May 21, 2012
Some years back, when I first began studying the art and science of leading people to a decision for Christ, I spent a lot of time shadowing people who had been unusually blessed with the gift of evangelism to see if any of their wisdom and experience would rub off on me.  I had a generous conference president who recognized my passion to become a more effective evangelist and assigned me to work with a number of prominent Adventist evangelists.  "Watch and listen carefully," he told me, "and learn everything you can, because some things can't be learned from a book."    

 

To that point, I hadn't come across anything you couldn't learn from a book, but he was right.  You don't learn the art of evangelism by reading about it; it's one of those things you only truly know by doing.  It's a little like bungee jumping: you can read all the physics books you want and assure yourself - mathematically - that an elastic cord will actually stop you from cracking your head on the bottom of the river.  But to truly know it, you've got to strap on the cord and jump.  As with everything else in the Christian experience, eventually, you've got to move from knowing to living, and that requires the sheer exercise of faith.

 

The months I spent with successful evangelists were unbelievably productive.  These weren't people who simply pontificated on the subject of reaching people with the gospel.  They weren't those who had merely written treatises on the topic. They were people who lived in the trenches and consistently demonstrated results over the course of years.  Their creels were always full of fish. 

 

The time I spent with these giants of Adventist evangelism only deepened my desire to become an effective soul-winner.  It made me fidgety, eager to try more.  Even when I was recently waylaid by an illness and found myself off the front lines for a while, I struggled with an incredible restlessness:  evangelists cannot be happy unless they are bringing people to Jesus.  

 

It also helped me avoid the manifold pitfalls that face new evangelists.  I still made some of the biggest mistakes in Adventist history, but at least I recognized where I had gone wrong after living in the shadow of great evangelists and was able to correct my course.  

So imagine what might happen if we could all rub off on each other.  That, in part, is what I hope to accomplish with Best Practices for Adventist Evangelism.  There are thousands of pastors on the front lines of outreach in the North American Division.  There are thousands of stories to tell, thousands of quivers from which to borrow arrows, and thousands of hearts being led by God into stronger and more effectve evangelistic ministries.  What if we had a place to share - to listen - to learn - to feed each other's fires?

 

So here it is.  A place where we can all rub off on each other.  Enjoy. And be sure to send us your best ideas. 
IN THIS ISSUE
How to Participate
Winning with New Immigrants
Finding Christ in Sin City
On Sabbath Morning Appeals
New York Evangelism Explosion
Tips from the Field
How to Participate in Best Practices for Evangelism

Not only is this the maiden voyage of Best Practices for Adventist Evangelism, it's also my inaugural attempt at serving as an editor - so I thank you kindly, in advance, for your patience as I grow into my new role. 

 

Here's what I'm thinking: each month, we'll include editorials and articles that share or illustrate a key evangelistic principle.  We'll bring you news about evangelistic projects and initiatives from across the Division.We'll hear from pastors who are actually in the trenches and finding solutions, and we'll take time to share our best outreach ideas with each other.  Find out how to contribute to the discussion here.

 

You'll find a few of the first "tips from the field" contributed by pastors on the front lines below!

 

San Diego Church Wins With New Immigrants
Will James, Senior Pastor Paradise Valley SDA Church.

How do you baptize more than eighty people a year without holding an evangelistic meeting?  By working hard in our community and caring for people, the Paradise Valley Church has been able to accomplish just that.  

 
Finding Christ in Sin City

It Is Written's month-long Revelation Today series by Pastor John Bradshaw concluded on Feb. 18, live from the Cashman Center in Las Vegas. Approximately 2,000 people attended the local meetings. Here are just a few of the incredible stories that unfolded in Sin City.

 

 

On Sabbath Morning Appeals
I recently caught up with Pastor Peter Neri (Paradise SDA, Las Vegas) backstage at the Revelation Today meetings in Las Vegas.  The night before, there had been a powerful altar call, building on the subject of how God finally deals with the unrepentant.  Pastor Neri shared his conviction that regular appeals ought to be a part of the Sabbath worship experience.  You can listen to him here.

Editor's note:  when I got back home with the recording, I discovered a high-pitched hum had been created by something in the room.  I attempted to filter it out, but alas, failed.  My apologies to those of you who are bothered by it.  Next time, I'll wear monitors when recording.  Promise
.  
Evangelism Explosion in New York City

One of the boldest evangelistic initiatives in Seventh-day Adventist history is unfolding in New York City.  Find out how preparations are going and how the church is stepping up to the challenge.  Read more here. 

