At our recent crusade in Kahama, Tanzania a team of students from the Evangelism Bootcamp at Christ for All Nations worked to organize the event. Because of their efforts, a total of 13,457 people filled out decision cards. Today, I interview Joshua Hall, Michael Seth Clifton, and Jacob Ebersole about their experience in Tanzania.
Questions:
What are some of the biggest challenges of working in Africa?
What are some of the cultural differences between the United States and Africa?
What did you learn from the Evangelism Bootcamp at Christ for All Nations?
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
At our recent crusade in Kahala, Tanzania, a team of students from the evangelism bootcamp at Christ for all nations work to organize the event because of their efforts, a total of 13,457 people filled out decision cards. Today, I interview Joshua Hall, Michael Seth Clifton in Jacob soul about their experience in Tanzania,
Evangelism Podcast Host (00:29):
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 we’re 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. We are excited about telling people about Jesus. I’m here in Coahoma, Tanzania. We’ve just finished a great gospel crusade with Christ for all nations. And there have been a team of people here on the ground working to prepare this for several months, actually. And so today I am joined by three friends, Michael, Seth, Jacob, and Joshua. Welcome you guys. Tell me a little bit about what it’s been like living here in Coahoma and what God has done.
Jacob Ebersole (01:44):
Yes. So my name is Jacob. It’s so good to be with you, Dr. Daniel King. Thank you for inviting us, finding us. I’ve now been in Coahoma, Tanzania for going on four months now and it’s been a privilege and an honor to, to work with fan. I got here four months ago and I started to, to gather all the pastors. I was going from church to church trying to unify the body of Christ leading up to our all pastors meeting. And that’s something I could talk about a little bit later. But my time here has been wonderful. I always say that day by day, week by week, month by month, I fall more in love with this city. These are my people and I love Gahanna. It’s been a privilege. Yeah.
Joshua Hall (02:31):
Yeah. So I, I haven’t, my name is Joshua. I have not been here for three months. Like Jacob, I got here a couple of weeks ago and already I’ve fallen in love with the people of Kahala and the people of Tanzania. It’s been a real privilege to go from church to church. A lot of what I’ve done is promo and in getting ready for the crusade as we were kind of wrapping up all of the work that they’ve been doing for the past several months. So I got to preach in several churches in a, a youth meeting
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:00):
And yeah, already it’s been life changing life altering for me just to be in this whole new place and see the love and passion for Jesus and these people.
Jacob Ebersole (03:09):
Yeah. As soon as Joshua got here, I think you preached in the biggest church with the biggest crowd. It was our, it was our youth event. It was what over. Yeah, it was a big crowd. So we, we, we throw them into the lion’s den pretty quickly.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:26):
So how many people came to the youth event? About 1200, about 1200 and just fresh off the plane you jumped in and had the opportunity to, to speak to to 1200 young people. Many of those young people participated in the crusade. Michael Seth, tell me what a involvement we’ve seen from the local churches here. Has everyone been excited and, and participated and in what God’s doing here in Kahama?
Michael Seth Clifton (03:54):
Yeah. Jacob did a great job of creating unity in the church. I was just inviting everyone. He is a, just a gift for a gift for that. Uit was incredible to see the bishops and the pastors come together. I mean, nothing is ever perfect, but they sacrificed and they came together and they gave of their time. They gave of their efforts in order for the crusade to be successful. And it turned out really well.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:21):
So how long have you been here in Kahama?
Michael Seth Clifton (04:24):
Well, I actually came in, in Jacob’s story at the all pastors meeting. So he had been going around delivering letters to hundreds and hundreds of churches and inviting all these bastards and bishops to come together. That was like the first great work of the crusade. And then I came in at all pastors in like September 2nd was our all pastors meeting. That’s when I started, I met all the Bishop, started forming relationships at that point in time. And I’ve just been working on all the different projects that we’ve had for the crusade since then.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:55):
So what are some of the biggest challenges of working in Africa?
