed him really for the first time. There’s not very many students there, but he just didn’t stand out to me. But something happened. As soon as I started working in the office, my heart started beating out of my chest. And I said, I bind you Satan, in the name of Jesus, you are not gonna distract me. And I got up at three o’clock in the morning binding the enemy. I’d walk out of the, the <laugh> out of the prayer closet, and I’d see Steve. And again, my heart started beating outta my chest.

Jeri Hill (16:17):
I said, God, you’re not listening to me. I did this for two months. Finally, I went and talked to my advisor, told him that I was having an issue that I couldn’t get victory over. And it was Steve and I didn’t want to tell him who I just had. I wanted him to pray for me, but he wouldn’t pray for me until I told him who. And so then he prayed for me and Steve that right after I met with that person Steve came up and showed me something. And I just wanted to get away from him, just get away, You know, I wasn’t encouraging him at all. And Steve came after me and he goes, Jerry, what’s going on? What’s up? And I said, Nothing God can’t handle. And he goes, Well, tell me what it is so I can pray for you.

Jeri Hill (16:57):
I said, You don’t have to know what it is to pray. He goes, You’re right. It runs down to the dorm. And he goes in there to pray. And the next day he goes and talks to his advisor. He comes up into the, the office spins around in a secretarial chair, and he said, They know about us. And I’m like, What? I’m thinking to myself, there is no us and I’m having a combo with God. And I go, God, this is not how this was supposed to turn out. I was supposed to be delivered from these emotions. And I said, Do I not have a, a say in my life? And God said, No, I didn’t have a say. And Steve was twirling around in this secretarial chair, and come to find out Brother Dave, two months prior, he said, Be watching Steve and Jerry.

Jeri Hill (17:51):
God’s gonna put them together. And so the staff were already watching us. It started two months prior to that. And I’m binding the enemy. It started that way in Steve’s life two months prior. And Steve had been in his prayer closet raising his hands, going, Father, and thank you for Jerry Larson. You’re gonna give me her as my wife. And so here I was binding the enemy. He was thanking God. Brother Dave knew. He just, he told the staff to be watching. And I knew that it was a carryover from when God got ahold of me. I knew my life was not my own and he was in charge. But it took me a while to trust Steve. You know I trusted Brother Dave and I left everything else and his hands. But three weeks Steve asked me to marry him. We’d never had a date. We’d never held hands and we’d never kissed. And a year later we got married, but we did our internship with Twin Oaks at Outreach Ministries with Jim Summers.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:04):
And that’s in Alabama? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And talk to me about that time in Alabama.

Jeri Hill (19:09):
Well, that was our second year of the Bible School. It was on the job training. So we did all the we did homework, we had to send back in and God working on our character, changing things in us, and had one day that we could spend together. That was Monday. And we mowed lawns, painted houses, and save money for a wedding that was coming up in the following year. And we went out to Twin Oaks at the end of the year. We were married already. And went for the second graduation. And I worked at the girls home. Steve worked at the men’s home, and so he worked in the office as as well. But it was all part of, you know, just giving and speaking into these girls’ lives, I wanted to speak into girls’ lives because God had done something in me and I wanted to pass it on. But I wasn’t perfect <laugh>, you know, I was very young in the Lord, very, very young.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:14):
So then once you got married, you went right into ministry?

Jeri Hill (20:19):
Well, I had been involved in ministry,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:22):
It it, but together.

Jeri Hill (20:23):
Yes. Yes. The ironic thing was Jim Summers, when we came back from the honeymoon, he said, Jeri, I want you to take a step down from ministry for a year and get used to being married to Steve and becoming one with him. And I, I bowled my eyes out because I’d been involved in these girls’ lives. I just assumed that I would come back and be working at the girls’ home. I walked into the office actually and went reporting for duty. And then he calls us in the office and tells me that I need to stay, take a step down. And so that was all very challenging. We didn’t, we weren’t making very much money. They gave us housing. And that first year, I ended up getting a secular job, but I took it as a ministry, started leading people to the Lord on my job, opened a, started a a discipleship program before the doors were opened and ended up being invited to speak at different churches and things like that. So I still wanted to be, you know, in the secular world, you can really make a difference in the marketplace. That’s where you really meet people.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:40):
And when did you move to Panama City?

Jeri Hill (21:45):
I can’t remember the exact year, but it was I think we had been there a year and a half.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:52):
So you went from Alabama

Jeri Hill (21:53):
To Panama City?

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:54):
Down to Panama City. And, and what’d you do in Panama City?

Jeri Hill (21:57):
We were youth pastors there, but that just how that happened. We were on vacation in a tent, and Steve, that Sunday morning said the pastor’s gonna ask us to come work with him. And I said, What do you mean? He goes, I, I just really believe the pastor’s going to ask us. And and sure enough, the pastor walked in the side door and walked up the center aisle and came right to a, shook a few hands on the way up, and then walked right up to Steve and said, What are you doing for God? Can you come work with me? And six weeks later, we were there in Panama City as youth pastors, but I really believe that it was a, God had to do it that way because Steve would never have left Jim. And because it was so supernatural and God spoke to him, and it actually happened we did it, but we really felt like it was a way for him to maneuver us through this.

Jeri Hill (22:57):
Because the whole time we were there in Panama City, he was getting a phone call from Tallahassee, and that pastor was begging for Steve to come there and work. We had already been with that pastor during our first year. We were children’s pa, not children’s pastor. We were fifth and sixth grade teachers with that pastor in Huntsville. And it grew from six young people, fifth and sixth graders, to about 60. Wow. And we evangelized our neighborhood and filled up the bus, brought ’em in, taught him, and we had him in our backyard so that, that youth, that pastor moved to Tallahassee and wanted him there. But I don’t think Steve would ever have gone from here to there. God had move him from here to get him there.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:47):
So, So now everyone knows Steve Hill as a great evangelist, great revivalist but not everyone is at that place in,

Jeri Hill (23:57):
He was, he was big on evangelism.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:00):
Yeah. Do you feel he was called as an evangelist

Jeri Hill (24:04):
At that point? We felt like every single Christian was called to evangelism. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, the evangelist part didn’t come till about 91.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:14):
So how, how did the evangelism manifest in those early years as, as youth pastors…

Jeri Hill (24:21):
It started that first year, evangelizing our neighborhood and having kids come to our backyard. Then we went to Panama City, and we started out with six young people, and we evangelized, and it grew to about a hundred, over a hundred in 10 months. And then we moved to Tallahassee. And there’s a whole nother story reason why we moved on to Tallahassee, but we started out with about 30 young people in three years. We had over 300, and then it was all evangelism. We did Tallahassee harvest festivals, and had Nikki Cruz come in and speak at the FSU campus. We set up a stage, we set up another stage, did another Tallahassee Harvest Festival. But Steve never preached it. He organized it. And so he brought in all these bands to sing, but then Mylan Lafa preached and even worked the tent until that two o’clock in the morning. But we did all the preparatory stuff. He loved to organize things like that. And so evangelizing and touching their lives like that and organizing things to make that happen, that was what he did. And he preached on Wednesday nights to the young people. <Laugh>,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:49):
When did he start using props to preach? Was that in that early days?

Jeri Hill (25:55):
No, that was

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:55):
A, Or that was much later.

Jeri Hill (25:57):
That’s a big jump. Brownsville.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:59):
All right, let’s, let’s, let’s wait until we get there. Okay. So, so then you’re in Tallahassee, and then you decided to go to Costa Rica for language school?

Jeri Hill (26:09):
No, we went to Mexico. Took

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (26:10):
Oh, you went to Mexico?

Jeri Hill (26:11):
Yeah. Took 10 kids to Mexico. Okay. We had never thought about missions ever.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (26:16):
Where’d you go in Mexico?

Jeri Hill (26:17):
Mexico City. Okay. And we took 10 kids there. We were handing out tracks and we, we were loving at people was standing in line for these tracks and things like that. And we mostly shared one on one our testimonies, you know, about the love of Jesus. We were only there for one week. And at the end, we were sitting on a bus, We were doing a tour of the, what do you call the pyramids? We were sitting behind another couple, and Steve’s talking to me, he goes, What do you think about going into missions? And he had just recently got his ordination. So he’d done all of his paperwork and everything to get his ordination and with the ag. And so he we’re just talking and I said, Okay, let’s do it. And the couple in front of us turn around, and they were in Mexico for one year from Argentina.

Jeri Hill (27:14):
And they said, We need missionaries in Argentina. If you’re thinking about the mission field, consider Argentina. And we went, Okay, God, what do you wanna do through all this? So when we left, we went back, we saw so many different little signs of things about Argentina, and he immediately resigned the church. We immediately had a, a garage sale and started selling everything. Then he applied permissions and they said, Whatever you do, don’t resign your position. Don’t sell all your possessions because you gotta get approved first. And so there’s a little, I’ve got a little paper in there about the whole story, but Steve took me to the beach in Jacksonville. We didn’t have enough money for both of us to go to fly. So he, I stayed. He goes, I’m gonna go up there for three days. You stay here and fast and pray. I’m gonna go up there and let them know my burden, our burden. And I go, Okay, I’ll stay here and I’ll fast and pray. And he went up there and within, I mean, it went very quickly. Within two months, we were approved as missionaries. They said it normally takes two years, and they said it could take another two years to raise your funds. And it, by August in Mexico, the following year, August in we were in Costa Rica. We had already been approved, raised all of our funds. We were in Costa Rica learning Spanish.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (28:44):
And so you learned Spanish. How, how long did that take?

Jeri Hill (28:47):
We were there for a year. Okay. And we moved in with a Costa Rican family.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (28:52):
And so did you become pretty fluent in Spanish or

Jeri Hill (28:57):
<Laugh>?

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (28:59):
So then you went to Argentina.

Jeri Hill (29:07):
Yes. After language school. And they, you know, arg in Costa Rica, it’s at the end of every single word it seems like. And then we go to Argentina and they don’t even say that they speak Spanish. Alan a look at this. I know <laugh>. I go, No, You know, And, but I didn’t realize that Castano was Espanol, you

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (29:35):
Know, Just more proper.

Jeri Hill (29:37):
Yes. And so it took a while to develop that a little bit better, but you know, it’s been 20 years since then, or more, 30 years since being in Argentina. And it comes back, you know? Yeah. But I haven’t, I don’t get to use it all the time every day, but I can communicate.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (29:58):
So in Argentina, you were doing church planting? Yes. And, and so tell me what that looked like.

Jeri Hill (30:05):
Every six months we planted a new church. We would go into an area with flyers. We’d put up a, a banner across the street saying, Hey, su thema. And we’d pass out tracks. We’d have ma aim teams come in to hit the streets. We had maps teams come in to help build the building. Within six months, the church was full. We generally had a pastor that was already picked out for that church. We did eight churches in seven years and helped finish a children’s home. It wasn’t our children’s home, it was somebody else had started it, but they couldn’t complete their building. So we helped finish it with maps teams coming in, helped start a, a bible school. And, but in the bu, sitis area, three churches in the nail, Ken area down there, five more churches.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (31:01):
Now, when did you start having kids? Was that, did you have kids when you were in Argentina?

Jeri Hill (31:06):
We adopted Ryan. Okay. In 1987. Okay. Brought him home from the hospital. He was four pounds, four ounces. Wow. We had never put our name on a list or anything like that. They knew that we didn’t have kids, and we were open to whatever God wanted. So when we heard that there was a baby that needed parents, we said, they said, Do you want to adopt? And Steve and I talked about it, and we said, How can we say no when we hear of a need?

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (31:33):
And Ryan was from Argentina. Argentina,

Jeri Hill (31:37):
Yeah. Wow. And then three and a half years later, or three years later, we get a call from somebody else saying, We know you adopted one. There’s a girl that’s 14, she’s pregnant and she can’t keep the baby. Would you be open to adopting this baby? And so we said, Yes. And we adopted again in Argentina. And it, they have a year to change their mind. And after a year, then you can complete the adoption. And then and in that time when Ryan was 10 months old, I lost twins. Almost died in Argentina. And then when Shelby was born when she was a year old, we had moved from Argentina to Spain, and I got pregnant in Spain and lost that baby as well. Be it, there were tubal pregnancies.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (32:28):
Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Okay. So then there was a period where you were serving as missionary evangelist. And so it was, So you went from church planning. Yep. And then tell me about how the calling came to being evangelist. How did you know that, that that calling was, was on your lives?

Jeri Hill (32:51):
Well, it was pretty crazy that, you know, we could plant eight churches in seven years. And it was all because of evangelizing, passing out tracks and praying with people on the streets. It was all that In 91, Steve got missionary evangelist status, which meant he could go to any country in the world. And at that time, things were getting financially difficult in Argentina. Things, prices had gone up. And, and so we asked if we could move from Argentina. We actually stationed from the States. But when he was in his office and he was praying, and that in his journal somewhere, it says that God confirmed his calling to be an evangelist in 91. And to me, I felt like we had been evangelizing from the day I got saved. You know? And so

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (33:56):
I think he was called to be an evangelist since before the foundations of the world, and just starting to walk in that. And

Jeri Hill (34:04):
Then, well, in 91, I walked into the office and he was on his face praying, and he was crying out to God. It was different because every day I saw him on his face, me on my face, him on his face. But this day was different. And he said, God, I know how to do this and this and this, and this. Naming the things that he’d been doing as a missionary church planner. He said, But God, when he said that, But God, I felt like somebody punched me in the gut. I don’t wanna do it in my own strength. I want you to do it through me. And I stepped out. I didn’t want to interrupt his time with God. I didn’t wanna go over there. I was holding Shelby in my arms. I didn’t want interrupt it. I didn’t want to go in and, and join in on the prayer to detour what God was doing.

Jeri Hill (34:54):
Instead, I walked out, and this was the second floor. And I sat at the top of the stairs, and I started just going like this with my hands. Yes, God, do it through him. Jesus, do it through him. Jesus, do it through him. And I was weeping at the top of the stairs and something shifted. We had been working in the ministry like this together, but something shifted that day, and it intertwined like this. And I felt like we were one in the spirit. And I was, Yes, God, do it through him. Jesus. Do it through him. And everything shifted. Shelby was about six months old. Ryan was going on four, and he did his first trip to Kuo Chile. All heaven came down in Kuo, Chile. And he preached in the, the market square. And people were getting saved. People were, their feet were being frozen to the concrete.

Jeri Hill (35:50):
They couldn’t move. Cars were pulling in, and they didn’t know why they were pulling in. God was bringing them in. And he, Steve would get in the car and leave people to Jesus and then get out that next door and get in the next car. And he was going from car to car, leading people to Jesus. But it was like God was doing it through him. And from there, at the end of 91 is when we went to the States to raise some funds to go to Spain. We’re gonna plan a church in Spain. And, but we were in the States for six months, and I couldn’t go with him to Spain because Shelby needed her her passport. And it took a couple of weeks to get the passport. Then she gets the chicken pox. And so I had to get a letter from the doctor that couldn’t travel with her unless she was you know, she wasn’t contagious anymore.

Jeri Hill (36:49):
And then I had a battle with mice. Oh no. Have you heard this story? Mm-Hmm. No. Tell me the story of the mice. Well, Shelby was a great sleeper. One night, I’m on the floor in the living room. I’m reading my Bible. I’m eating some licorice, and she wakes up screaming. I went in and got her, pulled her out. She was claw to get out of me, out of the crib. She gets in my arms, I turn out the lights, I leave the lution, my Bible on the floor. I put her down in my room to go to sleep. The next morning, I noticed that the le bag had been attacked. And I called the maintenance people to come. They set traps the next morning for mice. Were in each of the four traps. They set, they set him again the next day, four more mice, set ’em again the next day, four more mice.

Jeri Hill (37:44):
And it’s getting close to the time, you know, where I’ve gotten the tickets, and I know I’m gonna be leaving, so I’ve gotta be cleaning up the apartment and getting it all done. And then I noticed that there was mice droppings all over her crib. She would not go back in her crib. There was mice droppings on the bed where Ryan used to sleep. And all of a sudden it blew up in my brain that they were chewing on my baby’s chicken fox store sores. Oh, I was freaking out. Totally freaked out. We didn’t talk every single day. Steve was in Spain. He took Ryan with him because we knew I was gonna be coming soon. And ha having to take care of just one child was easier than taking care of both. So Ryan went with Steve and one, after finding 12 mice and finding the mice droppings, and this is blowing up in my brain.

Jeri Hill (38:34):
Steve calls and he says, For we’ve been here five weeks, Nobody’s getting saved. Nobody wants God. Nobody is open. And that’s all he’s talking to me about. And in my mind, I, my mind is only on the mice. And Steve goes, You’re being really quiet. What’s the matter? Our baby’s been chewed on my mic, and I just blew up. He goes, Honey, get a grip. I told him the whole story, you know, He goes, Honey, get a grip. And I went, I hung up on him, and he called me back. He said, Please tell me you didn’t just take up, hang up on me, that we got disconnected. And I said, You don’t care about our child being tuned on my mic. And so we we’re on the same page. You know, he’s, he’s all of a sudden through the lines, you know, he is trying to comfort me that this is a pretty big deal. And we hang up and everything’s good. He’s, we’re on the same page. I went out, I had been reading Leonard Greg Hill’s book. I had left a marker in the book. And in the book it, when I opened it up, it said, Some of you are hunting mice while the lion devours the land.

Jeri Hill (39:53):
I fell on my face and started weeping on the carpet. Mm. And I, for tw, for the first 30 minutes, I was repenting first for being distracted. I was distracted by the passport. I was distracted by the chicken. Ps I was distracted by the mice. But that line, because I had just been battling the mice, it jumped off the page. And I knew that I hadn’t been distracted and not been praying for Steve. For the next two hours after I repented, I wailed before God for Spain, wet and wet and wet, and wet and wet. It exhausted me that I cried for the people of Spain, that their hearts would be softened, that they would be receiving the word that they would hear his heart. And I, I balled and squalled for two hours, and I got up off the chair, and immediately after I was done weeping, Leonard and Martha call me.

Jeri Hill (41:01):
They’re just down the street. Leonard and Martha, they’re both on the phone. And I, he calls me and I told him the whole story. And he goes, Oh, it wouldn’t even have spoken to you if you hadn’t been chasing mice. And Leonard, and Martha goes, Lynn, don’t discredit what God is doing in her. He goes, Oh, you’re right. You’re right. Yes, you’re right. <Laugh>. The next call I get from Steve, he goes, Honey, oh, the power of God came down in the park. I didn’t think anybody was listening once again. Nobody was gonna get saved. I remember speaking the message, dropping the mic, Ryan is standing next to me, picks up the mic, and then all of a sudden I cry out to God and I go, God, where are you? And he said, I’m right over there. And there was a guy in the crowd covering his face with his hands.

Jeri Hill (42:04):
He goes over to him and he goes, What’s going on with you? He goes, He starts shaking. And he said, I want what you’re talking about, but I don’t understand it. This is scary. This, this, this power of God that’s coming. That’s right here. It’s just, it’s scaring. He has his hands over his face, and he is just shaking. And Steve goes, Who else feels the same way? Who else is, is feeling this? And all the hands went up and they all started shaking under the power of God. And Steve was shaking, and he let him all to Jesus over a hundred people in that one group. And when it was all done, he said, After it was all done, honey, it was so super natural that it was too overwhelming for me that I had to run. And I sat down on a bench and I slumped down the bench and I said, God, what was that? And the power of God came down in that. And it, but I believe it went back to 91. And then in 92, God had to remind me that I’m supposed to be one in prayer, in, in spirit with him. Not He. He needed that.

Jeri Hill (43:23):
And all heaven came down and they planted the church, people got saved. And then few days later, I ended up in, in Spain with them, and the church got planted. It was gra

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (43:38):
What city was that in Spain.

Jeri Hill (43:41):
Granadas in Grata. Gra Spain. Yeah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (43:43):
Okay. So during this period of being a, a missionary evangelist, you were in Spain, but then what other countries did you start to work in?

Jeri Hill (43:53):
We ended up going, we were stationed in the US going back and forth, but then he heard that, God, the doors were open in Russia. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. And there was a pastor in Sweden that we had gone and been in his church, and he was sharing some things that he was doing in Russia, going, doing house churches. Every single place that the train stopped, they were doing house churches. And we felt like it was, that was our next step was Bar Viche Belarus. And went there and planted a church. And my English and Spanish didn’t work there. <Laugh>, we used translators a lot in,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (44:37):
But the Holy Spirit still worked there. Yes. Okay. So then, So the props, Yeah, the props

Jeri Hill (44:44):
Started at Brownsville. Okay. And so we had been going from 92, 91. Yeah. January of 92 until Brownsville broke out.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (44:57):
And so Brownsville started Father’s Day, 1995.

Jeri Hill (45:01):
Yes. And so we had been going all over to all these different countries. Steve, most of the time our kids were getting of school age, so I didn’t get to go on the trips all the time. The only time I got to go is if we were gonna go for three months more, three months or more. And so he did a lot of different countries and

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (45:20):
Okay, let’s talk about the props. How, how did that

Jeri Hill (45:23):
Happen? <Laugh>?

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (45:24):
Because it was the props, but then it was also these powerful illustrated sermons. Yeah. That brought people to a point of repentance. Yeah. And people would come up and, and cry out to

Jeri Hill (45:36):
God. Oh, I know. He’d hold up a question mark, and he would preach a mess message on that, an exclamation mark. The word, if he’d hold up the word, if he made all of those props. Any of the, you know, the paper ones that, you know, things like that. He, he did those most of the time. And then antique stores the alarm clock he’d be, he’d get a message, he’d get a, a prop and he’d do a message from it, or he’d get a message and he’d search for a prop.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (46:11):
And which were your favorite?

Jeri Hill (46:13):
All of them. All of them. I mean, I went down the aisle in a wedding dress. The crown, the the alarm clock. I’ve got the, the scale, the balance, and I’ve got an huge hourglass. All things that he would use as props. The two dolls separated at birth, and he had these two dolls made up. And one’s a hippie doll and one’s a preacher doll. And he got that spiritual birth death of Mr. Me, which he had a tombstone made up for. Anybody else would’ve done a, you know, a styrofoam type tombstone. Not steam, No, it was granite and it’s heavy <laugh>. The camera one was pretty intense, where he’d pull out, he’d be, God’s taken pictures. And he’s, while he is doing that, he says, God saw you walk across the street and gives somebody some water. And just as he does it, he’s taken a picture of this girl. And later on, she said, I actually did that that day. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, you know, and it was all those messages and all those props and everything that he did during that whole time, it, the best word I can describe it as is God. It was God.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (47:48):
So Brownsville went on for five years. It was phenomenal. People came, Steve’s

Jeri Hill (47:54):
Part was five

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (47:54):
Years from all over the world. And you went from obscurity beforehand. No one knew who you were. Right. And then afterwards, probably everybody knew who you were. What was that like?

Jeri Hill (48:11):
You know, some people said that he became like famous or something, and Steve would always say, There’s only one person that’s famous, and that’s Jesus. Everybody else is only well known in some circles. And that’s really, you know, you’re not well known to everybody in the world. But it did not change him. He would minister one on one. I mean, Wake Americas on the way to an awake America. The only job of that driver was to get Steve and myself to, from point A to point B. I saw somebody in the, in the alleyway, in the gutter. And I said, Turn to Steve. And I said, There’s somebody in the alley right there. I think they need to know Jesus loves them. He goes, Okay. And so I opened the door, I got out, Steve got out, he goes, We’ll walk to the arena. And he shut the door and told the guy to go on. And we went into the alley administered to this guy in the alley that was on the way to an awake America.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (49:21):
Wow. Okay. So after Brownsville finished, you went back to the nations. So you started to travel. Yes. And, and what, what were some of the nations that, that you worked in?

Jeri Hill (49:36):
I would say I’ve been to 60 different countries. And so I would say Steve had been in from before. And that time 200, I mean a hundred mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, a hundred different countries. Malaysia, Singapore, all of the Scandinavian countries, all of Europe. He was in Cape Town, South Africa. He was in all of Latin America, Canada. We didn’t do, if we were to just kind of narrow it down to the ones he didn’t do a lot in, you know were, were Iran and Iraq and places like that. But yeah, everywhere.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (50:17):
And you saw that same hunger for God everywhere, everywhere that you went. Yes. And people would come down to the altar. They would, Yes. They would pray, they would repent. They would,

Jeri Hill (50:30):
In Japan, in back in the green room, the pastors said, The people in Japan will not run to the altar. They are reserved, so don’t expect it. Yeah. And Steve goes, Okay, Alright. I won’t drag out the story on my end of it, but I ended up outside weeping and wailing outside. And I came back in and Steve preached the message, and they ran to the altar. And they were not even they, the pastors were in shock. And Steve called me up, you know, to pray with him, to walk around and pray with him. And all heaven came down. Yeah. In their lives, which I’m not gonna tell what I was doing out there. I was out actually evangelizing. And then when she went to go get more tracks, spirit of intercession came all over me, and I was bawling.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (51:30):
I think I’ve heard you tell that story before. Okay. So then you, you moved to Dallas and you started the Heartland World Ministries Church in Dallas?

Jeri Hill (51:41):
Yeah. Well, after we moved from Brownsville, we were in Dallas already traveling out from Dallas. Yeah. But while we were there, we started, Yes, Heartland. Yeah. And that was all focused around evangelism too, raising up teams to evangelize the city. And by the time we finally got a building, we were running three services Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday morning, and only seated a thousand. So each night there was a thousand people in each one.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (52:14):
And then you also started working on an online school of evangelism. And lots of people have

Jeri Hill (52:20):
Gone through that, that when Steve came up with cancer, he thought, you know, he had been doing front lines. He had been doing only different websites and things, and serious about God. And he was also, you know, he is recording a lot of things in the, in the building. But then he started recording for soe the School of Evangelism. And he was not able to finish that, but he wanted to raise up people. We had at Heartland, we had the church, but we also had a Bible school, Heartland School of Ministry. And so we raised up a lot of people from the school there. And then he wanted to have something to leave behind. So he started preparing for soe and then we we were able to finish it. Me and my kids and their spouses worked on finishing it so that we’d have a, a pretty decent online school of evangelism that’s available for people in churches, because every disciple should be involved in evangelism. It, the Bible says to, you know, for the fivefold people, the pastor, the teacher, the evangelist, the prophet, and the apostle, that they should be training the saints to be doing the work of the ministry. And part of the work of the ministry is evangelism. Every single disciple should be involved in telling people about Jesus.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (53:48):
Yeah. Well, if you’re listening to the Evangelism podcast, you, you have a heart for evangelism. I want to encourage you to go and enroll in the Online School of Evangelism. What’s your website if somebody’s interested in,

Jeri Hill (54:06):
Together in the harvest.com

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (54:08):
Together in the harvest.com. So go there. You can find information about the School of Evangelism. It will be a tremendous blessing to you. And you can learn from so many different evangelists from Steve Hill and many other great evangelists that, that taught in the School of Evangelism. And it’s so amazing to hear the, this phenomenal story of how God used you and your husband. You know, God does not just call individuals. He calls families. And so the, the thousands of people that were saved, the people that repented, it wasn’t just a calling that was on Steve Hill’s life. It was the prayers and the support and the ministry that God called you to as well. And so, thank you so much for sharing and telling the story of the great miracles that God did. It’s amazing.

Jeri Hill (55:07):
I love it. I love what God’s doing, and he wants to raise up other people to do it. The Bible says the laborers are few and the harvest is ready. So let’s lay, raise up more laborers for it to be done. Pass it on.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (55:22):
Amen. Amen. Thank you for being on the Evangelism Podcast.

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Jabran Inayat | Mission to Asia

Jabran Inayat is the founder of Mission Asia, a satellite TV network that aims to reach over a billion people with the Gospel across South Asia. Today we talk about what God is doing in Pakistan.

Learn More About Mission Asia: https://missionasia.org/

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Jabran Inayat is the founder of Mission Asia, a satellite TV network that aims to reach over a billion people with the gospel across South Asia. Today we talk about what God is doing in the nation of Pakistan.

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 (00:52):
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, Jabran Inayat. Thank you for joining me on the Evangelism Podcast.

Jabran Inayat (01:03):
Thank you so much, my privilege to be on the podcast, and it’s wonderful. I am excited to talk something special today.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:12):
Your family is great friends with my family. The Inayat family has been working in Pakistan, and then there was some persecution and you had to leave. And so your father went to California. I’ve been to his house in California. Your brother Temran. I was with him in Pakistan just a couple of weeks ago. He lives out in North Carolina. And you’re living in Norway. That’s right. And in Norway you have a wonderful ministry called Mission Asia. Yeah. Tell me, what is Mission Asia doing?

Jabran Inayat (01:49):
Thank you so much for the friendship that we have in the Lord. Mission Asia is a satellite Christian TV channel, and the vision is from Acts 2:11, that everyone here the wonderful works of God in their own language, the vision for Mission Asia is to reach in our own language. And and the vision is for 1 billion people who speaks Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi. That’s the vision to reach to people in their own language because that’s the, that’s the heartbeat that people who are praying, people who are listening and they are reaching, they, they want to be reached. They have never heard the gospel. So this is our vision that we reach by satellites, and we have incredible response where the Lord has been done in last two years in pandemic. We have started that first September, 2020, we were on the satellite.

Jabran Inayat (02:44):
And now as we’re sitting here in two years, we have been on the s we have seen incredible response. The calls has been coming, and people who have been receiving Jesus Christ in Corona time, sitting in their home, watching tv, watching live programs, and you know, that’s the, that’s the heart that we have seen. And it’s because of the gospel. Gospel has the power, the anointing comes on the gospel. So when we have preached the gospel, we don’t have to say many other things to people in Pakistan or about Islam. We have Bible to preach and, and, and that’s the word of God. So we thank God for this vision. We thank God that your program is on Mission Asia. You have listed the office there in, in Pakistan, Asia, the call center. And that is the reason that we have seen, whenever we are doing the live programs, it has been mostly 2000 calls, a recorded calls that we have experienced in one and half hour program.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:44):
Yeah, it was absolutely amazing. I got to visit the offices. I, I saw where all the video editing is done, and then where the call center is, where prayer partners will pray with people who are calling in. And many of the people who call in are asking for prayer. Some of them are asking for a Bible. Some of them are sharing testimonies. What are some of the, the testimonies of lives that have been changed?

Jabran Inayat (04:11):
Yeah, the, because it’s a, it’s it’s a live programs that what we have experienced that every Thursday it’s we call it live prayer program. It’s on Thursdays. And me and her wife, gta, she’s on the program and we, we receive live calls and we pray for the people. It’s ministering to the people. One of the testimony we have seen, it was a guy, a, a Muslim name, a Muslim guy that was watching. And, and he told me it is the story last year, It was a story last year. And he told me that he has been watching Mission Asia Channel. And he told me that he has been reading all the books. He was not a Christian, he was a Muslim guy. And he said that he has been reading all the books. He has been, you know, searching everything.

Jabran Inayat (04:59):
But he has came on a point and he has been watching actually the programs in his own language. And he understood. And he called me, I talked within 58 minutes, he called me from Pakistan and I talked with him 58 minutes. And, and I asked, I went to into the deep questions. I said, What is the reason why you want to receive Jesus? So he told that he has tried everything, but there is no peace in any other thing. There is no peace in any other religion. Jesus has a peace. So I prayed with him and then later on, I mean, he told me that I want to take a baptism. And I said, It is just you. And, and then he said, No, it’s, it’s my family. And I thought that maybe it’s four people. And then he said, It’s, it’s our entire family.

Jabran Inayat (05:44):
My brothers there. And there were 15 people. There were 15 people together. It’s one of the testimony that I’m telling what the Lord is doing, and I believe that this is the last time, this is the end time when God is doing his work, when because of his word, we have seen that incredible hunger is there in the people of Pakistan and, and in all over the world, the hunger is there. What is the truth? And there is only one truth. And Jesus is the truth. He is the life. And you, we have seen that kind of miracles, that kind of life changing testimonies because that’s a big miracle when, when someone gave their life to Jesus. That’s the biggest miracle in the life. So we thank God the response is incredible good. And that’s why we have seen the satellite. We have seen calls coming from India because we speak in, or we speak in Punjabi, we speak in Hindi language.

Jabran Inayat (06:39):
These three languages are our focus. And we want to reach our people, even though wherever, if they’re in us, we have ip, TVs, people watch the programs on IP TVs like Apple TV and RO car TV and, and Amazon and every, every platform that we are there. So we thank God for the vision that God has given, but it is, it is the vision to work together with churches, work together. This network is not, is just for one church. It’s a network open for everyone who has a heart, who has a vision to come together for people in Pakistan. And we thank God, God has been faithful in everything what he has provided. It’s a very costly thing. But the Lord is the source. He has been giving, he has been providing, he has been showing what he has. And he said in his word, what I have what you have started in spirit, it will be not in finished, in, in flesh. So we thank God that the vision is growing more. We have seen many testimonies what the law is doing in the network.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:42):
And so in order to reach people in these areas, you have the, the air battle. Yeah. And you also have the ground battle and you’re actually working in both areas. And so in just a couple of weeks you’re going to, to go to Pakistan and they have recently experienced flooding. Yeah. That has covered 70% of, of Pakistan. 70% of the people there have been impacted by the floods. And so people are hungry. Some of them are starving. They, they have lost all of their possessions if their house was covered by the water. And so tell me, what are you going to do to help reach these people that are hurting? Yeah,

Jabran Inayat (08:30):
It’s a very sad story. It’s but I have seen in the crisis, Christ has been all always glorified. This is the time when we have seen there is an unreached area in Pakistan that, that is very difficult to reach people with the love of Christ. No churches there, there is no campaigns. You cannot do anything. And we have already partnership with other churches together. We have already helped more than thousand families with the food. That was our first, you know, aid. Because initially the need was hunger ness was so much people were starving. So in the start, it was that we have helped together with the churches, together with the partners, help more than thousand families. We gave them floor and rice and sugar and, and we bought, you know, mosquito nets because of that the, the water, because of the, the flooding, it was diseases, malaria mosquitoes has came.

