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Young Evangelist Month...

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6042 **8/26/20 11:41 am**

I put this out on Facebook, but thought I would share it here, too.

Pretty much every minister I know got their start due to some pastor giving them the opportunity to start and hone their preaching skills.

Today, we almost don't have any evangelists (at least in the old sense) around any longer. I used to be able to list perhaps a score of evangelists in just my own state. Today, I can list about one, maybe two. And no more than, say, five in ALL states combined.

Part of that is due to the office of evangelist kind of going the way of the tent revival--i.e., it used to be a thing, but it's kind of dying out. I'm very sad about that, since I dare say that the vast majority of the membership of the Church of God (at least in the USA) was either saved in a revival, received the Holy Ghost during a revival, or otherwise was significantly shaped by revival.

Today, more and more, a "revival" means another pastor coming to your church to preach. There is some cause for that (as I have heard of men who have been burned by shady evangelists). But I wonder if in our zeal to prevent someone taking advantage of the flock, we have not eliminated one of the most effective means of stirring up a church and a community, and winning folks to the Lord....

In any case, it seems that if an evangelist has the blessing of his home pastor, that should carry some weight.

BUT I DIGRESS...

I am working on either having a month, or a once-a-month, or a once-a-quarter, etc., service where we feature a young evangelist. Yes, I would want to vet the evangelist. And, yes, we are a very small church that cannot afford to pay anyone much more than gas and dinner, but if someone wants to come--especially if they FEEL they are to come--I am hoping to have them come.

My dad--perhaps some of your dads--or you yourself--got their start in small churches that gave them an opportunity. I don't know of many new evangelists that get to start at North Cleveland, so to speak. But give them a chance...and God will bless you too!

In addition, I am working on doing a "Retired Minister" set of Sundays. I have used several retired ministers, and have found them to be a blessing. While there are indeed retired ministers who can spend too much time just rehearsing the past or criticizing the present, the ones I have had have always sought to bring a Biblical message.

Maybe you'd consider doing something similar?

(Hey, maybe we ought to have "Musical Chairs" Sunday, where every pastor preaches somewhere else!)

Acts-celerater Posts: 787 **9/1/20 4:01 pm**

Sadly Aaron, there doesn't seem to be much support for the Evangelist does there?

I say sadly, because the Evangelist is a powerful weapon in the fight against Satan. What a pity pastor's today choose to ignore most of them.
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“Hell will be filled with people that didn’t cuss, didn’t drink, and may even have been baptized. Why? Because none of those things makes someone a Christian.”
Voddie Baucham

FLRon...

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6042 **9/2/20 9:33 am**

So far as I know, in Florida there is just one full-time Church of God evangelist: Harold Hanks. I remember back in the old days--in the old Tabernacle--on the main floor at far stage right, the evangelists would often group together to fellowship and to speak with pastors who were wanting to book them for revivals.

It just seems that the "age" of the evangelist has largely ended in the Church of God. We have many "ministers" and "pastors," but you almost never hear of evangelists anymore. Happily, I do read of a few young one in North Carolina and the such.

For that most part, I fear that evangelists are going the way of the tent revival: It used to be a thing...but not so much any longer.

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 7307 **9/2/20 12:23 pm**

If Florida has only one Evangelist.

And it's Bro Harold Hanks.

Be very thankful.

Because you've got the best.

Harold Hanks is the best!
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Charles A. Hutchins
Senior Pastor SPWC
Congregational Church of God

www.spwc.church

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 5923 **9/2/20 10:11 pm**

We have several evangelists in Eastern NC.

Michael Ball, Jimmy Jones, Garrett Marchant and Danny Byrd are some I can think of off the top of my head. I've heard all of them minister except Garrett. He is the young man I mentioned who recently purchased a tent.

Danny Byrd was delivered instantly from a drug addiction in jail and gloriously saved. He is on fire for the Lord, and he is doing revivals wherever the Lord opens the doors. His wife Tina travels with him. You would definitely enjoy him if you like "old-style" Pentecostal preaching.

All of them are on Facebook except Jimmy Jones.
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