Jacob Ebersole (05:01):
Yeah, I would I would say that for the most part it’s been, it’s been really wonderful. There’s a lot of cultural differences, you know, sometimes we Americans, we like to, you know, one step at a time we’d like to pick up the pace. Here in Africa, it can be sometimes a little bit more laid back. So we’ve had to navigate through some of that, but, you know, we’ve had a lot of angels Brett C Peck, our campaign director the executive campaign director. He always says, when you do this, you’ll find angels here and there. And we’ve, we’ve had many of those come, come in to help us. So for the most part it’s been great. But the cultural differences is what we’ve had to navigate through as far as you know, we, sometimes, sometimes we, you know, we want to meet at eight, eight o’clock and, you know, Africa is a little bit different. So if we say eight to them, it’s more like eight 30, eight 45, nine o’clock. So, so you’ve, you’ve got to calculate that as you move forward, but it’s, it’s been great for the most part. Yeah. Yeah.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:12):
So tell me, what did you, you feel as you started to see the crusade grounds fill up with people because you’ve put a lot of work into it. You’ve worked really hard to make this happen. And then what did you feel as you, as you saw people come onto the crusade grounds and, and the music finally start, and then what emotions did you feel as you saw people raise their hands for salvation and give their lives to Jesus? Yes,
Jacob Ebersole (06:41):
For me the first night was, was life-changing. I, I cried on stage multiple times, walked down behind the stage was in tears. Cause our first night was, was phenomenal. I don’t know. I think we had what, 20,000 plus maybe it was a full, almost a full field. Uit surprised me because the night before I could hardly sleep, my heart was beating out of my chest. Cause I didn’t know if anybody was going to show up,uall of these things go through your mind because you know, I’ve, I’ve been here for four months leading up to this. So I think the one,uone word to sum it up is, is, is tears. Tears were running down my face and it was a beautiful day. Yeah.
Joshua Hall (07:27):
I think for me it was just complete excitement and just seeing all the people come, it’s like all the work that you put into it, it becomes a reality. And you know that so many of these people are going to get saved that night and you’re going to get touched by God and going to get healed. And so for me, I, I dance with the people I sang with the people I got to celebrate and got to rejoice with these guys over what God was going to do. So
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:52):
What a miracle that you saw really touched you and really impacted you? Because we had lots of miracles every night. Was there one that, that really touched you?
Jacob Ebersole (08:05):
I think it was Saturday night when, when you preached,uthere was this one younger girl that came up and I could tell she had art, she had been touched and you, she couldn’t hear. And so you, you turned her around and you clapped and when you clapped, you would have her clap and you clap once she clapped, once you clap twice, she clapped twice. And as she was going through that process, I saw her break down in tears because this is the first time she could hear this way. And you could just see it all over her face,uhow God had touched her. And it, it, it brought tears to my eyes as well. It was, it was amazing. Yeah.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:47):
Last night Daniel Kolenda asked you to do the testimony time. What was that like to, to actually have an opportunity to, to interview the people that were testifying and being touched by God, up on the platform?
Jacob Ebersole (09:03):
My two really good friends, Joshua Hall, And Michael Seth
Jacob Ebersole (09:08):
Nominated me to do that, kind of threw me on, threw me under the bus there. But that was my first time doing that. And I learned a lot, it was extremely difficult. It was more difficult than I thought it was going to be, but I had a blast doing it. You know, we had some trouble with security you know, in vetting people that were coming through that got healed. So there was a little bit of chaos off the stage. But I learned that every person that I interviewed, I learned something that I shouldn’t do that I should do. I got advice from you. I got advice from Paul. So it was kind of a, a chaotic situation, but it was, it was definitely something on, I’ll never forget. I think I was up there for what, 20 minutes. Also the band left the stage. So I didn’t have any transition in between but I, I think it was good. I, I, I tried my best and I can’t wait to do it again
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:08):
Next time. You’ll be great. Okay. So that for all three of you, this is your first big crusade. So tell me a little bit about what you thought about crusades now that you’ve seen a big crusade like this. Yeah, I think for me
Michael Seth Clifton (10:31):
Being able to see the ground for the first time I mean it changed my life. What really surprised me was how comfortable I was being in front of all these people. You know, you think in a lot of ways that you’ll be nervous or, or that you’ll feel some kind of a different feeling than when you’re just talking with, with people on the road. But I, I felt so comfortable with the people and they were still responsive. And, and just seeing all the sea of faces, I think for me, it, it, it actually made me more excited for crusades than ever before. I only done one in the past in Bolivia. It was much smaller. So to, so t o see all these people, it was like I was living out what you’ve seen on YouTube and on these videos, it’s like for it to become a reality, it really touched my life. Yeah, that’s good. So, so for me, you know, there’s, there’s some people that criticize crusade evangelism. But what I saw was, you know, if you, if you prep properly people, I mean, people from Monza came to Kahala. People from all different kinds of villages came to Oklahoma from different regions. And if it’s prepped properly and done properly you can really see a region set free. And, and so what I learned is, you know, every face matters. And when I looked out in, into that crowd these are, these are, this is
Jacob Ebersole (11:54):
Generational curses that is going to break all over, come all over Tanzania. And so what I learned is, is, is this, this is probably the most effective way to change a city to change a region to shift nations. And so it just got me more excited to, to do it again and again and again. And it was, it was a life-changing experience all the way through. Yeah. Yeah. I know when I had my first crusade, I got addicted and now I love doing crusades and it’s almost an addiction, hut, but, hhn a good way, a spiritual thing that I’m always anticipating the next one, like when’s the next time I get to preach to people and, and lead them to Jesus. And so, Michael, Seth, what, what are your impressions seeing your first big crusade?