Jabran Inayat (09:27):
And you know, I have, I know some stories. Children’s had been died because of that. So the compassion of Jesus in our hearts, it is that we are there to help. The church is there to help when there is a need there. And it is not just we are helping, we are just sh showing the love of Christ in action. And I believe in coming times that this unreached areas, I I speak by faith now that in unreached areas, I believe that now when they are in need and as a church, we are going there and and giving them food, giving them what their need is. But the, but the most important need is Jesus. And we are sharing the love of Christ also. So we are already planning to do some of the things in Bloche stone, in, in, in the areas in sin.

Jabran Inayat (10:15):
We have already, our teams are there, they are on the field. This time when they were there, they have borrowed the, the, the small boots. They went into the places. They worked really hard. They were themself on the risk because mosquitoes and other things. But I thank God that the vision that God gave us, it is inside the team also. And they’re working hard. So I ask people who are listening, pray for us, help us stand together with us, that we can reach these unreached areas that was not possible. But crisis can bring Christ in these areas.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:54):
There’s a lot of evangelists and pastors who listen to this podcast. And if someone is interested in putting their television program on your network, you actually have the ability to translate it into ou, into air, someone’s TV program in Urdu. What is your, your website or how could someone get in contact with you if they’re interested? Maybe someone is listening and would be interested in helping to support this unique outreach to the nation of Pakistan. How can they find more information about you? Yeah,

Jabran Inayat (11:30):
They can go on Facebook, just write Mission Asia. Other information is there. There’s a website called mission asia.org, mission asia.org. And they can go onto the website, the email is there and, and they could search jabon ani. So our, our contact details are there so they can contact us and help us and pray together in this time. Because it is not only the, the financially help that we will, you know, give, It is a spiritual help that we want. And the people who wants to do programs, and they have, it’s a open, open heart. I mean, whatever the Lord has, you know, asked them, Let’s work together. Let’s, it is this channel. I feel it’s heart to heart that we know you are. 15 years ago, we had a relation and you had a heart there. Your parents had a heart there. You did.

Jabran Inayat (12:21):
I mean, that’s why I said Brother Daniel King, it’s open, come and do. And because it’s a Buffet TV channel, it’s a 24 hour tv and it’s the on set light. And we are, the Lord is providing, Lord is giving. But we need, I mean, people who, who have, I mean programs or if they have heart to con connect with us, we can send the programs in Pakistan. They will dub I do myself translations and you know, help us to reach many, many people because the gifts that the Lord has given, it’s is the body of Christ. It’s one beats thousand, but two beats, 10,000. That’s my heart. To work in a unity, to work in synergy, to work together for the kingdom of God. And as we are here in Turkey with many different ministries. But the aim is one, the prayer of Jesus in John chapter 17 is to God for his disciples, that they will be one and people will see that they are my disciples.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:19):
Amen. Tell me about how this vision got started. It’s a big vision. You, you have a desire to reach this entire region in the 10 40 window. Yeah. How did, how did that happen when you were young? What did God put in your heart that made you want to reach people who were lost? Yeah.

Jabran Inayat (13:45):
Yeah. When I was 16, 17 year old, and from that time I was finding in my life I was, I got saved. And I was finding in my life, where is my call? What is, because that’s very important. And I fell in my heart that I have evangelistic call in my heart. We start doing campaigns with many, many different evangelists. We start doing, I mean, we seeing things are happening. And then in 2007, we had a TV in Pakistan. It was a very small TV station. God put it on my heart. I was inspired not by any Christian channel, I was inspired by another Muslim channel. I watched the, the name of that channel was a peace channel. And when I watched that, the guy on their channel, he was just interpreting wrong Bible. And it was a Muslim channel. So when I saw that it’s inside of me zeal, I, I felt that if this guy, what, what, He’s not speaking right.

Jabran Inayat (14:48):
He’s not telling right things. If he can, you know, do on tv, why not? We can do that. Vision had started in 2007. We started something and you know, it was hundreds, hundred thousand people we were reaching that time. And then the persecution came, then the vision just diffused and we have to leave the country. And I came in Sweden and then I just felt that, I don’t know if we can do, if we cannot do, But then after I’m, in some years, when I was in Sweden, another channel asked me and called me and they said, Do you want to work together with us? And we want to do, you know, work in Asia and we want to work in Pakistan. That was the time when I just felt that again, that I can see that light. I can see that how we can reach many, many people without knocking doors.

Jabran Inayat (15:34):
We are into their homes. And, and from that years, we have seen incredible move of God. And, but for from two years, we are more focusing in, in especially when the Lord has opened a door for us to start a mission Asia, a settle Christian TV channel. We are, we are actually focusing more now in these areas. We have response from India. It’s not only just Pakistan. We have wonderful response from India. My wife name is Gita. They think that she’s from India. You know, Gita is is a holy Bible holy, holy book for Hindus. And they think she’s from India and I’m from Pakistan. It doesn’t matter for us. We are from Hammond. And you know, that’s, that’s the main thing. People are getting saved in India. People are getting saved. And because of the language, we speak Hindi and Udu.

Jabran Inayat (16:19):
And you know, that’s how the vision started. And my wife together, when we have decided that we have to seven days, we were praying and fasting, me and my wife, we were praying and fasting and everything. When you start something, when it is birth in prayer, when it’s birth in fasting, God is, God is there to help you and, and provide you. And, and it, it cost a lot. It was 150,000 Norwegian Crowns, it is $15,000 or $20,000 you need every month to pay everything. And we said, How could we do it? We didn’t have a single throne, we didn’t have anything, but the Lord has put it in our heart. We had a house, We have sold that house. The Lord has put it us that we could use that money for some of the places, for some of the thing.

Jabran Inayat (17:04):
And then Lord was blessing. Lord was giving us, you know, David, when he gave for the temple, it was his private money also. God has given him favor. He had given his money also. So I believe nothing belongs to us. Everything belongs to him. Our heart, our money, our houses, our shoes, our cars, it’s all belongs to him because it’s his birth in us. It takes one second that we will be died. So if something happened today, my money or my home or my car, it doesn’t, doesn’t help me anything. Only the thing I can take to heaven, it’s my soul and it’s someone that I bring into heaven is that’s I can bring. So that’s how it birthed. God has been so faithful and I believe that people who are hearing it, someone is hearing and you are thinking that how this will happen. Mary said the same thing to Angel, how this could happen, but you know, as the Holy Spirit will come upon you and then you will birth and his name will be Jesus. I believe there’s a vision that is, that is birthing inside of people and God will use you, someone who’s watching be bold and take a step of faith, and God is there to provide because he is the source.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:23):
Amen. Well, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism podcast. I’m so excited to see the fruit that God is going to bring through Mission Asia. The Lord bless you, and we appreciate you so much.

Jabran Inayat (18:38):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate your time and God bless all the people. Thanks a lot. God bless you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:44):
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 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 (20:03):
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.

Richard Gunning | From Belfast to the Ends of the Earth

Richard Gunning is the founder of ACE – the Association of Campaign Evangelists. This group of on-fire evangelists has conducted hundreds of campaigns by systematically going from town to town until an entire nation hears about Jesus. Today, Richard Gunning tells the story of how God sent him from Belfast to the Ends of the Earth.

Discover ACE – the Association of Campaign Evangelists: http://ace-evangelists.org/

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Richard Gunning is the founder of ace, the Association of Campaign Evangelist. This group of on fire evangelists has conducted hundreds of campaigns by systematically going from town to town until an entire nation hears about Jesus. Today, Richard Gunning tells a story of how God sent him from Belfast to the ends of the earth.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:37):
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 (01:02):
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, Richard Gunning. He is the author of From Belfast two, The Ends of the Earth. He is also the founder of ace, which is the Association of Campaign Evangelists, and they are responsible for doing many different campaigns in many parts of the world. Brother Richard, thank you so much for joining me on the Evangelism Podcast.

Richard Gunning (01:35):
It’s great to be with you today, Daniel, on just sharing some of the things that God is doing around the world.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:41):
So let’s start really at the beginning of your spiritual walk Okay. And how you went to Bible school and in the nation of Norway Yeah. And really got on fire for God. Tell me how that happened.

Richard Gunning (01:56):
Well, it’s quite a long story, but I’ll try to be, to be short. I, I gave my life to Jesus when I was 20. My mother gave me a book by the famous American evangelist Billy Graham. And after reading this book, I, I gave my life to the Lord just in my own room. I suppose it was about one o’clock in the morning in January. And I was 20 years of age at that time. And then shortly after that, I, I finished my training in hotel management at a college in Belfast. And I got the opportunity to go and work in a hotel in Norway. And when I was there some, I got involved in a, in a very good church, which had some really on fire young people in it. And they took me to a convention that was held each year in the south of Norway, which was organized by a very big mission organization with a, a real focus on gospel campaigns, preaching the gospel through radio and literature and national evangelists.

Richard Gunning (03:03):
And I heard then that they had a Bible school there. And I thought, if I ever went to a Bible school, I would love to go to the Bible school that’s based at that mission organization’s headquarters. After some time I came home, but I continued to pray and to seek God. And then I decided I would take a step of faith and I would apply to this Bible school in Norway. And they accepted me and they said, You can come and join us you know, the following academic year. And that put a bit of pressure on me because I could only speak a few words of the Norwegian language and all the teaching was gonna be in Norwegian. So I, I sort of gave up the job that I had. I started reading a Norwegian bible beside my English Bible. And then one day a friend of mine told me, he said that he had a neighbor who was actually an old man from Norway who had been married for many years to a lady from Belfast and who lived quite close to where, where I lived.

Richard Gunning (04:09):
And I went round to, to see this old Norwegian man. And I told him what I was planning to do, and I said, I, I’m going to Norway. I need to learn the language. And he said, Why are you going to Norway? And I said, I’m going to a Bible school. And he said, Well, he said, I am a complete atheist. He said, I don’t believe in any God. And then he said, But I will help you. So I started going to his house, you know, two or three times a week. And he started correcting me and helping me. And together with my own studies, I, I learned the language. And then in 1982, I set off for a year at this Bible school in Norway.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:55):
Now, the Bible School was led by a great Norwegian evangelist who has now gone to heaven. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about him.

Richard Gunning (05:04):
The whole mission was founded by a Norwegian man called Aril Edvardsen. And he lived in this little village in the south of Norway, and he was quite dramatically saved one night, just before his wife gave birth to their first child. And God had spoken to him in a vision and told him to buy a plot of waste grind in the little village down beside a river. And that he was to build a headquarters for world evangelism in this little valley down beside the river in this little village of 3000 people in the south of Norway. And he was obedient to this heavenly vision, and he started to build this headquarters. He started to have a convention each year, and more and more people started to come to his convention and started to support his ministry. And he started supporting many national evangelists, local people in different countries to help them spread the gospel.

Richard Gunning (06:07):
And then he started doing his own gospel campaigns, and then he built the Bible school. He built a printing press. He had a, a book publishing and distribution company. Later on, he got into Christian television, which was something very new in Europe that wasn’t common the way it is in a, in America. And so God used this man in a great way. And he, he was a wonderful servant of God. He was often referred to as Scandinavia as Billy Graham. So he was a great man of God and a great influence on my life and my ministry.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:48):
You do such a wonderful job of telling your story in your new book. It’s really an, an autobiography Yeah. From Belfast to the ends of the earth. Yeah. And so after you graduated from Bible school Yeah. You became a businessman for a while. You worked in hotels. Yeah. Then you started a video. Yeah. Rental store. That’s right. But then there came a point where you decided to go to Kenya Yeah. And become a missionary. Yeah. Tell me about that.

Richard Gunning (07:17):
Again, it came back to this contact with Norway. It’s funny that I come from Northern Ireland, Norway’s a completely different country, but somehow there’s a divine connection there is the way I would like to put it. And I used to get the magazine from the, the, the mission organization every month. And they announced that they were having a trip to Kenya, and you could go with Aril Edvardsen and his team and be involved, you know, really as a spectator in his gospel campaign. My wife and I had never been to Africa. We’d never been to any kind of third world country, but we just both felt, as a recently married couple, we just really felt that God wanted us to join this trip. And we went along on that trip, and on the first night of the gospel campaign we were seated on one side of the platform, and Aril Edvardsen was preaching.

Richard Gunning (08:13):
And there were thousands of Kenyan people in a, a slum area of Nairobi, the capital city, listening to this man preaching. And as he was doing that and ministering, I, I didn’t hear an audible voice, but I could sense the voice of God speaking to my heart and saying over and over again, you can do the same. You can do the same, you can do the same. So to, again, to cut a long story short, we, we, we took a step of faith. I had a, a friend who was a Kenyan, and he invited us to come out and to, to have a big pastor’s conference and to have some meetings. And we,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:53):
It’s your friend Peter, who actually you translated for in the school in Norway. Yes. And then when you went to Kenya, he started to translate for you.

Richard Gunning (09:02):
That’s exactly right. Daniel. the, the, the school took two people from Kenya each year, two pastors. And these guys obviously couldn’t speak the language, but because I could speak it, and obviously English is my mother tongue, I very quickly became their interpreter whenever we went out to have meetings. So when Peter was speaking in a church in Norway, I would interpret what he said into the Norwegian language. And then when I went out to Kenya, obviously I couldn’t speak Swahili, which is the national language. So Peter became my interpreter, and our roles were, were totally reversed. So it, it’s, it’s very strange the way God led somebody from Northern Ireland to learn Norwegian to go to a Bible school in Norway, to meet a man from Kenya, and then to later go down to Kenya and start working with the, the same man. And we’ve been working together now for 32 years down there in Kenya. And also God has opened doors for me into, you know, many other countries to go and preach there as well.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:11):
So in Kenya, you started training up pastors and sending them out to very remote village areas, and it, it exploded very quickly. It did. Tell me about that.

Richard Gunning (10:24):
Basically, we just started out the name of the ministry that we felt God gave us was reached the unreached. So we wanted to focus on people in Kenya who had never heard the gospel before. If you go to the big cities in Kenya, you’ll see a lot of churches and it, it things look quite developed. But if you go out into the bush, you meet people who are living a very simple and almost primitive lifestyle. And we find that many of these tribes had never heard the gospel before, and there were no churches. So we started just driving around, just me and my wife and our friend Peter, and preaching in these little villages and sharing the gospel with people and praying for the sick. And very quickly support started to come in. And within about six months, we were supporting over a hundred national Kenyan pastors.

Richard Gunning (11:20):
And we sent them out just as Jesus did, two by two to go to different villages and different tribes and to preach the gospel and to plant churches amongst them. So that was kind of how it took off and started to grow quickly. And then we felt God challenged us about doing gospel campaigns. Reinhard bonk, the famous German evangelist, he came to the time that we were living in, We went to his gospel campaign, and then we thought, let’s start doing our own campaigns, but we’ll go to smaller times where, you know, the big name evangelists aren’t likely to go. And, and we started doing the same thing, but on a smaller scale, a smaller budget, you know, smaller crowds, but still being, you know, very effective in these smaller times where there’d never been a campaign before. And that’s always kind of been my, my vision and my desire is to go where other people don’t go.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:18):
So brother Aril Edvardsen, he invited you to Russia right after the Berlin wall fell, Started working there. Yes. What did you see God do in Russia?

Richard Gunning (12:29):
Yes, Aril Edvardsen here. He knew about the work I was doing in Kenya, and he helped to support us there. And we went to visit him in Norway one time. And then he said to me quite unexpectedly, he said, I’m, I’m going to Russia because the communism has collapsed and, and there’s open doors there, and I’ve been there a couple of times, and I want you to help me. And it was a tremendous experience. We used to have meetings in these big, very old fashioned, but very beautiful theaters in different towns in Russia. And everywhere we went, you know, the places were absolutely packed. You had children sitting on the floor at the front, people standing down the aisles at the side and the back. I remember going to one place and, and the theater manager locked the door, and people were banging on the door and wanted to come in. And the, the, the management wouldn’t let them in because they, they said, you know, the place is is already far too full. There aren’t seats for everybody. You know, it’s not safe to, to let more people in. So we saw a great hunger for the gospel, and many people responded to the, the preaching. And it was just amazing to see, you know, what God was doing in Russia in the, in the 1990s especially.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:49):
Yeah. So you did campaigns on your own, but 20 years ago, God put it on your heart to start raising up other evangelists and training them and empowering them Yeah. To go and do campaigns in many different parts of the world. Yeah. And so you started Ace Yeah. The Association of Campaign evangelists. Kind of tell me how that vision came to pass.

Richard Gunning (14:16):
Well, a few years previous to that, I, I’d been doing a lot of campaigns in Southern India, and I started to realize that we could go a lot quicker if I involved other evangelists. So I had a few friends in different Scandinavian countries who were also evangelists. So I invited them to come and help me. And I saw that this was very effective because then we could do maybe two or even three campaigns in one week in three different places. And that was really where the kind of vision started to take place in my heart. And then eventually I decided to take a step of faith and I booked a conference room and some bedrooms in a hotel in Belfast. And I invited everybody I knew that I thought had an interest in campaign evangelism to come to this conference. And it was a big step of faith because I was very keen that people would come.

Richard Gunning (15:15):
So I told them, We will pay for all your food and your hotel room. All you have to pay is your flight to get here, and everything else will be paid for by us. But I didn’t have the money to, to pay for it. And on the second night of this conference, we had a, a night for our partners and supporters, and many people came because they wanted to see all these preachers who had come from, you know, Africa, Sweden, Norway, different places. And just before that meeting started, a man came to me and gave me a little Brian envelope. I didn’t know this guy, I’d never seen him before. And he said, There’s a gift for your work. And just before the meeting started, I went out to the washroom and I opened this little envelope, and inside was a check for about 10,000 Pines, which was about 15,000 US dollars at that time.

Richard Gunning (16:11):
And that was enough to pay everybody’s hotel room, all the meals, and also even to give some gifts to some of these guys to help them in their next campaign. So that was really a confirmation that this was the right thing to do. And, and we kind of continued onwards from that. And it, it’s been a real blessing to, to work together with different people. And you know, we, we share contacts, we share fellowship, we try to help each other. We try to encourage each other and, and we meet together once a year for a conference like we’ve been doing this week when we’re happy to have you with us, Daniel, along with others, you know, from America, Sweden and Norway, Brazil, Great Britain, it’s, it’s wonderful that different evangelists can come together, keep their own ministry identity, but at the same time have a spirit of, of being willing to share contacts and to discuss how we can work together, how we can help each other, and to open doors for each other. And I, I think that’s the way it should be, and I think it’s good to see that in, in operation and in function.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:24):
Yeah, it’s been really beautiful this morning. We heard reports of what God is doing and Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and Pakistan in Brazil. Yeah. And so all over the world, God is moving and there are great opportunities for evangelism. Yes. I, And by working together, I think we can accomplish something great for God. Yeah. You mentioned how you received this gift for 10,000 pounds. What a tremendous miracle. And in your book, you, you talk a little bit about your, your philosophy of fundraising. You, you typically have not shared your needs with people Yeah. Or put, been aggressive No. In asking people for money. No. You’ve just been trusting God. Yeah. Share with me some of the, the miracles of provision that you’ve seen God do over the years

Richard Gunning (18:15):
That, that’s right, Daniel. I, I haven’t typically asked people for money or, or, or sent out, you know, letters, you know, outlining big needs. I think one of the reasons I’ve done that is that I don’t have very many people on the mailing list. So I know that really I can’t rely on a mailing list. You know, the fact that I have a big number to meet the need. I, I’ve always really had to trust God just to speak to the right person at the right time and send in the money. And we really have seen God meet our needs in some amazing ways. I remember one time we, we needed 10,000 pines. That was about $15,000 for a conference that we were planning in Kenya. And as the date grew closer and closer, we didn’t have the money that we needed. And I just didn’t know what to do because that was a huge amount of money.

Richard Gunning (19:13):
And I knew even if I sent out a letter to people on our mailing list, we probably couldn’t generate that kind of money at that time. And one day, a young man came to our office a couple of weeks ahead of this conference, and he said, I work in a bar not far from here. And he said, on Saturday night, two men came in and they had quite a lot to drink. And he said, As I was sweeping the floor, I find this banker’s check made out to your organization for 10,000 pints. And I thought, this is absolutely amazing. I thought, I wonder, can I trust this? So I took this banker’s check down to my local bank, and because it was a banker’s check, there wasn’t a personal name on it. It was check made out by the bank on behalf of a customer.

Richard Gunning (20:09):
I showed it to the manager and she said, Let me go and check. She made some inquiries. She came back about 10 minutes later and she said, I can confirm that this check is for you. And I said, Can you tell me who it’s from? And she said, No, we can’t tell you who it’s from because that’s private information. But she said, If you write a letter, we’ll pass it on to the person who issued that check. And I did that. And then I think about a week or 10 days later, I was on holiday with my wife on the beach in, in Northern Ireland, and the phone rang and it was a man on the end of the phone. And he said, I’m the man who sent you that check. He said, I sent it in the post, but the bank have told me that it somehow got lost or stolen.

Richard Gunning (20:57):
And I explained to him what had happened, and he said, Well, he said, That’s, that’s great. Obviously God has taken care of it, and it’s find its way to you, which is what I wanted. And he didn’t gimme his name, and he just said, I heard you speak in a meeting and I like what you’re doing. And he said, I’ll, I’ll try to support you again in the future. But that was just one example of many, many such cases of where God has really in quite unexpected ways, you know, met our needs and help us to do what God has called us to do.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:33):
With ACE. You have really challenged evangelists to go to small towns and small villages. Yeah. Where maybe there is not a huge crowd, but to go to places that have never had a crusade before. Yeah. Talk to me a little bit about why you feel that’s important.

Richard Gunning (21:56):
Well, the, the reason I like to go to new places is I’m always mindful of something that my spiritual father, a led edwardson, the Norwegian evangelist said, and he said, Why should some people hear the gospel? Many times when millions have never heard it once? And he used the example of Jesus feeding the 5,000. He didn’t just feed the first few rows and then give more bread to the disciples, and they fed the same rows again and again, because the people at the back would start to shout out, This isn’t fair. We are not getting any bread, and the gospel is the bread of life, and we need to make sure that everybody gets a chance to hear it. So I’ve always had this desire in my heart to go to places where people haven’t heard the gospel before. And I think that they should be the top priority.

Richard Gunning (22:49):
The people who haven’t heard should get a chance to hear, rather than focusing on places where the gospel has been preached many times, there’s many churches, there’s maybe been many gospel campaigns. I want to go to these remote places. And I often find in these places that, that that is where you see a great response to the gospel. And it’s also where you see many great healing miracles and, and wonderful things happening, because it’s like, God wants to show these people that, that this message is true. And, and he confirms the preaching of his word with signs following. So that’s kind of why I, I, I like to focus on unreached places and places that have not had a campaign before, maybe have very few churches or no churches at all. I want to give them the priority.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:39):
And ACE has had tremendous results through these methods. For example, in Burkina Faso, you started to do campaigns. And now over 67 campaigns have been done from village to village, town to town throughout Burkina Faso. Yes.

Richard Gunning (23:59):
Yeah, we started in Burkina Faso in 2006. And different evangelists from Ace also started to get involved and do their own campaign there. But we tried to have a kind of a strategy of trying to cover the whole country with gospel campaigns by going to all the small to medium sized times. And, and as you mentioned, we, since 2006, we’ve managed to do 67 campaigns, and we haven’t reached the whole country by any means. But we, we, we’ve done a good spread, you know, from east to west, from north to south. We, we’ve managed to have a campaign in a lot of the small to medium size times. And that, that strategy is ongoing as, as much as possible to try and reach as many different places and have campaigns in as many different places, and kind of blanket coverage, you know, the whole, the whole state. And that’s the kind of same thing as what we did in Southern India and other a evangelists are doing in, in other countries, you know, trying to saturate the country or the state, you know, with the gospel. By, by doing these pioneer campaigns,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:09):
After successfully leading Ace for several years, you saw the need for a successor for someone to come after you. Yeah. And so now you’ve handed over the organization Yeah. To another, Yeah. Talk to me about that process of finding a successor and why that’s important.

Richard Gunning (25:30):
Well, I think it’s, the whole subject of succession is very, very important because I’ve seen churches and ministries that have collapsed because the person who founded it just kept going, you know, too long, became probably too old and a little bit out of touch with how younger people are thinking. And when I became about 60 years of age, I started to think about succession. And if Jesus doesn’t come back, who’s gonna take over? And I was in a shop one day, and I saw one of these little signs that people often have in their kitchen. And this one said, You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep rereading the last one. So that kinda really spoke to me, and I felt I need to start looking for people that I can hand things over to who will build on the foundation that I’ve laid.

Richard Gunning (26:27):
I’ve realized in my own life that God uses me primarily as a foundation layer, you know, to lay a foundation to get something started and up and running, and then to hand it over to other people. And as I reflected on my life, life in ministry, that that’s really what I’ve been doing almost since the start, is starting something, getting it going, and then handing it over to somebody else, to, to, to develop what I’ve started. And I felt I needed to do this with Ace. And we had a board meeting, and we took time to pray, and we eventually settled on a younger man who was on the board called Yona Anderson from Sweden. And I’m still on the board, but we handed over the chairmanship of that to him. I’ve done the same thing in other countries that I’m responsible for, like in Burkin Faso and in Kenya. I’m still very much involved in both those countries, but I’ve handed the, the, you know, the main initiative and, and, and leadership of the work over to younger men who, who I feel can drive the work forward and come up with new ideas, new way of thinking and are more in touch with younger people and the younger generation than I am.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (27:42):
I think you’re very wise in how you’ve done that. If you’re listening and you are excited about evangelism, I want to recommend that you read from Belfast to The Ends of the Earth by Richard Gunning. You can find it on Amazon. I’ll also put a link to where you can buy it on the Evangelism Podcast page for this episode. But Brother Richard, I’m inspired by your ministry. I’m inspired by the fruit that you’ve seen over the years, and thank you for your example and for your faithfulness in leading the loss to Christ for going after the unreached.

Richard Gunning (28:19):
Daniel, it’s been a pleasure to be with you, and it’s great to have you with us in the ACE conferences. We really appreciate it. Thank you. God bless you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (28:27):
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 (29:46):
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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Mikael Boman | What is Pioneer Missions?

What is pioneer missions and why is it important? Today I talk with Mikael Bowman about his mission training school known as Mission 1:11. We discuss how to prepare adventurous missionaries to go to the hardest to reach parts of the world. We are not talking about going to five star hotels. No! We are talking about hard core missions where you sleep under the stars and eat bugs.

Learn About One Chance for Every Person: https://ocfep.com/

Learn About Mission 1:11: https://www.missiononeeleven.se/

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
What is Pioneer missions and why is it important Today? I talk with Mikael Boman about his mission training school, knowing as Mission one 11, we discuss how to prepare adventurous missionaries to go to the hardest to reach parts of the world. We’re not talking about going to five star hotels. No, we’re talking about hardcore missions where you sleep under the stars and eat buds.

The Evangelism Podcast Host (00:37):
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 (01:02):
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, Mikael Boman, Thank you for being on the Evangelism Podcast with me.

Mikael Boman (01:12):
Thank you so much. It’s a privilege to be here together with you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:16):
We have known each other for many years because you knew my wife. You used to work for Pastor Peter Youngrenan evangelist from Canada, and you helped organize crusades for him in many different countries. Tell me about what you learned about doing campaigns, working with Pastor Peter Youngrin.

Mikael Boman (01:38):
I would say what I learned the most is that we we learned to do what was impossible, time after time. And you know, doing the impossible time after time, you know, place after place, going to many of the difficult places created a a sense of nothing is impossible. That’s what I really brought with me. Number one, working with with Pastor Peter.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:04):
What were some of the countries that you worked with back at that time?

Mikael Boman (02:08):
I mean, we worked a lot in India, worked in Pakistan, really difficult at that time. We were in some really difficult parts of Pakistan Indonesia, you know Tanzania, of course, a little, little bit easier, bar, difficult Congo both the Congos we were into. And we did some other parts that was, you know, challenging.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:32):
And Ethiopia

Mikael Boman (02:33):
Of course, also a lot of Ethiopia.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:35):
Yeah. And, and so now you have a tremendous focus on pioneer missions. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, Could you tell me what is Pioneer Missions?

Mikael Boman (02:46):
What pioneer missions for me is to go to those places, those people groups, language groups, tribes are the least reached. Those that I have never had opportunity hear about Jesus. We are really targeting towards those who we are called, they’re called unengaged. They have never heard about Jesus Christ since the death and resurrection of, of Jesus Christ. And there no Bible translations going on. There are no, no missionaries going there. And you know, basically they’re, they’re untouched with the gospel. So that, that’s our, our, our, our aim and our focus. But of course, we also preach to people that are unreached. They might belong to people group. There are believers there, but the church is very weak and very few believers. So that’s especially on their hearts to do something for them.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:42):
I think this is such an important focus for the body of Christ to have, because in my town Tulsa, Oklahoma, there’s literally a church on almost every corner. Yeah. I mean, they joke around and say that if you drop, drop a tract on the ground, a church will spring up. It’s so fertile. Wow. But when you go to some places, there’s, there’s no churches. There’s no Christians, and it takes a real special kind of anointing calling from God to go to those places. How do you train people to go to pioneer areas and really pioneer something for Jesus? Mm.

Mikael Boman (04:22):
It’s really not that complicated. I would say. I, I don’t think we should make it more complicated than there is, than it is actually. But it’s challenging. But we, we, we work with something called Mission one 11. It’s like very intense high impact training. Actually. They, they go through eight weeks a boot camp where we, where we give them some, some ba basic teaching. You know, how do you preach and teach the gospel? We, we give them a tool called storytelling. Basically we were entering into places where they had no idea about what is the Bible, you know, who is Jesus who created the heaven and the earth. So we start from the beginning, you know, in the beginning that was God and God created and, you know, so on and so forth. And we work through the whole testament and into the New Testament, you know, to get, to lay a foundation.

Mikael Boman (05:08):
Why did Jesus have to come? So we work with that for, for eight weeks. We do you know, cross culture training. We do physical training, CrossFit twice, twice a week to build up the physique, cuz some, we go to some rough places. So when after eight weeks we ship them out and they’re out in unreached people group for about six weeks in total, if you say from the leave. And, and then they’re back. And then we do the briefing afterwards and after the, the, this time we, we put them through something. We, we give them the opportunity to go to something called the next step so they can be a part of, you know, continue in their missions calling. So, so really the, the first part is it’s not so complicated, it’s just about, you know, doing it. And so it works pretty good.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:00):
So Mission 1:11, you’re in Sweden. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, but there’s also branches of Yes. Mission 1:11 in Canada mm-hmm. <Affirmative> and in the United States. And so the purpose is to raise up people who have a passion for reaching the unreached. Talk to me a little bit more about storytelling, what that looks like. How would someone tell the story of the gospel if they were in a culture that didn’t know anything about Jesus?

Mikael Boman (06:34):
I would say that’s the power of storytelling. That actually storytelling has two pastor is really important. It, it’s number one, the, the, the tool of, of, of telling oral stories about, you know, the creation. You know, how was the world created, you know, the, the the, the follow man sin came into the world and destroyed the world. So we, we work through that and we talk about the prophecies about him that would come and, and you know, laying a foundation. So when we come into, you know, John the Baptist and, and talking about Jesus coming, they, they all see how, how chronologically it fits together. Because if you, if you enter into a people group that have no previous understanding and knowledge of the Bible, you know, knowledge about the living God and knowledge about, you know, who is Jesus Christ, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s trying to contextualize it in such a way, you know, based on the chronological stories of the Bible.

Mikael Boman (07:31):
So they will, they will gain knowledge and revelation from that, from, you know, the Bible scriptures that the, the storytelling is based on. So it’s, it’s really giving them revelation. And of course we believe the Holy Spirit is working through the, through the telling of the stories, cuz it’s basically the scripture that we’re telling them. And you know, that helps them to, to gain knowledge, understanding and revelation about the ways of the living God, you know, how to, why do I need to get saved? You know, what is salvation? You know, what, what, you know, what is the new birth? You know, you know, the Baptists and of the, of the Holy Spirit, you know, all these important things that, that we take for granted as Christians. And, but they have no clue. So in a very short time of, of when they’re out in the, in the, on the mission field for these, you know, five weeks, you know, four or five weeks on site, they don’t have much time. So it’s a very condensed but very efficient, high impact way of, of, you know, sharing the gospel. So it’s because they have no previous understanding, you know, of the God of the Bible,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:43):
What are some parts of the world that you would consider to be in need of pioneer missions?

