Evangelism Stories

The family has gathered. Clusters of people are scattered throughout the house, visiting with each other. The cooks have been doing their job in the kitchen. The wonderful aromas have been drifting through the house. And now it is time to eat. 

In this video John Boston talks about school evangelism. He says that in Australia they have a massive Adventist education system that is considered one of the best in the country.

You may be wondering why the Ministerial Association Team is going to Oshkosh. What do Pathfinders and the Ministerial Team have to do with each other? Doesn’t the Ministerial Team support and oversee pastors? Why do they need to go to the Camporee?

Two of my favorite activities during the International Camporee are the Compassion Projects and the baptismal ceremony. These programs give meaning and purpose to the Camporee. Let’s begin with Compassion. Jesus lived a compassionate life. Compassion was an integral part of His ministry. He was compassion in the flesh. Everywhere He went He demonstrated a compassionate attitude toward others.

The limited spinner pin collection of the North American Division Ministerial Association, which highlights the theme Chosenfor the International Pathfinder Camporee is coming to Oshkosh. The collection includes six luxury pins which will connect Pathfinders attending the Camporee with the mission and initiatives of the Adventist Church in North America.

As a minister, one of the most awesome opportunities we have is to preach the words of life to thirsty people.  So, it behooves us to do all we can to speak in a way that draws the heart toward Jesus, facilitates conviction, and moves the listener to action.  

The key word in Revelation 14:6 is “gospel.”  Simply put, the gospel is “good news.”  If we are not careful, however, we can misrepresent the gospel to make it something other than that. This is not an exclusive challenge for Seventh-day Adventists, but it is a significant challenge for Adventists for several reasons. 

Evangelism is the act of publicly sharing the good news of Jesus Christ by our words or actions. The Seventh-Day Adventist church holds strongly on public evangelism to the adult market, but what about the children? We have programs for kids such as Sabbath school, Vacation Bible School, day cares, summer camps, and even our Christian educational system. 

Why would anyone leave the comfort of their home and venture into a place that is uncomfortable, hostile perhaps, and unfamiliar? There are a number of reasons for making this decision and ways that can give Pastors insight into recruiting and mobilizing missionary volunteers –even factors that strengthen local church growth.

On the eve of the 2015 North American Division Year End Meetings I felt a bit hesitant and nervous. Pastor Dan Jackson, our Division President, had asked that we developed a bold missional vision for North America. Our team, in consultation with some of our Union and Conference leadership and several pastors, had a plan. During the days before the event we had spent a few hours making presentations to the Union presidents, and Union administrators, without a major pushback, but the next day was the day. 

In this video lay pastor Gilbert Caraballo tells the story of how he started the Remix Church in South Lancaster, Massachusetts. Growing up in a church that had no young people, Gilbert started realizing that the church in general needed something for the youth and young adults beyond what it was already providing.

Did you know there are over 58 cities or conglomerates with 1 million or more people in the North American Division territory? Perhaps, if I called some of these out, you would recognize them: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C, Philadelphia, Boston, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Las Vegas, Virginia Beach, Calgary, and Louisville among others, many others, there are 58 of them, with over 1 million people.Why are these cities and urban conglomerates such a big deal?

Chef GW Chew, founder of the The Veg Hub, a vegan restaurant ministry in Oakland California shares the secrets of how to create a Center of Influence in an urban context. He presents something amazing that God has been doing in Oakland.

In a few days Christianity and the world at large will celebrate and acknowledge a holiday, which commemorates perhaps the most significant event in the history of this earth, the death and the resurrection of Jesus. Many refer to it as Easter. 

When we look at the heart of the gospel, we must look at it from a perspective of relationship building. In this video Pastor Franklin talks about the importance of reallyconnecting with the community. He says that connecting with the community is not an appendage to the Gospel

I envision the day when our church will be known for our Compassion and Love for humanity rather than for the things we oppose. The day when this happens we will be in great historic company, we’ll be in the company of Jesus. Jesus was known for loving people of all walks of life and backgrounds, as He walked this earth. 