Michael Seth Clifton (12:45):
Let’s see, for me, it’s everything leading up to the crusade is all this preparation. We’re pouring all these efforts into it. And then, you know, even as we pour, you know, our efforts in the work with our hands into it, like our hearts are really involved and just really engaged, our hopes are high. And you know, you struggle through it’s late nights and, you know, early mornings for a long time. So when crusade day comes and you start to see the people like coming, like in streams onto the field, you know, and it’s like, until there just develops this flood of people, like I can’t draw anyone to the crusade. All we can kind of do is like throw a shingle out and pray that the Lord will touch somebody’s heart and that he will draw them. If we lift up the name of Jesus, that, that Jesus will draw.
Michael Seth Clifton (13:34):
And so when you see Jesus really drawing people to the crusade, then you get to see like the unfolding, like glory and goodness of God. And for me, that’s, that’s everything because God’s goodness is so, he’s so amazing. And he’s so wonderful. And so when you get to see that, that tangibleness, like when you see heaven coming to earth and manifesting the glory of God in him touching people’s hearts in a way that we can even see with our, our eyes that that to me is it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s just the best thing in my life. It’s, it’s the joy of my life to see God’s goodness. So all three of you
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:17):
Graduated from the evangelism bootcamp with Daniel Kolenda Christ for all nations, and in the evangelism bootcamp, there was a lot of theoretical instruction in the classroom, and now you have taken that instruction in and put it into practice. So, so what are some of the things that you learned in the evangelism bootcamp that you’ve now really put into practice and you see, wow, my instructors really knew what they were talking about. So the easiest
Michael Seth Clifton (14:52):
One is, is engaging with the crowd is, is getting them to respond to something that you’re doing. So immediately coming out and, and, and waving and saying, hello, if you can hear me in the back, let me see your hands wave. And then also, like, I think when you were doing the call for salvation, you were like, okay, you over there on, in, in the tree or you over there on under the umbrella and things like that, if you can hear me, you know, and it just really engages everybody in, in what you’re doing. So if anybody’s attention to somewhere else there, they’re really focused on the message that you have.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:29):
Yeah. When it comes time for the, the alter call, you don’t want spectators, you want participators in. So some people think it’s just a show and they’re sitting back with their hands folded. And so I try to, to pull them in and say, guys, this is your opportunity to give your life to Jesus. Yeah. I think for me, voice projection was definitely a huge thing. It’s hard to replicate when you’re in a classroom and you have closed walls. And, but we had a whole section in the bootcamp dedicated to learning how to build your voice and push from your stomach and, and really be able to project and then not lose your voice, doing all of these things. So I think once I got in front of all those people, I realized why we train so much for it, because you don’t want to have a weak voice when you’re up there.
Joshua Hall (16:13):
Like it’s so easy to lose the attention of the crowd. And so, and then also connecting with the crowd was another big thing we learned. Even when you came, how do you engage with these people? And, and I think that was probably the biggest thing I learned from the crusade as well, is that this is a sea of individuals. And even being able to hear their testimonies and see God touching specific people like during the salvation prayer, you look, and you see that one person who’s weeping and really feeling the presence of the Lord. And you realize this is not just a group of, of faces it’s it’s individuals there specific people that, that Jesus wants to touch that night. So I think being able to see that the altar call was another big thing in, in bootcamp that I think applied here you don’t realize how dif ficult those can be until you’re really in front of a group of people and they don’t respond.