Mikael Boman (08:50):
I mean, there, there are a lot of, of places, but I i, I would say for my, you know, this our Swedish section, which is part of the mission one 11, of course Mission one 11 was started by, by Carl Haram and Jennifer Haram you know, and a number of years ago. But I’m, I’m heading up the, the Swedish part. And we have our passion is the 10 40 window. And we, we try to, to focus on that part specifically. And I would say like the, the whole of Africa, you have a great need. You have you know, of course the Middle East, but I would say Southeast Asia, where you have the, the tremendous growth of you know, population. But you also have a lot of people groups there. You know, Pakistan, you have India, China, of course Vietnam, Thailand some of the places where people are actually traveling quite often from the western world.

Mikael Boman (09:49):
But there are still people groups that are, you know, in, in areas of these nations where they, they’ve been unreached by the gospel of the gospel and, and where have been, you know, no missionaries going. So we we’re we’re operating with something. We, we have an operation called Operation 326. We’ve done a research to see, you know, where are the remain remaining people groups that have never heard of gospel before. So we are actually sending out expeditionary teams, going out, putting boots on the ground to find out is the test statistics that we, that we reading Joshua project, finish the task and so on. Is it accurate? Because we’ve learned something and, and I know all these organizations, they do the best and they do a great job, but it’s very difficult with statistics. So the only way to figure, find out how is the situation is you need to put boots on the ground.

Mikael Boman (10:40):
You need to, to meet people, you need to interview people, find out, you know, what is going on. So our focus is this summer we’ve had two teams going in Southeast Asia visiting six different unengaged people groups. And we’ve found out out of these six there are two, maybe three of them that, that are actually unengaged. One was in simulated with another people groups and don’t, don’t exist anymore. Two others have been reached, but the statistics says they’re unengaged not reached ever. So that’s a bit of work to do. And, and our passion is for you know, 10 /40 window, especially Southeast Asia. Cuz that’s where the most of the people are.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:22):
So when you send out a team for Mission one 11 and for an immersion six weeks, you’re not going to five star hotels. No. You’re going out into primitive areas and they’ll actually go and live in a village. Yes.

Mikael Boman (11:39):
They’ll, they’ll move on into a village and stay there in a tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag very simple, rough it’s not for everyone, I would say. But we, we find that it’s a lot of, of especially young people that wanna they’re not, I wouldn’t say they’re out after adventure, but it’s like the they feel it’s not fair. How can it be that we have heard gospel being preached over and over again? We get servings of good gospel, good bible teaching. We have prayer meetings, we have cell groups, we have midweek services, we have you know, youth services. We have morning service and Sunday evening service, and we have service and service and service, which is great. We have podcasts like, like this lot of teaching. And there, then there are others who never had their first serving of the gospel.

Mikael Boman (12:32):
So we find that there is the younger generation, they feel that this is not fair, you know something has to be done. And, and you know, some of them are really, they, they feel the calling and they feel the urgency that, you know, I want to be a part of doing something different. I want to be part of helping people that never heard of gospel before. And some, many of those that we, that come to our schools, they have no prior experience at all, are missions, none. So, so it’s it’s a challenge for them, but they’re willing to pay the price. And we are, we’re blessed to work with young and, and also some middle-aged people also coming.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:12):
Tell me some testimonies. What results have you seen in your effort to, to reach these pioneer mission areas?

Mikael Boman (13:21):
Well let’s say we have I can, I can take one from, from Sri Lanka, which is really not an most people wouldn’t say Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is the most unreached place on the earth, but as a nation. But you have villages up in the, the mountainous areas where they have very little contact with, with the rest of the world. Of course, they, they have television they watch, you know, via satellite and so on. But they have otherwise they live in the village. They work ont states or you know, they’re, they’re cut off from the rest of the world, pretty much. So a couple of years ago we sent a, a team with young people and, and a couple of leaders into village where they have never had any encounter with white people before. It’s not that we are special, but no foreigners have been there, and no one had been there preaching to them.

Mikael Boman (14:20):
The only thing we came into, the only thing they had was a, they had a Hindu temple in the middle of the village you know, several hundred people living there and never heard a gospel. And we, we started to, to share the stories with them and evening after evening and, you know, praying for people that were sick. I mean, a lot of people are sick and they got healed. They started to listen. People got saved. And from being nothing, not a single believer, all of a sudden we had the group of believers, you know, in, in, in a few weeks if, if these young people would’ve gone there, these people in village will never heard of gospel. They’ve never been saved without them. So with simple means, ordinary young people can make a difference where preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, you know, seeing signs, wonders, and miracles happening and, and, you know, people being born again and, and safe eternity. And I think that is a great impact. And we’ve seen this in village after village, you know, in, in different tribes. And it’s, it’s wonderful to have the privilege to be part of this.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:26):
I think sometimes churches in America and in Europe, forget about these unreached people places often the church spends money building a, a beautiful building, and then they send out missionaries, but a lot of the missionaries get sent to places that are largely reached. I mean, I was a, grew up as a missionary in Mexico, and there were many missionaries there, but Mexico has very good churches. Yes. But the churches forgotten about some of these areas. They’re remote, they’re hard to, to get to. Yeah. So what would you say to those churches who, who want to obey the great commission, they wanna go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. But h how can a church get involved in engaging with an Unre people group?

Mikael Boman (16:16):
Yeah. I would say there are, there are several, several ways of being involved and engaged in pie in their missions. You know, number one there are good, good sites. You know, Joshua Project finished the task where you can read about the, you know, the situation in the world. You know, praying is one good thing. I would say the other thing that we would encourage them, you know, why don’t they contact us at Mission one 11, Mission one eleven.com. If you’re in the States, and you’ll find a lot of information, you know, how you can be involved in reaching down engaged people groups. I would say mainly why people are not involved. It’s not that they don’t want to, it’s because they don’t know. I mean when I, I, I visited, I visited pastors, churches, you know, different, you know, networks and so on.

Mikael Boman (17:02):
And I, and when we start to share about these things, most people think it’s already done. They think that everyone heard, you know, we are basically waiting for the imminent to return out our Lord Jesus. And, and when we start to talk about, you know, there are unengaged groups, groups that have never heard about Jesus before, ever. They’re surprised. And, and the response from many are, How can we help? How can we be involved? I mean, this is not fair. This is not right. Let us do something for these people. So it’s, it’s a lack of knowledge mainly not so much of a heart condition, because when people get to know about this, they say, Okay, let’s do something, you know, let’s be involved somehow. That’s, that’s a lot of the reactions that we get. Then of course, they don’t think, how do we do it? We, we don’t know anything about, we are sending missionaries and, you know, to places that are mostly reached that where have been mission work going on for a number of years. So it has to be a, a shift of focus and that, that might take some time. But, you know, read, listen, you know, a good step is you, you’re listening to this podcast, and now, now when you hear about it, you know, let’s, let’s do something about it and Yeah, sure. Can you one eleven.com?

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:19):
Yeah. So, so if you’re listening and, and you’re a young person who wants to go on an, an adventure for Jesus, and you’re not scared, you’re ready to go anywhere that Jesus calls you, I really encourage you to, to pray about going on pioneer missions and, and connect with mission one eleven.com and find out more about how you can go to these, these places that are very hard to reach, but where you can have a, a, a tremendous impact leading people, entire people groups to Jesus. Yes.

Mikael Boman (18:54):
It’s it’s a privilege. I would say that the change that we see in our students’ lives usually when they come, you know, we have, we’ve had people that have been barely saved when they come to us, and we have those that have been saved for, you know, they’ve been believers since as long as they can remember when they go and some up into, to different bible schools, psychologists, you know, prior to ours. Others have no previous experience. So when they work together as a group for these eight weeks during the booth camp, we see a change in the lives. But when we really see the change in the lives is when they are out in the tribe afterwards. When they, when they come back, we hear this over and over again, again, and they say, I didn’t know that God could use me in such a way.

Mikael Boman (19:37):
I didn’t know that I would see miracles in front of my very eyes. I didn’t know, you know, how the situation, you know, among the unreached art, and I’m so happy that I made this step. It, it, it changed their lives, but oh boy, it really changed my life and my heart. So we see transformation in the hearts and in the lives of those going through Mission one 11, as well as in the lives in those that they have shared a gospel with. So it’s win-win situation and the people that you meet will never be the same. And if you go through this, you will never be the same,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:20):
You know, will change your life and it will change the lives of others for, for all of eternity. Absolutely. Well, thank you brother Michael for being on the Evangelism Podcast. I so love your ministry, your passion for, for reaching the lost in very difficult places of the earth. Thank you for standing up for Jesus.

Mikael Boman (20:39):
Yeah, thank you so much, Daniel, for having me. It’s a privilege to be here in this podcast, and, and we were impressed with the work you that you’re doing. You have a great heart for people evangelizing year after year, months after month, and, you know, keep on doing what you’re doing. It’s a great work that you’re doing as an evangelist. God bless you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:59):
Thank you. 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 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.

The Evangelism Podcast Host (22:18):
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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Karl Hargestam | One Chance for Every Person

Karl Hargestam believes every person on earth deserves at least one chance to hear the Gospel. Why should anyone hear the Gospel twice when some have never heard it for the first time? Karl is an innovative missionary who uses helicopters to go where no missionary has ever gone before. He is also leading City Serve which has given away millions of dollars worth of food to the hungry and he is the founder of Joshua Campaign in Ethiopia. On today’s episode you will be inspired by his innovative ideas.

Learn more about City Serve: https://cityserve.us/

Learn About One Chance for Every Person: https://ocfep.com/

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Karl Hargestam believes that every person on Earth deserves at least one chance to hear the gospel. Why should anyone hear the gospel twice when some have never heard it for the first time? Karl is an innovative missionary. He uses helicopters to go where no missionary has ever gone before. He’s also leading city serve, which has given away millions of dollars worth of food to the hungry. And he’s the founder of Joshua Campaign in Ethiopia. On today’s episode, you will be inspired by his innovative ideas.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:49):
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 (01:13):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. Today I am with a very special guest, Karl Hargestam. Thank you for joining me today.

Karl Hargestam (01:24):
Well, thank you. It’s good to be here with you, Daniel. We always, It’s good to see you always when we get to, It’s not that often we get to meet, but this is good. It’s good to be with you here today,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:32):
Brother Karl. You have been involved in evangelism and missions for many years. You have a great heart for reaching the unreached people. And my knowledge of you begins when you were a missionary in Ethiopia, going to the unreached there, and you founded Joshua Campaign, which has done many gospel campaigns across Ethiopia for the last, almost 20 years now. And tell me a little bit about how Joshua Campaign got started and your early vision for reaching Ethiopia.

Karl Hargestam (02:07):
Well, you know, the, so the call, the call that got on my life and the, the vision was really when Jesus spoke to me, and he did very clearly was for Matthew 24, in fact, the whole chapters about Jesus return. And I felt this incredible overwhelming urgency of his term. But they spoke to me from Matthew 24 and also Revelation where, where the gospel clearly has been preached. That that, you know, John in seven, nine sees his multitude dressed in white robes from every tribe, language people nation. Five nine says that what his blood has been purchased, men from every tribe, language people, nation. So the final church that Jesus comes back, the bride of Christ is a full of blood washed church from every tribe, language people nation. But what Jesus was speaking to me is that this is not finished.

Karl Hargestam (02:59):
Will you give your life to reach the final reach. Verse 14 says, The gospel of the kingdom will be preached, not should, not, maybe not. Hopefully the gospel prophetically Jesus says, the gospel of the kingdom will be preached as a testimony to the whole world and then, then will come. I felt this overwhelming thought idea that Jesus come back soon and he’s asking me. So he was asking me to preach the gospel towards Unre and finish assignment I didn’t know about unreached. So 30 some plus years ago, that was not a big talk book in mission or churches or anywhere. And and in fact it was embedded in a vision that was literally a movie. And in India was a helicopter. I didn’t understand much of this other than I said, Please see the Lord. And somehow, you know, the Lord answered the miraculously.

Karl Hargestam (03:46):
So I was on my way very quickly to Africa where the helicopters planted churches and unreached. What I did not know is that in that vision was a mass hillside of people coming to faith. It was like flames over sides of people. And within a few years, we start having meetings with a helicopter, 50,000, 40,000 hillside of people. I just kind of didn’t see me being the one preaching and signs and wonders start happening. I didn’t plan on being a massive evangelist or crusade evangelist. There was just kind of were happening within just a few years of that vision. So outta that, Josh Sch campaign was born. In fact, the clarification came when my son was born 97. So I’ve been in Africa a couple years. You know, story is long, lots of water under the bridge here. But really clarification to the vision of how to finish that assignment that I felt law Lord asked me was, which is the gospel for every tribe, nation people.

Karl Hargestam (04:45):
And from the first chapter of Joshua you know, Jesus speaks to his people and he reminds Moses, you know, the Lord ruins Joshua and Moses is dead. My sermon is dead. But then he reminds Joshua, the assignment he gave to Moses. And he’s not saying, Here, I have a new assignment for you. You know, a lot of times each generation we think I have a new thought, new idea, a new generation new anointing, double portion. You know, there’s a lot of things that we preach sometimes, but the Lord is telling to Joshua, really same here’s assignment, same assignment. Then he says, as I was with Moses, would be with you. So same anointing, same promise. Josh I used responds by faith in verse 11. And he says, Go through the camp, tell the people already we’re gonna be taking action. We’re gonna finish assignment cross Jordan and conquered at land, meaning not the promise land inheritance by faith in salvation but the gospel assignment that we’re all called to be part of. So that became clear out of that was Joshua campaign born and gospel crusades were launched into it’s really 3m, it was mobilization, massive man mission network. And I can talk about all three. And there are three organizations today that Joshua campaign was initially born from that.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:01):
Yeah. And I’m very thankful for Joshua Campaign. We’ve been, I think, either eight or nine times to do crusades with Joshua campaign in Ethiopia. Yeah. And we have always seen a tremendous harvest. It’s always so beautiful to see what God is doing there. The Bible says that Ethiopia shall quickly stretch out her hands towards God. And we see that over and over again. Now, in your ministry, you have a motto, one chance for every person. Can you explain why that’s important?

Karl Hargestam (06:30):
Wow. That became a very clear, you know, early on the finishing of the assignment, that every person born should have a right to hear the gospel should be birthright. We talk about right to water, right to school, right to healthcare give you all kinds of things that the world debates what’s important. And they’re all important. But the right to hear the gospel of Jesus once not saved, not only the Lord can do, but to hear it as Paul says, anyone who calls on the name of the Lord can’t be saved, shall be saved. But how can they, unless they believe, how can they believe unless they have heard, how can they hear unless someone preaches to them? So the right to hear the gospel should be birthright. So one chance to hear the gospel, only the church of Jesus can give. So the right to hear the gospel’s a birthright for every person and all the church can give it.

Karl Hargestam (07:19):
You have when they unreached challenge tribes that never heard of gospel since the cross. That should be an embarrassment for the church with all the money and resource and people we are. So you have places, tribes that never heard of gospel. You also have today with population growth. More people that have no access to the gospel that was alive when I was born on planet Earth. I mean, that should bother us too. Now obviously that can only be given up by Red Cross United Nation or any other kind of great institution or even Christian organization. Only the church of Jesus would preach the gospel to that. That’s why it’s so important we focus on this. So Joshua campaign, what about a massive evangelism initially one of, one of our initiatives and, and in Ethiopia, you know, we kind of were blessed being part of an early season where we prayed with, we had over 4.2 million decisions kind in a decade span to Christ there. But, and then we expanded into, you know, Pakistan and Indonesia and a couple other India. We, we done meetings in several places. That was not though my primary, even though that’s part of God’s call in my life. It was really about finishing Simon every tribe language people nation. So thus not just massive evangelists, but mobilization and a mission network that mobilized God’s church towards finishing Simon.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:35):
So you’ve been

Karl Hargestam (08:36):
Really three cycles. So

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:37):
You’ve been very interested in frontier evangelism going where Jesus has never been preached before. And in order to train people to do that, one of your initiatives is Mission one 11 training school to send people out into some of the hardest reach places in the world. Talk to me about

Karl Hargestam (08:58):
That. Yeah, that’s happening. So that’s kind of the second a, which is being in cycles of seven to 10 years. So the first was Joshua campaign. The second has been the second, a Michel 11, same also from the first chapter in Joshua verse chapter one, verse 11. He says, Go through the camp, mobilize the people. Get ready. So the mobilization or pioneers is martial 11 schools in the west. You know, we have worked in the developing countries, charting mission schools that is focused on church planning and national churches and leaders that we still work with. But in the west, us and Europe, we have mission schools that is challenging young people to give their life to a greater call, especially on rich people. So we take young people through training program and, and, and our big focus in tribal people that has never heard of gospel isity. So we bring them into tribes and mission schools and several countries around the world.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:53):
So tell me about how that works. Students go to a mission one 11 school and then you actually send them somewhere.

Karl Hargestam (10:01):
It’s really almost like a boot camp. It’s very catalystic. You know, the challenge for me was even when we started schools you know, in Africa or even Indonesia, but Africa, mostly our big schools would, lots of church planners in evangelists, they come to the city, they get kind of, you know, and I’m mo for higher education. But you know, they get trained and the more they get trained, the less effective they become, which kind of was grieving for a lot of us. I think even though we need you know, high quality leaders this has been true also in the west, US and Europe. So bringing students into a place where they don’t lose the call but actually find it, we knew that a istic experience has to happen. And for us, it used to be mission trips or youth camps. People are baptized in a fire call to a greater cost.

Karl Hargestam (10:49):
But we knew that there’s no greater place to bring people into an other than to an A 29 experience, an apostolic experience. The most unreached places Jesus will show up. It doesn’t matter how pray through they are, how holy they are. If they just choose to say yes, Jesus will do this supernatural through people’s lives. So we train in six weeks. It’s a 12 week course, actually that’s tic where we prepare the students for an experience. We call that preparation, that it’s an immersion experience and that it’s a debriefing experience. What to process the experience, the immersion is to, we fly with helicopters. Sometimes we take the students into an honor tribe where they are coached to share the gospel in chronological storytelling, science and wonders will happen. There’s nothing, The number one issue, the number one question actually asked worldwide is, why am I here?

Karl Hargestam (11:39):
Whether to believers or not for Christians, the number one question is what’s God’s plan for my life? I believe there is nothing more important, especially in the west young people. They will, they feel, and they will say, most often, I’m a spectator in God’s kingdom. I see all these players down here, but I’m into bleachers and don’t know how I can participate. There’s nothing more powerful than when the Lord is using me, affirming of God’s call. So when the Lord’s doing great things in their lives, in those tribal settings, they come back and say, Wow, God maybe has a plan for my life. If we process that and we see Missionary challenge to pathway for God’s assignment,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:18):
And now you’re working with a brand new initiative called City Serve. And with City Serve, you are helping churches all over America to reach out to their communities. Talk to me about what City Serve is doing.

Karl Hargestam (12:32):
Yeah, so, you know, this has been an incredible journey. So this is kind of the third for me mission network because what we’re challenging the church is to for the anti harvest, which I believe Jesus is returning soon. And the anti harvest, the big challenge is the church that is not ready or we have become very production driven. I’m all for great church. We have church, we’re seeing better. But in big parts of the world, the church kind of resorted into just, just being good, having church, singing better, preaching better, and kind of not caring that much about what’s happening around in the neighborhood. And part of that is just caring about people and issues. So we’re talking about mobilizing the church to be the church, not just having church. That shift is about mission from the neighborhood to the nations.

Karl Hargestam (13:22):
And, and we’ve been able to tap into resources to help churches to use, reach out in their neighborhoods very tangibly. One of the big challenges when we see especially the American church across the world, is that you have an average church is say under 80 people, around 80 people, and most of the churches buy vocational pastors in neighborhoods. There’s nothing more underuse. There’s no network in America. And, and we have proven this to be true also in, in Ukraine for example, right now around the world, we’re launching Canada. We’re in several places, but the, the church of Jesus, there’s nothing, no network that know the neighborhood better than the church. But most of the time, by vocational pastors under resourced, they hardly have money to keep their light on, nonetheless, having an outreach budget. So we’ve been able to tap into incredible resources, helping the church to be the church, start just loving their neighbors and reclaiming the right to preach truth.

Karl Hargestam (14:18):
It is only the gospel of Jesus and that truth that say people set people free, lead them on a pathway to some restoration, redemption. But sometimes our society has, we become so isolated, our gospel, even though we preach really loud, people don’t care anymore because we lost that credibility. So city deserve, it’s about empowering the church. We’ve been growing incredibly fast tapping into, we have really the center of the vision of city service based on Isaiah 58 where it says, this is the true fast. This is what the Lord is asking of you. If you spend yourself on behalf of the broken of the poor, then your light will shine in darkness. Then you will be like a well watered garden, then you will be known as the rebuild of cities. What the Lord is saying, this is a qualifier for being blessable. If you do this things, I will bless what you do.

Karl Hargestam (15:06):
We’ve seen the window heaven open over us. So in five years, last year, we moved over $430 million through our, I mean, so we’ve been growing incredibly fast in five years, resourcing churches to be the church. It’s the incredible amount of people saved through the basic idea of just challenging god’s people to lean out into the broken and reclaim what it means to, to just care about your neighborhood. Because of that, the credibility to preach the gospel is just released in a powerful way. So I, seef 58 is centered around 10 initiatives, including unre people, which is, you know, my passion, but it’s everything that Jesus talked about, the prophets. And Jesus match 25, He talks about the poor, the widow of the orphan, you the presser. You know, when you do this, then you do it for me. So in the resources we’re asking the church to focus on those that we have two support pillars for that.

Karl Hargestam (15:57):
One is the supply chain of goods and kind that over production from national retailers like Amazon, Costco, Walmart, and others are donating through supply chain of hubs, pods, points of distribution, which is churches to God’s people, which is heroes, loving their neighbor, sharing faith with somebody. That supply chain helps the church to lean into it. Then we have a grant center helping with resources around those initiatives. And it’s been powerful. But the whole idea is that the church joins with the idea of we’re gonna become missional again. What does it look like for us to reach from the neighborhood to the nations, even unreached people, refugees coming into our cities, across America. We’re, we’re having a hard time reaching another language or cultures downtown that has been there for a hundred years or 50 years or so, The new people coming into our cities we’re not even missional enough to reach over into those cultures in our churches many times. How do we reach a tribe somewhere around the world? So it’s about, it’s about the, it’s about a paradigm shift. How do I see the harvest in my city, from the neighborhood to the nations?

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:05):
I love how you bring together compassion and evangelism to help churches, to help neighborhoods and help the churches to, to reach out to people. But then maintaining that evangelistic focus in helping people to, to make sure that they know Jesus and are going to

Karl Hargestam (17:24):
Heaven. Well, I said, I mean, it’s, we are, what we say is the hero for us needs to be, of course, Jesus, but that local church, not about city serve. So, so what we empowered church to be the church you know, we’re not even about our, we’re not about compassion. We’re about compassion, evangelism or sharing compassion in Jesus’s name. You know, the process of reclaiming credibility to preach truth. It’s not that the truth has changed. The gospel of Jesus has not changed. It’s still the gospel of Jesus and the truth. When you as a church, we start losing credibility to preach truth, people don’t pay attention anymore. And we think that compassion is a gateway. No, it’s, it’s Romans to force that the kindness of Lord draws us the repentance. It’s like a superpower. No one can argue with kindness as the church is criticized, that we’re more known for what we’re against.

Karl Hargestam (18:13):
What we’re saying is we’re for a bunch of things, the church of Jesus is for restored marriages. <Laugh> delivered people, people set free from oppression, from addiction, from demonic possession. We’re for all kinds of good things, right? Why don’t we reclaim the message that we’re for people finding hope in Jesus destined, in Jesus, a purpose and a pathway that only the gospel of Jesus can bring. But we’re become so defined and for kind of what we’re against, instead of what we’re for, we’re for people, right? We’re for our neighbors, finding a better way. And it’s only Jesus they can give it. So this has been a way to ask churches to join that mission challenge. So we’re working very wide, it’s big tent. We’re helping churches across the country. In fact, we proved that this network, the church of Jesus is the most underused during farm and a family during the pandemic.

Karl Hargestam (19:04):
You know, this part of that is being white cities have grew so fast. We we were able to prove in fact, you know, many of you know that their pandemic, you know, country shuts down. Half of the American food goes to restaurants. So trucking industry, farming industry is all herding. The president then, at the time, President Trump, he decided a program called Farmer to Family rescuing the trucking industry, the farming industry. The issue was how did we deliver? Now when we suddenly overnight at 50 million Americans struggling with food, they might have a good job, furl, little without pay, have a car payment, a house payment, don’t look poor, but you don’t have money to buy food. So the farmer family was that idea, Take rescue this the industries and help help the people. They’re now at home because of the pandemic. And but how do we deliver it?

Karl Hargestam (19:51):
What we argue is there’s nothing like the local church knowing the neighborhoods the last mile. The church is the best last mile there is for any need anywhere, anytime. And we see this also in Ukraine right now. In fact, we feed in Ukraine over a hundred, 2000 meals, hot meals a day through churches, 1800 churches across Ukraine, seeing amazing number of people coming to faith, finding faith in Jesus. But during farmer to family, we delivered over 600 million pounds of food through churches in every parking lot across America and every city and county. Amazing amount of people served in Jesus name. People prayed with, in fact, s a they were saying in the beginning, you know, normally when we get this kind of a government relief, they’re like, you know, you can’t you gotta, you gotta, you gotta verify that these people need it. We said, Really? What does it mean? Doesn’t mean that we have to turn on the wind. We asked them to turn on the window and say how can we help you? Do you need, do you need <laugh>? Do you have a special need? Do you really need help? Yes. Can we pray for you? Yes. You mean because you’re faith with them? Yes. You know, so across America, we got to have conversations with people.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:04):
Yeah, I got to participate in some of the outreaches with Pastor Rod Baker, who is one of your yeah. Distribution points in Oklahoma. We went out with him and people would line up for two hours in order to get food. I mean, some of them had very nice cars and they had obviously been successful. They didn’t look like they would need food. But I think if someone is willing to wait two hours in line to get food, obviously they need it. And we, we prayed with people and God moved in such a, a powerful way. And so that was such a, a tremendous ministry.

Karl Hargestam (21:38):
It proved, it proved that the church is underused in our country and it’s proven the same in Ukraine. There’s no network like Jesus paper. Yeah, knowing their neighborhoods. Let,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:49):
Let’s talk about the last mile because like for the post office, they ship packages from one side of the country to the other side of the country, but it’s that last mile from the post office to going and putting the mail in the mailbox. That is actually the most expensive part of the process. And what you’re saying is that the local church is the most effective at bringing help to the people that need it the most in neighborhoods because they can do the last mile very inexpensively compared to anybody else that you could find a

Karl Hargestam (22:22):
Hundred percent first into donations in goods and kind. There’s no network like it. But also, think about it, when we think about brokenness in some of the most broken neighborhoods across America, you have a local church. The way that we done church for a long time is we sending buses, bring the kids into some great big church somewhere. And that small church that’s struggling is keeping the light on is almost like raising the wide flag, surrendering that neighborhood to the devil. I mean, as an enemy, that’s terrible. How do we resource that church that knows the kids to live on that street, know the issues with the houses down that street to be lighthouse for Jesus again, it is nothing better than empowering that church. In fact, if you’re gonna win in America, we need every church to share Jesus in any way, being resourced, loving their neighbors, and sharing the faith bold in Jesus name.

Karl Hargestam (23:11):
So that’s what we say when we talk about empowering the last mile, not just one church or one group or one network. The church of Jesus just gotta kind of rise to the moment. That’s how we’re gonna reclaim our country. Again, sharing the faith boldly. And that last mile delivery obviously is kind of what we’re able to be affected with when it comes to the goods and kind donations for sure. But there’s also other needs. You know, we will talk about that also in even grants. And I know people are afraid of money that is on the table, but grants are used by somebody and most of the time by things and values we don’t agree with. So it’s gonna go somewhere and it’s our money. We paid the taxes for. So our argument is why don’t god’s people to do last mile there?

Karl Hargestam (23:50):
You talk about prison and reentry. You know, our attrition for people coming outta prison, state of California is 67% returns back to prison. Why is that happening? I mean, we can say our country’s broken, our issues system is bad. Sure, all of that’s true. But the honest answer is they go back to their old community because our society is not able to provide a new community. What’s the community that would change that? The church of Jesus, it’s a community, can change their pathway, their projectory, because the gospel of Jesus changes from within. And that community can wrap around and be that new pathway. Restoration. This is true from homeless reentry, press and reentry, diction, reentry back into society. We need a life disciple people more than just giving a handout on a parking lot. If the church reclaims that place that we’re for people, we have the answer.

Karl Hargestam (24:43):
There’s even funding for it. We will do better job than any institution in our country because we care about it anyhow. We wanna see prisoners restored, redeemed on a pathway back to healthy life. We wanna see the addicted set free and the pathway back to healthy life. So we have really both the conviction we want to do it for us, and especially for me, because my call is about really primarily unre people. If I can’t get people to even see the harvest in their neighborhood, I have a real hard time for them to see the harvest in some unreached tribe somewhere in Africa where I need a helicopter to get to. So this has been a pathway to kind of say from Jerusalem, udia to Samaria and anso the earth. We we’re taking churches again, I think on a journey back to mission, that was the call in the church, preach the gospel to every person, one chance for every person, right? That gotta begin in our neighborhood somehow.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:37):
So just to review, what are the three s? Mobilization,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:40):
Mobilization, evangelism, massive evangelism. Mission network. In mission network. And you have worked in all three about seven to 10 years in each one. And I’ve been inspired just seeing your strategic thinking innovation, Joshua campaign, doing mass evangelism and Ethiopia, the helicopter going to unreached tribal groups where you can’t get there by road. And now city serve, helping to serve all the churches across America and, and really helping people in both America and Ukraine and other parts of the world. So thank you so much for your, your passion for Jesus and your innovation, your your strategic thinking. It really inspires me. And thank you for being on the Evangelism podcast. Yeah,

Karl Hargestam (26:28):
Man, Thank you. Thank you Daniel. Good to be here.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (26:30):
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 (27:49):
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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Andreas Cucca | Open Heart, Open Home, Open Heaven

Andreas Cucca pastors a small Swedish church and he is a missionary evangelist who reaches out to the nation of Bangladesh. Today he talks about the challenges of pastoring and the joy of evangelism.

Connect on Facebook with Andreas Cucca: https://www.facebook.com/andreascucca

Follow Andreas Cucca: https://www.instagram.com/andreascucca/

Check out the website for Go Out Mission: https://gautmission.org/

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Andreas Cucca pastors a small Swedish church, and he’s a missionary evangelist who reaches out to the nation of Bangladesh. Today. He talks about the challenges of pastoring and the joy of evangelism. Jesus

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:27):
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 (00:52):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus the day I have a very special guest with me, Andreas Cucca. Did I say that right?

Andreas Cucca (01:03):
Yeah. About <laugh> as good as it gets, Andreas Cucca. Yeah.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:07):
All right. So you are a pastor in Sweden, and you also have a great heart for evangelism. Tell me a little bit about all the things that you’re involved in.

Andreas Cucca (01:19):
Well, I’m a local church pastor. And I work with missions among unreached people groups in different countries. But it, my main focus has been Bangladesh for the last 15 years. Besides from pastoring, I’ve been doing different kind of secular jobs, working in church, church planting, and so on. But now I’m a local church pastor since six years and doing missions with my wife and my family several times a year we go out to different mission fields.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:50):
Tell me about the context of the ministry that you’re doing in Sweden. Your, your church is in a small village.

Andreas Cucca (01:59):
Yeah, it’s a small village of 800 people. I mean, 2000 surrounding area where a old Pentecostal church over 100 years old. And I would say when I came, my wife is brought up in that church. I was, I’ve been part of the church for 12, 11, 12 years. I came on board as a pastor six years ago, and I would say we were quite an introverted church and also would say dying church. We didn’t reach people. But little by little we are seeing people coming to the Lord. And we’ve seen a lot of increase in immigrants coming to our church, which is wonderful. So it’s, it’s a small, small village. We win one person at a time. So

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:44):
Talk to me about the challenges of doing evangelism in Sweden. You’re, you’re gifted as an evangelist, and so as an evangelist, you’re always looking for opportunities to, to lead people to Jesus. But the, the ground in Sweden, sometimes it can be very difficult.

Andreas Cucca (03:01):
Yeah. I mean, it is difficult sometimes, but I, I believe that the gospel has power to change anyone in any situation. So our, I would say our mindset as a church is a bigger obstacle than secularism or whatever you can throw at Sweden. I, I think our mindset, we’ve been stoked in a mindset that Swedish people are secular and so on. But I mean, if you just share the gospel, people are open to listen. And I think it’s changed a co Also, after Covid, we seen an increase in interest in, in spiritual matters also. So some years ago, I would say it was harder. I think it’s easy to, to share the gospel if you do it.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:42):
And you have a motto that’s on your hat right now, it says, open home, open heart, open heaven. What does that mean?

