Wesley Paul was born in India, but now he is an evangelist who loves to connect people to Jesus. When he was a child, he listened to “open-air” preachers in India and he dreamed about having the opportunity to share the Gospel. Now, God has opened to door for him to preach to large crowds in more than thirty nations.

Website: https://wesleypaul.org/

Check out The Evangelism Podcast with Evangelism Coach Daniel King

Transcript: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Wesley Paul was born in India, but now he’s an evangelist who loves to connect people to Jesus. When he was a child, he listened to open air preachers in India, and he dreamed about having the opportunity to share the gospel. Now, God has opened the door for him to preach the large crowds in more than 30 nations.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:21):
Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be Welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:56):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King. Did they have a special guest? Wesley Paul, thank you for joining me today.

Wesley Paul (01:04):
It’s great to be here with you, Daniel. I’m learning so much from you, man.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:08):
Well, you were born in the nation of India. Now you live in Kentucky. Tell me about how God has brought you to where you are now.

Wesley Paul (01:18):
Well, I moved to Kentucky in 1984. I came by fate. I left India with $20, trusting God for all my needs, and I’ve seen God just take care of me and provide for me. We so I came to Canada first and then from there, I went to Cumberland College, which is called the University of The Cumberland’s now. So that’s what I finished up and went to new Orleans seminary and then do Iowa.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:47):
And so you’ve been doing evangelism in many different places around the world. How did you become an evangelist?

Wesley Paul (01:54):
Well, I was when I was in India, I’d watch these guys come and do these large crusades. And I tell myself, you know, I’m going to be an evangelist someday. That must’ve been what, eight, nine years old little kid. So even now when I’m preaching, I’m looking for those eight, nine year olds because I figured maybe one of them is going to be an evangelist like me. So I grew up with that in my head, you know, that I would be one day an evangelist. And so everything I did schooling college, I thought I’m going to get ready for that. But along the way, I lost my way a 16 to 18, 19 years old. I was just, just a lost kid, but God found me and restored me and kept that passion going to be an evangelist. So when I went to college, I was a youth minister and then seminary pastor chaplains. So it took me until nine. It took me about 1998 to surrender and to become, you know, in that field of being an evangelist.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:54):
And it sounds like one of the things that, that really helps you in your path to becoming an evangelist was your association with the next generational Alliance, your relationship with Luis Palau and his example as an evangelist, what are some of the things you learned from being with Luis Palau?

Wesley Paul (03:13):
Well, in 1999, I became one of the next generation Alliance evangelists. I mean, I’ve learned so much Lewis would roll up our sleeves and say, I see Vangelis, man. We’ve got to stick together. And so I like what we, you and I are doing right now. Exactly what we’re living in Louis’ dream. And then he said, go to the small towns and do these festivals. You might not get the invitation to go to big towns. So don’t be this big headed guy that thinks you’re some, some movie star that’s got to have a platform and a stage, just go wherever the Lord opens the door.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:47):
And so you’ve been doing that in your ministry. Tell me some of the places that God has opened up doors for you.

Wesley Paul (03:53):
Well, I have to give credit to Louis for this, I got a call one day said, Hey, would you like to come to Puerto Rico? And I’m like, wow, Puerto Rico is like going to Hawaii or something. So I said, of course, and they said, I’ll pay, we’ll want you to come there for a week. We’ll pay you our way down there. We’ll give you an honorarium, puts you up in a nice apartment. And I was like, wow. And I asked him, how did you even get my name and where, how you calling? And he said, well, we went down to the Luis Palau website and we saw your name as one of the evangelists. So we thought that Lewis doesn’t hang out with shady people. So we thought we’ll invite you over. So, man, I went to Puerto Rico in 2003 as a result of that.

Wesley Paul (04:35):
And, and I’ve been going there ever since every year and I’ve done several meetings and so many churches there love our ministry and support us. And they’ve sent me to the ends of the earth. So I got to thank Louis for opening that door, but there’s so many things I learned like that, you know, we got to work together. Doors have open because I tell people that, you know, we were with Luis Palau ministry. So people trust that. And I’ve also gained boldness and confidence because you know, you go to a big city and you meet with pastors and leaders. You can, you watch Louis do this, you know, bring churches and cities together. So I feel like I’m one of his offsprings. I’ll just go in and say, yeah, we’ve done these meetings. And, and, and my has done them and we’d love to talk to your churches. And so it just gives us an edge, a boldness that if Louis can do it, I can do it.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:27):
Let’s talk about India. 1.2 billion people live in the nation of India. For some evangelist, evangelism in India has become very difficult. Some have even been kicked out because of visa issues, but it’s a huge harvest field. And I know that God loves India and God wants India to come to Jesus. Well, what do you think God wants to do in the nation of India?

