An important aspect of the heart of Jesus always has been, and continues to be, “to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). He gave various Ephesians’ 4 ministries to “equip the church” to embrace the various aspects of His heart (Ephesians 4:10-16). He wants an evangelism engine running in each local church so they embrace His desire towards the lost.
The C2C family recently held a gathering in Odessa, MO with E4 Evangelist for two days of “equipping” in the area of evangelism so we can embrace His mandate to “seek and save the lost.” Here is an account of the gathering by Bud Shepherd, one of the leaders from the church in Odessa.
“Just imagine what it would be like to put 70 flaming torches together into one intensive fireball. That’s what it was like at the C2C “Evangelism Summit 2” held in Odessa, Missouri this May. When about 70 evangelists and leaders from 17 different groups across the nation came together to share Jesus, something explosive took place.
Hearts ignited together as Doug Kreighbaum, in his keynote message, called each one to “keep the evangelistic engine running” in the local church. This involves more than just “doing” evangelism. It integrates the nature of evangelism in every believer through furnishing them with instruction, mentoring, and relationship. It’s about “being” so evangelistic that your life imparts inspiration and motivation, a fire that ignites the local church into “being” evangelistic all the time, causing the engine to roar. Evangelism is not just one slice of the whole. Instead, it’s one of the ingredients of the fullness of Christ, along with the apostolic, prophetic, teaching, and pastoral ingredients. Like a cake, when blended together and then bonded together after being baked in an oven, each bite reflects the nature of each ingredient. When one ingredient is lacking, it affects the whole outcome. Doug powerfully encouraged this fiery lot of leaders to step up in the power of the supernatural; and like in Acts 4, the Lord will extend His hand to heal and deliver, even in the midst of a society filled with adversity, opposition, and threats.
As the Summit continued, noted evangelists, Glenn Middleton and Jim Morgan brought special attention to dealing with the demonic. “Jesus only dealt with demons that indwelt a person.” The demonic objective involves taking control of people. We are called to “set the captives free”. Through very clear biblical instruction and amazing testimonies, an atmosphere of compassion began to fill the entire event. The sessions began to gather momentum one by one. During the breakout sessions, recognized evangelists from local churches began to share about the current working of the Holy Spirit among each one of them. Methodology was never emphasized. Instead, the heart of Jesus became the focus as each evangelist gave witness to the Lord opening fresh avenues of evangelism indigenous to their location. Winning souls and discipling them in the context of family is causing fruit to also bear fruit.
Many of those who attended the Summit were mutually challenged as hearts began to awaken to new possibilities that tap into the limitlessness of God’s nature. Truth and fresh passion closed the door to the enemy’s lies, and opened the way for holy boldness. Times of teaching and revelation included “netting” with the family of God, being the life of the party, and controlling the thought life, leaving no room for darkness. Worship, prayer, and prophecy were woven into each meeting, joining people in a desire to further God’s kingdom. Several experienced new freedom as demonic strongholds were broken, followed by Holy Spirit impartation and empowerment.
Sunday morning concluded with high energy praise interlaced with meaningful intimate worship. The Lord is enthroned on the praises of His people. His government and His peace increased still more. Glenn Middleton charged every person to set evangelistic goals, and even inspired the children to do the same. But fulfilling those goals requires a person to be alert and attentive to the Holy Spirit at work every day in the common place. And as a result, families will expand, children will have God encounters, and Christ’s Kingdom will be revealed in the earth. This is the prayer and heartbeat of all who lift up their eyes to see that the fields are truly white for harvest.