Andreas Cucca (03:51):
That means it’s from, from our family actually. We, we, we had, we say we want to live, our house should be an open home, home for people to don’t have any home or, or like rootless open hearts towards God. Of course, they would open to what God is saying, but also open to our society and to the people around us. And we believe that God is opened to heaven 2000 years ago when, when he died in the cross, it says that the veil was broken. So we believe that miracles can happen, that people can be changed through the gospel. And since I came on board as a church pastor, this also become our vision for our church as a church should be a home for people who have no home. An open home will feel with people with open heart towards God and our society, and, and that believe in an open head that everyone can be transformed by the gospel of Jesus. So that’s, that’s the main focus. And I believe it, it correlates if you have an open home, if you’re welcoming, if you’re openness towards people, people can come into you know, the presence of Jesus, and then they can experience the open heaven. So I think it, you have to have all parts.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:01):
In recent years, many immigrants have come to Sweden. Yeah. And it’s a little bit controversial because SW are very proud of their culture, very proud of their country, their language. And, and now all these people are coming, and, and Sweden has been very welcoming to them. Yeah. But it’s also been a challenge. But talk to me about how your church is responding to the challenge of immigrants and, and then what you’re doing to, to reach out to them and, and, and what God is doing. I

Andreas Cucca (05:31):
Mean, one part is, you know, politics is politics aside as a church, we are always, I mean, the Bible says, you know, we should welcome the immigrants regardless of our politics, political stems, the ones that are coming, we need to embrace. And, and we, we’ve said we want to be in a place for all nations, for all peoples. And, and this open home, I think some, some of our new new suites or immigrants, they have experienced that. They’ve actually said to me with some people from, from Congo came some years ago. They, they, they had 70 people from all over the world, Afghanistan, Congo Syria came to our small village. There was 30 apartments being built for people that arrived and have had a citizen like not a citizenship, but that they could stay in Sweden. And that, that was a controversial thing in our village because a lot of people are outright racist and, and some are very hesitant.

Andreas Cucca (06:31):
So we as a church and, and did a news like the, the local paper in the bigger town in our area did a, like an open home at the posters, you know, and we’re very happy. This is a good thing for our village. And from that, we got some hate mails and so on. But I mean, the people from abroad, they love our church because our church has responded very well. I’m proud of my church members, all church members, younger church members. They’ve embraced the new people coming in. And, and there’s been a change in culture, I would say. So now maybe half of our church is African, and some people come from Afghanistan. Sometimes we’ve seen Muslims come to come to the Lord. We’ve seen secular switch come coming to the Lord and so on. So I’m, I’m, I’m happy to see that there can be life in an old a hundred year old church.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:23):
I think the church needs to recognize the significance of this opportunity that God is giving us before people would have to go to the mission field. Yeah. Now the mission field is coming to us, and we have an opportunity to reach them for Jesus.

Andreas Cucca (07:39):
Yeah. I mean, we did like a big outreach. We handed out like 700 magazines with testimonies, my testimonies as the Don Testimonies about how we met Jesus. And we invited them to a day outside of our church. We had jumping castles for the kids. We had a big kids meeting with about 60 to 80 kids at the most. We about 150 people outside of our church that many of them have never stepped foot in our church. And when we had it out, 200 hamburgers, but most importantly, we shared the gospel testimonies some music known singer, she won like Sweden’s got Talent. She, she is a on fire believers. So she shared her testimony and, and some songs. And then we had a preacher Vanis preached and did Analar call and Free girls from Afghanistan raised their hands and say, We went to Jesus.

Andreas Cucca (08:27):
Their mother got healed in her neck. They’re not, they’re not disciples yet, but they’re leaning in towards, you know, our shared coming sometimes and so on. So, so it was a big, big thing for us. And actually, a Swedish guy just came right into our church from that meeting. He said, Because you were so open, we, I, I want to come because you opened up. You, you, you sent out the magazine, You did it publicly. You, you preached the gospel outside of your church. And during the pandemic, he had read the Bible, and now he’s come to a, a saving faith in Jesus. So every now and then he comes to my office. He works from home. So he comes to my office. Sometimes he has ask questions. And so, so next week we’ll start new course for new believers and, and people that are interested in the gospel.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:15):
This testimony of these three Afghan girls really moves me. My parents lived in Kabul, Afghanistan for the last 12 years. And now we have many Afghan refugees that have come to my hometown in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We have about 900 that are there. And so we’ve been helping them to get drivers license and to find housing and to have food. We’ve been helping them get in English classes. And even some of them have been given scholarships to some of the different colleges. And, and so we’ve been very involved in helping the Afghans that have come. And at Christmastime, we had 11 Afghans come over to our house for Christmas dinner. Wow. And we sang Christmas carols talked about the Chris, the Christmas story from both the, the Bible and from the Quran, cuz the Quran talks about how Issa was conceived by Miriam. And so at least that gives you a starting point to talk about Jesus. And we gave them all Christmas presents and had a wonderful time with them. And so we have a great heart for the Afghans that are the dispo that are, are now scattered all over the world. All right. You mentioned your testimony in the magazine. Tell me a little bit about your testimony. Yeah,

Andreas Cucca (10:32):
Man. I’m, I’m brought up in secular home in Sweden. I have no relationship with church, so on, so, so much. I had Christian friends, but I mean I was in my, th I was 13, 14. We began to go out partying, drinking some of my friends became criminals, you know, or picking cell phones and, you know, robbing peoples on. And I was on the outskirt outskirts of that gang or whatever. And I felt so empty on the inside, and I began to think about my life and is this everything school weekend, partying than job or university? And the job family, we working, we can, there’s there any, is there not nothing more? And I fell into a deep depression, and I began to think, contemplate about taking my life. And one time I was arguing with my mother because there’s no one that gets on my nerve so much as my mother.

Andreas Cucca (11:26):
I love her to death, but she can really drive me crazy. It’s my, my, my wife, my, my and my wife, my mother <laugh>, my, my brother and my eight year old daughter. They really know how to push the bottles. And my mother did it at the time and <laugh>, and she, I’m not sure what she said, but I said, Do you want me to kill myself? And the words that came out of my mouth, it became like, it just came back to me, and it just became like a cover over my heart and over my mind. And it was like a bondage that just happened there. And after that, I just, it was everything that just contemplated in my mind. And at the same time, I had a friend who invited me to church in the same right time. And he invited, invited me to a Lutheran church first.

Andreas Cucca (12:17):
And they had some friends in the Pentecostal church. They had youth meetings. And there I saw something that I didn’t see in my other friends. I saw light in their eyes, I saw joy, I saw peace. And I began to go to this charismatic Pentecostal church where they raised their hands and is saying about Jesus, talked about Jesus. And it’s weird. It was a weird, weird thing because it was so out of my regular life. It was not nothing that I had seen before, but I felt at peace there. So I continued to go there, and I stopped partying. And then I went to a youth camp. And that night I said to my friend, his name is Gusta, I said, Gusta, we need to get saved. I’m not sure if he was born again or not, but if he was not, he came with me and we prayed a prayer for salvation with our, the youth pastor.

Andreas Cucca (13:05):
And during that prayer I didn’t know what to do with my hands, lift my hands, you know, so many things to do in church <laugh> and, and I was really new, but I, I, I, I just did like this with my hands. And I closed my eyes and he prayed, and I repeated a prayer. And as I repeated, I said, Thank you for forgive. He’s forgive my sins. And thank you that you took, took my sins. And he took my darkness and so on. And as I prayed his prayer and I was closing my eyes, it was like, there was two beams from a big, a big truck just hit the flooding. My face was dark in the room. It was like in, in the evening time. And it was a, but still, it was like a big, big light just flashing in my eyes, even when I was closing my eyes.

Andreas Cucca (13:54):
And it was like a piece that came over me. And, and the, the, the lead on my heart and, and the bondage, you know, in my head just run. He just went away. It washed away in one second. And I stood there for 10 minutes, and I just knew it was not just me and the youth pastor there, Someone was there. And I said to you, Pastor, he was here. And he was like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. I cooled down. And I was like, How can you be cool down if God in heaven is in the room? So from that time, I, I just always filled with peace. A couple of weeks later, I always realized, I am, I am not have done a suicidal faults. From that time, I just began to share about Jesus. I actually, when I came home from the camp, I said to my mother, mother, I’m saved now. And she came, she was really, really touched. Five years later, she got baptized. I actually baptized her in our church. So from that time, it’s only been evangelism for me and to share the gospel because Jesus really, he took me from darkness to lights. And I, I believe he can do it for anyone.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:57):
Amen. What a beautiful testimony. Let’s talk about Bangladesh. You’ve been working there about 15 years now. What have you seen God do in that nation?

Andreas Cucca (15:07):
Well, I’ve seen, I mean, from, I’ve seen people getting their lives, lives transformed. I remember one girl, she’s name, her name is Star. She came to our campaign was maybe 6,000 people there. She saw testimonies of healings. You know, one girl had a cancer tumor that was visible in the back, that just shrunk away. And she saw a lot of these kind of things, and she heard the gospel, and she didn’t receive her healing. So for three days, she was in the, in, in the crowd. And on the way back, you know, that, that message hit her because she prayed, Jesus, why am I not heal? And then she has prayed, Jesus, forgive me of my sins. And at that time, she, she gets so a vision of Jesus hanging on the cross, says, I my daughter, I see you, I forgive you, and I healed you.

Andreas Cucca (15:53):
And then she says, I felt so light on the inside. And, and her knee that was broken got healed. And she, she came back and testified. And I mean, and this is one of thousands, tens of thousands of people have received Jesus. And hundreds of churches has been planted during the years in that movement. We’re working with their church planting movement. In the last years we’ve seen several hundred churches about, now it’s 468 churches at the moment, as statistics days, 468. But I mean, it’s a movement of people receiving Jesus and an openness to the gospel, both Hindus and Muslims.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:33):
Talk to me about the strategy of this church planting movement. How does it work?

Andreas Cucca (16:39):
I mean, we have had, we, we, we do campaigns, gospel outreaches, you know, open air campaigns, preaching the gospel, praying for the sake. And, and, and from that, churches are planted. So, for example, if, if they want to plant a church in say, three different places, well, we, we pick a spot in between those places. We do a campaign and we bring people from free different villages or different areas into the campaign. We preach the gospel to them, they see Jesus, and then from then they go back to their villages and they will send out church planters to that places. So every time we do a campaign, we do it in a strategic place. So we can start three to four churches every time. So it’s every time it’s about where do you want to, do they want to start churches and where is it possible to do it? And then we do it. So, so the campaigns is not, it is not, not something we do just for the sake of it. We do it as a, a kickstart for church planting.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:42):
And so, over the years that you and ACE, the Association of Campaign Evangelists have been working in Bangladesh, how many campaigns have you done?

Andreas Cucca (17:52):
Well, I’m not sure. I probably in probably 60 plus at least. But I mean, and

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:00):
So these are not all in the same place or in the big cities, You’re going town to town, village to village, Yeah.

Andreas Cucca (18:05):
I mean, there can be really, really small places. And I mean, we’re in a small town village and there were about 5,000 in the village. And, and at the campaign we had 5,000 people. So everybody came. And I mean, that’s a

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:19):
Good campaign. Yeah. If you get a hundred percent of the population to come, that’s, that’s massive.

Andreas Cucca (18:23):
Yeah. And I mean, in one direction where one moskin, one direction, you want another mo one. So when we came to that village, they said, Are you from Egypt? Because they thought that we were from media people. They been financing mosques there. But a lot of people came to the Lord in that place. It’s called Bury. And there’s other places also we preached outside of Mo quite close to the mosques. And people are happy to receive the gospel. Yeah. But we are both, I mean, mostly in the outskirts, in the in the bush areas, in the, in the, in the smaller villages, not so much in the big cities. It’s first and foremost, it’s harder to do in the bigger towns. And also there are churches in the bigger towns. So we don’t need to do it there. We do it where it’s needed.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:12):
So you have a calling on your life to be an evangelist. You’re also serving as a pastor. How do you balance these two different callings and the needs of both?

Andreas Cucca (19:26):
I don’t <laugh> or I think it flows into a ch because before I was the pastor of our church, we actually we were the church missionaries, me and my wife. And I would say that the things I do because I believe in the local church, I’m sent out by my church as the missionary. So everything that I do, I do out from my local church. But of course, you know, time wise, I have to know plan a little bit. So I don’t, I’m not away too much because I need to tend to my ship at home. But I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s manageable. And I think it’s, to be a local church pastor helps me to be a good missionary and to be out in, out, to be a missionary evangelist helps me to become a good pastor because we, we need both. We need to, to do the outreach. We need to take care of people. And I think when I talk to church leaders in, in Bangladesh, for example, I know their struggles. I know how it is to, you know, help people. And when people come with their problems and, you know so I think it, it’s, it’s good. It’s good to be both pastor and evangelists.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:40):
That’s wonderful. Well, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism podcast. I really appreciate it.

Andreas Cucca (20:45):
Thank you very much. It’s an honor. And yeah, just wanted to say to, to the, to the people listening that, I mean, if you have a calling on your life, run with it. There are so many people, Bangladeshis Open, and many pe places are open for the gospel. So if you feel encouraged by this, you know, reach out to Daniel and, and, and he will probably help you in the right direction.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:12):
Amen. I want to go to Bangladesh now, hearing about all the testimonies of, of what God has done there. It’s, it’s so wonderful. Thank you so much. God

Andreas Cucca (21:20):
Bless you. Thank you, Daniel. Thanks

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:22):
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 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 (22:41):
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

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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 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.

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

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Jonas Andersson | The Association of Campaign Evangelists

Jonas Andersson lead Go Out Missions and ACE: The Association of Campaign Evangelists. On today’s podcast he shares his personal testimony and about the amazing work God is doing around the world.

Learn more about Go Out Missions: https://gautmission.org/

Discover the Association of Campaign Evangelists: http://ace-evangelists.org/

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Jonas Andersson Leads Go Out Missions and ACE, the Association of Campaign Evangelists. On today’s podcast, he shares his personal testimony and about the amazing work God is doing around the world.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:27):
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. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus The day I have a very special guest with me, Jonas Andersson. He is the leader of ACE, the Association of Campaign Evangelists, and we are together in the nation of Turkey. We have come here for a conference. There’s about 22 of us all passionate about evangelism. Yes. And it’s so wonderful to be together. Brother Jonas, thank you for being on the Evangelism Podcast.

Jonas Andersson (01:24):
Thank you. It’s an honor. It’s great, great privilege.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:27):
So let’s talk about ACE and what ACE does. It was originally founded by Richard Gunning, who I’ve interviewed just a couple of episodes ago. And he launched ace, but now you have taken the leadership. And tell me what is Ace and what’s the purpose of it?

Jonas Andersson (01:50):
Well, as the name says, we are an Association of Campaign Evangelists. I stress this every time I, I talk about it. We’re not an organization, we’re a network. We’re an association. It’s it’s rather an umbrella with a number of ministries, evangelists doing the same thing. I’d say we all do we use multiple tools in, in bringing the gospel to the nations, but we’ve all come together around this one tool that we, we favor if you, so, like, and we know is very effective in reaching the masses campaigns. So we meet together annually at the conference where we are now, not this year we’re in Istan. And trying to find ways where we can cooperate better, where we can sharpen each other’s tools, where we can pull resources, where we can. Sometimes someone has an open door and we can maybe send more people there.

Jonas Andersson (02:50):
We can do collaboration. Sometimes someone has money and is looking for a field to sew, and someone has maybe people that are ready to go. So we’re trying to find ways where we can strategize together, where we can have a deeper and, and longer lasting impact in, in cities in in, in in states and in, in whole nations. So this is what we’ve been doing. But the second part is also we wanna see a next generation being raised up. So we, we very much believe in mentorship and in bringing people out into the field and training them and equipping them and giving them opportunities on the platform, sharing and on as we go, kind of train them and, and send them. So that has been big part of what we’ve been doing in Ace the last couple of years.

Jonas Andersson (03:41):
We have kind of opened up, we started as a very you say Northern European or Scandinavian network. It just so happened because of Richard gunning relations with a lot of Scandinavian evangelists and myself coming from Sweden. I have a lot of connections to that part of the world, but we’ve seen the last few years we have opened up and, and relations has formed with evangelists in other parts of the world like yourself. And, and I really like that. And I, I believe that we are gonna see more of this in the, in the days to come. Because the calling to run the race as an evangelist and do the work of evangelism from a platform that’s, that’s something the spirit of God obviously is doing all over the world. So I’d say the next phase in where we are right now, where we’re kind of open and seeking God and seeking his direction for, for the next step, how we can level this and, and see more both senior and seasoned evangelists who are eager to find apprentices, to find people they can invest in to, to mentor and and to, to, to give to the next generation.

Jonas Andersson (04:53):
But also the young ones who may ask, God, I I feel you, you have called me. I want to go, But who, who can I connect with? Where are, where are the open doors? Where are the opportunities? Is it at all possible for me? I mean, that’s where I started. And by the grace of God, someone came along and, and showed me, Yeah, we, we’d invest in you. We believe in you and, and opened the door for me. So that’s what we, that’s what we like to do. That’s, that’s a big part of, of, of the network of ACE. The second thing I’d say is for evangelists running our race. I mean, everyone at this conference and every evangelist pretty much that I’ve ever met in my life, we are passionate. We are, we are vision driven, but very much evangelist can be very alone.

Jonas Andersson (05:45):
We run a race and we, we, we live in a, in a backpack or in a suitcase big part of, of, of the year. And we move from, from place to place and country to country. And, and by doing so, forming lasting relations is, is kind of hard. And it can be a struggle for many. And also for local churches to, to relate to the office of an evangelist and, and understand where we are coming from and, and what we carry. Sometimes that makes it hard to form that kind of relations that that actually will be kind of a safety net when, when the li when life gets rough and hard. And that’s been a big part and is very essential to the network of ace, to, to build strong and last to relations between evangelists. Because in this in this setting, we, we understand each other. We know where we come from. And there is, I’d say we are not just focus and event driven, but we’re, we, we’re also very relational in the network. It’s a big part of it forming lasting relations where we can really share life both ups and downs and, and cheer each other on.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:07):
Yeah. And it’s so wonderful being at this conference. There are evangelists here from Pakistan, from Sweden, from Norway, from Great Britain, from Brazil, and even I have come from America and other evangelists from, from other parts of the world. And so it’s, it’s wonderful just the fellowship and our hearts beat together. This morning at breakfast, I was talking with some that they were working with Afghan refugees that have come to Sweden. And in Tulsa we have Afghan refugees that have come and, and we are working to, to reach out to them as well. And so we were sharing stories and, and saying, Oh, it’s so neat to see what God is doing. And, and, and we, we found that we were praying the same prayers together for these people to come to, to know Jesus. And so that’s such a, a wonderful blessing to, to be a part of evangelists coming together.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:04):
And I think it’s so needed, because you’re right, so many evangelists do feel alone Yeah. And misunderstood by the church. They, they see thousands of people get saved, and then they come back to share the testimonies and people don’t really understand. Yeah. But fellow evangelists can celebrate with them the wins and, and commiserate with them on the, the challenges that, that they’ve faced. So Ace has been very involved in many different countries, and I really like some of the strategies that Ace is using to reach nations, because the, the idea is not just to go over and over again to one big city, but to develop a strategy to go from town to town, village to village, and map out an entire region. So over a period of time, the entire region can be reached. And it’s not just one evangelist doing it, but you’re sending one ace evangelist one month, and then another ace evangelist the next month, and then another one. And over time, like in Berino Faso, I think you’ve done over 60 crusades now, or campaigns Yeah, yeah. In different parts of Berino fso and had a, a significant impact. So, so talk to me a little bit about that strategy and why you’re using that strategy and, and some of the nations that you’ve seen that type of strategy work.

Jonas Andersson (09:29):
Well, I mean Jesus said, going to all the world, and, and when I came into ministry a big part of of, you know, the fire that that kind of started inside of me was the, the unfairness in, in, when I realized at that time it was like two point 5 billion people within the people groups that where they were growing up, they would never even have a chance hear about Jesus. Today. That number is even some said at this conference. Now, it might even be up to 4 billion people. I mean the, the, the population growth is, is insane. But this really, this, this sense of this is not fair. This is not right. That was really what, what got me going, trying to, to, to look for, So what, what, what are we missing here? Why are there places still today on this planet where there has never since the cross been a church that cannot be right?

Jonas Andersson (10:30):
I mean and I, you know, you started question why, how could that pos, I mean, 2000 years of church history how is that even possible? I mean, can’t be that every believer in, in church history has been very bad at geography, <laugh>. I mean, it’s not as simple as that. It has to be something else. And, and of course, some places are harder to travel to that some places there’s gonna be you know, a bigger sacrifice to go. And as an evangelist, of course, we, we wanna reach as many people as possible at the same time. So there is always gonna be I, I, I hesitate to use the word temptation because I still believe in, you know, we should do you know, mass campaigns in, in big cities. I’m not saying we shouldn’t, but when there is a BC and d town in the same nation with maybe not as many people, but still together as many people that no one has gone to since the cross, then, you know, in me, that’s where I want to go.

Jonas Andersson (11:35):
And that has been, I, I think the main reason and, and the main strategy we’ve been working with in Ace, we see that in the capitals and sometimes maybe the second largest city in man nations, there has been campaigns, there has been the opportunities. So we’ve tried to define it also kind of pushed the limit for, and, and the border of the kingdom economy you wish, and going to, and I think that’s been, not everyone, but quite a number of the ministries involved in Ace. That’s what we’ve been doing. This is what we’ve been kind of driven by sowing the NA nations, where we’ve been starting this kind of work where we’ve brought money in, that has been the, the aim and goal to go into regions and states where we see the, the church weak, or there’s hardly any new church planted.

Jonas Andersson (12:21):
And then we move in with, with national movements and denominations who have church planters ready. And, and we set up the campaigns. And so far, I mean, we’ve been working in, in India in different states in a pradesh. We started with Richard Gunning and, and several others did multiple campaigns at the same time. Simultaneously. We did that for a number of years. We’ve been working in India and in Asam, Northeast India, Pakistan, we did for, for a number of years, from 2000 and, and three to 2009, I’d say we had around 70 campaigns with different days evangelists, sometimes up to two campaigns a month. I mean, it was a machine we were doing. It was crazy. I just spoke to, to the son of the coordinator. He’s actually now with us in ACE. I’m so happy about that. He actually was the translator on my very first campaign. I preached my first message and

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:19):
Yeah, Jabron Inayat Yeah. Yeah. Just last week I was in Pakistan with his brother. Yeah. Tamran Inayat the whole Inayat family caught the vision to reach Pakistan Yeah. With the gospel. And it’s just so wonderful to see what God is doing there. Yeah. And, and, and like you said, so many crusades from village to village have had such a big impact

Jonas Andersson (13:42):
That impact in, in, in, I mean, we saw that church movement had around 70 churches when we started. And after those 70 campaigns, they had more than 400 churches, 450 plus or something. He just told me. Now, the other day, I thought it was around 300 something. And he corrected me. He said, No, we planted more churches as a direct result of the campaigns. But, and that’s, I mean, that’s the, that’s the greatest thing. But you now, even still, after so many years, you know, you receive contacts. People are calling me, People are inviting us to come back to Pakistan. Where you realize these people who are ministry leaders now who are pastors in local churches, who running their own campaigns, they’re actually a fruit of the campaigns that Ace held 2004 to 2009 in Pakistan. Now they’re running, they got saved. Lebron actually shared the other night.

Jonas Andersson (14:36):
He said, You know, there are two guys that go save. Do you remember this place, Saja? Do you remember? They came, they’re drunk. They, you know, they were just, you know, Jesus saved them. And now he’s running this big ministry and he has his own church. And, you know, I just met them down there. So we’ve seen this in, in, in many, many countries in Bina Faso. We’ve seen so many churches planted. I remember one of the campaigns I had there three months after the campaign they had to close down bars. There was hardly any people in the jails in the day. Jails. They had a different system. They closed down. And, and the, the chief of the police and even some religious leaders from the other, other religions represented there they were all amazed at the power of God that kind of shook the city.

Jonas Andersson (15:28):
And this was not one of the bigger cities, but it had an impact in the entire area like village to village to village. And this is how we’ve seen the gospel spread in the interior of the nations and, and have deep and, and significant impact. And, and doing this together, knowing I’m going today in a few weeks time, one of my friends, one of my colleagues from another nation, they’re going to this city, and then someone else is coming to this city. And then maybe a few months, you’re going back again. And you can visit one of the places where your colleagues had a campaign, and there’s already churches, and you can go there, you can teach new believers, you can encourage them, and then you move on, You have the next campaign, and you kind of, you know, go like this. We have seen, you know, the, the, the, the, the profound impact, the long lasting fruit where we can, we can know for sure that the fruit remains. So, so we really believe in this.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:29):
You actually have two full-time jobs. Not only are you leading Ace, but you are also leading another ministry called Go Out Missions. Yeah. Tell me about what Go Out Missions does.

Jonas Andersson (16:42):
Well, <laugh>, in a way, we’re doing a bit of the same. I mean all my evangelists go out Mission. They’re involved in Ace. So when we’re doing the campaigns, we’re involved in, in, in what, what Ace is doing. But we are based in Sweden, and we’re training and equipping people. We’re equipping the local church we work with, with most denominations. So we’re Pentecostal in, in, in, in theology. We work with everyone that loves Jesus and wants more of him. And we plant churches in Sweden. There are no go out mission churches, but we work with the, the, pretty much every denomination in Sweden that wants to work with us we pull resources and we send people so we’re, we’re planting churches in Sweden, because this is important for us. When we try train young people and, and we, we have someone that says, I have a calling on my life and I want to go to the unreached for us it’s important that if you wanna reach the people there, you start reaching people at home.

Jonas Andersson (17:48):
It says in X one eight that when the Holy Spirit comes upon, you’ll see power to be a witness in Jerusalem. It doesn’t say, or Judea, it says, and Judea and Sumaria and to the end of the earth. So this is what we emphasize a lot. This is what we teach. So in what mission, my church planters, they go regularly on missions to the unreached, though they are based and, and planting churches in Sweden. And it, the opposite goes for the ones going on campaigns regularly. They live maybe in a place where they also help planting a local church. We travel regularly into church plants and help them and evangelizing the streets and, you know, preach to the neighbors and that kind of work. Then we run a few training operations. We have both to training schools, both where we train, train young people for church planting and for pioneer missions, and really racing up and training campaign evangelists.

Jonas Andersson (18:53):
And the second year is more of a, of a tailored, you know leadership year. Internship year, you could say where you can receive scholarship to go. And and we’re doing I mean, what we felt when we traveled in churches and the conferences, we met a lot of people and fire for God. And we met a lot of young people. What we saw, a lot of the young people, our standard response would be, Wait until you’re 18, you know, when it’s possible for you to travel, make your own decisions. And but we saw the fire God upon really young people, and we felt, we need to do something about this. Now. We, we shouldn’t just tell them, Wait we need to open some opportunity for them already now, because obviously God is already there doing things in their lives.

Jonas Andersson (19:41):
So, so we started the trading program that we call Young Missionaries, where we train people from, from 15 or 14 years old even. And really to do the work of an evangelist. We bring them with us, maybe not to Pakistan, but you know, we are closer in, in, in Europe. And we let them preach, we train them, we equip them, and we’ll, we’ll stand behind them, but they’re doing the preaching. We train them how to cast out demons and pray for the sick and, and do an al call. And then they come back home to Sweden. They’re changed <laugh>. They do the same home back in Sweden. And it’s, it’s really that’s actually one of the fastest growing parts of the ministry right now. And I’m, I’m super proud of, of, of the young people that we have in the organization, really running with fire and passion and, and soon gonna pass us <laugh>.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:29):
Tell me about your testimony. How did you get on fire for God, and how did you discover the assignment that God has for your life?

Jonas Andersson (20:38):
Well, I can see in respective, I, I I started praying to God at a very young age. I grew up in a Christian family. My father was a pastor. So for me, God was not something that I really thought of. Does he exist? That was not really the, the question when I was five years old, four years old. Even every single night I would pray for, for those in leadership, you know, I would pray for the government, I would pray for, No one ever taught me this, but my parents told me, actually, I would not go to sleep until I prayed for, for, for our Prime Minister, you know, for, for the, for the, for the Chief of Police. And, you know, it was quite funny for me, the existence of God, that was not the question. I grew up, we, we, we moved as God called my father to different places.

Jonas Andersson (21:29):
And my first year I didn’t really have any Christian friends. And I had to pay a bit of a price for my faith. I was, you know, attacked for my faith and almost bullied. But God kind of turned that around when both, both my class and the parallel class they both attended a volunteer Bible class with my father for a year in our church. And I was like, Yes. But something, something I think was built inside of me where I realized I could be assault and a light for me. It was never, you know, does God exist? Should I do this? Should I be believer? It was more like, I feel so sorry for the, for the rest of them. They don’t understand. When I was 13, I, I gave my life to Jesus. I, you know, I I I always had, you know, my personal faith.

Jonas Andersson (22:29):
But when I was 13, I decided I need to get baptized. And my father said, yes, You know, he baptized me when I was 16 I was in a youth meeting. I was standing there worshiping God, and all of a sudden I hear from my mouth, I’m no longer singing the song. And I got baptized in the Holy Spirit. My, my youth pastor had, you know, I didn’t even know what was going on. He laid his hand on me, and we prayed and, and, and I started speaking new times. And I can see from that day, everything started changing. We had then moved to a place where I’d never met as many young believers in, in my entire life. To that date, I thought that I’d come to heaven. And there was 60 young people in my age in church every weekend.

Jonas Andersson (23:16):
And I didn’t even know. There weren’t that many believers in my age in Sweden, <laugh> at that time. I’d never seen that many. So at first I thought, you know, wow, I’ve come to heaven. But then, because how I grew up, I, I was always around non-Christian people. And what I could see, the difference between me and my friends in the church was, it was enough for them. They, we were 60 people. They had a good time. They didn’t need the others. And for me, I was not content. I, I did not like this. I got, you know, <laugh>, we, we need to bring more people. We need to be out there. I had classmates that never been to church, and I realized, you know, we need to do something about this. And when I got baptized in the Holy Spirit, I started doing stuff.

Jonas Andersson (24:00):
I, I, you know, I, I, I, and also because, I mean, I was a teenager and, you know, I got frustrated with my Christian friends, and I thought they were too religious, and they didn’t want to go for the lost. So I started spending more time with my non-Christian friends, and I had a bit of a struggle. You know, you, you were at parties and maybe we were in all making the right decisions, but when the Holy Spirit came and the conviction was there, and there was power to be a, a witness, I started youth groups. You know, I didn’t even know this was happening. I, I see this now, looking back, it just started happening. I started youth groups soon, that group bigger than the original youth group. But the big difference was most, most of the guys in this group was non-Christian. And then I realized I need to do something about it, you know?

Jonas Andersson (24:51):
So we started at prayer, and I started give small teachings, and I started preaching, and it was very frustrated. They didn’t understand. And, you know, so I was seeking God. And, and then you know, I, I had a dream. I had a dream to be an ambassador, to be an ambassador for Sweden. You know, I, I, I took I studied social science with an international perspective. I studied everything in English, actually most of it, preparing for this. And I added extra languages. And I, I had everything mapped out. I, I thought I’m gonna be an ambassador for, for Sweden. And then one day, I can’t say exactly when it happened, but it was after I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, one day, it just dawned upon me. I came home, I flung the door open, I ran into my dad’s home office, and I said, It’s insane.

Jonas Andersson (25:49):
It’s crazy. You have the best job in the world. This is amazing. Do you realize that you get paid to, to be with Jesus? Do you read the Bible and pray to preach? This is amazing. And you know, I mean, I grew up with this, and I never realized how amazing this was. And at the same time, I knew I’ll probably never be a pastor in a local church. Actually, I have been <laugh>, but, but I thought, this is this. That’s, that’s not for me. But what I realized is God has a plan for my life, and I need to make that my top priority from this day, you know, school. Yeah. But it’s not, I’m not gonna be an ambassador. Yeah. For Sweden God has a plan for my life. For, So I went to Bible school, I prayed for a year.

Jonas Andersson (26:38):
I actually had received some scriptures that really marked me, but I couldn’t understand it because it said that I should go out into the world and preach in other nations. And I, I, I could not see that happen. I was 20 years old who would send me, I had no experience. I’d never read the Bible in English. I mean, where, where should I go? Who would send me? So I went to Bible school, and my one prayer for one year was, Lord, where should I go? How should I start? The only testimonies I’d ever heard was, you know, those spectacular stories, People receiving a nation in the most crazy way, you know, seeing, you know, fire on the wall and riding on the wall, or an angel or appearing, or, or even crazy stories like they found birthmark on the body that held, you know, the exact shape of the country, then the map, you know, And they knew that’s the nation you’re buying.

Jonas Andersson (27:32):
I was, I was, I went to the extreme. I’m telling you, I even heard a story, someone prayed, and in the morning, the serial form that wrote the name of it, I prayed over, I probably went through like 15 different types of cereal. I prayed over porridge, <laugh>, I did everything. I was desperate. The, the last few weeks of the Bible school, I screamed. I was crying out to God. I said, Give me an Asian Lord, give me an Asian. And then I had an epiphany. For me, it was, I mean, this is really silly, but, but for me that’s actually something that, that became, you know, profoundly spiritual for me. I realized I live in a nation Sweden as a nation, Sweden as a part of the world. This is amazing. I can start now. I don’t have to wait anymore. And as silly as it, it, it sounds, that’s where it started for me.