Wesley Paul (05:54):
Well, I think India is such an opportune. Even I sometimes being born there, I feel like, what am I doing here? This is such a vast ocean. What difference am I making? You might feel that way too, but I’m telling you, when you go there and God uses you with one person or one family or one village, you see the impact. And, and I believe that you know, I used to do a lot of meetings in the south and there’s a lot of people in the south were believers. So if anybody is going, I want to encourage you not just to go to the south, but think of the north, think of the west, the Bengali, the Eastern parts of India and other parts, because south has the gospel or mean when somebody has heard the gospel once, why should they hurt here at two times and three times and four times go to places in India where you are very few people have heard the gospel.

Wesley Paul (06:48):
And so now I go to the Northern parts and there’s so much harvest. Then I mean, I see miracles and signs and wonders and, and God does that. One of the guys that I’m mentoring his name is Andrew. Every village, he goes to, there’s a miracle. There’s one story I can quickly say somebody called him and said, come cast out this demon and this woman. And he got us on his phone and cast out this evil spirit, right? So the village said they wanted to honor him. So when they, when he came, they were like waiting for him. Like he was a movie star like garlands and flowers, 50, 60 people, families. This is not just with, they want him to start a church in their village. So just even over a phone, somebody could, you know, show and manifest the power of God.

Wesley Paul (07:35):
So I’m saying, I don’t know whether it’s on zoom or whether it’s on whatever way you can do ministry in India, do it because the people in India need the gospel and India can be reached. And one of the goals I have is to train evangelists in India. And I think Daniel, you and I talked about that. We need to find those evangelists and encourage them and help them just like Luis Palau did for us, the boldness and the encouragement I got, I’ve been able to do big things. And I want those Indian evangelists feel that confidence as well.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:06):
Tell me some testimonies of what you have seen God do in various nations that you’ve gone to.

Wesley Paul (08:16):
One of the vivid pictures I have is of being in Roger, Stan, and part of India, where there were so many people are packed in this small auditorium, seven, 800 people. And I asked the pastor, I saw no homes around here, only rocks and you know, mountains of rocks and how, where did these people come? And he said, they come here because they’re oppressed by demonic spirits. They are sick and they need deliverance. They need healing. And when they come here to the church, I pray for them. And mind you, Daniel, this guy is uneducated, illiterate, but stands there with a Bible in his hand with his few scriptures in his, the authority of God and the power of God is on him. And when I was in his church, God was doing amazing miracles and signs and wonders. People were getting saved.

Wesley Paul (09:05):
And so I asked him of course the same question, how are people coming? And when he told me that, when they see God do these powerful things, they tell their neighbor and the neighbor tells them. And so what I want to encourage people is to lean into that power of God, lean into that authority that God has given you to cast out demons in the heal, the sick, because if we don’t do that nations, like India will never see God. You know, it’s not just a belief, but they need to experience God, they’ll say, oh, we believe in Jesus. He’s like another God, no, no, no. I want them to experience that he is the living God. Another experience I had was I was in this big, large event in India. In these front of the podium, there was so many demons.

Wesley Paul (09:49):
There was like snakes, dancing. I mean, women were, you know, just putting, pulling their hair and they were riding. They were just shaking. I mean, it was just weird. And you, if you’ve seen a demon possessed thing, my heart really felt so broken in our wept that night, when I came back to the room and I said, God, my people are so tormented. You need to deliver them, raise up pastors of believe in that power of the holy ghost so that they can be set free. I mean, I’ve seen so many miracles, man. I don’t know, we could, we could talk about it all day long, but these are things that I really shake me and other need for people to be delivered the need for the gospel to be not just preach, but experience

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:31):
As an evangelist. Not only do you preach the gospel, but you also work to empower believers to share their faith. Tell me how do you do that? What encouragement do you give?

Wesley Paul (10:43):
Well, I, I tell people as an evangelist, whereas we’re called to equip others to share their faith. So I love using the three circles, which I don’t know if you use it. If you come across, that’s really a powerful tool.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:55):
Yeah. As a matter of fact, I have some articles about three circles on my website and even a place where people can download load some graphics and print stickers. If they want to, at what I do, I encourage people to put a sticker on the back of their phone with the three circles. And so everywhere they go, they’re ready to share the gospel, whether they’re standing in line at Starbucks or

Wesley Paul (11:17):
I was in Lilongwe airport at the security guy who would help me with my phone. I shared with them through three circles and I, and there was another guy looking in on what we were doing. And I said to him, Tippo, you share with him now. So he was excited about that. So I teach people how to share through tools like that. But I also, I found then it’s just easy if you’re really in touch with God, if you’re really in communion with God intimacy with God, it all flows. Like for example, my wife and I were a couple of weeks before we came here at a restaurant and this lady, a young lady by the name of Aubrey was waiting on us. So I just said, Hey, Aubrey, we’re going to pray for our food. How can we, you know, pray and, and what can we pray for you?