The purpose of these initiatives is not to intrude in the work that you are doing locally, but to ask for your cooperation in building a grand collaboration of effort and spirit for mission throughout this vast territory.

There is no substitute for proclamation! If we want people to learn about Jesus’ love and His grace offered freely to each one of us, sinners, we must not only show them with our actions but also tell them with our words. If we want people to understand the plan of redemption, and Jesus’ command to love others, as well as the hope of His Second Coming and a resurrection, we must tell them about these. 

In this video Pastor Hiram Rester presents the message One More. He starts telling the story of Janelle Guzman a woman who was pulled from the rubble of Ground Zero after September 11 terrorists attacks. She was under the rubble for 26 hours when she was finally rescued. 

The Adventist Church across North America has placed a great amount of emphasis and resources in planting churches. Nearly 600 mission groups - that’s how we call our new church plants - have been launched since 2015 till today in the United States, Canada, Bermuda, and the islands of Guam and Micronesia. Several of those new churches have been planted in the Rocky Mountain Conference.

In this video Pastor Hyvett Williams presents how to plant a community-based church. She explains that a community-based church plant is different from many other church plants.

“You are going to be the Associate Pastor for the Arlington, Falls Church, and Manassas Spanish Churches, in Northern Virginia. Although you will serve all three, your main responsibility will be at the Manassas Spanish Church.” Those were the marching orders from my Hispanic Coordinator, Pastor Ruben Ramos, right after my return from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary.

In this video, Pastor Bill McClendon and Pastor Paulo Macena are interviewed by Pastor Jose Cortes Jr. McClendon is the former Lead pastor of Ellicott City church in the Chesapeake Conference, and he talks about how the church grew from fifty members to more than two hundred members in only four years. 

Cristo es quien nos llama a ser sus discípulos y es quien promete conducirnos por ese sendero. Así siempre lo ha hecho y lo hará. Durante sus años de ministerio público Jesús invirtió mucho tiempo de definir claramente como es un discípulo y como es el crecimiento de un discípulo. De forma intencional Cristo dio definiciones de lo que es un discípulo para marcar un camino de principios y una ruta clara a seguir para todos aquellos que respondamos a su llamado. 

Cuando los bebés nacen, no saben todas las cosas, ni pueden saberlo. Necesitan ayuda. Lo mismo sucede con los bebés espirituales después de su nuevo nacimiento, el bautismo.

I do not remember when it happened, but there came a time I knew what the answer to a certain question was going to be before I asked it. The shock of the responses gradually became more of a depressing frustration. 

When babies are born, they don’t know everything, neither can they do everything! They need help. The same happens with spiritual babies after their new birth, the baptism.

Alrededor decinco añosatrás, 16 estudiantes de la AcademiaAdventistade South Lancaster, habían pedido ser bautizadosdurante una semana de oración.La ceremonia bautismal había comenzado  en la Iglesia Adventista de la Villa en South Lancaster, Massachusetts, cuando algo inimaginableaconteció.Nuestro hijo de 6 años, Joel, logró separarsede mi esposa Joanne, quién siempre lo cuida muy bien y lo mantenía al lado de ella,y corrió hacia la plataforma, y comenzó a escalar tratando de meterse enel bautisterio.

En este video, el pastor Wayne Krause presenta un problema que muchas iglesias plantadas enfrentan hoy: la pérdida de miembros de el grupo principal (core group). El Pastor Krause habla con los pastores sobre algunas claves importantes para mantener a su grupo principal en la iglesia.

These are horror stories told in Adventist pastoral circles and they all have to do with goals and the fear some pastors minister with, of course, none of these happened in North America. These stories disgust me, and I feel very bad knowing that many of my colleagues suffered and some still suffer this type of abuse from some church leaders. I think this is madness, which hurts our missional movement.