Joshua Hall (17:05):
And I, I think we all, we all had our initiation here where we’re learning the culture, we’re learning how to engage and you give the altar call and they don’t understand, and they don’t respond. So learning, learning here and, and being on field, I think all of these things have, have been really beautifully applied. So, yeah, so I would echo what both of Michael and Joshua said, you know, the altar call, the sermon prep, the voice projection, all these different things. I mean, it was, it was awesome to learn these things in bootcamp, but I’d like to take it a different route for me, there was a class that Daniel taught, I think it was the one of the last classes and it was on integrity, Melinda, Daniel Kolenda on integrity. And I remember
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:50):
That session, like it was yesterday, it was, it was really life-changing. And I think that has helped me a lot through this whole process. Especially being in a crusade director’s position, integrity matters most. And that, that session, I still have it recorded on my, on my iPhone. And then sometimes I’ll go back to it. It means everything, especially if you’re, if you’re, if you’re leading something, if you’re leading a crusade, if you’re directing something, if you’re over this section or that section, or if you’re doing seminars without integrity and without integrity things fall apart very quickly. And so that’s, that’s something that I learned from that, that session, but it’s also something that I learned watching you, watching Paul Mauer, watching everyone in Christ for all nations. I think without that we have, we have nothing in the ministry. And so that’s, that’s one of the most powerful things I learned.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:37):
Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s actually one of the characteristics of Christ for All Nations that has allowed them to operate at such a tremendously high level for over 40 years now is they have operated with absolute integrity in reporting of numbers, in how they deal with, with people. Because if you don’t have integrity, you can get away with that for like a week or a month, or, you know, one crusade, but word will spread. And so the reason for the success of Christ for all nations is, is that they have maintained a very high standard of integrity throughout their
Michael Seth Clifton (19:24):
Ministry. And then, and, you know, before that class, you know, I had been trying to model integrity for Jacob for awhile. So it was just, it was really great to see him come into his own, you know, after that we had a discussion and, you know, he was a little bit weepy. I was consoling him. Yeah, man, I love you, bro. But I wanted to say that as far as like the bootcamp and like how y’all prepared us can I get a little spiritual for a second? Is that okay? Okay. So I had so even Josh hall and I, we came from like lifestyle Christianity before we came to the evangelism bootcamp and in lifestyle. I mean, I would say that it’s 90%, annointing, you know what I mean? It’s 90% drawing on that and just surfing kind of with the Holy ghost.
Michael Seth Clifton (20:07):
And when I came to the evangelism bootcamp and we started to look at the craftsmanship of preparing sermons and seeing how important that these things were, I was like, Oh no, I was like this entire understanding and way of approaching this thing is so different. And I actually, I had a dream and I was driving a semi-truck right. And so I’ve heard, and I’ve seen it played out this way that, that often these vehicles are, are a sign of ministry. And I pulled up to this this shop and on the outside of the shop, it actually said oral Roberts university. And I looked inside and looked at some stuff. And then when I came back out, my was was a a bicycle. I hope this is going, it’s going somewhere. So my semi, so my semi was a bicycle. And what I understood from the Lord was is that you, before this anointing thing that you’ve been doing has been this big truck, but here’s the thing.
Michael Seth Clifton (21:00):
You have to become a child again. And you’ve got to learn about what ministry is from a completely different perspective, and it’s this education and it’s this craftsmanship. So you’re going to be, you’re going from this, this big truck to this little bicycle, but you need to do it and you need to start over and you need to learn things this way. And I think it’s just a very important message for many of us, because I think the anointing, you know, you, you drag on that, but you just don’t realize how important preparation is. And watching you, even in the way that you interacted with people on the stage, the way that you worked with the band, these details are incredibly important. Like the backstory, the backside of a crusade, like I had no idea, you have no idea, you just figure it all works.
