An evangelist is a Gospel-er. He is especially gifted by God in the bold, articulation of the Gospel to both the saved and the lost. The evangelist was given to the church for the purpose of equipping the saints for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4). The Gospel to the saints is the message of revival—the Christ life in you! The Gospel to the lost is the message of evangelism—you need Christ! A true revival will always affect the lost. Whether the saints are being equipped to reach the lost, or the lost are coming to the evangelistic meetings, or both, the lost will be impacted for Christ in any true revival. The evangelist specializes in this evangelistic, revival work.
What has God called me to do as an evangelist?
My burden from the Lord is to be an evangelist in the true since of the biblical term, without any preconceived ideas of my own influencing my understanding of the gifting. An evangelist’s business is the Gospel. He must preach the Gospel or he cannot survive. Some have said that the true “biblical” evangelist is exclusively a missionary church-planter. I believe that this is an over-reaction to the “modern-day” evangelist and his week-in-week-out meetings that are sometimes as short as Sunday through Wednesday. Although my understanding of the gift of the evangelist does not go as far as to relegate the gift to only a missionary church-planter, I do believe that the “modern-day” evangelist does not completely fulfill the entire scope of the biblical evangelist.
I have had multiple opportunities now to be involved in several Christian schools’ “Spiritual Emphasis Week” or school camp. The idea is that the Christian school needs some good, concentrated preaching to keep them on track spiritually, or get them back on track, whatever the case may be. I am all for these kinds of meetings. They are much needed in our schools today. I wish there were more of them. However, when it comes to the local church, I believe that we are in need of more than a “Spiritual Emphasis Week” once or twice a year. Essentially, most local church revival meetings amount to about the same thing as a “Spiritual Emphasis Week.”
Spiritual Emphasis weeks are needed in our local churches as well, since there are many issues that need to be addressed if the church is to function in its biblical role. But, are these “Spiritual Emphasis Weeks” revival meetings? They could be, but most are not. Most of the time, there is no expectation of a genuine revival. The pastor and people certainly aren’t expecting a revival because if God were to mightily move, it would disrupt their schedules too much, and they may have to reschedule some Christian School football games. Most pastors just want, “a good meeting.” What is “a good meeting?” A good meeting is when a decent crowd is sustained for the duration of the week, a few visitors come out on Gospel night, a few decisions were made, and a few people got saved. That is a good meeting. But is that a revival?
Many evangelists are not prepared for a revival either. For one, if God were to mightily move, they would typically not be able to stay on at the church because of prior engagements immediately following. Also, many evangelists simply can’t afford to have extended meetings because their livelihood depends upon their receiving weekly love offerings. A two-week meeting generally would not bring in as much income as two separate meetings. This limits the evangelist to week-in-week-out meetings almost exclusively. To their credit, many “modern-day” evangelists do go on extended missions trips, but very few attempt in the states what they do overseas.
Week-in-week-out meetings are necessary at times. Missions conferences, family conferences, prophecy conferences, or just “get-right-with-God” conferences should definitely be a regular part of the church calendar. These kinds of meetings are not always lead by evangelists, however. Many times, retired pastors speak at these kinds of meetings. I am not discrediting what they are doing at all. I am simply saying that it takes more than itinerancy to be an evangelist—it takes a gift from God. While there is much need for these kinds of meetings, there is also a great need for evangelists to conduct revival meetings that turn into evangelistic meetings that will continue as long as the Spirit outpours His blessing.
My burden as an evangelist is to be more than itinerant, although I do plan on functioning itinerantly. My burden as an evangelist is to be more than a guest speaker, although I do plan on taking speaking engagements such as I have already described as God opens those doors. But, primarily, my burden as an evangelist is to be used of God in helping churches reach their communities for Christ. Whether this means helping to establish new churches, or link up with existing churches, my burden is that the reviving presence of God would visit His people which would result in churches being turned inside-out into their communities, reaching them publically with the Gospel.
My burden is essentially threefold (not listed in order of importance): 1) to be involved in starting churches, 2) to preach for revival in existing churches, and 3) to lead churches into reaching their community publically.
1) To Be Involved in Starting Churches
This cannot be done without linking up with a man to pastor the new church plant. My goal is to form a “team” with a pastor who shares my ministry philosophy like Barnabus and Saul in the book of Acts for the purpose of raising up a local church to the glory of God. My methodology is not to find the unchurched Christians or the dissatisfied Christians of the area, but to start the church through the salvation and discipleship of new believers (Acts 2:42) as they are won to Christ through bold, confrontational, and public evangelism. Some of the methods I would use would be door-to-door evangelism, street preaching (where possible), open-air evangelistic meetings, tent or rented hall evangelistic meetings, and other uncompromised means as the Spirit leads.
2) To Preach for Revival in Existing Churches
There is a lot of carnality in Christian churches today. There can be no hope of revival until Christian people get right with God. No amount of training can get a church soul-winning until they are living in personal and corporate revival. My burden in preaching to local churches is to preach until the meeting naturally turns the corner to being an evangelistic meeting where the Gospel to the lost is the focus. If God is in it, I will gladly take any opportunity to preach for revival in local churches regardless of the duration of the meeting, but I would prefer that the meeting not be overly “hemmed in” so as to stifle the Spirit’s ability to lead.
3) To Lead Churches into Reaching Their Community Publically
This begins with preaching for revival so that the people are in a place that they can pray and proclaim the Gospel with confidence. My burden is to teach them about prayer, and to lead them into real revival praying. This is coupled with training in aggressive soul-winning via classroom evangelism training and hands on evangelism training. Depending upon the location, street preaching may or may not be in order. Regardless of the location, public venues are always a great opportunity for the local church to reach the community with the Gospel. A tent meeting or rented hall meeting could be done as well, depending upon the Spirit’s leading. The point is that every local church ought to be known as a bastion for the Gospel in their area.