Jonas Andersson (28:23):
And I realized I’m not wired like maybe everyone else. I, I can’t, I don’t, I love the church <laugh>. I love crush Christian people, but I don’t wanna be here. I need to go where, where there are no Christian people. I need to find the really bad place. I need to find some where, where, where they have never had the chance, where they had not had the privilege that I have had to be raised and actually know God. So that took me into church planting. So I moved to, to the second largest island in Sweden. That’s where I, it was launched into full-time ministry. Really. I moved there. I didn’t know anything. And we started youth work and that grew rapidly. We had like 6,000 people coming every weekend. And, you know, they had knew nothing. That’s where it started for me.

Jonas Andersson (29:15):
And I spent a few years there. Then I got in contact with Co-op Mission. I was sharing and preaching on the same conference as their, their founder. And they just kind of threw out to me, You know, you should come with us. You should come with us out into the mission field. There was something in my heart that said, Yeah, you should. And at the same time, in my natural, my er mind, I was like, Why should I do that? I have no experience. It would just be a waste of money and resources to have me there. They’re doing a great job, but something on the inside told me, Just go there. So I prepared, you know, I thought, I’ll be there. I’ll carry, you know their bags. I’ll, I’ll be praying for them, you know, support them. And then the voice inside of me started saying, and it kept repeating, actually for a few months.

Jonas Andersson (30:08):
Take everything you get, take everything you get. I ended up going to Pakistan. I’m making a very long story, try to make it short. <Laugh>, the founder of, of Go Mission calls me. I actually calls to Team leader, but he passes me the phone and he says he has something he wants to say. I take the phone and he says, Those words take everything you get. And then he hangs up. And I just knew, okay, God has something in store. I just bought my first English Bible. I was struggling through this, but in my spirit, I was prepared. You know, something’s gonna happen. After the first night and after the first pastor’s meeting we’ve had, and I had been just sharing some testimonies and some short of him praying, the leader of this team came to me and he said, We believe that, that you should be preaching one of the big campaign meetings.

Jonas Andersson (31:06):
And I hear myself more than I reflected. I hear myself say, Yes, I’ll do that, <laugh>. And then I turned around. I went into my room, I closed very slowly, and then I fell down on my niece. And I said, What have you done? What have you done? How, what is wrong with you? <Laugh>? And at the same time, the the voice inside take everything you get. And I felt peace, but I said to God, I know what I’ve seen. I refuse to leave this room without knowing the same things are gonna happen. I’m not leaving until I know. And God started tering to me. God started speaking to me and activated me in, in giftings words of knowledge. I’d never seen this in my life before, but I started receiving words. And, and I started preaching there. Brown was my interpreter. It was the first time he interpreted.

Jonas Andersson (31:58):
And it happened. We, we saw a multitude of people giving their lives to Jesus. I saw miracles that to that day I’d never seen before. Lame started walking, people taking off those you know, they threw crutches and started walking, jumped off the beds. Blind people receive their sight and was like, I heard of always saying, This is something you’ll be doing for the rest of your life. And when I came home, I, I continued working with the church plant, and but I still, I realized God has something more in store for me. So that’s where it started. And since then I’ve been going <laugh>.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (32:44):
That’s wonderful. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. You know, I’m so amazed at what God is doing through you, Jonas, and very honored to call you a friend. And I think it’s amazing what God is going to do through you in the years to come. The world is a big place. There’s a lot of people that need Jesus. And so God is raising up leaders like you that have a passion for going and preaching the gospel, and, and even more than that, raising up others. So thank you for your heart and thank you for being on the Evangelism podcast.

Jonas Andersson (33:21):
Thank you, Daniel. My privilege. Thank you so much. I love what you’re doing. I love this tool that you’re using as well to spread the fire and inspire others. There’s a great need for evangelism, and there’s is great need for evangelists sharpen each other and giving tools. So God bless you, God bless you. Listen to this. And let’s go with the gospel to the end of the earth.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (33:44):
Amen. 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 (35:04):
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.

Daniel King is often called The Evangelism Coach. Please subscribe to The Evangelism Podcast for inspiration about sharing your faith.

Evan & Madeleine Threlkeld | Is a Gospel Awakening Coming?

Evan Threlkeld is a missionary-evangelist and a youth pastor. He is married to Madeleine and together they have a burning desire to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost across the earth through the power of the Holy Spirit. They fell in love on the mission field in Africa. On today episode of The Evangelism Podcast, you will hear the story of their romance and about the ministry God is calling them to. We also talk about doing neighborhood outreaches in the United States and about reaching Buddhists in Thailand.

Donate to Evan Threlkeld: https://www.modernday.org/field-workers/evanthrelkeld/

Connect with Evan Threlkeld on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/evan.charles.94064

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:03):
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. Evan & his wife, Madeleine Threlkeld. Welcome to The Evangelism Podcast. Did I say that right?

Evan Threlkeld (00:23):
Pretty close. Yeah, thro. K it’s it’s a tough one because it’s, it’s old Norwegian last name. So <laugh> you did good.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:30):
Well, wonderful. We met at the Christ for All Nations (CFAN) Evangelism Bootcamp. You were one of the evangelism students there, and now you’re a graduate and you are excited about evangelism all over the world. Tell me a little bit about how you ended up at the Evangelism Bootcamp.

Evan Threlkeld (00:54):
Yes, it’s, it’s an interesting story. So I, I interned with evangelist Chris Overstreet at Bethel in 20, 20, 19, and shortly after I went to the school of evangelism, the SOE where you were training, and actually that was evangelist Reinhardt Bonnke’s last school that he taught at. So had the privilege to see him speak. And there was a there’s an opportunity to go to Africa and preach on gospel trucks and do kids crusades. And so I at the time was with Chris, but I said I would be, I would love to go. And I was one of 12 evangelists at the school that was selected. So for five weeks I went to Nigeria, saw thousands, tens of thousands of, of Nigerians give their lives to Jesus. They’re just so hungry over Nigeria. And then at the end of the five weeks Evangel Kada did a crusade and I Ave ACUTA Nigeria and that changed my life. It was a four day crusade. I got to just see so many people get touched by God. And the last the second to last day, Ben was going to ask me to pray for the sick and we just saw incredible miracles. So from there I applied for the bootcamp and that was also life changing experience. So yeah, that’s, that’s how I ended up at bootcamp.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:28):
So first you were interning with, with Chris over street. Chris is a great friend. I was just with him last month, got to spend a whole afternoon with him and, and see the, the powerful impact of his ministry. I really love the, the huge truck that Chris over Street’s ministry has. It turns into a platform it’s got screens on either side and he’s using it to, to preach the gospel. And, and now he’s going into neighborhoods using a, a smaller like sidewalk Sunday school size truck, and preaching in the, in the neighborhoods. And you’ve been involved in, in helping with that to kind of tell me what you’ve been seeing.

Evan Threlkeld (03:14):
Yes, that’s been amazing. So I’ve been a part of nearly every gospel truck event that Chris had, the small gospel truck event that he’s done. Earlier this year, he got the small gospel truck and which has been amazing, cuz he is been able to go into neighborhoods, apartment complexes tight spaces that a bigger truck couldn’t get into and reach entire apartment complexes for Jesus. And it’s been amazing seeing families come out and give their lives to Jesus. And then Chris and their compassion action team started a youth basically kids school for kids where their discipling and pouring into the kids. And you know, if you reach the heart of a kid, you reach the heart of the family. And so it’s been really, really beautiful to see. And I’ve been DJing at I’m a DJ as well. So I’ve been like coming in, just DJing at these events, which is a creative way to, to draw people out. So that’s been really fun.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:16):
Okay. Kinda walk me through one of these apartment outreaches. What does it look like? How do you, how do you, and, and Chris’s team attract people to come to the, the event and, and then what does the ministry look like? And, and then what have, are some of the results that, that you’ve seen?

Evan Threlkeld (04:39):
Yeah. So what we, what, what they do is they, they start by going to different apartment complexes and talking to the apartment managers which I actually did in Orlando as well when I was serving at, at CFA for, for a season go in, talk to apartment managers, get permission from them, which which is pretty, it’s pretty easy. If you find someone that, you know, you, you really basically pitch it to them is this is gonna be really good for your community. Really good for retention of of your, of your residents. And you tell them the benefits of what you’re gonna be doing. Like they give away free raffle prizes. They give away cotton candy, snow cones, popcorn, you know, all of that. And so it’s something that apartment managers love to hear. So once you get some apartments, then they come with the gospel truck.

Evan Threlkeld (05:38):
But we flyer the apartments for, for a few days beforehand and let the people know we’re coming and what it’s about. And then we show up and, and families come, we start to share the music, maybe go around and let people know one more time that we’re there. And it’s so fun. See all the kids that come, I mean, really the kids are the ones that are so excited about the event they come and they get their popcorn and they’re dancing, they’re doing, we’re doing raffles. So it’s a really fun event it’s. And then in that, you know, in that timeframe, we preach the gospel. We take 15 minute moments to preach the gospel and people, you know, after you’ve blessed them after you’ve loved on them, their hearts are so wide open. And I remember we went down to one of the worst neighborhoods, easily, the worst neighborhood in Portland. Just like two days before we got there, someone was shot and killed in the apartment complex next to where we were. And we had a very diverse crowd. And if you know anything about Portland you know, it’s not really known for being receptive to the gospel per se.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:51):
Portland is always in the news for the wrong reasons.

Evan Threlkeld (06:54):
<Laugh> exactly. Yeah. It’s one of the most unreached areas of America and the most unchurched I should say. And so we did this gospel event and I actually had the privilege to preach just a 15 minute gospel message. I really used a lot of evangelist, Columbus stories and kind of how he trained us at bootcamp and like 17 people got born again, like 15 people raised their hands to get born again. And this was in a church parking lot. So we were able to have the pastor come up, introduce himself, connect with the people and they get plugged into their church there. So,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:32):
Wow. What a great report. All right. Let’s talk about romance. Normally I ask people, what’s the number one thing that you got from the evangelism bootcamp? Well, I think the number one thing you probably got was a wife. So tell me kind of how that happened and how the, this romance between you and your wife sparked and, and then what that’s like for two evangelists to marry each other.

Evan Threlkeld (07:58):
Absolutely, absolutely. Well, you know, <laugh>, we I love to, I love to tell this whenever I preach and I introduced my wife, but I remember evangelist bonky would always say, he’d call himself a hot evangelist. And I said, Lord, I need me one of those. And so God answered my prayers <laugh> but yeah, I, I actually went to the first bootcamp in 2020 and then served in the next bootcamp for a season. And I just felt to my heart that my wife is a part of this bootcamp. I just had that strong feeling and sure enough, you know, I, I I met Madeline and we she was actually one of my interns. So we would go to the streets and, you know, evangelize and we’d even go to some of the nightclubs and love on the people in the parking lots with the team and the way that she loved people.

Evan Threlkeld (08:58):
And the way that she evangelized just really touched my heart. She was weeping over these girls. Seeing them get saved and her compassion and love for people really blew me away. So after, after we finished boot camp, I asked her out and then we went on the mission field to Tanzania. And on the way there, I got to talk with her on the plane and in the, in the airport. And I just fell in love. I knew she is the one for me. I just instantly knew in my heart. And so we actually came back to Orlando. We dated for it for a month and confirmation after confirmation came. And in fact, I even wrote in a journal, the Lord really spoke to me and people ask me dating advice all the time, because it was just so successful. I have single guys that ask me all the time that are evangelists. Like, how did you, you know, and I said, well, one thing I encourage you to do is to write a list. And the holy spirit spoke to me to write a list of things that I wanted in a wife. And even one of the things I wrote was maybe somebody that’s Australian and sure enough, she’s Australian. So God really answered that list. And so we, we, I proposed her a month after boot camp after our dating. And then we got married another month after that. So,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:23):
And how long have you been married now?

Evan Threlkeld (10:25):
We’ve been married just over a year. August 1st was our actually yes, it was our anniversary.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:33):
Wow. You know, I, I think some people really have a tough time as an evangelist to maybe find someone that their, their calling would be compatible with the calling of an evangelist because it, it’s not easily being an evangelist. There’s, there’s a lot of travel you’re away from home a lot. I found my wife on the border of Rwanda in Congo, and she was a missionary for, for 10 years before we met. And at the time when we met, she was actually a crusade director. So I was a crusade evangelist. She was a crusade director. It felt like a, a match made in heaven, but it it’s so neat to see that the, the two of you got together. I know that God’s calling is not just on an individual. His calling is upon the couple. And, and so both of you are, are called together and will be a mighty team.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:29):
One will put a thousand to flight. Two will put 10,000 to flight. Yes. And so I think like as maybe some of our listeners, they’re looking for the right wife or the right husband, and I think if you’re just pursue God as fast as you possibly can just go in the direction that God has given you to go, you know, and you’re running after God. And if you turn your head and look, and there’s someone who’s running along with you yes. And running in the same direction, that might be the person that, that God’s called you to be with.

Evan Threlkeld (12:05):
Yes,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:06):
Absolutely. So, so this last year you’ve been serving as a youth pastor. What’s that like having a, a calling as an evangelist, but being in this position where you are, are serving as a youth pastor?

Evan Threlkeld (12:21):
Yes. Well, that’s great. I, I got saved in middle school and I’ve always had a heart for youth. And even when I was at the boot camp, it was, it was a desire in my heart to really reach the young generation. And I have had countless prophetic words about it and so forth. So my, my wife and I, when we got married, we, we really felt the desire to reach youth. And so actually right when we got married, we were traveling to different youth groups in Florida and, and the west coast. And yeah, there’s a compelling story of, I, I always made it a gold preach in youth groups. And just a powerful story that I still used to preach today was that I went to a youth group in Michigan and I had just come off the mission field in, in Tanzania.

Evan Threlkeld (13:11):
And the pastor said we only have 12 youth in our group, but would you come? And I said, I’ll come for one. And so I came, preached the gospel one girl came forward, gave her life rededicated her life to Jesus. And three weeks later, she was in an accident where she passed away. She was only 16 years old. And so the, the, the pastor and the the grandmother came up to me and said, thank you at the funeral. I went to said, thank you so much for preaching the gospel to my granddaughter, because now I know she’s in heaven. And so this young generation, there’s an urgency. So my wife and I, we came out to Vancouver, Washington at Bethesda church and been youth pastoring for about the last year pouring into the youth learning like their culture, their language.

Evan Threlkeld (14:06):
And there’s so much that could be said. But when we first came in, we noticed that a lot of their a lot of them were hungry, but they came from broken backgrounds or families. And so we really began to encourage them disciple them build them up in their identity, just the foundation of who they were were. And then we began to really teach them about how to pour out. Once we saw that maturity growing in their hearts and their lives, how to pour out in their community, in their family. And so now we, we have students that have been sharing the gospel with their own families and seeing family members get, get touched by God. We’ve seen we had one student he’s been faithfully doing a club in his school for the last three years in his high school. And his high school is very hostile in gospel. He’s just been made, he’s been like the, like the laughing stock of the school, but he’s continued to faithfully preach. He’s in downtown Portland. And so we did an evangelism training with him and Scott McNamara that we went to, and that week he went back to school and preached the gospel and 50 kids gave, raise their hands, give their life to Jesus. And so yeah, it’s just been phenomenal. Being able to pour, pour into them.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:32):
You’re about to enter a new season of ministry. God has put it on your heart to, to launch your own ministry. What, what are you gonna call your ministry?

Evan Threlkeld (15:44):
Yeah. So we’ve been really praying into this and the holy spirit has spoken to us gospel awakening because we want to bring clarity and the power of, of the gospel to the nations.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:58):
And talk to me a little bit about your vision and, and what you see God doing through your ministry over the next few years.

Evan Threlkeld (16:07):
Yes. Well, we really want to keep things simple. We want to preach the simple gospel disciple people, plug them into local communities where they’re gonna be discipled. And we have a really strong heart for Asia for Africa. We really want to partner with some other ministries that are in Asia. We have so my wife, you know, she’s from Australia and she, her parents are pastors just north of Sydney. And so what we’re, what we’re really planning to do is have our base in Australia and America as well. <Laugh> but we want to go to Asia from Australia, and we have plans to partner with friends that are doing crusades throughout Thailand. Indonesia is on our hearts as well as some of the Oceania like islands, Vanuatu Fiji, some of these different regions PNG, Papa, Papa, new Guinea. And so right now we, we really feel that soon we’re gonna be doing partnering with a, a friend that’s doing crusades in Thailand and reaching some of the literally most unreached people groups in Thailand who’ve people that have never even heard the name of Jesus. And so, so far they’ve had thousands of people coming to their gospel truck events, preaching the simple gospel and plugging them into local churches. So that’s where we we’re plan to start.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:46):
Well, I think that’s so brilliant to, to base your ministry there in Australia, because you’ll be so much closer to, to many of these places. It it’s a, a good 18 hour plane ride from the United States, but from Australia, you can get there much easier and much cheaper. And all of those countries that you mentioned have such a tremendous need for a, a gospel awakening, especially Thailand. It’s a nation that is mostly Buddhist. My wife went to Thailand one time and she told me she was on the, the Metro in, in the capital. And she was talking to someone about Jesus. And this person said, oh, Jesus is that an American music star and had no idea that Jesus was a historical figure that lived 2000 years ago. And, and so there’s so many villages in Thailand that you can go to and they, they literally have not heard any of the gospel story.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:54):
I mean, here in the United States, generally, people kind of have an idea of the story of the Bible that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and, and then Adam and Eve sin, and then Jesus came and died on the cross to save us from our sins. I mean, that basic gospel outline, even for people that maybe don’t go to church or aren’t living for God, they kind of know that general basic outline. But when you go to a, a Buddhist station like Thailand, you really have to start with just the very basic that there is a God who created the universe. And let’s talk about who that God is. And so I, I think God will give you tremendous fruit as you go there.

Evan Threlkeld (19:42):
Amen. And I, I know you’ve done a lot of ministry and crusades in Asia as well, Indonesia and Burma. And it’s just amazing to hear about the testimonies that have come out of that as well.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:56):
Yeah, God is moving. I love ministering to, to Buddhist people. Let, let’s talk a little bit about ministering to, to Buddhist, you know, in Christianity, the, the main issue that Christianity deals with is, is guilt. We, we talk about sin and being guilty of sin but in Buddhism, the main issue that that Buddha was trying to deal with was suffering. And so the story is that that Buddha was a prince who lived a very rich isolated life. And then one day he was in a, a, a little thing that he was being carried by his servants, and he was going down the street and the, the curtain open. And he saw sitting beside the road, a leper who was in horrible suffering. And seeing this leper shook him to his very core because he saw suffering for the first time.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:08):
And Buddha started to look for ways to deal with suffering. And he came up with four great noble truths of Buddism that helped people to get free from suffering. And so the first truth is that life is, is suffering. Now all of life is suffering. And then he decided that the, the second truth is that this suffering is caused by our desire. And then his third great truth is that the way to get rid of suffering is to get rid of desire in our life. And so he said that when desire is eliminated, then suffering can be eliminated. And then his fourth truth revealed an eightfold path for getting rid of desire in our ministry. And this was all a response to him seeing this Lepar. And so he came up with this, this very complicated plan for getting rid of suffering in our life.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:11):
And I always like to compare Buddha’s response to Jesus’s response because in the gospels, we find a similar story where Jesus encounters a leper. And again, this leper is in horrible suffering. No one is touching him. And what is Jesus? Does. He reaches out his hand, he touches the man that the man says, Jesus, are you willing to heal me? And Jesus says, yes, I am willing be healed. And immediately the leper was cured of his suffering. And so the very problem that Buddha was looking to solve Jesus solved. Wow. And I think it’s so beautiful that here Buddha is looking for enlightenment and Jesus actually said, I am the light of the world. And, and so Jesus offers hope to Buddhist, to hinders to Muslims, to people of every single religion. Jesus actually offers the very thing that they’re looking for. So, so I think that will be wonderful.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:25):
As you go to Thailand and in other nations in Asia God is going to open up great doors for you to minister and, and for you to, to have a, a tremendous impact. If you’re listening today and you want to support Evan and his ministry, I’m going to put a link on our website that would link to where you can go and to support him. And, and to, to find out more information a, about his ministry. But Evan, there’s a lot of young people who maybe feel called to be evangelist. What would you say to those who, who maybe have a heart for evangelism, but don’t know where to get started? What would you say to them?

Evan Threlkeld (24:15):
I would say that you have what it takes. You have Jesus in you. He is the desire of the nations, and there’s no junior holy spirit. And in fact, I’ve seen some of the young people have the most faith for miracle signs and wonders. And even in our church, when the young people come forward to pray for people, the miracles are astounding and in our youth group. And so I want to encourage every young person that might be listening to this, that you have, what it takes and that Jesus lives on the inside of you. And he’s the one that qualifies you, not your experience. You know, Paul told Timothy don’t let anyone despise your youth. And so you have what it takes. And secondly, I would encourage any young person to really plug themselves into an non-fire church to surround themselves with Onfi, believers mentors and fathers in their life, as well as peers that can encourage them run with them. This generation because of social media is a very isolated generation. And so I would encourage every young person to really run with a tribe of on fire P men and women of God that can encourage you. And so I, I, I would, I would just really love to pray for any young person as well for your school, for your neighborhood, for your family. There is hope.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:40):
Absolutely. Please let’s pray.

Evan Threlkeld (25:42):
Yes, father, we thank you for every young person. God, we thank you for every youth worker, Lord that may be listening to this today, father, we pray that your power Lord, that your love that your fire would fall in their lives. Jesus father, we thank you that the holy spirit is the best evangelist. He is the one that leads us, that guides us, that convicts people of their sin and reveals Jesus to their hearts. And so father, I ask for a fresh baptism of your fire. Lord, I thank you for boldness Lord to preach the simple gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of our king Jesus Christ that others may hear and be saved. I pray for their schools. I pray for their families. Lord my family, my parents got divorced when I was seven and they through a miracle, got remarried when I after 18 years of being divorced. And so father, any families that are broken, I pray that I pray that you would restore families. God restore marriages in Jesus mighty name. Amen.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (26:51):
Amen. Well, Evan, thank you so much for being a guest on the evangelism podcast. I’m excited about what God is doing through you and through your ministry. And I know that God is going to give you a tremendous harvest and I agree with you for a gospel awakening all over the world in Jesus name.

Evan Threlkeld (27:09):
It’s been an incredible honor. Thank you so much, Daniel.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (27:12):
Bless you.

Evangelism Podcast Host (27:15):
Daniel King is on a mission to save 1 million souls a year, but he can’t do it alone. Would you consider sewing a financial seed today to give, please visit www.kingministries.com.

Tamran Inayat | Gospel Vision for Pakistan

Tamran Inayat has organized over one hundred crusades in the nation of Pakistan which is the fifth largest nation in the world with the world’s second largest Muslim population. He lives in North Carolina and he is helping American churches to reach out to the international community. You will learn how your church can reach refugees and immigrants who come to your city.

Learn About Mission Asia: https://missionasia.org/

Connect with Tamran Inayat on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tamran.inayat.77

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Tamran Inayat has organized more than 100 crusades in the nation of Pakistan. Today, we talk about what God is doing in this nation, which is the fifth largest nation in the world. The second largest Islamic country in the world. Tamran also lives in North Carolina and he is helping American churches to reach out to the international community. And so we’re going to talk about how to evangelize among the international community in the United States.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:48):
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. They’re 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 (01:12):
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, Tamran Inayat from the nation of Pakistan. Thank you for being on “The Evangelism Podcast.”

Tamran Inayat (01:27):
Praise the Lord it’s honor and privilege to have here in this program. I’m so thankful. Reverend Dr. Daniel King to inviting me here

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:39):
Now, brother Anaya. And I have been very good friends for almost 15 years now. We came many years ago to Pakistan, had some wonderful crusades. But last time I was here my wife was pregnant with my son. He was the size of an apple and her stomach, and now he’s born. He is 12 years old. And so now God has brought us back to Pakistan and the ni Nia family has been such a wonderful blessing. Your father is in California. I went to his house and visited him. There. You are living now in North Carolina and your other brother, LeBron is living in, in Norway. And so I’ve visited him there in Norway. And so you have been a very dear friend to our family for many years,

Tamran Inayat (02:31):
Praise the Lord it’s honor for our, this friendship. And we are so thankful how God connects us and how God connect the dots and make the picture. And that’s true. The youngest evangelist we have in our home for mission field for the crusade field. And that was your son, Caleb, when he was in the size of apple. And we shared this story to many, many places that brother Daniel King and his wife, Jessica, when she was pregnant and they came here and that’s the love of Christ and passion for people to coming and preaching in this situation. And we are so thankful that your parents, they also came here in Pakistan with us and we stayed together. We did work together. It is always joy, joy, joy to work together, to see together. I’m so thankful

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:34):
Now your family has done many crusades in the nation of Pakistan. When you and your brother were younger, you used to climb the telephone poles to put up banners. You would go and work and organizing a crusade, and you would even sleep on the platform in the, the place where the crusade was taking place. And, and so what do you see that God is doing here in the nation of Pakistan?

Tamran Inayat (04:03):
Well, God’s hand is on Pakistan. God loves Pakistan, and we have never, ever seen that kind of revival in Pakistan, what God is doing. You know, crusades are such a wonderful tool to work in Pakistan because Pakistan is as a fifth largest country, biggest country in the world. Second largest country as a Islamic world. And crusade is the one of the best way to share gospel. And we’d done more than hundred crusades hundred crusade and missionaries. They were coming from all over the world with us here to do the crusade. And we remember that we were very young and we call that we raise up in crusade grounds sometime we sleep on crusade stage and we did everything from our by own hands to advertisement and to put the posters on the streets and knock the door and in white people for the crusades nights and preaching and translation and all that stuff.

Tamran Inayat (05:18):
And we feel that through that. So many people, they came to Christ from the crusade ground. And I can say that in our city festival Bard, which is the third biggest city of Pakistan, the majority ministries in Fest Labbad they came from that crusade grounds. What a joy, when you see that 15 years before you’ve done crusade in one area and one person after 15 years, and he come to you in your hotel room are serving there. And he said that I accept Lord Jesus Christ as am my savior on that crusade 15 years before. And now I am doing my own small crusades in the villages. Wow, that’s the joy.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:11):
Even here in this hotel that we are staying in the other night, we were eating dinner together and there was a little band. They were playing music. And afterwards the, the drummer came over to us and said, I went to one of the crusades. He says, I recognize you many for many, many years ago. And we began to pray for him. And then he went and got to one of the hotel workers and the hotel worker also came and said, oh, I also went to one of the crusades and I prayed to Jesus at the crusade. And so it’s just so wonderful to see the fruit that God has given you. Now this week, we have been having a wonderful time of ministry. We did a youth conference, we had a one crusade meeting. Then we did another crusade meeting, which you gave to me as a gift.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:05):
Then we also had a leadership conference. We’ve also been going to some of the house churches and, and ministering to the house churches. We, we also had the opportunity to spend some time with some, some widows in orphans. You know, the, the Bible says that pure on adultery, religion is when you go to the widows in orphans and, and spend time with them to encourage them. And so we were able to encourage them it. And so all this ministry this week, what impact do you think it will have on lives here in Pakistan?

Tamran Inayat (07:42):
You know, that’s important to do the crusade. And it was wonderful crusade. We have a, a very good successful crusade. And with that this time I was very excited for the youth conference. When I see hundreds and hundred youth, they are taking step and they, we can see that they are as a future missionary. They, I believe that they are going from Feba Pakistan to all over the world and bringing good news to America. How America was sending missionary right here in Pakistan. I believe that we need to be raised missionary from Pakistan. They can go also in Pakistan and I can see big impact with the through widows also. And then youth conference and leadership conference crusades, we can see in these days how God’s hand, we can see that salvation. We can see families are getting change and becoming close to God, churches, revival, and leaders. They are with the tears and broken hearts and humbling their self to the Lord. I can see this is revival. This is God’s move. I can see that God is bringing us back to as a, a first church hall. We can see as a first church, what the church was United and God’s hand was there. I believe that this time God is doing same hair.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:21):
Now, many years ago, when your family was here, working very hard in Pakistan, there were some threats against you. I remember when I came for one crusade actually someone took a rifle and, and shot at us. And, and so because of that your family had to, to flee and you have come to North Carolina in the United States, and it’s really wonderful that God has brought you there because now you are a missionary from Pakistan <laugh> to the United States. And, and God has given you a great ministry, a, a wonderful ministry in the United States, your brother, LeBron, he went to Sweden and God has given him a wonderful ministry in Scandinavia. Now he’s in Norway and God has just given him so much favor there. Even your father in California, he is preaching. I introduced him to one of my friends, Alvin Armstrong, and he goes to the church and ministers to the people.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:27):
They love him. He just, pastor Alvin Armstrong just texted me. And he says, oh my Dr. And I had said, his son is also in Pakistan. You should talk to him. I said, oh, I talk to him every day. <Laugh> he is translating for me, you know? And, and so God’s given you a wonderful ministry. And you’re, you’re still ministry here in Pakistan, but God has given you a great ministry in North Carolina, especially going to churches in the United States, in helping them to minister to the immigrants. The people that have come from many different nations as refugees, or, or come to, to get jobs in America and even helping to challenge the churches of America, to reach out to the mission field that is right beside them. So talk to me about what you do to help the churches in America, minister to people.

Tamran Inayat (11:28):
Well, when we move from here to America, actually the place where we born and raise, we never want to leave this place, but there’s only option that we have to move from here to leave this country, go anywhere. God bring us in America. And when we were in America, we were desperately praying that God, why, why you bring us here? Why we are here? And then with a lot of prayer and tea, as we understand that there is purpose, although we don’t want to leave Pakistan, but we understand there is purpose behind that. And we become to know that in America, there is international community. There is a refugee community. There is so many people, they are coming in America from all over the world. And in, in our neighbors also where we live North Carolina in high point, we have seen that thousand and thousand internationals are there. And they are living here in America now in our neighbors, more than 10 year, 20 year, 30 years, maybe more than that. But we become to know that they never ever heard gospel.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:41):
Now that’s a big surprise because North Carolina, there are churches on every street corner. It’s the state of Billy Graham. Yes. And you say that in North Carolina, there are people that have been there for 30 years and no one has ever shared the gospel with them.

Tamran Inayat (12:59):
Yes. In the Bible belt area, where we have churches on every corner, they never heard gospel. And we it breaks our heart. And we understand that’s the reason God bring us here, that we can share the love of Christ to them. Also, we feel that what’s the reason they never heard the gospel. We figure out that there is reason there is huge gap between believers and then that international community. There is huge gap. We feel our role is that we need to bring both community to gather because we are having as a Pakistani experience also. And now we are in America and we are having American experience also. And we need to bring both community to gather. And if we can bring both community to gather, we can better way understand to each other, that who they are, why they are here, how we can share gospel with them. For that. I love to share that there is several things. There is some ideas or some things that, which we are doing to bringing the both community togethers.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:08):
And so if you go into an American church and you start to encourage them to reach out to this international community, that that God has brought the mission field to us in America, what would you tell the church to help them to minister to these people?

Tamran Inayat (14:27):
Well being as a church, what’s the greatest command for, for us, the love God, and love your neighbor. That’s the big thing we can see. And as a church, we don’t have to see that our neighbors, they are not looks like us, or they don’t speak like us. And that’s why that’s not our target area. No, when they are our neighbor, God send us, God send them to our neighbor. The only reason they are internationals are here in America. The only reason is this, that we can share the love of Christ to them. But there’s several reason how we can engage with them. I believe that ministry begins with a smile, go in your neighbors, whether they’re not looks like you go and give them smile. Ministry will begins from you from there. Go and shake hand, introduce yourself, know who they are. You can talk about sports. You can talk about culture. You can talk about food. You can make friendship with them. And then you will see who God will give you opportunity to, to share gospel with them. Once you start to loving them.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:45):
You know, my parents have worked for many years in the nation of Afghanistan. And now that everything in Afghanistan has fallen apart, many Afghans have come to the United States as refugees. And my father has been working very hard to help many of the Afghans that have come to Tulsa over 900 Afghans now live in the state of Oklahoma. And so we have been encouraging churches to reach out to them and to help them and even help them in practical ways, like getting a driver’s license, helping them to find a house, helping them to find language lessons, helping their children to do well in school. And even there is one girl she was pregnant. And so every week my wife was taking her to the hospital for her checkup. And then once the baby was born taking the baby to the hospital. So there’s so many ways that churches in the United States can really reach out to the international community and help them and show the love of Jesus to people. You know, someone living on this side of the world in south Asia, it might be very hard to reach them with the gospel. You know, it takes a lot of work and, but the United States, if God brings them there, they’re living right next door to you. Exactly. And it is like, God has brought them to you so that you have the opportunity to help tell them about Jesus.

Tamran Inayat (17:19):
Exactly. Yeah. You know, that’s why, what we encourage to the local church, haha. And difficulties going from America to Afghanistan or Pakistan or Bangladesh, any other third, one countries, dangerous countries. You need passport, you need ticket, you need visa and travel and learn that culture. How God make things easy for us and bringing that people in our neighbors engage with them, talk with them. We sometimes love to do the Easter ag hunt and inviting international community. And then talk with them, share gospel with them. Christmas gathering, it can be happen. It can be backpack, school, whatever we do in our churches in local churches, in America, as a mission, things in our streets are giving water bottle. All these things can work for the international community because they are also waiting that someone can come to us and show the love and love is the biggest bridge. So many time people, they may think that this language barriers, I believe that there is no language barriers, language, maybe it’s bridge. Maybe you don’t know other people, their language and they don’t know your language. But love language is the biggest language.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:45):
The love language is the biggest language. I love that you also reach out to people through Facebook every Tuesday night, you have a Bible study on Facebook and at first you thought it would just be a few people from North Carolina that would watch. But now people from all over the world are watching. Tell me about the, the ministry that you are doing through Facebook.

