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Issue: 2
December/2008

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Evangeliving
ShareHim  wishes you a Merry Christmas and welcomes you to the second edition of Evangeliving: News and Networking for Outreach Leadership Teams. This newsletter will give you ideas and inspiration as you continue your efforts to evangelize the world for Christ.  Though this newsletter is primarily a resource for those involved in Outreach Leadership Teams in the homeland, we believe that the materials included will be a blessing to all who have a passion to share Him in their daily lives.  Please contact us at with any news or hints or testimonies that you have experienced, so that others can be inspired by what you are doing to share Him in your communities.  Is there a better time than NOW to be deliberate about and focused on sharing Him?
 
THE NEWS:   
Evangelism - Intentional?  YES!  But not "Mass-Produced"!

When mass-media appeared Adventists rejoiced because personal witnessing was a thing of the past. Each member only had to provide money and a few specialists would do the rest!

I have news for you!  Evangelism cannot be mass-produced.  At some point every unsaved soul must encounter someone who represents God and the message of salvation.  If a person watches a television program he/she can ask for a book or a Bible lesson.  But all media ministries will agree that unless a real-life encounter takes place with a child of God the seed planted is unlikely to germinate!

Furthermore, God designed the plan of salvation so our salvation and the salvation of another, are linked!  Paul wrote, “…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9 NKJV).  Both belief and confession are required. Neither is optional.  Our confession is evidence to us that our belief is genuine.  Both our salvation and the salvation of another are at stake!  Now you see, God designed that people would be saved one at a time!

But HOW do we identify those who might be interested in what I have to say, and then what?  Why not start with a few basic steps.  These are the steps we urge each church Outreach Leadership Team to practice:

  1. Write down the name of every non-Adventist you know, and beside it, write the word or phrase describing how you know that person.  I call this word or phrase the “context.”  (Examples: Neighbor, relative, co-worker, plumber, hair-dresser, etc.)

Robert Folkenberg Sr. 
ShareHim Director 
 

THE IDEAS:  
Evangelism - A Timely Plan of Hope and Peace

How will they know except someone tells them (Rom. 10:14)?  This question is always on our minds.

My wife and I have studied the doctrines; we know the Three Angel’s Message.  We know Jesus is coming soon and we want to share the good news.  We also know that people have a hard time giving their time to one more program.  So, we decided to try something new.  Our Pastor and Church members in Ukiah California supported our plan in using the ShareHim program to conduct a series of evangelistic meetings.

Past initiatives had been met with reserved response.  But times had changed and the world seemed to be facing even greater uncertainty.  Through a lot of prayer and low-cost advertising God blessed beyond our hopes.

The program was simple.  We picked twenty-two of the most appropriate ShareHim programs and announced an eleven day schedule with two programs each night.  My wife or I preached the first sermon, then we took a ten minute break, and the other one of us preached the second sermon.  We started at 6:30 pm and were done by 8:30pm.  We took two days off each week completing the entire series in fifteen days. God blessed.

Our regular visitor attendance averaged thirty-five, plus sixty church members.  The result: ten people asked for baptism.  The blessings continued as our church’s enthusiasm grew.  We eventually combined our efforts sending eleven people (ranging in ages from twelve to over sixty) to conduct an evangelism campaign in Costa Rica.

Our church sees the shortness of time and the blessing of glorifying God through evangelism. Our pastor and participants of the Costa Rica campaigns will host two upcoming series. One of the series will be in English and another in Spanish.  Time is short and God is using all of His people to finish the work.
  

Terry and Kathy Janzen   

 

THE TESTIMONY:
Our Journey...
 

Our family’s first introduction to the Adventist faith came in October of 2006, when I found a book in a grocery store that spoke out directly against my husband’s and my Baptist beliefs.  I went ahead and bought the book and gave it to my husband, Jon thinking that he would get a kick out of it.   But instead, the words written inside bore witness to things he was privately struggling with.  Scared, I disposed of the book and hoped it wouldn’t come up again.

