Reach - July, 2010

Reach North NSW Conference Evangelism News

JULY

2010 Why I Believe in Evangelism I believe in evangelism. That might seem like a no brainer. How could a pastor of God’s remnant church NOT believe in evangelism? It might surprise you, but I meet them all the time. When it comes to evangelism; there are believers, there are unbelievers and there are make believers.

For years I had difficulty understanding the parable of the labourers in the field. It seemed so unfair to me that the owner paid everyone the same amount no matter how long they worked. Then I realized there was a reward for those who worked longer in that they had the blessing of working along side the master all day long.

I believe in evangelism because God believes in evangelism. He tells us so in Matthew 28:19-20.

4: God’s Promise of Power. Before Jesus said, “Go ye therefore into all the world”, they were to wait and pray for God’ Spirit to fill them. Jesus knew they would never be able to accomplish anything without His power. This is still true today. This may be why so many churches have given up on evangelism. We know this is something we cannot do alone but we’re not really sure God will show up, so we don’t even try.

Let me share four reasons why I believe in evangelism.

1: God Goes Before Us. When it comes to evangelism, God goes ahead of us. God is already there. Before you even thought about bringing a friend to Christ, before you thought of praying for your neighbour or relative, before you ever thought of doing that evangelistic meeting, God was already at work.

As a layperson I started holding evangelistic meetings within the first year of my baptism. Twenty-five years and a hundred meetings later, there is one thing I have experienced in every meeting. God was working even before the meeting began.

2: God is the Primary Seeker of the Lost. Before any of us ever sought God, God was seeking us. In fact, that is the reason Jesus came to this earth. In Luke 19:10 Jesus says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” The parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son all remind us that God goes after those who are lost.

3: God includes us in His work. The Great Commission is not the great punishment, but a great privilege. God invites us to come along side Him in the vineyard to join Him in the labouring for souls.

It is important to remember what Jesus said just before and just after the command to go. He said, “All power is given me in heaven and earth” and “Lo, I am with you always even until the end of the world”. If there is one thing missing in the church today, it is God’s power. The church has busied itself doing a lot of good things, but we have neglected the most important thing; the very thing Jesus told us to do.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church started as an evangelistic movement. If we are ever to prepare this world for the coming of Jesus, we must recapture that spirit of evangelism. Jesus said, “This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to all the world for a witness unto all nations and then the end will come.”

Pr Bill McClenondon

In this issue...

DR KIDDER IS COMING TO NEWCASTLE

BAPTISMS SNOWBALL

EMPOWER WEEKEND AT YARRAHAPINNI

Armidale Church impacts their community “If it is going to be, it’s up to me” has a special sound when 140 people affirm their faith in their future at an All Power Seminar programme. It is fun in the follow up Reloaded programme to hear a room full of people say “I am” every time Leo Schreven says, “Who is responsible?” Even though he has not even asked them to repeat it after him.

The autumn claret and golden leaves were falling in Armidale as the UNE Lazenby hall was filling. Take a $42,000 budget, 38 volunteers, and one very motivational speaker filled with the Holy Spirit, put them in a regional country centre and you

get results.

After the four days with Leo Schreven and his All Power Seminar I have had more positive feedback than with anything I have been involved in since leaving mission work in Papua New Guinea. Spiritually unequally yoked families praising the Lord that they are now on the same page, many waist lines wasting away, long term financial planning taking on real meaning, people accepting the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time, recently bereaved folk forging and finding a new way to move forward: If you want excitement this is it!

For those who like stats a total of 190 people attended with an average attendance of 111 over the 4 days. There were about 90 Adventists who mostly came from interstate and all over NSW. They made up about 50 of the average.

There was a kids club which was well praised, two catered light meals and six sponsors with Sanitarium really doing their bit of the heavy lifting.

We now have the privilege of working with two follow up groups in Armidale, one in Guyra and Keith Jackson has one in Glen Innes. God lives – praise God. Pr Collin Dunn

Baptisms start to snowball from Newcastle All Power Seminar Baptisms of new believers are becoming a regular occurrence in the Newcastle area as people from the All Power seminar are discipled in the local churches.

In the last few weeks, five people have joined the church through baptism. At the most recent baptism of Melissa Leeman, another five people responded to the appeal made by Pr Mike Robinson to follow Jesus through baptism.

The Newcastle church Plant now has around 50 regular worshipers at Sabbath services.

EMPOWER Weekend

Creating Spirit Filled Leaders to Finish Gods Work We all had a really inspiring time at the Empower weekend held at Yarrahapinni May 21-23.

REVIEW: Empower the People Weekend Bill McClendon just makes sense!

Our guest speaker, Pr Bill McClendon blew us away with his stories and incredible focus he has for fulfilling the commission of Jesus. It was easy to see why Bill was the pastor of the fastest growing Adventist Church in the last decade.

He has allowed the Holy Spirit to use him as a lay person to achieve great things, which is the divine plan for all Christians.

We were blessed by the practical workshops run by Dr Murray House, Pr Loren Pratt & Pr Mike Robinson.

He hasn’t done anything spectacular or radical, other than grow a church exponentially in a place where you are not supposed to be able to do that. His methods are biblical, simple, and most importantly, effective.

Every time we ate we were raising money for Thailand.

One Accord led us in an inspiring time of worship.

Another highlight from the weekend were the different testimonies of what churches have been doing around our Conference. The success of the Newcastle church plant was a real blessing to hear. Everyone was amazed at what the Wauchope youth group were able to achieve by putting their trust in God and running their own evangelistic program.

A team from the Murwillumbah/Kingscliff region shared their story of their trip to the Western Highlands province of PNG to run an evangelistic program.

Grego Pillay blew us away with his testimony and singing.

Finally we all went home inspired to reach higher in the cause of Christ and to be more focused on reaching the lost.

Pr Justin Lawman

In the clutter of noise about the postmodern mind and the demise of public evangelism, he just believes that if God’s message keeps getting preached, God will keep sending people to hear it, and they will become Seventh-day Adventist Christians. Over six hundred baptisms in one church plant in a secular city in ten years, suggests that he might be on to something.

In 2 Corinthians 11:3, Paul said that he feared that the Corinthians church would lose “the simplicity that is in Christ.” For me, Bill McClendon, and the Empower the People weekend, reinvigorated me to unclutter my mind and just do what God has called me to do…and give God the opportunity to bless.

If you weren’t there…GET THE DVD’s!!!!

Paul Geelan

Empower DVD order form The 4 DVD box set of Bill McClendons talks from the Empower weekend are availabe to purchase from the Evangelism Department. at the Conference Office for $20 per box set. If you would like to purchase a set please complete your details on this form and send it to the Conference Office, PO Box 7 Wallsend 2285. Alternatively you can contact Alicia Cooke on (02) 4944 3211 Full Name: Credit Card Number:

Postal Address: Expirey Date:

Reach SUBSCRIPTION To subsrcribe to Reach for free complete the details below.

First Name: ____________________________________ | Surname: ___________________________________ Postal Address: _______________________________________________________________________________ Suburb: ___________________________ | State: ______________________ | Postcode: __________________ Email: ______________________________________________________________________________________ I would like Reach to be sent to me by: (please tick)

q Post q Email

Email your subscription details to: aliciacooke@adventist.org.au or post to: PO Box 7, Wallsend, NSW, 2287 Reach is published by the Evangelism Department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (North New South Wales Conference) Ltd. News items and photographs for the next edition of Reach can be forwarded to: PO Box 7, Wallsend NSW 2287, or email aliciacooke@adventist.org.au.