Tamran Inayat (19:14):
You know, when we were in North Carolina and reaching the small group of people in North Carolina pandemic had said, we were just stuck in home and we were thinking that what we can do in this situation, we have to do. And that’s the most needy time when we need to do something, we cannot stay in home. Me and my wife, Farra we are having two kids, Samuel and a Manville in our home. We decide that that’s the time when we need to be really engaged with people. And we are just in home. We were, we were thinking that we have four P letter P and what’s that one is that we have a heart of prayer and preaching and then we have a place and then we have some people also, and then fourth piece, we have fun.

Tamran Inayat (20:06):
Let’s connect all these things together and we can do as online services, Facebook let’s use your face Facebook. And we start the online services from right there. And, you know, internet is internet. I was thinking that few people from North Carolina, they will watch our online services. We did very first event and there was like a, probably close to thousand people they watch. And many of the majority of them, they were from Pakistan because internet is everywhere and they watch and we feel that it works. And then we decide that we need to go the next week again. And then next week again. And then next week, again, from that time, till now every week, more than 5,000 people that join our Facebook live service.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:04):
Wow. What a tremendous ministry. And you’re reaching 5,000 people every week. How much does it cost you to do that?

Tamran Inayat (21:12):
$0

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:13):
<Laugh>. So what a great blessing, what a great way to reach out to people. And maybe you’re listening and you have a heart for evangelism. You’re wondering, how can I get started? Maybe you don’t even have any money to do anything. Well, here God is, is using Tamran for $0 every week to reach 5,000 people. What a great blessing that is,

Tamran Inayat (21:37):
Praise the Lord. You know, that’s encouragement for us are for many other ministries that God can do everything and nothing is hard for him. And we have seen here in Pakistan, we have seen in America, we have seen in our lives, in our ministry that when we see that might be, we have less resources or maybe no resources, but when we are willing to do anything, to serve him, to work with him, and that is time of obedience to trust on him, to obey on him and lean yourself in the crusade night, you were preaching about trusting and about believing and how the example you was giving about, or the chair that when we sit on the chair, we need to lean ourself there that it can hold us and God will hold our future. Our ministry’s future, our family’s future, whatever burden we feel we need to put in God’s hand because he cares us.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:54):
Amen. Well brother Tamran and N your family is very good friends with my family. We love you very much. And we are so encouraged by what God is doing through your ministry, both in North Carolina, thank you for coming as a missionary to the United States. The United States needs you because we need revival. There are so many people in the United States that need Jesus. And I’m also just so excited about what God is doing through your ministry here in Pakistan. God is continuing to move. Many people are coming to Jesus. And so you are a great man of God. Thank you for being on the evangelism podcast.

Tamran Inayat (23:34):
Very, very, thank you to having me here and it’s honor and privilege, and thank you for this friendship. And thank you for your obedience to be here in Pakistan. I’m so thankful for you. So thankful for Jessica and for your son and daughter and whole family. It’s what a friendship and what a ministry to gather. And I’m so thankful that you came here in Pakistan to do the work of the Lord. Jesus Christ. Thank you for your heart, for Pakistan to winning the soul for the Lord. Jesus Christ, because his last word should be our prosperity.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:13):
Amen. Amen. 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 (25:35):
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.

Morgan Hill | The Merging of Business and Ministry

Morgan Hill is a successful businessman and a successful minister. On today’s podcast he is going to talk about merging business and ministry. You will learn what God can do through a businessman who has decided to use his wealth for building God’s kingdom.

Build Your Retirement with Morgan Hill: https://hillandhillfinancial.com/

Check Out Morgan Hill’s Website: https://www.morgandhill.com/

Read “Go Therefore and Make Disciples:

Read Morgan Hill’s Other Powerful Books: https://www.morgandhill.com/books

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Morgan Hill is a successful businessman and a successful minister on today’s podcast. He’s going to talk about merging business and ministry, and you’re going to learn what God can do through a businessman. Let’s listen, as he shares about what God has been doing around the world,

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:33):
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 (00:56):
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, Morgan hill. He has served on the board of king ministries, been a good friend for many years, and we are together in Pakistan. Morgan, thank you for being with me on the evangelism podcast, Daniel,

Morgan Hill (01:20):
It’s always a pleasure to be with you and to actually be with you serving the Lord. So thank you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:25):
Now you are both a businessman and a, a minister. You have been very successful in both arenas. Talk to me a little bit about how that functions in your life.

Morgan Hill (01:40):
Well, you know, Daniel, I ran away from God for many years because I thought, excuse me, it was in either or I was either going to be in business or I was perhaps gonna go to Bible college and serve as a pastor. And as I ran away, I realized that first of all, I was trying to, you know, get away from God being Lord of Jesus being Lord of my life. But then he began to UN UN unveil to me, if you will, that it’s not an either or we’re all called to serve. If there was one message from this podcast that I would love for your listeners to hear is that we are all called to serve this notion of there are professional ministry people. And then the rest of us is a construct that really isn’t based in scripture. And so when God really opened my eyes to that, he began to show me ways in which I could not only operate in my business, but also use the profits from the business as a means to further the gospel, which is the reason it says in Deuteronomy that the Lord God is the one who gives us the ability to earn wealth. And my passionate belief is that wealth should be used to to further the, the kingdom of God.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:49):
So let’s talk about some of the ministries that you have been involved in over the years. You’ve had a, an impact in a variety of different nations and a variety of different types of organizations. Talk to me about the, the ministries that you’ve been involved

Morgan Hill (03:06):
In. I, as I get ready to share this, I appreciate the question. I’m always a bit hesitant because it can sound very self-serving and I want to emphasize that the Lord I’m, I’m not only grateful for the grace, the amazing grace of Jesus, but as we have talked, I never cease to be just completely just breath. My breath is taken away that Jesus chooses us as his primary instrument of sharing the gospel and spreading the good news. And so when I look at acts chapter one, what God has led me to do is very much in line with that. My wife and I, my wife, Holly are very actively involved in ministry, but personally I do a lot locally. For years I have served in my local church teaching to just various classes, just doing things locally.

Morgan Hill (03:56):
I am involved actively with discipleship. There are about a half a dozen young men that I have walked monthly in their lives for up to 20 years now in counting just to pour my life into my, the Timothys of the world. I’ve had a chance to actually be a part of starting ministries. There’s an organization called growing leaders with Dr. Tim Elmore. That is now I think, gosh, we’re 20 years at 20th anniversary that we do leadership development around the world to to young leaders. There’s an organization that God led me to called heart for Lebanon where after the civil war broke out in 2006 in Lebanon Dr. Camille Milky and gentleman named Tom Adam, and I had a chance to come together and form heart for Lebanon, working with refugees and humanitarian relief. Not only for the people of Lebanon, but also the Iraqi refugees and now the Syrian refugees.

Morgan Hill (04:50):
And God then led me into prison ministry where I’m still very active sharing the gospel and discipleship with a, a young man that I came alongside. His name is Tim France, wonderful young man of God. Who’s God led to start this ministry. And I came along. So at the end of the day, it’s acts chapter one, it’s Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, uttermost parts of the earth. And God has really led me Daniel. And you understand this to kind of go where most people don’t want to go. I’ve had a chance to minister around the world. I continue to be in places like Pakistan with you, the middle east going behind prison bars to share the gospel. And I’m just grateful that God allows me to do that. And and I just encourage those that may be listening to be open, because if you had told me 20 some years ago, not only that I would be serving the Lord and be in business, but I would be going and doing what I’m I’m currently doing. Wouldn’t have believed you, but God had a plan that was way, way better than any of my limited thinking.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:54):
Well, king ministries is very grateful for your involvement with us over the years, we actually first met absolutely in Mexico. My parents were missionaries down there and you came on a trip down to Mexico and, and God connected us. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>, it’s just been, been wonderful to have you part of our lives. You were a very successful CEO. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> of a major corporation here in America, and you were pursuing success and fame and wealth, but you weren’t serving the Lord and now everything has, has completely changed in your life. Jesus really has changed you. Talk to me about your testimony in how Jesus got ahold of

Morgan Hill (06:41):
You. Oh, absolutely. It was first of all, my parents broke up and it’s the true of many families. Unfortunately, my parents broke up and I remember December 31st, 1974, packing up our belongings, my mom, my brother and I, and our little dog Sasha and went off to Florida. And we began this journey that was kind of a dissent, a dissent materially into nothing, but God had a plan. And so we ended up moving Daniel in my, I was 14, almost 15, gosh, over the, the last years of high school, we were in three different states, five different schools, four years. And really my focus was just to make sure every place we went, I could get a job to make sure that there was enough money. I loved my father. My father became a believer and wonderful man. I learned so much from him, but let’s just say that was a season in which I had to become the man of the house.

Morgan Hill (07:33):
And my worries in high school were about rent and food and homelessness. And so I built up, but I became a believer. My mom took us to church sometimes against my wishes, kicking and screaming, but I accepted Jesus, my Lord and savior at the age of 16 at Cal assembly of God in Orlando. And I was on fire. Oh my gosh, I would go to camp meetings. If there was a service, I was there. I would, I, I had a stack of index cards, easily, an inch plus thick where it was scripture. And I would be memorizing. I remember one time disobeying my mother. She said, you need to get your rest. And I would get up. And she caught me to study the Bible. And I sometimes justified, well, I’m getting up to, to pray and be with Jesus.

Morgan Hill (08:16):
She said, but you’re being disobeyed in your mother. You need to get back to bed. And so, but I was on fire, but this, the passage that Jesus talks about in Matthew, where it says the seed my, the seed that fell, it, it fell among the thorns and the cares in the affairs of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choked the seed and it became UNF, fruitful, Daniel. I was just tired of being poor. I was tired of the struggle. I thought when I was living in Tulsa at this moment of our, our beat up apartment was right behind all Roberts university. And I could look out and see the maybe center. I thought I was gonna maybe go to Bible college. Maybe I’ll be a professional evangelist like yourself, or maybe I’m gonna go be a pastor. And again, just the cares and the affairs choked it.

Morgan Hill (09:00):
And I just began to run. And I told Jesus, I said, I won’t deny you, cuz I was smart enough with the Bible. I didn’t wanna burn for eternity, but I said, well, you know, you kind of be there. I’ll check in with you a few times a year, perhaps official holidays, but I’m gonna live my life for me. And the bottom line is, is I got what the world says you should get. Was enormously successful, became a CEO of a pretty good sized corporation, had to close the cars to cash the house on the golf course, all the stuff that you would imagine. But I was spiritually bankrupt. My relationships with my family were fractured. I had burned through two marriages. But it was all okay. As long as I got the clothes, the cars, the cash I had become.

Morgan Hill (09:46):
So bereft of any moral compass. And there was a day in August of 2000 where I gave my board of directors in ultimatum thinking that I was so I was so into myself that surely they would, <laugh> take an ultimatum from a petant, you know, 39, 40 year old. And it was a Wednesday where I gave that ultimatum to say, you need to do this, this, this, and this, and to follow my direction. And we’re gonna March on to new Heights. And then I remember eight o’clock, August 18th, 2000 burned in my mind where I’m walking in thinking I’m gonna have the board of directors there just falling over my wisdom. And it was basically a couple of folks, including the CEO of the quote, the, of the, the, the head of the board. He was the chairman and they basically said, you know what we’ve decided to go in a different direction and it doesn’t involve you <laugh>.

Morgan Hill (10:38):
And so I found myself in my car at 8 0 5 staring at my clock in a parking lot of a Starbucks going, what do I do? I’ve sacrificed everything on the altar of me and it’s all gone. And so I found myself, Daniel in my home having this moment where I realized that I could die. And I say this literally, and there were no relation, no one called days would go by where I had no interaction. And I said to my, I had this moment of reflection where I go, this is the life that I’ve built. This is the life where me is the, where, where Morgan is the Lord of my life. And God began to wake me up in the night and I just never forget. I’ve got the little post-it notes where he began to share with me passive scripture that I hadn’t read for years.

Morgan Hill (11:28):
Because at the end of the day, I never quite fit into church. And people were standing I’m kneeling. If people were clapping, I’m singing. If people were leaving, I’m coming. I, I just never quite connected even when I was in the midst of it. And I thought I was not the right kind of person to be a Christian. I’m very Peter esque in my Peter did some wonderful things for the gospel and for, for Jesus. But boy, there were some times where he, you know, kind of messed up and, and I found myself like that. And I said, Lord, you didn’t make me to be a Christian because I’m maybe a little more of a bull at a China shop. And he shared with me, Jeremiah won. He woke me up in the night and he said, son, before you were formed in your mother’s room, I knew you, but left to you being Lord without my spirit.

Morgan Hill (12:14):
This is what happens. And I not only want to redeem you, but I want to teach you. And as I moved forward, he says, I, the business is fine, son. I want you to use it under my Lordship as a holy thing, and then be willing to go where I lead you and the duality of this I never saw coming in, but I’m so grateful. And part of my message to maybe your listening audience is the business folks out there. Please don’t think that it’s a, this or that. It’s either I’m in business or I’m in a career or ministry it’s this and that. And if you’re open, as I have now been educated, God can do miraculous things, miraculous things. And I’m so eternal grateful that he not only saved me, but he lets me help him. And that’s why I’m honored to be with you and serve with a number of ministries. And I count king ministries to be top among them for the work that God’s doing through you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:08):
Let’s talk about what God has done here this week. We’re in the nation of Pakistan and God has, has moved. We’ve done crusade. You came and spoke at our, our leadership conference. Kind of tell the audience what you’ve seen just in the, the couple of days that you’ve been here. It’s really a miracle you even made it.

Morgan Hill (13:28):
Oh yeah. Based on all the visa and everything. It is a miracle. One of the things that I really notice first of all, is I’m, I’m always honored to be with people who truly sacrifice for the gospel. You know, it always reminds me that the comfort that we enjoy, especially in the United States coming over here when people really put it on the line for Jesus. What I saw was just an energy and enthusiasm for the gospel. And you know, I think sometimes the creature comforts of the us I often have wondered this is not an indictment, but if we turn the air conditioning off and every church in America what would attendance do? Versus as we’ve been here to say that it’s been warm is an understatement. Yet people are packed into small rooms, excited to worship and pray, and no one’s looking at a clock.

Morgan Hill (14:19):
No one’s looking at well. It’s about time for me to leave. So I’ve been impressed with just the commitment of the people of Pakistan. And also just seeing what God’s doing how God is, is just moving through the lives of people who are coming to know him as coming to know Jesus’ Lord and savior. So I’ve enjoyed that. And then the hospitality and the graciousness, no matter what they have, they give freely and generously and you and I have joked, I’ve gotten more. First of all, I’ve not gotten bouquets of flowers as a normal course of my life. I have as I sit here right now, there’s seven bouquets of flowers and I think I’ve missed one, absolutely beautiful. We’ve been showered with the hospitality of not only food and tea and, and warmth in people’s homes, but also just being showered with rose petals as we come in and minister. And there’s just this eagerness to not only just continue to, to, to grow personally, but this passion and as I’ve listened to you preach this passion among the people of Pakistan to further the gospel and to risk it, all that others might come to know Jesus, and I’ve just been honored to be in their presence.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:27):
Let’s talk about one ministry that you’re very passionate about, and that is prison ministry. You go to prison for Jesus all the time. And, and so what does that look like? All over America, there, there are, are prisons and maybe people listening might be interested in getting involved in a, a prison ministry. What does that look like ministering to, to prisoners?

Morgan Hill (15:50):
Yeah. again, as I, as people have often asked me, it’s like, Morgan, how did you get involved in all the things that you’re involved in? I said, listen, this is not false, you know, humility. I’m not this smart. If you graft it out, it’s just like, wow. I went here and I met here, how you and I met is just a miracle years ago. But prison ministry, I was actually coming back from a mission trip. I was in Miami, Florida, and I’m waiting for my bag and standing beside me as this young man, his name is Tim France. And we just ended up striking up a conversation, waiting for luggage, and we exchanged phone numbers. Hey, let’s kind of keep in touch. And we started this discipleship relationship and he shared that he had been led to start a ministry called break loose, and they do sports ministry, basketball and softball, depending on the the season of the year.

Morgan Hill (16:37):
And he does work all throughout what would be considered perhaps the Midwest, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan is where they’re based. And he’s just doing this wonderful work. And I, at this point in our conversation one day, I said, well, Tim, can I help you? I’d love to walk along with you and I’d love to be involved with the ministry. And he said, would you, I said, I’d be honored. Excuse me. And so I began this process where I’m not only involved as an advisory board member in the budgets and numbers and those kinds of things, but I’m passionate about wherever the money goes, my feet follow along. And so I said, well, I, I’m not good at basketball or softball, but I love Jesus. And I’m happy to carry the balls and the bats and do whatever. And so I began that very thing.

Morgan Hill (17:21):
And so I crammed into a, usually a, of, one of those eco line vans with about a dozen other young guys way too many guys for the space that we got, but we got the van that we’ve got and we travel all over in various states. And as we go behind prison bars, first of all, I’m a, as I sit here right now, I’ve been doing it probably eight or nine years. I don’t have a rap sheet. I don’t have a tattoo. And I’m a, middle-aged now probably more than middle-aged Anglo man Caucasian, I’m around a lot of folks, Daniel that are not like me in any way, shape or form, but here’s, what’s been interesting is we’ll, you know, play softball and whatnot. And then I’m find myself standing on a Bleacher I’m in the middle of the pitcher’s Mount, or I might be in center court, just raising my voice to anyone that will hear to share the gospel.

Morgan Hill (18:08):
But one of the things that has just resonated with me as I began to share the gospel is what the apostle Paul talks about in his letter to the church at Rome, we’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Romans 3 23. And as I began to share with these inmates, I said, you know, we’re all different, really different, but one way that we’re all the same is that we’ve all sinned. We’ve all fallen short and we all are in desperate need of a savior. And I’ve been just just blessed at how God has used this moment of maybe somebody like me and them, this awkwardness of this two disparate groups of people, but it comes together because the holy spirit moves us to say, you know what, we’re more alike than we’re not alike. And I’ve been privileged to be able to, you know, share the gospel and also help with discipleship.

Morgan Hill (18:57):
We’ve got resources and materials. And Tim France is just this unbelievable young man who just took a risk. And he doesn’t have all the credentials and all the things that you would think, but he just felt led based on his own journey to say, I just need to get behind prison bars and minister the gospel. And I, we encourage folks to come along. Unfortunately, we don’t get a lot of takers because people are like, oh, you’re going into maximum security prison. I watch all these television shows, but kind of like coming to Pakistan. I’m blessed so abundantly when I go. But I encourage others to think, think about going where most folks want to walk away. I think there’s a desperate need across the world to go where others don’t want to go going to Pakistan, going to parts of the middle east, going behind prison bars. It’s, it’s not a calling necessarily for everyone, but boy, I encourage because I’m the least likely guy, the least likely guy. And when I find myself in Pakistan with you ministering, when I find myself doing work in the middle east, and I find myself behind prison bars, only Jesus only Jesus would know that plan. So I encourage your listeners, be open to a plan that may be completely different than what we may have imagined and watched God just do a tremendous work.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:16):
Speaking of going where no one else goes, mm-hmm <affirmative>, you have done a lot of work in Beirut Lebanon, right in the middle east. There’s not a lot of people that I know of that are doing effective ministry there, but your beautiful wife, Holly, you just celebrated 20 year anniversary and, and she comes from a, a Lebanese background. And so God has really connected your heart with that part of the world. Talk to me about the, the ministry that you’ve been able

Morgan Hill (20:46):
To be involved in there in Lebanon. Yeah. You know hopefully this is for those who are listening, who are probably more like me, I would like to say that this was my, my work in Lebanon started with some fasting and praying and some really good spiritual work <laugh> I met a gentleman named Dr. John Maxwell who has done just wonderful leadership work. And there was an org thing that he was doing called million leader mandate. And I got invited to be a part and we’d go out two by two, all over the world. And I came into his office and there was this huge map of the world. And they said, Morgan, you’re one of the first people that we’ve talked to. Where would you like to go? And I looked Daniel, I went, ah, Bayroot Lebanon sounds kind of cool.

Morgan Hill (21:31):
<Laugh> literally, that was the thought that I had. There wasn’t any overtly spiritual there probably should have been, but I just said, that sounds kind of cool. Went home to tell my wife, Hey, I’m going to Bayroot Lebanon. And she said, what? I said, yeah, that sounds like kind of a cool place to go. Don’t you think? And let’s just say in our early marriage, Daniel, she was less than pleased with my, my choices, but, you know, I think God sometimes looked after fools as well as children. And I was just, oh, okay, Lord. Yeah, I’m gonna go. But God’s hand was all over it. He’s just kind of led me just so graciously, but I flew over there and began to work for three years, every six months with a gentleman named Tom, Tom Adamma. Tom was Billy Grahams radio ministry president.

Morgan Hill (22:13):
He served with Dr. John Maxwell, just this unbelievable man of God. Well, Tom and I were doing the leadership training and we worked with a gentleman gentleman named Dr. Camille Milky, Dr. Milky was the head of the Bible Institute over in Beirut. And so we’re doing the leadership and everything’s wonderful bringing people from that region of the world. And then in 2006, the war broke out and as Dr. Milky will tell the story he just had a heart for Lebanon, hence, hence the name. And as a Bible college leader, he was trying to encourage people. Oh, you know, now’s the time for us to put into action? What we’ve been teaching. They’re the people who have a need, let’s go. And he will share the story that unfortunately he didn’t have nearly as many takers. And so he said, I, I just feel my wife and I feel led to start heart for Lebanon, Camille and Hoda, Milky are their names.

Morgan Hill (23:06):
And he came to Tom and I and he said, would you come alongside and help <laugh>. And what that looked like is, you know, we just came together with like an envelope with paperclips and receipts for budget and you know, what do we do? And it, it, it was a ministry of leadership development humanitarian relief. And it all started with helping the people of Lebanon when the war broke out. It did led to the Iraqi refugees. It then led to the Syrian refugee crisis. And they’re doing not only humanitarian, et cetera building schools building facilities, we’re now we’re seeing a huge revival take place among the Muslim community where people are after the civil war, they’re coming over and saying, we just need to hear about Jesus. And we see families being baptized. And and as I had a chance to help launch heart heart for Lebanon my role now having served, and I was a chairman of the board and actively bringing, you know, we’ve, we’d pack up food, you know, grain and soap and oil, and we’d be on the back of a truck in the camps, you know, unloading sharing tea in the tents with the people.

Morgan Hill (24:14):
My role now is really helping teach teachers. We do a lot of work with youth and schools. And so now it’s equipping the teachers to teach these young, especially refugee children to follow Jesus versus perhaps Hamas or heah to really give their life to the Lord. And so I’m just, again, honored to walk alongside some amazing people, amazing people.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:39):
You have served on the board of king ministries and you’ve come here to Pakistan. You’ve, you’ve seen what we do. And you’re a, a businessman. You’re a numbers guy. Yeah. You understand ROI return on investment. And if you were to sit down with another businessman and the businessman said, Morgan, should I support king ministry? Should I support Daniel King? What would you honestly say to them about how we use the money that God has given us? Yeah.

Morgan Hill (25:13):
I’m so glad you asked this question, Daniel. I, I wanna shade this, share this as lovingly as, as I can. First of all, everything that that I, as I sit here today, I, I would be lost and a total totally gone if it weren’t for the love and the graciousness of the Lord and, and his provision and his oversight as a businessman there are times, and I say this as lovingly as I can as I, you know, will earn the dollar to then go and, you know, provide and, and do whatever. The Lord certainly uses my skills and abilities, but it’s hard to earn a dollar. And I think there’s times where, as I’ve been involved with business and ministry have started ministries have come alongside to support. There are times where people who are perhaps again, full-time ministry, if you wanna use that terminology that forget maybe how a dollar is earned, not how a dollar is asked for, but how a dollar is earned.

Morgan Hill (26:15):
And and there have been ministries that I’ve been around that I said, you know, I, I’m not saying that you can’t have a, a nice this or go a nice place wherever or travel, but I’m back in coach on, you know, 18 hour flights with the, the thing the, the, the backrest in my nose. And sometimes, well, you know, the, the minister needs to be in business class or this, and I, and I’m not trying to say that maybe you don’t, but God is leading me to work hard to earn the money. And I said, you gotta be respectful of how it’s asked for and how it’s spent. And I think sometimes we may lose sight of that. One of the reasons that I love not only what God’s doing through you, I’ve known you now for 20 years. It’s not only the purity of sharing the gospel and raising up disciples, but you go where others don’t necessarily want to go.

Morgan Hill (27:08):
But I, we shared this the other day. You’re great with the dollar and Tim France. My dear friend is good with the dollar. Dr. Tim Elmore is good with the dollar, the ministries that I’m involved with, I want to be a good steward and a Stu good steward is not just giving it, in my opinion, a good steward is making sure it goes where it’s good soil and where the seed is planted. It will be nurtured and will produce a crop, you know, a hundred fold. And as you and I were talking, one of the things that I think is is not amazing, it’s the wrong word, but I think it’s being a good steward for every dollar that someone gives to king ministry. Someone comes to know Jesus and spend eternity with him. That is amazing. I’ve seen ministries where that ratio is not nearly as good.

Morgan Hill (27:54):
And so when you think about, well, I’m gonna SP you know, invest a dollar. To me, unfortunately, I see too much goes to infrastructure. I’ll see buildings that are being built, and there’s nothing wrong with the building, but it’s like, okay, how much is it being used? How much are we spending on sometimes salaries, nothing wrong with salaries. I’m a businessman, but I’m going, what’s the ratio of what’s actually going to sharing the gospel that someone comes to know Jesus outreach. I’m, I’ve been on, served on as an L dry serve on the church, you know, committees and whatnot. And I go, I love everybody, but how much of this money that’s coming in is actually going to bringing people to Jesus and raising them up in a, a relationship based on Matthew 28, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you to walk in the footsteps.

Morgan Hill (28:41):
That’s what discipleship actually means. I’m gonna walk kinda like if we’re in the snow, I’m gonna follow the footprints of my dad because he’s paving the way, that’s what it is to follow Jesus and to become like him. And I just don’t see a lot of that financial responsibility. And I do think that one, as your listeners, a dollar bring someone to Jesus, which is awesome. And I do think I wanna be very clear that I don’t think that all the business principles be, oh, you need to run your church like a business or your business, like a business. I said, no, I think they’re businesses that need to be run in a more holy way. So I think the duality of this, I think businesses, we can say, Lord, you’re in charge. We wanna make it a holy moment.

Morgan Hill (29:25):
And then on the other side with ministry, maybe we are a little bit more detailed with the pencil and paper. But it’s specifically about king ministries. The reason that I’m here, the reason I care about you and your wife, Jessica, and the reason we’ve kind of reconnected after some years to do ministry is that, that this season of my life, I want every dollar that God allows me to earn my wife and I, that we then say, this is for ministry. I want it to be for eternal purposes, that every time a dollar goes out, I can know with confidence that king ministries is doing that to bring people to Jesus. And the simplicity of the gospel is pretty clear. Jesus wants everyone to have a relationship with him, and it’s been eternity with him. And I love how king ministries is. Not only doing it economically, but just your heart about how you use the, the resources is very respectful. You understand the holiness of giving and how that should be used for kingdom purposes. And I appreciate that so much about you, and that’s why I’ll go to the ends of the earth with you.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (30:26):
Thank you so much for your kind words, Mr. Morgan. And if you’re a businessman you’re listening right now, and you are looking for a place to invest in evangelism, absolutely. I would encourage you to become a partner with king ministries. We need your help. We cannot do what we do without the help of, of businessmen and people like you, Morgan. You know, I think that God has anointed you in the business realm for, for earning dollars and you invest that into the kingdom and you’re looking for investments and you want that investment to, to produce eternal results. Yeah. And, and that’s what we’re all about is, is eternal results. And so I think that the reward for those who send will be just as great as the reward for those who go. Yeah, because it is a special anointing to be able to invest in what God is doing. And so Mr. Morgan, thank you for being on the evangelism podcast, it is a wonderful delight to have you here in Pakistan with us. The Lord bless you.

Morgan Hill (31:32):
Absolutely. Thank you so much, Daniel. And for all those listening, God bless you. And I just encourage you to perhaps give Daniel a call king ministries and wherever God leads. You just know that he has a plan and be open to where God may take you, that you never thought might happen, but just to see how God’s at work, because when it’s all done, we want him to get the glory first and foremost. So again, thanks for letting me be a part of the podcast. Daniel.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (32:03):
Wonderful. 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 (33:24):
For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit king ministries.com. Again, that’s king ministries.com.

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.

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Zane Bousum | An Innovative Idea for Attracting Visitors to Your Church

Zane Bousum is the pastor of Spirit of Life Church near Indianapolis, Indiana. He has a big heart for reaching out to his community. On today’s podcast he shares a unique outreach idea any church can use to attract people to come to church.

Connect with Pastor Zane Bousum: https://spiritoflifechurch.org/

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Zane Bousum pastors, spirit of life, church near Indianapolis, Indiana. And he has a big heart for reaching out to the community on today’s podcast. He’s going to share with you a unique outreach idea that any church in America could use to attract people to come to church.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:24):
Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls in the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:35):
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 (00:59):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. I am right near Indianapolis, Indiana with pastor Z Boso pronounced like awesome Zane Bossum and we’re at spirit life church. And it’s so wonderful to have you on the evangelism podcast. I’m glad to be here. Thank you so much. We are excited about what God’s doing here on the west side of Indianapolis, and we believe that God wants us to not only live the life that he’s called us to, but to tell people about it yesterday, I came as a guest minister to the church here, and you had a really unique outreach idea to bring people into the church. Tell me about it.

Pastor Zane Bousum (01:55):
Yeah, so basically what we did is we had a $50 gas card giveaway. And so what we did is we went to a local gas station and we bought 50, $50 gas cards. And our goal was for that each new visitor that came in, we would put this $50 gas card in our visitor bags. We already have visitor bags we give, but for every new visitor and what this, what our goal with this was, was to not only have new visitors, obviously come into the church, but was to get our own people, to invite people to come. And so I couldn’t think of I mean, I just thought this was a great idea. I believe God gave it to us to encourage our own people, to have bait, to have something really neat, to give to someone as their guest, that they invited a church. And so so yeah, I think this is a, a really wonderful outreach idea. And, and you had emailed me a couple of months ago and it was right at the height of all the gas prices when all the gas prices America were going up and everyone was concerned about the cost of gas and it was in the news.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:06):
And you said, you know, this would be a really great idea to bring people into the church and everyone’s concerned about gas. So why don’t we give away gas? Now Jesus said that we are called to be fishers of men. And the way that you go fishing for fish is you gotta find the right bait to attract the right kind of fish. And so if you go deep sea fishing, you’re gonna use one kind of bait. If you go down to the Creek, you’re gonna use a different kind of bait. And so what better bait is there to use when people are concerned about gas prices than to use a $50 free gas card for everyone who comes to the church. And so we, the, the, the church gave away these, these invitations. Yes. And how many invitations did you print

Pastor Zane Bousum (03:57):
Up? Yeah, so we printed 900 flyers that our goal was then to pass these flyers out at, and actually the local gas station that we bought gift cards from. They didn’t give us the a hundred percent right away, but the manager said, if you come and tell people about ’em, I’m not gonna say anything. And she was actually in the store, why we were doing it. And we had so many people and actually a few of them that I had personally invited. So I knew that they were invited there. They actually came and so we passed ’em out that way, passed ’em into a local trailer park. We passed them into neighborhoods. We had people that passed them to their own connections that they have, whether that was their family, their friends, people they work with. And so just, it really was an encouragement for us to share the gospel for us to invite someone to church. And and I think it went really well.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:53):
All right. So the church for the last couple of weeks been passing out these 900 flyers. You’ve had volunteers come and, and right across the street from the church, there’s an apartment complex. And so you’re giving out the, the invitations there. Now. Now why I think this is an innovative idea is because it’s so important to, to get people into the church. And sometimes you have to go outside the walls of the church to, to go after people, you know, a, a fisherman who goes fishing in the forest, isn’t gonna catch any fish. You gotta go down to where the fish are. They’re they’re in the stream, or they’re in the river, they’re in the lake. So you gotta go where the fish are to catch the fish. And so I think sometimes people are, they, they stay sitting in the church and they’re just waiting for fish to come into the church or is like sitting in a boat and, and waiting for fish to just jump in the boat. Like maybe every once in a long while that might happen just by accident. But if you’re really going to catch someone for Jesus, you gotta go out where they are. And, and so your church spread out into the highways and byways giving out these invitations and you gave out 900 invitations. And how many visitors came and filled out visitor cards at church yesterday.