A few months later, Jon felt impressed to visit his mom’s friend, Carolyn.  It was very strange though, because we barely knew her.  Nonetheless, we went to her home and she began to share her Adventist faith and videos with us.  We watched and learned all that we could over the next few months.

 In September 2007, we found the McDonald Road Seventh-day Adventist Pathfinder group and began taking our 3 daughters to the meetings.  They LOVED it and were welcomed with open arms.  In April, 2008 at a Pathfinder Camporee, LeClare Litchfield, the chaplain at Collegedale Academy, invited the young people to give their hearts to Jesus.  Madisson, our youngest daughter, decided that day to give her heart to Jesus and to be baptized.

A friend, Bob Folkenberg Jr., told me of Madisson’s decision and of evangelistic meetings that would be taking place and conducted by some of the youth in the McDonald Road church.  Our girls were excited about attending, especially since several of the speakers were close friends through Pathfinders. 

We attended most of these meetings and were so impressed by the courage and faith of the young people that spoke.  Through the messages and appeals, we knew that God was asking us to become members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.  Our entire family, my husband and three daughters and I, were baptized on June 14, 2008. 

We are so grateful to ShareHim and the impact this ministry has had on our lives and the lives of many and we have joined an OLT (Outreach Leadership Team).  We are committed to continuing to share what the Lord has done for us!

Shannon Ward,

 

THE TEAM:
We Prayed.  We Shared.
HE Blessed.

Our church family gathered and prayed together, several times, asking the Holy Spirit where He wanted us to go with our ShareHim outreach and it was amazing to see His plan unfold. Our prayers led us in choosing two ministries. One ministry focused on a local homeless shelter where we began serving food one Sunday a month. Through this service relationships are being built with the staff and homeless clients. 

The other ministry group formed we call “Reclamation Ministry”.  Our goal is to reach out to those who have stopped coming to church for various reasons. First, we prayed over a list of individuals for four months. Then we matched ourselves up with individuals on that list based on previous connections - even if the connections were minimal.  We started reconnecting by sending greeting cards and personal letters and by making home visits - all the while continuing to pray over each person.  How encouraged we were as we witnessed individuals and families come back to church. We were seeing the work of the Holy Spirit!

One outreach member visited a man who had been a family friend for years. That reconnection and personal invitation in the mail brought this man to the meetings. I believe his heart had been prepared through the many prayers that were offered up to heaven before he was even contacted.  For the first time in years, he began to attend worship service weekly and eventually chose to be re-baptized.  Yes, several baptisms and re-baptisms have resulted simply because our Church family cared.  The Holy Spirit was able to call people back to the Savior’s side through our willingness to reach out.

During this series, 16 church members participated in the 20 presentations. We all have expressed an interest in doing this again and several even commented that it wasn’t as hard as they thought it would be. A gentleman who was just re-baptized into our church on December 6, 2008, stated that his regular attendance of the ShareHim meetings was based in part on seeing members of the church body take part in sharing our message.  Amen.

Kris Guido,
Keith Sopp, Personal Ministries Coordinator,  
 

 
Please don't hesitate to contact us with any comments or suggestions for outreach. We welcome your testimonies and any ideas for witnessing that are working for you and your Outreach Leadership Team.
 
Sincerely,
 The ShareHim Team 
 
 
ShareHim | 5207 Silver Lane | Apison | TN | 37302 | USA
In This Issue
Evangelism - Intentional?  YES!  But Not "Mass-Produced"!
Evangelism - A Timely Plan of Hope and Peace
Our Journey...
We Prayed.  We Shared.  HE Blessed.
 
Links
 
 
 
 
The Challenge
The most solemn truths ever trusted to mortals have been given us to proclaim to the world.  The proclamation of these truths is to be our work.  The world is to be warned, and God's people are to be true to the trust committed to them.
9T  p.19
 
 
 
 
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