05.18.06
Reminders about Evangelism
That’s what we received at the Pastor’s conference earlier this week, hosted by Alistar Begg and the Parkside Church in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. It was my privilege to attend this 3 day event where the emphasis was on the church’s call to evangelism. We had 3 great speakers, Alistar of course who challenged us to ‘put the ball in the net!’, a reference to being productive, not just flashy in our preaching and witnessing. You will find a link to the conference here, in case you are interested in future conferences or downloads of the seminar in various formats. We were also introduced to 2 new speakers… Vaughan Roberts of Australia, and John Dickson of England. Yes, for those of us firmly grounded in midwestern dialects, our ears were treated to a wonderful variegation of other ‘tongues and languages’.
The benefits of the conference were many…meeting other pastors from across the world who share the same burdens and struggles that we face. The challenging array of books and other media given to us to help us grow into faithful pastors, shepherds and evangelists. The reinforcement of our calling to preach the word, and live for Christ. I am truly thankful for those who sacrificed so that we pastors can attend events like this and come back to our mission field refreshed and challenged to press on.
The bottom line of the conference????? Every person who has been regenerated by God in Christ Jesus…is an evangelist. Perhaps not with the ‘gift’ of evangelism, but we all share the command of Christ to proclaim the good news of the gospel, as He equips and leads us. I encourage you to check out the resources of ‘truth for life‘, the website devoted to leading people to Christ, and equipping them to follow Him daily. God bless you.