Pastor Zane Bousum (06:10):
Yeah. So yesterday, and, and, and just to tightness in here too. So one of the reasons why we brought in Dr. Daniel King is because he is an evangelist. And so one of the, the things with all of this was that we wouldn’t just be inviting people who were churchgoers already, but our goal was really to get people who were not going to church unsaved, people who had maybe been questioning about God. And so that’s why we had Dr. Jano king in. And so when he came, we were fully expecting for the gospel to be preached for people’s lives to be changed. And so we had 17 bags, actually, we’re I forgot tell you that 17 bags were given away. 16 cards were filled out. So I don’t know how one bag ended up going, but, but either way we had 16 visitor cards that I’m gonna get now to share. We follow up with those people. I’ll follow up with them, I’ll call them all. And so we’ll get to now connect with them. And this is actually, I can honestly say this. This was the best outreach that we’ve had when, when it comes to people coming in, we’ve had other outreaches, but never had the return on it, of people actually walking through the door to where they can now hear the gospel message and then get a really good connection.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:32):
And yesterday I preached a crystal clear gospel message. And we had the 16 visitors and we counted, there were about 14 people that came up for salvation and at least three people that testified that God had healed them. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> and some other great things that happened. We had one young man who came and he, he said, I’m a pagan. I don’t serve God anymore. I’m a pagan. He said, I just came because I wanted the free gas card, but at least he came and we had a chance to, to talk to him and pray with him and share the gospel with him. And he may be a pagan now, but I think he can come to Jesus.

Pastor Zane Bousum (08:19):
Amen. And he also that same guy I was able to connect with as well, and he will, I’m gonna meet with him this week. And so, you know, that’s, that’s one of the things as, as we’re, whenever we do evangelism events, whenever we do things where we are attracting people, we do, we do want that moment to be impactful, but we also need to remember that relationships and connections are so important. So now all these people, even if, even if they don’t come back, they’ve now been connected to our church at least once. But my goal is that of those 16, whether all 16, even if only four, come back, then there’s four new people. We’ve had to do our church. But no matter what, we’ve made a connection with them. And that’s our goal is to connect them to God, connect them to the church. And and praise gods, see their life’s changed.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:08):
Now, I think this is actually a, a really great investment for a church to make, because often you’ll go to Costco. Our family likes to, to eat, to buy food at Costco, and you’ll go down the aisle and they’ll have little free samples yeah. That they give. And, and so they’ll, they’ll give you a little sample of cheese or a little sample of pizza, something, and you eat it. And you’re like, oh, I like that. And, and then you go ahead and buy it. Now, Costco does that for a reason. It’s not just to give away free food, they’re giving it so that you can sample their products and then see if you’re interested in it. And, and so somehow a church has to get people to come in and, and sample a service. And not everybody who tries the sample at Costco is going to buy that product.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:57):
They know that, but they know that enough people are going to buy it, that it makes it worth their while. And it keeps people coming back. In fact, my wife, and she says, let’s take the kids to Costco and gotta feed ’em lunch, you know? And, and so we’ll try all the samples two times each, and that’s like a free meal for the little kiddos, but then we spend like $400 at Costco. Absolutely, absolutely. So, you know, this is a really good investment for a church to make. You’re investing in outreach, you’re investing in souls. You know, somebody might say, well, $50, you’re for a gas card. You’re bribing people to come to church, but really what you’re doing is you’re using bait. Jesus made us fishers of men, and you’re using this bait to, to go after people. And in every country, we find that different bait works.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:46):
So sometimes we go to a country and, and people come because they want a miracle from Jesus mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so our posters say, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, you know, the blind sea, the lame walk, the deaf here in the miracles is what brings people. Other countries music will draw people. Hmm. And if we’ll advertise a local band that that’s well known, people will come specifically to, to hear the music. We went to one country where they had had some war and some famine. And so in that country, we were able to buy several dump truck loads full of, of rice and beans to give away. And people came for the food. And, and so what we’re doing is we are using different kinds of bait and here in America, sometimes it’s hard to figure out what bait there is that that’s effective for reaching people, because people are, you know, they’re sitting at home watching Netflix, they’re watching TV. They, they don’t really think about what their spiritual needs are. But somehow you gotta get them to come in to church or reach out to them, reach out to where they are. And,

Pastor Zane Bousum (12:03):
And, and that, and that’s what I was gonna say. Like, not, not only the miracle of them coming, like the miracle of them changing their schedule to come on a Sunday morning, like all the habits that, that each of those 16 or 17 people had gotten that they had to rearrange their schedule, like something, something, we did something we said, as we were either passing out the, the, the flyer for it, got them to say, you know what? This is worth me changing my schedule. And I think that, that in America, that’s one of our biggest hurdles is, is not just finding a bait, but even whether it’s the, the way we present it, or, and that’s, that’s one of the reasons why I really felt like we needed to have flyers. And we did, we passed some out, we did put some social media stuff, but I really feel that the, the flyers was the most important thing of having a one-on-one connection of having us invite them and really try to get them to see the importance of coming that morning.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:59):
Now, your church, pastor Zane has a tremendous heart for, for reaching out to the community. And so this is just one of many different outreaches that you’ve done. What are some of the other ways that your church has of reaching out to the community? Yeah,

Pastor Zane Bousum (13:15):
We’re, we’re, we’ve been of a church of about a hundred, 150 people for the last 10 years.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:20):
And now, now let me just say for a church of a hundred, 150 to have 16 visitors on one Sunday morning is really a, a great outreach that that has to be counted as a success.

Pastor Zane Bousum (13:30):
Oh, totally. And so we usually, so we usually try to be mindful of our people. So we have three large events that we do. And one of ’em is kind of two in one, we do a, a summer outreach where we have big splash night. We do two of those. We rent an 18 foot water slide, and then we invite the community and we’ll do a seven to 10 minute gospel presentation during that we invite the local local fire truck. We invite a Kona ice truck, and we just love on the community. And then we do a hallelujah night, which is on Halloween where we’ve had up to 900 people in our building because we open up the doors and we have candy, we have games, we have food, all kinds of stuff. And the community kind of knows that it’s coming.

Pastor Zane Bousum (14:15):
So we’ve done that for over 20 years. And so that’s a, a large outreach and over COVID we just moved it outside. And we even had a, a drive up one year where it was, we had different things, different stations that we did. And so, so those are three big things. We do. We also have a connection with the local schools. We have a relationship with the superintendent and a relationship with the local principal. We also, and so with you want me to go into that? Sure. So with the schools, we do two things where we give for teacher appreciation week, we’ll bring breakfast and the school actually lets me come in and give a three to five minute gospel message and, or just whatever that law is on my heart to share with them. And then in the in the beginning of the school year, we will do a, we’ll give them lunch.

Pastor Zane Bousum (15:05):
And so that’s just two times we get the love on, and we’ll take a stand that says spirit of life, church. And we say spirit of life, church loves robe. And so we, we do that when we’ve done that to multiple schools, but Rob’s the main one that we do. And then we also have a relationship with our local police department where we bought two kennels over the last 10 years for their dogs. We just, we love our community and we want the community to know that God loves them and he loves them through the church. And so that’s why we do it this way.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:35):
I, I think this is so important for the church to be involved in the community because over time people get to know that the church cares about the community. And so just one outreach may not be successful in, in drawing lots of people in, but if you just keep doing outreach after outreach, after outreach people in the community, get to know you, then when someone in the community suffers from a, a tragedy that you are the one that they call and you actually have this happen really recently, we

Pastor Zane Bousum (16:10):
Did. Yeah. So with the school robo elementary on a weekend, there were two children of that school that it was just a, an awful accident where their mom and dad were driving a a golf cart and the children were on the back and a tree fell on them. And so instantly they died. And so this, this community was grieving. And so the principal who has my number texted me that that day and said, Hey, this tragedy happened. Could you come and be here to minister, to the teachers, the kids that may come in on that morning. And so I came in that Monday morning and I just loved on the kids, loved on the, the teachers and they already knew me. So then they saw me come in the door, two of ’em in particular, one teacher that I’d known for years, I just went up and gave her a big, big hug.

Pastor Zane Bousum (17:02):
And she said, I was fine until I saw you. And just the tears started flowing. And then another teacher did about the same thing. And it just because of the connection we’d make through made through outreach when the, when that school was in need. And we know that in those situations, people are looking for God and the comfort of God that we were able to be there for them. And, and in the following week, I was able to share a messages on heaven with all the teachers. And that’s, I don’t think that was by chance or accident. I think that had to do with us already developing relationship.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:37):
Another way that you are present in the community is through your preschool. Yeah. How does your preschool work to help pull people to Jesus?

Pastor Zane Bousum (17:46):
Yeah, so we always tell anyone who, so we do do have a preschool and we have it’s and we’ve had up from ones all the way up to the kindergarten level. And so most of the people who come to our preschool aren’t even from our church. And so it really is an outreach. And we always tell ’em, we say we are a, we are a church with a preschool. And so we let ’em know that our main reason for the preschool is to share the gospel, to love, to have the love of God. And so we’ve had, haven’t, hadn’t even told you this, we’ve had Muslim families come and be a part of our preschool. We’ve had Hindu families come be a part of our preschool, just cuz they see that not only are there children treated right, but they see that there is the quality of education is very good. And so, so we get to preach to Muslim families and, and I even had one Muslim mom say, can you not tell them about Jesus while they’re here? And I said, no, that’s what we do. <Laugh>. And she said, okay. And we still continue to share the gospel with them. But yeah, we see our preschool as a, a ministry. All of our teachers are Christian teachers. And so we get to love on the kids, love on the parents. And so yeah,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:59):
Pastors in a lot of pastors listen to this podcast for pastors who are looking for advice on how to reach out to people or reach out to the community, what, what would you tell them?

Pastor Zane Bousum (19:13):
You know, I would say do what is connected to you? So do be led to the Lord. One of the reasons we reach out to, to schools is because my wife and I were teachers. And so we have a heart for teachers. We’ve also done things for nurses, but we kind of gravitate toward what we know best. And so I would say, well, number one, ask God, be led to the Lord on it. And then number two do things that you enjoy. Like I enjoy talking to teachers, I enjoy getting out and about talking to the community. So do those things that the Lord has put on your heart, the areas that he’s called you to, to witness to, and there may be others that God brings a alongside you that can help you branch out. And as he, as he, as that happens, then be led to the Lord on what things to do. Don’t feel like you have to do everything, just do those things that God’s called you to do.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:07):
That’s awesome. Well, I love your heart for evangelism. I love your heart for, for outreach. You are a tremendous pastor, pastor Zane. Thank you so much for being on the evangelism podcast.

Pastor Zane Bousum (20:20):
Dr. Daniel King, thank you so much. And I pray that this blesses you guys!

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:24):
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 (21:43):
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.

Greg Fraser | Welcome to the Father’s House

Greg Fraser pastors The Father’s House in Sturgeon County, Alberta. Over the past 18 years the church has grown by leaps and bounds and they have recently completed a beautiful new church building. On today’s episode of The Evangelism Podcast, Pastor Greg talks about how the church has become an essential part of the community and about how to reach Canada for Jesus.

Website: https://www.tfhchurch.ca/

Transcript:

Evangelist Daniel King (00:00):
Greg Frazier pastors, the father’s house in sturgeon county, Alberta. Over the past 18 years, the church has grown by leaps and bounds, and they have recently completed a beautiful new church building on today’s episode of the evangelism podcast. Pastor Greg talks about how the church has become an essential part of the community and about how to reach Canada for Jesus.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:36):
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.

Evangelist Daniel King (01:01):
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 pastor Greg Frazier. Thank you for being with me today.

Pastor Greg Fraser (01:11):
Great to be here, Daniel. And how are you doing?

Evangelist Daniel King (01:14):
I am doing well. Thank you.

Pastor Greg Fraser (01:16):
You’re visiting us in Canada here. So we wanna make sure you’re, you know, you’re having a good time and, and God’s using you.

Evangelist Daniel King (01:23):
Yeah, absolutely. Jessica and I have had a wonderful time. It was really great to preach here at the father’s house. Yeah. Just a few weeks ago. And then my wife has helped lead worship a couple of times. Yeah. And so this, this church is very special to us because my wife grew up in Warrenville Alberta, right outside Edmonton. Yeah. Small city, but she grew up here and this church has been her church for many, many years.

Pastor Greg Fraser (01:52):
Yeah. We love you guys. And so excited that you’re when you can make it back. It’s been three years since you’ve been able to come back with all that’s going on around the world. So it’s fantastic that you’re here right now.

Evangelist Daniel King (02:03):
Yeah. We really so much love and appreciate you guys so much. And this church has just loved us and supported us and just been a, a tremendous blessing helping us to, to preach the gospel. So let’s, let’s talk a little bit about this church. When my, my wife went to the school that the church has. Yeah. She’s a graduate of the school. And then she became a missionary and this church supported her and over time, the church dwindled down to it just had a few members. Yeah. And then you came. Yeah. And since you came, God has just done amazing things here. Kinda walk me through that process of what God has done here at the father’s house.

Pastor Greg Fraser (02:51):
Well, I mean, we’ve been here for 18 years now and it’s, you know, when we first came, there was, we were probably down to about nine kids, I think, in the Christian school and, you know, 25, 30 people in the church. And so they were kind of, Symbio staying the, the church was supporting the school, the school, the church, the only families that were left were the few families that were in the school. And we were pastoring in a church of about a thousand people in Northern Canada in a very economic hotspot of Canada and felt the call to come to this little tiny community. And it was quite a significant change for us because we were you know, kind of in a position to take over that church and to lead in, into its next season. But the Lord called us to this tiny community.

Pastor Greg Fraser (03:40):
And, and you know, when God’s on you and you, you just can’t push that away. And when we first came, I remember our first Sunday here, I just had this, you know, unction from the holy spirit. And I think we had that first Sunday, there was about 17 people in the service. And I said, this church will plant churches. And, you know, we just had this destiny, this thought, and really that’s where it all began. And, and quickly God began to, to bring growth and began to call people home to the father’s house. That’s kind of our, our tagline is help people find their way home to, to God and to a relationship with him and then to live as disciples who care. And so from there, the church just began to burgeon and grow. And we were meeting in a little strip mall and then we moved to the community center.

Pastor Greg Fraser (04:32):
And then we moved from there as we continued to grow into the local high school. And then we rented the local cultural center. And and then we just had this vision and dream of, of building a church and, and dis and desiring to see more and more people find their way home. I think our, our whole methodology of even evangelism is just authentically calling people back to the destiny and the purpose and the calling that God has for. And that you’re created in the image of God, you’re an image bearer, but that image has become marred by a thing called sin. And God has sent his son to restore us to restore that image, to bring us back into relationship with himself and ultimately to give us incredible purpose. I think that so many people are misguided in the purpose of their life.

Pastor Greg Fraser (05:22):
And so that’s kind of where our church leads people into is back into a relationship with God back into incredible purpose. And that purpose is really in learning to take dominion over ourselves so that we can better serve and love others rather than taking dominion over others. So they can better serve us, which I think is kind of the pattern of the world. And so in doing that, you know, we’ve become a real family. That’s our theology. That’s how we, we think in terms of relationship, this is the family of God, God you know, we’re members of that family. And really everyone outside of that family is being called into a relationship and an adoption into that family. So from that authentic kind of

Evangelist Daniel King (06:09):
Love

Pastor Greg Fraser (06:10):
For people and our community, we’ve seen many people come to know Christ and have planted a few churches and, and seen God just do great things.

Evangelist Daniel King (06:21):
Yeah. Let’s talk about reaching out to people here in the Canadian context, because Canada is different than the United States. It’s different than the ministry that we do in Africa. Talk to me a little bit about what you feel works here in the nation of Canada for, for reaching out to people. Often they know about God. They’ve had some exposure but there’s many people that are living far away from God. How can we reach them?

Pastor Greg Fraser (06:54):
Well again, number one is always to call people to the revelation that God is for them and not against them. I think that Canadians typically they’re not antagonistic toward God, but they really don’t understand the, the, what he wants to do in their life, how he wants to have that relationship and bring them back into really living with purpose for him and within his kingdom. And I think that’s probably the greatest way in which we in our context evangelize and see people come home to the father’s house is we’re. We have the distinct advantage because we’re in a, a community of about 10,000 people and we’re highly involved in the community. So we’re involved in the government side of it. We’re involved in social services, quite heavily. We’re involved in many of the things that happened within our community. So in terms of methodology, one of the things that we’ve just done is partnered with our community.

Pastor Greg Fraser (08:00):
And so when they are holding different festivals, we’ll say, where can we serve? You know whenever we have an election, one of the things we do is we bring all the candidates in and we say, you are God’s servants. We’re here to pray for you. And we’ve seen incredible fruit from that. Including, you know, mayors getting coming to know the Lord and, and different things. So just very much involved in the rhythm of the community and a vital member of the community. We’re not on the outside of the community, we’re in the community and really calling people to understand that God wants to be part of this. I remember speaking at a businessman’s luncheon and just saying, you know you know, businesses, God wants to bless you as businessmen. His, his desire is to prosper this community. You’re actually in the serving God, by being a businessman, you know, to give people a vision of God, wanting to work in their lives, in whatever they’re doing. So that’s been really how we’ve operated in a, in a big way.

Evangelist Daniel King (08:58):
One of the innovative ideas that the father’s house is using to be in the community is right in the middle of town. You have a coffee shop yeah. Called higher grounds. Right. And it’s run as a service to the community. Almost everyone in there is a volunteer serving. And, and why do you feel like that’s important to, to be there in the middle of the community?

Pastor Greg Fraser (09:24):
Well, I mean it’s just, again, because we’re, we’re in the community there we’re accepted that way very much. And all the proceeds from that coffee shop go back into the community. So one of the interesting things, and this is what I’m talking about when we’ve developed such a positive partnership with our, with our community, that during COVID the government paid us to feed families that were having trouble feeding you know, making ends meet. And so we got a large government grant through, for about two years that just helped us. They, we were the engine that was putting out food into various families throughout our community. So that kind of partnership is just incredible. You know, we’ve, we’ve through higher grounds. We, we have a large military base outside of Morville that we in Canada the month of November is remembrance day, which is a a solemn time of remembering those who gave their lives in the service of their country. And so we’d make a huge focus on our military families and our families that have men or women deployed and doing something special for them and that month. So those kind of things, teachers we celebrate our, our police force. We celebrate our firefighters. We do different things to just make sure that we’re serving within that community and taking care of physical needs of people as part of that. So it’s been a great, great ministry of our church.

Evangelist Daniel King (10:52):
Let’s talk a little bit about C because it has presented challenges for churches all over the world. Yeah. People on both sides of the issue come at the pastor and think the pastor should have all the answers and, and think the way that they think. And so how has the father’s house thrived through this season of, of great challenge?

Pastor Greg Fraser (11:16):
Well, I think number one and the largest narrative that because you have two camps, you know, you have the extreme, I’ll say you won’t even label it, but you know, this is a, this is everybody needs to comply and everybody needs to wear a masks and everybody needs to be vaccinated. And then you have the other camp. That’s like, this is all a smoke screen. It’s all terrible. And really, it’s been interesting as a pastor because I get pulled in both directions. Why aren’t you saying more about this? Why aren’t you saying more about that? What, the one thing that we have done throughout the entire season of COVID has been to say, we are focusing on one thing. We preach the kingdom of God. And, and so we have labored tirelessly to call both extreme camps to live within the kingdom of God, because the kingdom of God is not affected by things like COVID right.

Pastor Greg Fraser (12:15):
And what I mean by that is that we, you know, the desire of God is that we live within a community of faith. That loves one another, even though we are different, even though we may have totally different opinions the one, one constant that we can hold to is Christ and, and his call to, you know, they will know that you are my followers by your love for one another. That doesn’t mean that we agree on everything. And so calling the church to that place of you may totally disagree with your brother right now, but you still love him. And I think that’s been a huge success for us is that we’ve not gone in any one direction, but we’ve just stayed straighten in narrow down that road and said, we are gonna hold to the kingdom of God. There’s life there, there’s life abundant there. And this is what we hold to.

Evangelist Daniel King (13:02):
Let’s talk about the miracle of this church building that we’re sitting in, because I saw a picture of, of a huge church building, literally coming down the highway on a huge truck. And, and so it, it tell, tell me about that and the church on the move. Yeah,

Pastor Greg Fraser (13:23):
Well, a little bit of history is of course we’re, as we continued to grow, we, we were renting every space. I remember one time we rented eight spaces in a span of seven days to house the, the ministries of our church. And we said, Lord, we need a building. And you, a little bit of our history is we had a church building that we were renting that burnt to the ground. And we, we went through floods and fires and all kinds of things. And we were believing God for a new building. So we had purchased some land and we drew up some plans and felt the, the word of the Lord came to us to go into the land, to take our provisions and to go into the land. And what that meant for us at that time was we, we prepped the land.

Pastor Greg Fraser (14:09):
So we spent over a million dollars just doing dirt work and prepping the land and building up the land and getting our services in and all that stuff. And then we said, all, we, we were gonna build the foundation. We had a plan for a church and we were gonna, we had enough money to lay the foundation. We thought, no, let’s wait until we have enough. The, the total of the funds that we need little, did we know that the Lord had a, a totally different plan for us and long I’ll jump back for a moment ago. A friend of mine who’s very prophetic in nature came to us when we first moved here and he said, I just see, I see your church. I see the angel of the Lord picking up a church and moving it onto the highway, and that you’re gonna become a regional church.

Pastor Greg Fraser (14:52):
And this was his, every time he’d come, he’d say, I just keep seeing the angel of the Lord picking up a church, moving it to the highway. You’re gonna be a regional church. And we, we thought we, we didn’t understand, God bless those prophets. They always have interesting visions, you know, so we had no concept. We’re like, well, sure. Okay. And then all of a sudden, so we’re, we’re we prepped our land and we were nowhere near having the funds to be able to build the building we were gonna build. And there was a building in a neighboring city about 19 kilometers away. And, and the building was a church building and it had been the congregation sold that building to a developer. And it was just sitting there. My wife, we would drive by it and we go to this community probably twice a week.

Pastor Greg Fraser (15:37):
And my wife would say, you know, we gotta call them. Like, we should do something with that building like, well, I wonder what they’re gonna do with that building. And, you know, the man of faith that I am, I said, well, what are we gonna do? Move it like, you know, but my wife was unrelenting. She just had an unction from the Lord. Like we gotta call them something’s up. And then we were as a church family, we we’ve done multiple. I call them collective fasts where we’ll fast as the entire body for 40 days or 50 days, whatever. So we started a 52 day Nemiah fast. And so they rebuilt the walls in 52 days. So we said, collectively as a church, we’re gonna fast for 52 days as we were fasting. I finally relented to my wife, constantly pushing me as another woman in our church started to say, I really feel the Lord saying something about that building.

Pastor Greg Fraser (16:27):
So we phoned them and said, well, what are you doing with that building? The, and the, the owners at that time was a developer said, well, you can have it. You can have this building for a tax receipt. In Canada, we can do tax receipts on charitable donations. And so I took all of our contractors. So remember, we’re in a 52 day fast, nobody knows we’re doing this. I took the contractors from our church. I said, guys, what would it cost us to deconstruct this church and move it? And would it be worth doing? And so they started the math and they started doing all the processing and all the thing. And we figured we would save well over a million dollars by doing that process. And so that’s what we did at the end of the 52 day fast. We were able to announce to our congregation guys, we have a church.

Pastor Greg Fraser (17:17):
And so we began for the next year, that whole process, we deconstructed this church, cut it into four pieces. They weighed about a, oh, I don’t know it was 135,000 pounds a piece. We ended up moving them down the highway and across 18 farmers fields. We drove in the middle of the winter because the ground had to be frozen. And we drove these four pieces of this building. We put it on a foundation with a, a large basement as well, which then housed our Christian school and our church. And that was two years ago. And God has just done this incredible miracle of in the middle of the greatest downturn in the economy, in the middle of COVID. We built a multimillion dollar facility and God has just done an incredible work. And the church has been growing since

Evangelist Daniel King (18:08):
It’s a huge miracle. And, and we rejoice at what God has done. It. It’s a wonderful, beautiful church building now all over Canada in rural cities and villages, there are church buildings like this church building that used to be vibrant congregations, but now maybe they’re not being used. And God has actually given you a, a plan, an idea for reviving these churches. Tell me about that.

Pastor Greg Fraser (18:40):
Well, one of the things that we, we run a multi-site model and but we’re a little bit different of a multi-site model. I don’t, I don’t telecast to the multi sites. What I do is I train up younger leaders and they go, and they’ll, they’ll speak at those multi sites. And so our dream, my next now, you know, having during COVID nobody had 2020 vision in 2020 to see COVID coming. Really, if we were honest as pastors, but you know, now God is beginning to birth. Another dream, that dream back into getting ready to start planting more churches again. And so for us, it’s always been about discipleship. And so we raise up young leaders, they basically follow a week behind us in our messages, so I’ll preach, and then they’ll take that message and adapt it and go to the multisite and, and speak that.

Pastor Greg Fraser (19:29):
And then anyway, the whole process is quite powerful for us because we had three, two multisite going, and one of our multisite leaders got, had an aortic aneurysm. So we had to cover him for a year. Our other multisite leader was on maternity leave for a year. So we had to cover all three sites simultaneously, but because of our methodology of, I would speak on the main Sunday. And then the following week, the other multi sites would follow behind. We were able to manage it sending younger staff members and really training them to do that. So it’s been a great methodology. And our dream is to see more of these church buildings. We’ve been given completely given a church building already. And that’s, our dream is to go into these communities that have small churches or churches that are lying dormant or congregations that are saying we’re dying. We don’t know how to take the next step. Our desire is to go in and say, Hey, let us come in and partner with you. And let’s put little father’s houses all over Canada, Northern Canada. That’s kind of the dream.

Evangelist Daniel King (20:35):
Amen. Well, the dream shall shortly surely come to pass in Jesus name. Let’s finish by praying for Canada and praying for what God wants to do in this nation.

Pastor Greg Fraser (20:51):
Amen. You want me to pray? Go for it. Okay. So father, God, we just thank you that Lord, I just thank you for our national Anthem Lord that God, we stand on God for the, for Canada, Lord, I thank you that we pray in our national Anthem. God keep our land glorious and free. Holy spirit. I ask you to flood this nation, flood this nation with your presence, flood this nation with your power Lord, God, cause the revelation of Jesus Christ to flood this nation God, in our nation’s capital Lord, you you’ve en engraved that scripture on our parliament building God that the people perish for a lack of vision and Lord, we, we pray for the vision of God, the revelation of God, to flood Canada, that people would know that you are for them and not against them. Lord God that you love them. I pray that you would open the eyes of their heart tear. The veil that has kept it, them blinded to the revelation of Christ and made Jesus Christ have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth in this nation in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Evangelist Daniel King (22:10):
Amen. Pastor Greg, thank you so much for being a guest on the evangelism podcast.

Pastor Greg Fraser (22:14):
Woohoo. It’s a blast. Thanks for having me, Daniel.

Evangelist Daniel King (22:17):
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 (23:36):
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

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The Evangelism Podcast is also available on iHeartRadio

Daniel Liberek | Global Evangelists Forum in Europe

Daniel Liberek is from the nation of Belgium and he leads the Global Evangelists Forum in Europe. On today’s Evangelism Podcast he talks about how his movement is training lay evangelists within the local churches of Europe. He shares his insights for reaching people for Jesus in the European context.

Connect with Daniel Liberek: http://liberek.net/

Learn about the Global Evangelists Forum: https://uwm.org/projects/65475/

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Daniel Liberek is from the nation of Belgium and he leads the global evangelist forum in Europe. On today’s evangelism podcast. He talks about how his movement is training, lay evangelists within the local churches of Europe. He shares his insights for reaching people for Jesus. In the European context,

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:31):
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 (00:55):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast on Daniel King. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. I have a very special guest with me, Daniel lek from Belgium in Europe. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (01:08):
Pleasure being here and pleasure meeting you the last few days.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:12):
Now you are helping to lead the global evangelist forum and you are raising up evangelist in the continent of Europe. Tell us, what is God doing in the area of evangelism in Europe?

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (01:26):
Well, about 20 years ago, we discovered that evangelism had fallen into distribute almost. It was not the fashion. It was on the order of the day. And so with a few friends the global evangelist forum was launched. Now. It was called the <inaudible> evangelist because it was a French speaking venture out of Belgium and France and Switzerland Quebec joined it joined pretty quickly. And our goal was to help local church pastors identify mobilize, train, and deploy local church evangelists in Ephesians. The Bible says that God gave to the church, obviously apostles prophets, pastors teaches and evangelists. And in many churches, pastors don’t have time or don’t know how to train the local church evangelists. So what we do with the forum of the evangelists, we tell pastors, send us your evangelists. We will train them. And then you can have them back to minister in the local church.

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (02:27):
We’re not trying to take anything away from the local church. We wanna invest in the local church. And so we started doing this through forums. These are times where we speak to the heart of the evangelists. We, we try to impart skills through workshops and we were doing this in Belgium, in France, in Switzerland. Then quickly, we moved to Africa in many countries in Africa, all in French. And we liked the specificity of having this in French for French speaking people, but then English speaking countries came knocking on the door and suddenly we became the global evangelist forum moving into some of the English speaking African countries. It was going great. COVID hit which has made it hard. It’s difficult for evangelists to be mentored, to be trained without contact evangelists. I, I think I could say are by nature very personal people.

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (03:23):
They like contact. They like to be with people. And so not being able to mentor in a personal way was difficult, especially the forum also establishes mentoring communities. So we think evangelists need to be mentored, not simply trained, but mentored, not coached mentored. And we try to establish vertical relationships. So we try to pair an evangelist with a younger evangelist, but also horizontal mentoring relationship relationships. We try to get four or 5, 6, 10 evangelists that are about the same age do the same kind of ministries in a supporting group. And so they can share difficulties, problems, solutions. Sometimes they can share platforms and different things. In evangelism.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:16):
Now you are specifically working to help develop evangelists that are sharing their faith. One on one in the context of the, the local church. And, and, and tell us what are some of the, the methods that you teach them that you feel are so important for evangelists to learn, to be able to do that?

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (04:40):
Well, it’s important for us to realize that doing evangelism should be natural. It’s not something that we put on suddenly that sometimes I, I interview missionaries or missionary candidates. And I, I ask them one of my first questions. When is the last time you share the gospel? Because sometimes you get in our minds. If I fly 3000 miles, suddenly I’m an evangelist. No, that ain’t true. If I’m not an evangelist here, why would, would I be an evangelist across the ocean? So we have to think that Evangel being an evangelist is a way of life. It’s like breathing now in the church. I, I distinguish between regular church, people who are witnesses of what Christ has done and evangelists, those that God has given to the church. He has imparted special gifts and he’s put a seal on them to be evangelists.

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (05:36):
And it’s, it’s a fabulous vocation. My father was a pastor evangelist, and I guess I was infected because that’s what I became. And now our youngest son, Timothy is is an evangelist. Now he’s also a platform evangelist, but he’s an evangelist in his life. Always inviting people to his home, always trying to see, to share the gospel. It’s the way also I live now, when I go to my barber and I go to the same barber, I have gone to the same barber for over 20 years. Maybe I should change. Some people will say, but Hey, that’s the way I like it. So I, I just go there. He’s not a believer yet, but every time I go, I plan ahead in my mind, how am I gonna steer at this conversation? Which questions am I gonna share? Okay. Where have I been? So next time I’ll go.

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (06:23):
I probably will talk about being in Portland, being with evangelists. And somehow I’ll try to have him ask me a question about what evangelists are. I want to be in charge of the conversation, but in a discrete way, always planning ahead. Now, if the weather’s very bad, what kind of greeting am I, am I gonna share? When I walk into a store, I’m gonna share something that will elicit a response. It’s like the Lord said we have to be salt. So I’m trying, how can I be salty and create a response from the people? It’s a way of looking at reality and everything we do to be an evangelist is always looking for the open door and trying to create the open window so that, that we can share. Now, the Bible says that we evangelists have been given to the church, not simply to evangelize outside of the church.

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (07:19):
Efficient chapter four says that we have been given to the church for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry. So evangelists in the local church have the responsibility to partner with the, the local body of believers. And we should do team. I often encourage church members if they have a barbecue and they’re inviting friends, why not invite one of the church evangelists? Not so he can lay it on people. That’s not the goal. Evangelists ought to be very sensitive people. I remember a couple that came to, to Belgium. They were evangelists and they wanted to evangelize. They didn’t speak any French. And after a couple days I noticed they were going downtown and they would talk to people and they would corner them and they wouldn’t let them get away. I actually saw them push people into a corner and they were sharing the gospel to me.

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (08:17):
That’s not evangelism, that’s proselytizing. Maybe it’s imposing on people. And it gave out George a bad name because we were not respectful. Evangelists ought to be very sensitive to where a person is at and lead them little by little. My barber is still not a believer. And it took about 15 years for him to ask me questions. Some people will say, well, he’s a very bad evangelist. Well, Barbara’s, you know, Barbara’s, they can talk about anything and they never take a position. And that was my barber. He would cut my hair and we’d talk about politics. We’d talk about everything under the sun, but he’s always very neutral. And that was the way with faith. But finally, after about 15 years, he started asking questions and I’ve had the opportunity to share the gospel, not once, but several times. And I’m longing for, for the day when I’ll call him, my brother and Christ might take another five years. Might take more, but I, I I’m. I will be there gently prodding, gently pushing to share the gospel with him.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:25):
Let’s talk about evangelism in the local church, because not only do you lead the global evangelist forum, but you also pastor a local church there in Belgium, how can a pastor empower the believers in the church to do evangelism and to share their faith?