 

 

Tips from the Field
Connection Cards

One of the trends I've noticed in recent times is that guests are becoming more and more reluctant to register when they come to our evangelistic meetings.  Too often, the first impression they get is a negative one -- "These people want my name, address, phone number, and email address, and I don't want to give them my personal information."

 

One way to get around this problem is to use a connection card as part of a voluntary registration process.  I've done this in the last 4 or 5 series I've conducted, and it works well in smaller settings -- for meetings with 150 people or less in attendance.  People are handed a connection card by the greeters when they enter the meeting.  (Or you can have your row hosts distribute these cards, if you use a row system--which I highly recommend.)  Sometimes I use different options on the back of the card for special nights--Sabbath, Baptism, etc... I just have to make sure that my greeters and row hosts don't get the generic cards mixed up with the special cards.


Click here to see a sample of the Connection Card, which is printed on heavy card stock. 

 

I offer a nice door prize each night at the END of the meeting.  We collect the connection cards after the appeal at the end of my message.  (The card is essentially a decision card and registration card all in one.)  To participate in the door prize draw, people give their connection card to the ushers who collect them quickly at the end of the meeting.  Then we have a draw to see who takes home the door prize.  The nicer the prize, the more motivated people are to voluntarily hand in their registration cards.  I've given away everything from $50 gift cards for restaurants or local stores, to iPods, and even an iPad.  (The iPad created a LOT of excitement!)

 

This system has worked well for me.  People come into the meetings a little happier.  And it sure gets rid of the registration bottleneck in the foyer!  The drawback is not everyone will register.  I usually get about 95% of our guests registering with this system.  As for the guests who don't voluntarily register, I will get to know them within a few nights by mingling with people over refreshments after the meetings.  (This refreshment time in the foyer is a powerful opportunity for our members to make friends with the new people who are coming to the meetings.)

 

Pastor Jeff Potts, Winnipeg, Manitoba

  

Virtual Adventist Church

 

Last October the church group took advantage of an offer by Linden Labs to purchase a new region to add to the existing island space at no setup fees. This saved the group a $1000.00 expense to expand the land. This was done in view of the funding we were allocated through Global Mission to help us with this outreach program. Since then we have relocated the church project to the new land and set it all up and have been holding the church services on the new land space. Pictures of the new church location are on the website at www.BibleProphecyIsland.com in the Adventist Community section on the home page. More about the Church operation is on the Church page from the main menu.

 

We opened a Church service for the USA time zones Feb. 4 with a regular attendance each week since. One of the student pastors attending Avondale gave a presentation to the staff and students of the Theology Dept. and obtained approval for the students to meet a portion of their preaching requirements by preaching in our virtual church. This is a double win situation as they must be able to preach and we need preachers each week for two English services. Local churches in range of the school tend to be over booked on preaching opportunities while we are lacking preachers. I have since contacted the Dean of the Seminary at Andrews about this and he has responded that he will discuss the proposal with the professors and see if any students may wish to try this from their school. So I hope to hear from them again soon. So our church project grows to supporting preacher training!

 

 I have also been in contact with an Amazing Facts evangelist to host a Revelation Seminar in June at our new location which can support up to 200 people attending. It will present some unique challenges in follow up contact management since none of the attendees will be "local" and will represent a number of countries around the world. Possible options will be using the Amazing Facts Bible School courses for follow up study and through that program connect them with local church pastors / conferences as the case may be. Once schools start in my Gospel Learning Center program it will also be a resource that can be used. Progress on the Gospel Learning Center programming is going well with the Translation Entry programming nearing completion so all the content and program pages can be translated into other languages and support SDA church organizations and ministries in school operation. More about that project at  www.GospelLearningCenter.com.

 

Anyone interested in helping with the SDA church project in Second Life can contact me and see more about it on the Bible Prophecy Island website.

 

Pastor Bob Curtice, Gospel Learning Center

 

Holiday Baptisms

 

What has worked best for me is scheduling baptisms on holidays. In 2010 Chistmas was on Sabbath so three months earlier I invited those who wanted to give themselves as a gift to Jesus on Christmas Day to be baptized. We baptized 7 on Christmas and 3 on New Years day. Last year we scheduled a baptism on the Sabbath before Easter. I know an Adventist pastor in Miami FL who has a sunrise brunch and baptism on Easter Sunday. 

 

Pastor Stephen Adessa, Clearwater FL

 

 

Send your evangelistic ideas to bpevangelism@gmail.com.  

See this article for guidelines on what we're looking for.

 

 
Best Practices for Adventist Ministry is published by NAD Ministerial. Editor: Shawn Boonstra; Managing Editor:  Dave Gemmell. Copyright 2012 North American Division Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists. v(301) 680-6418