Michael Seth Clifton (21:43):
And that’s just not the case. Like every single detail matters because any place, any little gate that you leave open, something can run through that and can cause a disturbance and can mess things up. So that preparation, whether it be sermon preparation, whether it be the fact that you just don’t want to have any even words that are unnecessary, you really want to know exactly what you’re going to say to get the response that you want to get from the crowd, because salvation is on the line. And I just, that was a completely new perspective for me. And it’s, it’s not just answer it’s foundational.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:18):
Yeah. The Holy spirit can be in the preparation just as much as he is in the moment. And in God’s a planner, he planned the marriage, supper of the lamb, thousands of years before it’s going to take place. He knew, he knows when it’s going to take place. So he’s planning it. And so I think that, that you need the anointing. If you don’t have the anointing, you’re not going to go far, but if you don’t have organization, you’re not going to go far either. And I really think we see this with Christ for all nations, because Reinhardt Bunky was so tremendously anointed, but then you also have the genius of Peter Vandenberg who came and brought organizational structure and, and brought just the, the, the other element that’s needed. And I think that CFAN has gone far because you have both the anointing and the, the organization.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:15):
And what’s really neat. I was talking to Peter Vandenberg the other day in, in, in CFAN is very close to going over the 80 million decision card being filled out Mark. And it may have been, I know he needs to check all the numbers and stuff, but it’s either this week or next week that they’re going to go over that Mark. And so it may have been Kahala that took, see fan over the 80 million market. And I hope it is when they figure everything and add up all the, the final numbers. But isn’t that amazing 80 million decision cards filled out. He said they started recording them. And in 1987. And so since 1987, what a tremendous privilege. And of course, Daniel Kolenda is now going for the decade of double harvest, 150 million souls. They started at 75 million souls. And so now they’re going for, for the double portion.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:15):
And I think that, that you guys are a very important part of bringing in that harvest because it’s going to take an army of evangelists to reap a massive harvest like that. And so let’s finish up the podcast just by praying for the people of Kohala here and praying for the fruit. Jacob, would you like to pray for the precious people of Kahala Lord, we love you so much. We give you all the honor and the glory and the praise. And Lord, I ask that you would continue to work here in Oklahoma, continued to work in all the pastor’s lives, continue to unify them like never before Lord, we thank you for what you did in this crusade. Thousands of people were set free, delivered and healed. Lord Lord. I asked that the heavens would continue to open and rain down on Coahoma, Lord touch every soul touch, every new believer and Lord, if there’s anybody else that hasn’t given their lives to Jesus, Lord, I ask that you would convict their hearts. Save them. Lord Joel, every man, Joel, every woman, Joel, every boy drawl, every girl drawl, every mother, every father to you Lord in Jesus name. I pray.
Joshua Hall (25:33):
Yes, Lord. We thank you for all of the souls that were saved here in this crusade and in these churches and in the streets, father, I ask that you would bless them, that you would keep them Lord, that they would become part of the church and the body of Christ that they would be United. We pray for the churches of Coahoma and of Tanzania. And we ask father that you would unify them, Lord that as they bring in all of these new Christians, would I ask that you would give them wisdom and discernment on how to disciple them? Lord, we pray for all of the people who are healed. We thank you for all of the miracles that you’ve done. Thousands and thousands were healed and were touched by you. So we pray blessings over Coahoma. We pray favor in Jesus’ name.
Michael Seth Clifton (26:20):
Lord, I just thank you for what you’ve done here, Lord, I just thank you, Lord. I want to pray Lord for the shepherds and for the sheep, Lord, Lord, it says in this day, Lord, that will have no need for a teacher, but will be taught by the Lord. So I thank you, Lord, that you would instruct Lord the pastors Lord and how to pastor the sheep, Lord God, and how to raise them up. Lord providing for them, Lord, everything that they need in order to seek and to continue to follow you, to have perseverance in the faith. Lord, ask you for gifts of faith, Lord God, for each of them, Lord, for what can be Lord in their families and in their homes, Lord and in their churches, God coming together. Would you just impart vision to them, Lord vision to the sheep Lord for their lives and for their walk with you vision Lord for the pastors and the bishops Lord for what you want to do Lord in their denominations Lord and in their churches.
Michael Seth Clifton (27:12):
God, I just thank you, Lord God that you would impart Lord your heavenly plans, your blueprints and your ideas. Even showing them Lord bigger things, the greater things that you have for them. Lord God, give I just thank you that they would begin to open their eyes Lord and see Lord what you see even as you see it, Lord God. And I thank you Lord for grace Lord, for them to believe and to begin to take these steps of faith, Lord God, to reap an incredible harvest for you, Lord God, so that they can walk Lord in the good things that you have for them from the foundation of the world, Lord, in the meaning and purpose that you created them for Lord, they can walk in those things, enjoy Lord and bless each other in Jesus name
Evangelism Podcast Host (27:53):
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