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (09:48):
As I said, it’s all a matter of partnership. I’m the local church pastor. Now, for example, on Sundays after the sermon, I will be at the door, shaking hands and greeting people. I mean, it’s like 30 seconds, 25 seconds with all the people that come by, because there’s always a cue and people want to get out. What, what I’ve done is I know my evangelist in the church. And if there’s a visitor, obviously I will have gone ahead of time. Introduce myself. I, I will have met the person, tried to get a bit of information, but as the person is coming out, we serve coffee. After church and tea, they don’t wanna stay. They wanna get out. They’ve had their first dose of Christianity and they just wanna get out where it’s safe, but I’ll call one of my evangelists and I’ll say, Hey, John, meet Peter here. It’s the first time. And suddenly there’s another link and we have trained them on what to do. You know, you can ask, you ask a few questions about their life, where they work and this and that. And they say, can I ask you a, a more personal question? Is there anything I can pray for you about

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (11:00):
Praying even for regular needs, from physical needs for medical needs touches the person in his heart, because someone cares enough to ask and to pray, but you, if the person says, well, you now have this medical appointment on Thursday, or can I call you on Friday to know how it went? What have we done created a link. We get a phone number and it’s all this partnership. We have a large food bank at the church I pastor. So we have a lot of people who are doing administrative stuff. They are taking names of people filling out the forms, giving out the, the boxes. But we have evangelists who will come. They’re not involved in any of the administrative stuff. They’re just walking around. They’re on the street where the queue is formed and they’re talking to people. So we wanna strategically place our evangelists in the position where they can be very helpful.

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (11:53):
We also tell our church people, Hey, you’re talking to your neighbor and you’re not making any headways. Talk to one of our evangelists, go to some of the church evangelists and ask them, do you have any, any any clues for me? Do you have resources? So while I I’m talking to this atheist and I, I just don’t know how to go. Oh, I read this book it’s called that reason is not enough. Oh, why don’t you read it? So we try to always encourage partnership between those who are witnesses, the regular church people and the evangelists. And obviously as a local shorts pastor, I will often say things from the pulpit. My, my sermons will be into sports with anecdotes, some of my mistakes. And I sure make many mistakes as an evangelist. I, I missed, I miss open doors. I remember one Sunday. I, I went to get food at a store and I do that before the service, I have to pick up all the leftover bread day, old bread and all that. And the lady knows I’m a pastor I’ve, I’ve seen her weekend, week after week. And she asked me a question. She said, what is the difference between your view of extreme function and the Catholic church’s view of extreme function?

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (13:20):
And immediately the theologian in me said, oh, I’ve gotta prove I’ve got my doctorate. So I, I formed this this speech in my mind. And I shared with her the difference and how James chapter five or 13. And she was quiet after that greeted her went, and it was, I got back to the church, unloaded the car. And it was like, the holy spirit hit me with a two by four. Why did she ask that question? Was she looking for the theological answer? Very few people are looking for a theological answer theologians mainly but regular people. They have an existential question and the holy spirit told me go back. So I told the guys, if I’m not back start the service it’s okay. People are more important than the service aren’t they? So I went back to the store and there she was.

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (14:15):
And I said, Hey, I’m so sorry. I, I missed something. Why were you asking this? And she started sharing about her grandfather, who was at the point of death, started crying there. And I was able to share a little bit with her of the gospel, who cares about extreme when we have extreme salvation <laugh>. And so it opened the door. I was able to I had brought with me a couple gospels. So I, I gave those to her and we’re continuing the dialogue. I see her a few minutes every Sunday, except the summer she’s on vacation. So I’m looking forward to September, her grandfather passed away, but the grandmother is open to the gospel. She’s been reading the, the new Testament. I mean, it’s a matter of listening to the voice of the spirit and partnering for evangelism.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:06):
Let’s talk about Europe. Some have said that Europe is a post-Christian continent, but I say that Europe can once again be a Christian continent with people full full of people that love Jesus and, and, but methods are different in EV every nation. And so when we go to Africa, there’s certain methods that we use for evangelism, but tho those methods are different in, in Africa or in central America. What do you see that will work to draw European people often very well educated, sometimes very skeptical often atheist or and, and don’t want anything to do with organized religion. What can an evangelist do to, to reach out to these people in Europe?

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (15:58):
We have to live it. That is the first thing my father was an evangelist. He helped to plant several churches and we would go in with a popup tent. We had what we call the mobile chapel. It was on a trailer and we’d pop it out and we’d, we’d have a chapel. And so we would go to a town where there was no evangelical witness. And we still have towns in Belgium where it’s not a single church. I mean, that’s in, in the middle of Europe, we would go preach for three weeks, four weeks, do an extensive crusade. And then hopefully there was AEUs of 10, 15 people. And the church was born nowadays. If I go on the town square and I put up a big screen and I say, Hey tonight, we’re gonna have a the showing of a movie people young, because they have Netflix, they have 25 channels.

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (16:49):
They can have movies day in, day out, all day long. If they want it doesn’t appeal. Or if we come and say, well, we’re gonna have a preaching of the gospel tonight. Not interested. We’ve had scandal up on scandal in Europe as in the us with one church or the other. It doesn’t matter. It affects all of us when there is a scandal. So what we’ve in many, in many places, what we’ve done is to transform the local church into a powerful evangelizing tool. Now there is room for crusades, and I I’m so glad that you are involved in these powerful crusades, but it has to come on the back of regular witnessing by the local church. If the local church says we’re gonna do evangelism, let’s have a crusade. It doesn’t work that way. We have to sew and water for the reaping to happen. So we try to set up the life of the church as a witnessing pulsating life, everything in the church. I, I look at every every message, every service will the gospel be presented today. It might be through communion. It might be through some of the songs and the introduction, introduction to a song, but the gospel is gonna be presented every time we meet. I mean, sometimes I joke, you know, even in the bathrooms, you can have a sign, don’t forget to flush. Remember your sins can be flushed away by the

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (18:20):
Let’s try to have everything. I remember a lady that came to Christ through one of our prayer meetings. She, she realized that on, on the street where she lives, there was this group meeting every Wednesday morning, there were mothers of teenagers. She had concerns. She came and through a prayer meeting, she came to accept the Lord. So if we infuse everything we do with the gospel, it is a powerful witness. Now I don’t condemn any method. As long as it’s biblical ethical. And the gospel is clearly presented, but I think the life of a body, the community of believers as we live the gospel out is one of the most powerful tools. And then as we intentionally make friendships, where in the lives of people were concerned about them were giving were just unusual. I remember one day I was I was leaving and this big car came next to mine and I thought, he’s blocking me, come on, get out of the way I need to go. Window rolls down. And it’s the mayor of our city.

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (19:28):
Now he’s not in the faith. He’s strong, socialist, pretty much. Anti-Religion says, I want to thank you, pastor, because of all that you’re doing, we don’t know what we be, what we do in our city without you and your food bank, our works are being seen, and they’re creating a platform to share the gospel. Our words come on top of our works. And as we share it is noticed in our city that’s the value O O of a local church that is intent on sharing the gospel. I often tell people know the church doesn’t exist for us. It exists for those who, who are not part of it yet.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:11):
Well, thank you so much for being on the evangelism podcast. If someone wants to find out more information about the global evangelist forum and get connected to what you’re doing in your training what is your website? What is a way for them to be in touch with you?

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (20:28):
Probably the easiest way would be to go to my own personal webpage and send us a message. It’s L I B as in boy, E R E k.net, L I B E R E k.net.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:41):
Wonderful. Well, thank you for sharing. And I am praying for Europe to be saved in Jesus’s name.

Daniel Liberek – Global Evangelists Forum (20:50):
Amen. Made the Lord move powerfully like he did in the past. I mean, there were dark days. I remember even in Belgium when the gospel was destroyed by persecution and the inquisition, but during the, after the first world war, there was a powerful movement. The second world war stopped it. So I’m looking for another powerful move of God in Belgium.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:13):
May it be Jesus in Jesus’ name? 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 (22:34):
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

Emmanuel Kwizera | Mission Director for African Enterprise

Emmanuel Kwizera is the Mission Director for African Enterprise, a ministry started by Michael Cassidy in 1963. Now the ministry has been handed over to a new generation and they are actively leading people to Jesus all over Africa. Today Emmanuel talks about what God is doing through African evangelists who have a heart for evangelism in Africa.

Learn More: https://africanenterprise.org/

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Emmanuel Kwizera is from Rwanda and he is the mission director for African enterprise. A ministry started by Michael Cassidy in 1963. Now the ministry has been handed over to a new generation and they are actively leading people to Jesus all over Africa today. Emmanuel talks about what God is doing through African evangelists who have a heart for evangelism in Africa.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:42):
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 (01:06):
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 brother, Emmanuel Kwizera from Rwanda. Thank you for being with me today.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (01:20):
Yeah. Thank you so much. My brother king. Thank you so

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:23):
Much now, can you tell me your last name? How do you pronounce

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (01:26):
It? So my last name is QRA. K w I Z E R a QRA.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:32):
And you are with African enterprises, which is a great organization, which is doing evangelism all over Africa. Tell us what you do with them.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (01:42):
Yeah. Thank you so much. As you said I work with African enterprise. Our vision is evangelism it’s proclamation evangelism. So we have teams in 12 African countries. We do evangelistic missions every year. So my role I’m the international missions director, which is like international evangelism director. So I’m overseeing all our 12 offices, but also we also do other evangelistic outreaches in other countries in addition to those 12 countries in Africa.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:11):
So tell us some of the countries that you’re involved in.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (02:14):
Yeah, we involved in South Africa in Zimbabwe, in Zambia, in Malawi, in Kenya, in Uganda, Tanzania South Sudan at DRC Congo in Rwanda, my country also Ghana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ethiopia,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:29):
And as the, the missions director, what is your role? What are you doing to mobilize people to do evangelism? Yeah,

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (02:36):
First of all, I’m an evangelist by coding. It’s not about what I do in organization. I’m an evangelist. I was born in a family of an evangelist. My dad was a pastor, but an evangelist and then God called me to be an evangelist. So my role, first of all, we train evangelist, local evangelists like in those 12 countries, we also engage the church to partner with the, a local evangelist to reach their cities. So the other thing I do, I, I develop materials. I mostly work on making sure that we have good materials with Bible teaching or evangelism and discipleship. The other thing I also am in charge of strategic partnership because we cannot reach Africa alone. We have been in Africa for 60 years, 60. My organization started 1962 with a micro acid who was an, a evangelist from South Africa. We are now 60 years, but still there are so many places. There are so many people who really needs to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s why part of my role is to make sure that we have strategic partners like ministry.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:40):
That is so wonderful. And I think it’s so beautiful to see that God is raising up evangelists all over Africa. You know, for many years, people here in the United States, in Europe, they considered that Africa was a mission field in missionaries would go from north America or from Europe to Africa in, in order to, to do evangelism. But you know, God spoke to me and said, Daniel, the mission field shall become a mission force. Yes. And now when you go to Africa, the churches are on fire for God. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. They are excited about sharing their faith in many African nations are actually more saved than America. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>, and there’s more Christians there on fire for God than even here. And, and so now God is raising up African evangelists that are bold in sharing their faith. Tell me some of, of what you feel that that God is doing in Africa.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (04:41):
Wow. That’s a good question. King. Yeah. First of all in 2018 Louanne movement a ministry started by Billy Roham. They just published a research done, and they saying that in 2018, Africa has the biggest number of Christians worldwide. So like since 2018, the most Christians live in Africa. So Africa is no longer what people used to think is at that continent, which I don’t even agree on that. But in terms of number statistics from 2018, we have the biggest number of Christianity. Like the Christianity is growing in Africa. That’s number one, number two, we know that by 2050 half of evangelical born again, Christian, when you say evangelicals in Africa means born again, charismatic those people who really believe in the gospel. So I don’t want to go into details about who’s an evangelical, but it means it’s a born again. So we, Africa will be having half of evangelicals worldwide will be Africans.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (05:35):
So those statistics, it’s just a confirmation that actually Africa is the hope of the global mission. So we are ready. We are, we are getting ready to send missionaries. In fact, it started, if you come here in the us, you hear so many Africans who are planting churches, evangelists, who are in diaspora. So that, that’s why for us, we feel like as evangelistic ministry, we need to train the church in Africa to be effective in evangelism. Yes, Christianity is growing, but we have to make sure that the pro the gospel is where are proclaimed or, or, or, or shared. So that’s why we are training evangelist. Number two, we are also, we believe that there’s a revival in Africa. Cause if you come to Kenya to Rwanda, to kegar to South Africa, to, to Zimbabwe, you hear so many people coming for crusade for one on one evangelism, home based evangelism, radio evangelism, internet evangelism, we are using all different ways of evangelism to make sure that everyone Africa is hearing the gospel. Why? Because also Islam is growing very fast in Africa. So we, we have some good side, but also we still have challenges. We still have unreachable groups, but still Africa is the hope of the future of the global mission.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:47):
Amen. And, and it’s so vital to be proclaiming the gospel in Africa, because you mentioned Islam. There is a, a line across the middle of Africa. Yes. Where many of the Northern African nations have a very high percentage of, of Muslim. And if we are going to lead the world to Christ, we have to start thinking and strategizing about how are we going to, to reach them. And it is very difficult. Sometimes the, the churches are burned down. Pastors are persecuted, they’re run out of town. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. And, and so I, I think God will raise up mighty African evangelists that are going to do great things that, that when the, the history is written in heaven, yeah. There are going to be many great Africans that are, their stories will be written of, of all the people that can

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (07:40):
Say. Yeah, yeah. Maybe I can just make, make, make some comment. One. I have a friend of mine, he write a book called Africa to the rest. So first of all, we believe that AF God is really using the church in Africa to send missionaries. But when you are saying to send missionaries, also, we have some part of Africa that needs to hear the gospel. Yeah. Now we are changing our understanding of, of who is an evangelist, because we used to say that there’s some, some are evangelist and others are missionaries for us. We believe that evangelist, he’s a proclaimer, he’s a trainer. He can also be a missionary because if you go to any, any, any other culture, you are still an evangelist, but also you are preaching the gospel to people from other culture. That’s why, for example, in west Africa and north Africa, we feel like at the church, from, from Subara African the region, which has so many churches, we feel like those churches have a responsibility to reach those places as part of us, as part of Africa.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (08:34):
That’s number one. The other thing that I can mention on that, we are using different ways of evangelism. Yes. Sometimes people say, oh, in north Africa, crusade, we not work. Or maybe in west Africa, crusade, we not work, but there’s a different ways we can do evangelism. For example, TV, evangelism, like a television evangelism. We are now coming up with another model called homebased evangelism, how you use the available social media platform in those communities. And then you train people in homes either to invite people, to come, to hear an evangelistic message. And then you connect with a discipleship and also church planting. The other story, which I can share with so beautiful. We are now thinking about engaging the whole church to do evangelism because we believe that evangelist is a trainer. Most of the time in Africa, we see that evangelist, they are revived.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (09:21):
They bring revival, but that revival it’s, it’s not only to get money or buying because it’s actually to have a passion in the passion in the heart to preach the gospel. So we are now engaging the whole church to be involved in evangelism. We are reviving our people to reach their neighbors. We are, we are engaging for example, in leadership, like how believers, who are the business or in leadership, how they can share the gospel with their colleagues, because they’re the same setup. Everything we do, it’s about promming the gospel, but ensuring discipleship and the church growth in different communities

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:59):
Right now, you are actually living in Chicago, Illinois, because you are going to Wheaten college working on your master’s in evangelism. What has that experience been? Like? What have you been learning about evangelism in the, the academic context?

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (10:17):
Yeah. Oh, that’s, that’s very good. So in terms of academic, let me, first of all, quickly say that I, the reason why I made a decision to come and do a master’s in evangelism, we didn’t courage here in Chicago. It’s because I, we realized that we need to influence also the thinking of the church, the theological thinking. So we need to have some evangelists who are also engaging the church on the theological understanding, because one of the biggest problems, especially in the us, you don’t hear much evangelism in the churches. You don’t see Christians really engaging in the community in evangelism. So that’s why I said, let me come in the study, but also have a group of perspective. So I’m trying now to understand how people like at the global perspective of evangelism, but also making sure that me to be there. It’s African voice, it’s a voice of the global south to the global north. I’m sure that there’s so many things that we can learn from the global north, from United States of America, churches with the experience, but also there’s also our contribution to the global church. For example, in my studies, I write all my papers, my research, my academic research on Africa, how the church is going in Africa, challenges of evangelism in Africa, like opportunities of evangelism in Africa. I think now evangelism or missions is from everywhere to everywhere. That’s why I’m learning something with a global perspective, but also I’m contributing as an African evangelist for the global church.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:38):
And your voice is so valuable. It’s so needed because every community, every country is going to be different. There’s different challenges. And in what works in north America may not necessarily work in parts of Africa. And, and so I, I think you’re absolutely right that the voice of the Africans must be heard both theologically and academically. And it, you know, it’s so important to, to have the learning. But I think that the thing that Africa brings is the burning. You are on fire for God. Yes. Which is so valuable. And we need it here. And, and also you are working with Luan. Tell me what you’re doing with them.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (12:19):
Oh, thank you so much. Part of the things I do, I’m also working with the Luanne movement. It’s a movement is started by Billy Roham in 1974. It is starting Luanne. The vision of Billy Roham was to mobilize the church again for proclamation evangelism for the, the Evangel evangelization of the world. So I’m part of that movement. I’m, I’m, I’m in charge of proclamation evangelism issue network, because proclamation evangelism, again, is another thing that most of the time, this time you don’t hear much about proclamation evangelism, which is more encouraging proclamation, evangelism, training, networking, and also bring together some ideas, how we can continue proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:59):
So let’s imagine that you are in Africa and you are on a, a platform and you have the opportunity to proclaim the gospel. What is your message?

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (13:09):
Oh yeah. That’s a very good one. That’s a good question. So normally I focus my message on the five things. One, it’s a God’s plan for human being. So God created us in a, in, in his own image. Number two is the problem of human beings. It’s seen. It’s not about where I live. Like in Africa. It’s not about poverty. Yes. Those are also problems. And we need also to respond the community need. But the biggest problem of human being is seen. Number three, I proclaim about God’s answer to the man’s problem, which the cross of Jesus Christ, there is no evangelism without the message of the cross. So Jesus died on a cross so that we can reconcile with God. Number four. I also proclaim, I also, I put my message into trying to make sure that there is a response of human beings, some God’s response, which means if God Jesus died on the cross, it’s not only enough.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (13:59):
We have to respond. How do we reform? We respond to God’s response. We respond through faith and repentance, which is salvation. And then number three of my message. I always tell people that we are here, but we are, we are waiting the second coming of Jesus Christ. So we are here because we know that very sure one day Jesus will come back. And unfortunately, the, the last point that Jesus coming back, you don’t hear much. But we said, yes, the gospel is really full. When we tell people that actually Jesus is coming back, not to die for our sins, but to come, just to, to reward to just for the end, just to reward those who have been putting their faith in him. So those are the five key things. Again, quickly. My, my God’s plan man’s problem, which sin God’s answer the cross of Jesus Christ, man’s response, faith, salvation, and then also waiting the second coming of Jesus crust.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:56):
Wow. What a great message. And I can see that that message will work in every culture. It’s very simple and easy, but every person on earth needs to know that Jesus is the answer. Yes. Well, brother Emmanuel, I love your heart for evangelism. I love everything that you are doing for Jesus. And if someone is listening and they want to get connected with African enterprises and find out more about what you are doing, what is the website or that they could find out more about African enterprise.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (15:27):
Yeah. Thank you so much. You can go to www dot African enterprise in one, one African enterprise.com. If you go to WW dot African enterprise.com, you will get some of the information that I have been sharing.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:42):
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for being on the evangelism podcast.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (15:45):
Oh, thank you. So for coming and partnering with us, we’ll have you so much. We’ll have your ministry. We are very encouraged to see you coming, doing evangelism together. Evangelism is a, a gods mission together.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:58):
Amen. Thank you brother.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (15:59):
Thank you so much.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:00):
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 (17:19):
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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Raphael Anzenberger | Evangelism in the French Speaking World

Raphael Anzenberger has been raising up evangelists throughout the French speaking world. On today’s podcast we talk about his Ph.D research on the incubation of evangelists and about a polycentric approach to missions. You will hear his exciting insights about how God is moving in Francophone Africa, French-speaking Canada, and in France.

Website: https://anzenberger.net/

Order Raphael Anzenberger’s book:

Transcript:

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Raphael Anzenberger has been raising up evangelist throughout the French speaking world. On today’s evangelism podcast. We talk about his PhD research on the incubation of evangelist and about a polycentric approach to missions. You will hear his exciting insights about how God is moving in Francophone Africa, French speaking, Canada, and in France,

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:37):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:02):
To the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King, and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. I have a very special guest Raphael Anzenberger. He is from France, and he has been working for God in the Francophone countries. Thank you so much for being with me today.

Raphael Anzenberger (01:19):
Thank you for having me on the program.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:21):
And so let’s start by talking about what God is doing in the French speaking world, especially in the area of evangelism.

Raphael Anzenberger (01:31):
So French speaking world, for those who are not too familiar with it’s 320 million people, it’s spending over three continents, Europe, of course Africa and in Canada and also the Pacific islands. And for the longest time we’ve been perceived rightly so as a mission field, but today I’m happy to report that we are known also as a mission force and no longer as a mission field because God has has been gracious to us in raising a new generation of evangelists who are bringing the gospel into an unreached people group in Asia in places where it’s not possible to travel there with a missionary visa.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:16):
So talk to us about where there are centers of French speaking people around the world, especially in some of the, the, the African nations and, and where is French? The language that is, is spoken.

Raphael Anzenberger (02:30):
So those, those centers, those AP centers where evangelists go out starting from Africa, you have two centers, Abijah of course, ivory coast. Then you have Kinsa then moving to Europe Geneva, Paris, and brussel, and then moving to Canada Montreal. So those would be the places and the cities where you will encounter evangelist ministry, evangelistic ministry, raising evangelist, and then sending them out into the harvest.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:02):
Now you completed your doctoral research and you looked at the incubation of evangelists. Tell us kind of the focus of your research and then what you discovered.

Raphael Anzenberger (03:16):
So the idea is that how do we multiply more evangelists for the harvest? Right when I joined the ministry back 20 years ago there was four of us evangelists for the whole French speaking world. When we did the math 320 million divided by four, we said, well, there’s room for a couple more. And we’d recited to raise a hundred evangelists within 10 years, very aggressive goal, right? And for that, we had to come up with an, an incubator a two year incubator by which we could raise up a cohort of 10 a year amount to a hundred after 10 years. And that program was very successful. And it was really God’s grace on that. We, we took best practices from different programs, but we tailor it Danielle, especially for what I call pro evangelists among professionals, right?

Raphael Anzenberger (04:08):
We have professional evangelists who are making that a full time ministry, but what we were interesting in raising those a hundred is also looking how we raise evangelists among professionals, teachers people in the fashion industry, in politics, in government and so forth. And I must tell you, Danielle, that those evangelists among professionals are sometime even better more enthused than some of the professional evangelists that, that we are. And it was really excited to see this new generation of, of evangelists coming up through the program and, and then making inroads being recognized by the local church or ministries and being really released into the harvest. And as I was mentioning before, we, we also had the privilege of seeing some of our young evangelists, especially female evangelists, going to places like Afghanistan and north, north Africa, very, very scary places for women to go. And today they’re raising evangelists in those countries and replicating some of the things that we have put together in this incubator.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:14):
Talk to me about the incubation process. If someone has a heart for evangelism, they feel like that maybe God would use them in that area. How do you bring them to the point where they are bold in sharing their faith and preaching the gospel and even training others in evangelism?

Raphael Anzenberger (05:34):
So the program basically runs with, with three core biblical values. The first year is dedicated to godly character. Okay. ish, Barza great. Evangelist German in Germany said, I evangelist all character is Anina. So an evangelist without a character is a criminal <laugh>. So, so evangelist often they come through our incubators and, and they, they want to talk about technique and methodology. And well, we start from a vanish point that if they’re evangelist, they’re leading people to Christ. Anyway, the number one danger is themselves. They have to root their life in godly character. So the first year is dedicated towards this life of prayer, life of faith, spiritual disciplines, building godly character in your life. And then once we move into the second year, then we look at the second core value of the program, which is doxological motivations. What is this?

Raphael Anzenberger (06:36):
Doxological motivation is that we don’t want them to build an empire. We don’t want them to think about themselves taking a selfie with a big crowd behind staging themselves as the savior with the messianic syndrome. We want to see doxological motivations. The reason why they would enter into the ministry is to partner with others in bringing more people to Christ, bringing people like Christ for Christ and to Christ. So we’re looking for, as we are questioning their motif, why do you want to, why do you wanna be an evangelist? Do you want to build your own ministry or do you wanna be part of God’s great family of evangelists and then last third core value of the program towards the end of the incubation is kingdom vision. And here we help them understand and reflect on what cause is calling them towards some think about starting a ministry among street homeless people.

Raphael Anzenberger (07:35):
And because of our network, then we, we put them in link with others who are also doing the same kind of things this way. They can build synergies and it could be kingdom mindset versus empire mindset. So those three core values, you know, Golic character doxological motivation and kingdom vision are, are, are the three pieces that make this incubation fruit. And at the end, we wanna see them thrive as evangelist. And then they come in the back end of it, providing ongoing training and ongoing spiritual formation so that they continue to last in the ministry. Also, one thing we asked them to do Danielle is to look for other evangelists. And that’s the power of multiplication very quickly in the program. We said, do identify emerging evangelists around you, even if you’re 23, 25, look for 10 years younger than you and start walking with them.

Raphael Anzenberger (08:29):
And I’ve seen this girl Daniel incredible story. She was 22 years old when she joined our program. And she said, you know, I’m, I’m coming from Switzerland. I’m an alien people don’t understand what I’m speaking. They think I’m weird. And it said, okay, what is your problem? Say, well, I’m, I’m the first time I, I shared, I, I had a dramatic encounter with Jesus. And the first time I shared that with my friends, 20 wanted to receive him in their heart. And I went to my pastor and he said, you’re weird. I don’t know what to do with you. And can you help me? I said, yeah, I think you’re an evangelist. Welcome to the tribe. Right? As soon as she was into the program, she was already replicating everything. We taught her to 50 younger evangelists who were between 15 and 20 years old. And so the power of multiplication, that’s what we tell them. An evangelist said, CWAs, a famous mythologist is not concerned about the crowd that is able to gather is concerned about the number of vacations vocations that he’s able to rise in his lifetime. And for that, I’m, I’m thankful for Billy Graham and, and repel out and all those organizations who, who sought not just to portray what an evangelist is and should be, but also raise up new generations of evangelists.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:47):
Let’s talk about Europe. Some people have said that Europe is a post-Christian continent, but I think that God still has great love for Europe. What do you see God wants to do in on the continent of Europe?

Raphael Anzenberger (10:02):
Well, my people might be surprised to, to know that in France, we are opening a church every seven days. It’s, it’s quite it’s quite phenomenal in Spain. They’re opening up a church every three days. So <laugh> contrary to some people perceiving Europe as a, as a, as a, as a cemetery for mission for missionaries. It is actually a strong mission force. And we’re seeing fast, rapid multiplication of churches and disciples. Even in the us we get a lot of requests to bring European evangelists to do evangelism in the us because we are very familiar and at ease with the secular society, right? This been where we’ve been for the last 20 years in Europe. We’re not scared to go with people who are against Christians. We love atheist. We love to debate with them. We love to win them for Christ. And in a sense it’s a joy to see friends like John Lennox, for instance, who is continuing being invited in the us to, to tackle university lecturers or trying to kill Christianity. And, and Europeans who’ve been there for 50 years and we know how to tackle them. So are very much encouraged by what’s going on in Europe.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:23):
You have used a term, which I find very intriguing polycentric missions. Tell me, what do you mean by that in how is that affecting what God is doing in the world?

Raphael Anzenberger (11:36):
So when we talked about missions going back to the 19 20th century, it was a movement that was primarily centered first on Europe. And then later on in the 20th century, especially after 1950 solidly anchored in the us. And what you would see is, is missionaries being raised and then doing missions out of Europe or out of the us to the ends of the earth right now, west pretty much the paradigm all the way to the end of the 20th century. And what happened is that after years and decades and centuries of missions into majority world countries, those churches who received the gospel through those missionaries decided to bring back the gospel where it was first sent from. So we’ve seen for instance, Africa having a heart to do missions in Europe. We’ve seen people in Brazil, in Argentina, Costa Rica having a heart to bring the gospel to Asia.

Raphael Anzenberger (12:47):
We’ve seen people in Asia having the heart to bring the gospel in Canada. And so today we are seeing the emergence of those centers of missions anchored in the majority world and without any complex, and they raise the funds, they train the missionaries and they send them out into places that were once sending centers for missions. And I find that very exciting to collaborate with my friends from Nigeria, from Zaa, from Singapore, the Philippines, you know that Danielle, I don’t know if, if people know that, but the country who is sending the most missionaries per Christians in a country is Jordan in the middle east. And I’m finding that absolutely astounding that those who were once on the recipient end of missions, decide today to be the ones who are sending their sons and daughters. So that Christ may be known all the way even to Europe.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:53):
Yeah. It used to be that the west would send missionaries to the rest, but now we see the best going to the rest and the best are being raised up all over the world. God is moving so much in the, the global south, and I’m so thankful for their passion for God and in their heart for evangelism. And you are actually moving soon to one of the, the biggest, greatest mission fields that there is my wife is from Canada. And, and so we have been praying for French speaking, Canada for Quebec, and very low percentage of Christians, but tell us what you are hoping that God will do in Canada.

Raphael Anzenberger (14:36):
Well, thank you for asking about that. Danielle it’s I’ve been ministering in, in French speaking, Canada which basically is, is, is all the four provinces on the east, but all the provinces on the west and the central side. And it’s been Catholic because it was French and then attached to France versus English picking Canada. There was more Protestant with the collapse of the Catholic church and all the scandals. People got mad with the church. Did you know that the past year they destroyed 750 churches?

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:12):
I mean, yeah, my, my wife is from Warrenville Alberta and there was a beautiful Catholic church right in the middle of the town last year, someone burned it down and I was looking at the, the comments and some people were saying, oh, that’s horrible. But then there were so many comments that people say, yes, that church deserved it because of what they have done. It’s, it’s a tragedy.

Raphael Anzenberger (15:32):
It is. It is. I mean, if in France, if people would even, even if, if people wanted to destroy churches, atheists would come and say, well, you can’t do that is part of our historical landmarks, but in Quebec, I mean, they send bulldozers, they flip churches into apartment complex without anyone actually seeing that as being wrong. Which tells you that I think it’s one of the most advanced secular society that I’ve known and I’m traveling quite extensively. I, I remember seeing just not long ago, an interview of a guy in the streets of Montreal asking young people who Jesus is, and, and they, they had blank <laugh> they were looking at Jesus who I said, Jesus of Nazareth. No don’t know the dude. Where does he live? I thought, I thought it was a joke. I thought it was a cameras, you know, filming somewhere. It was not actually religion. Christian religion has been eradicated even transforming the national Christian days of celebration to first nations or, or other kinds of terminology, a systemic eradication of Christian languages. The first one that I’ve seen that somewhere that is done so well in French speaking Canada, but the good news is, is that people still all come to Christ because I don’t care how much secularized society is. Jesus can still reach out to them.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:05):
Well, thank you so much for being on the evangelism podcast. If someone wants to connect with you, find out more about your ministry, maybe find out more about how to preach the gospel in the French speaking world. What is your website? What’s a good way for people to connect with you

Raphael Anzenberger (17:22):
So they can find me on my website Ze burger that’s net they can find us on social media. I’ll be happy to, to link them with those ministries in a French speaking world that are thriving and get connected. Thank you. So for me on the program and praying for this next assignment, I’m excited about what’s gonna come up.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:44):
Can, can we finish by just saying a prayer for the French speaking world that God would move and could you pray in French?

Raphael Anzenberger (17:53):
Prayer in French

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:28):
Amen. Thank, thank you. 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 (19:48):
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.

Yearly Archives: 2022

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What is Evangelism?

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How Do Evangelism and Discipleship Relate to One Another?

ABOUT DANIEL KING

ABOUT DANIEL KING

Evangelism is Spreading Good News About Jesus

Is Everyone Called to Evangelize?

ABOUT DANIEL KING

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The Evangelism Podcast is also available oniHeartRadio

Subscribe to The Evangelism Podcast on Apple iTunes

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Find The Evangelism Podcast on Stitcher

Listen to The Evangelism Podcast on Amazon Audible

The Evangelism Podcast is also available on iHeartRadio

Subscribe to The Evangelism Podcast on Apple iTunes

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Listen to The Evangelism Podcast on Amazon Audible

The Evangelism Podcast is also available on iHeartRadio

Revival in America?

Free Prayer Booth at the Tulsa State Fair

The Continuing Impact of the Free Prayer Booth

Testimonies from the Tulsa State Fair

Thank You!

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Subscribe to The Evangelism Podcast on Apple iTunes

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Subscribe to The Evangelism Podcast on Apple iTunes

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The Evangelism Podcast is also available on iHeartRadio