Wesley Paul (12:04):
And she said, well, I’ve got, I’m married. And I have two kids and pray for my kids, for my husband and my work. And I said, so when you go to church, where do you go to church Aubrey? And she’s like, oh, it was 13 years ago, or so I used to go to church and I used to be real, real, real, regular. And I said, how about your husband? Oh yeah, he was really religious. And he hasn’t gotten back in church. And I said, my friend’s church is right down the street. If I gave you his information, would you go? She said, absolutely. So it was a point of connection. Some people, you know, just need to be encouraged to go to church or get back in relationship with God. But you can have those conversations when you are, whether eating somewhere, whether you’re dining, my wife, who I was at a phone shop one time and was looking at all the specs on a phone, you know, asking what gigabyte does it have and what surf my wife like, oh, so when you go to church, what are you going to church?

Wesley Paul (13:00):
And so she was tuned into that guy. And so, you know, I think there’s so many ways. It just, if we’re really sensitive to people around us and wonder, you know, Hey, how’s their soul. I think that sensitivities, you know, if we keep asking, God, God show me my assignment today. God, I love you so much. I want to talk about you. You know, the other day I was reading John 17 and Jesus in towards the last part of it. I think verse 23 or something, Jesus said, father, I have made you known to them. That’s what Jesus says, that he was witnessing that that’s the model I want to practice father. I have made you known to them and I am praying for them that they will make you known to others and that your love would be in them. I mean, Jesus wants that, that, that his love father’s love would be in them and the word of God would be in them.

Wesley Paul (13:49):
So if that’s what Jesus was praying, I should be praying the same thing. So I think if, if, if it really comes down to the nitty gritty of it, I’m just saying, practice it as a lifestyle. Don’t do it because somebody told you, or because it’s the great commission or the great command doors, all right there in our face staring everyday. But if you feel obligated and if you feel like it’s, I gotta do this, it becomes legalistic. Get that out of your mind. It’s not legalism it’s I love Jesus. I want to talk about him just like Jesus loved the father. And he wanted the father’s love to be in other people. That’s just natural stuff. Right. And it just, if we love God, we want that love to be in other people. So anyway, that’s, that’s my take on evangelism.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:33):
Oh, that’s awesome. Let’s talk about what God is doing here in Malawi. You came in for the last night of our festival and we had just tremendous results. It was probably the largest night, over 10,000 people there on the field. And, and it was around 1600 decision cards that were filled out. You preached about Zack Kius

Wesley Paul (14:59):
Well, they knew that, that I was coming. So they all wanted to come see me. No, I’m just kidding. No, I, I just love preaching about this. The key is man. I love his character because he really is the epitome of a crooked man. And if God can change a crooked man like that, he can change anybody. So I love talking about that and how God converts people in my real goal was that to see people not just say, yeah, I believe in Christ, but I wanted to see them convert because we have too many Christians in Africa. We have too many Christians in America. They’re not converted. So my message in that is let’s be converted. Let’s, let’s really be authentic about our faith and not, you know, just kind of say we’re seekers. And we believe in God, but really not transformation. And so Jackie’s story really tells that transformation and it was really powerful to see, you know, all those people, 1,686 decisions that night,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:58):
It was powerful and your preaching was really powerful. And at the end, you prayed for the sick and God did some tremendous miracles in the lives of so many people there. If someone wants to know more about your ministry, what is your website?

Wesley Paul (16:13):
My website is just like my name, Wesley Paul, just like the John Wesley. That’s the Wesley. And then the Paul is like the apostle Paul: http://wesleypaul.org.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:24):
Wonderful. Well, if you want to know more about brother Wesley’s ministry, I encourage you to go check out his website and thank you so much for being on the evangelism podcast. Well,

Wesley Paul (16:34):
You know, you really encourage me and your passion for sharing Christ and I’m learning so much from you about being passionate for Christ. Thank you for having me here. And may God bless your ministry. And those of you know him, I pray that you continue to pray for him, his wife and Aziz out here in Africa and wherever else in the part of the world, we need your prayers and your support. Thank you for listening to us, but

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:58):
Thanks so much for listening to the evangelism podcast today, our ministry is supported by people like you, who help us go to the nations to preach the gospel. Our goal is every soul. It only costs us an average of about $1 for every person. We’re able to tell about Jesus. And so could you do me a favor, go to my website, king ministries.com and become a partner with us for as little as $1 a month. You can start to partner with king ministries and help us lead at least one person to Jesus every single month. Imagine for $1, you can start a party in heaven every single month. So right now, go to king ministries.com and partner with us and help us to preach the gospel to who need to hear the gospel. The most, the least reach people in the world. Also, I’d like to ask you to go to apple podcasts and give the evangelism podcast a five star review. Your positive review will help other people find this podcast who are excited about evangelism. Thank you so much. And God bless you for more

Evangelism Podcast Host (18:18):
About how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit king ministries.com. Again, that’s king ministries.com.