A Different Kind of Evangelistic Series

Last month I finished an evangelistic series where teams of two visited contacts in the community. 

This series was completely different than others I did in the past...

Normally when I do an evangelistic series, I usually preach. But this evangelistic series was not like that. Rather than everyone gathering in one place and listening to someone deliver a message, everyone scattered in teams of two to different homes visiting people and sharing a short message with them. Front porch ministry!
 
At their front porch or at the door of their apartment we:

• asked how they were doing;
• asked the question of the day;
• then we prayed for whatever was on their heart.

 
Then each evening all the teams got together in front of a high school to share their experience from the day and to pray together.

This was some real Acts type of thing happening. I had a blast. I really enjoyed partnering up with people and doing this. Most people never did this before, so this was all new territory, but they got to try it out.
 
In college I had the privilege to do field school, which is where you go out into the community and learn how to do evangelism. Last year I had the chance to take seminary students and have them practice doing evangelism in the community with me. One day one of the students and I were talking about how great that experience was to do consistent ministry like this. He had to get out of his comfort zone and he saw how God worked in such a mighty way. He told me,
“Every church member should have this experience.  Not just pastors. Imagine if every member did a practicum where they learned hands-on ministry?”
 
A lot of churches go door to door on an isolated Sabbath every once in a while. A lot of churches don’t ever do ministry outside of their church building. We did it every day for two weeks. And there were so many awesome stories.
 
Every single day God gave opportunities.

• One time I grabbed a Frisbee, walked outside, and a kid said “Frisbee!!!” I ended up playing Frisbee with his uncle and his family. A game of Frisbee turned into a prayer session. The uncle was so impressed he filmed the prayer with his phone and posted it on Instagram telling people about our church.

 

• In one instance, me and one of the guys from my church saw a pullup bar and decided to do some calisthenics (fancy pullups). Someone from the community saw and it became an entire conversation. That person told us “We need more of this. We need to see people and have that human interaction.” Then he proceeded to invite himself to my church. I didn’t invite him. He asked. That Sabbath he showed up and was excited to come again and get involved.

 
These are just two of many experiences where God opened up opportunities to be a witness. Every single day was another cool story.
 
I truly believe that when you pray for it and seek it, opportunities arise.
 
When Jesus walked this earth, he took a group of people and had these daily experiences with them. No wonder by the end of 3 years these guys were transformed and proceeded to turn the world upside down. Too bad nowadays we are content with simply a one-day-meet-up at a church service. And now not even that. Now, some just watch online. Christianity is so much more than what churches are doing right now. For the apostles, it was a daily adventure.
 
Imagine if church was like that. Imagine if after getting baptized, rather than just sitting on the pew or at a computer, we actually got active. Imagine rather than just running a nice church program or conducting a Zoom meeting we started connecting with people. I’m not saying that what our churches are doing online and the in person meetings don’t connect with people or don’t serve a purpose. I’m just saying when the disciples were with Jesus, you don’t read about all this programing and formality. You read about an adventure of ministry.
 
So…

• Imagine if people went out in teams of two like Jesus’ 70 disciples.
• Imagine if people went out solo-vigilante-style like Philip, the deacon.
• Imagine if people started treating the supermarket as a mission trip like Paul.
• Imagine preaching in a place that has different religious beliefs than you like Peter did.
• Imagine having group meetings in homes like the apostles.
• Imagine preaching outside like Jesus.
• Imagine being part of a crew that had three years of daily hands-on-training, like the 12 disciples.
• Imagine being part of a team, where everyone had to be active and a hundred percent committed.
• Imagine?!

To imagine that, you would have to imagine something very different than what church is today.
 
In 2021 I am assembling a team to attempt to be an Acts Model church. I don’t know what the results will be, but I want to try. I want to step out in faith and see what happens. With God’s leading and power something epic can occur.
 
If you are interested in being part of this movement send me a message.
If you don’t live in NY, but you want to pray for us and follow the story, subscribe to this Ministry blog and I will notify you whenever I update my blog and you will be able to keep up  with stuff that is happening with this endeavor. 

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Below I transferred over comments of testimonials that were made last month regarding this series.