This is the sixth and final part of Joshua Anderson’s Announcing the Kingdom evangelism class. In this panel discussion Josh Anderson, Jerry Wierwille, and I discuss several issues before taking questions from the audience.  Questions we cover include:

If you haven’t yet, check out the previous episodes in this six-part series here.

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We are living in an unprecedented time. As many of you know, I live in New York, the state with the most positive coronavirus cases in America. In my lifetime, I have never seen a disease spread like this all around the world. This pandemic is taking lives every day even if most of us who get it will probably recover in a week or two. We’ve seen hoarding and panic, but neither of these is fitting for Christ-followers in this time. Thankfully, we are not without guidance on how to behave in these times, for we have the scriptures, the example of Jesus, and the historical record of those who went through much worse plagues than COVID-19.

From all of this, I have come to see that we have been in training for this moment all our Christian lives. We have learned the priorities of loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves. We have learned to pray, to read scripture, to repent of our sins, to live out the fruit of the spirit. And we have learned that through Christ, God has decisively defeated death, leaving behind an empty tomb and rock solid hope in his return to resurrect the saints. This hope is not wishy-washy or nebulous, but the anchor of our souls–a concrete expectation that when Messiah comes, he will make everything wrong with the world right.

However, our unbelieving friends, neighbors, coworkers, acquaintances, and family members, do not have the example of Jesus. They do not have a hope to anchor them through the storms of life. They have only the news, their instincts for self-preservation, and the uncertainty of the future. Now is our time to let our lights shine before people so that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father who is in heaven. Now is our time to be salt, the seasoning that grabs attention rather going with the flow. Now is our time to share the good news with people who are asking the big questions like “What happens when I die?” or “What’s the meaning of life?” or “Is there a God?” This is your chance to practice cross-shaped love, self-sacrificial generosity, and heroic kindness.

Although, I’ve thought about interrupting this evangelism class, honestly, I can’t think of a better topic for your consideration today than this evangelism session. This is part five of Joshua Anderson’s Announcing the Kingdom evangelism class.  Today you’ll learn how to diagnose people’s spiritual condition, based on five thresholds that they typically cross on their way to becoming a Christians as well as how to handle objections. This approach will relieve pressure from you of thinking you have to convert someone in just one conversation and it will provide guidance to know what to do to help them along to the next threshold.

Now, I did want to mention that in this episode Anderson seems to equate the kingdom of God with the church. Although these two are obviously close ideas theologically, strictly speaking the kingdom arrives at the second coming. We are the citizens of the kingdom who preach the gospel of the kingdom while living out the kingdom ethics in anticipation of the kingdom, and there’s no question that the Jesus is already the crowned king who has inaugurated his kingdom in seed form, but we await his return for the consummation when the meek will inherit the earth and God will heal our world. So, I just wanted make that point that the kingdom is still primarily future.

In light of the topic of evangelism during the pandemic, I’m interested in hearing your stories. Have any of you seen opportunities to testify about your faith or open doors to speak to folks in this crazy time of pandemic? How have you been dealing with it? Leave a comment below or check out our facebook group.

This is part four of Joshua Anderson’s Announcing the Kingdom evangelism class.  Francis of Assisi allegedly said, “Preach the gospel at all times; use words if necessary.”  Sadly, many of us have taken this way of thinking as an excuse to remain silent.  However, as Anderson points out, the scriptures specifically call us to open our mouths and use words (Romans 10).  In fact, remaining silent can actually disprove Christianity, especially if you work really hard to show Christian love, but never mention your faith.  People will assume you are a well-adjusted non-believer and may even use you as an example of why they don’t need to look into Christianity!

In this episode, Anderson shares two secret tools of the missionary craft that he learned when he went off with his family to be missionaries in Japan. The first is running a language route and the second has two do with parties.  I don’t want to give a way too much, but these common sense strategies have the potential to get you back on track reaching people with God’s love.

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This is part three of Joshua Anderson’s Announcing the Kingdom evangelism class.  In the previous teaching we learned what evangelism is not as well as some ineffective methods to avoid.  Today, we’ll hear about what evangelism is and one key to sharing your faith more effectively.

Anderson also explains the history of how our culture shifted from seeing religious matters as objective to subjective.  The end result is that people now see evangelism as rude and inappropriate.  Knowing this can help us navigate the challenges of sharing our faith authentically today.

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Today we are gong to hear part two of Joshua Anderson’s Announcing the Kingdom evangelism class.  His topic is “What Evangelism Is Not.”  Evangelism is not forcing a decision, converting people, condemning people’s sins, or arguing endlessly.  This material is critical for us to grasp so we don’t get frustrated or stuck in ineffective methods.  We do well to keep in mind that whatever your evangelism system is right now, it’s perfectly designed to keep getting the same results.  Do you want to see different results?  Then you have to change something!

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How do you feel about evangelism?  Do you have a heart for the lost?  I know that for me, sharing my faith is pretty challenging, not because of a lack of commitment or a lack of knowledge, but because my culture makes it difficult.  And that stinks, because I want to be faithful to Jesus who commissioned us to make disciples of all nations.  I want to do that.  But, many times, I’m not sure how.

Today we begin a brand new class on evangelism that is going to cover what evangelism isn’t, what evangelism is, and how we can get better at it.  Our teacher is Joshua Anderson of Rogers, Arkansas who recently got back from Japan after serving there as a missionary for two years.  Anderson has a bachelor of arts from the University of Arkansas, a master’s in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a second master’s in philosophy from Talbot at Biola University.  He’s an expert on apologetics and Christian philosophy and has varying degrees of proficiency in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Spanish, and Japanese.  Not only is he well educated and super intelligent, but he has the gift of explaining topics in a way that is easy to understand.

I think you are really going to enjoy this.  This class totally shifted my paradigm on how I think about and carry out evangelism and I think it will help you as well.

Here’s the handout for this class:

Download [522.10 KB]

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Have you ever heard of Bethany Christian Services?  They are a large Christian adoption agency in the USA and internationally, working hard to find good homes for babies.  In this interview I visit my local branch in Latham, NY and speak with adoption specialist Renee Rogowski about how adoptions work.  I’m so impressed by the work she does and how Bethany provides an alternative to abortion in our country.  In fact, Christian couples have signed up throughout the US to adopt children born with drug addictions, disabilities, birth defects, and even babies who won’t live beyond a year!  Although you don’t hear about this in the news, so many are self-sacrificially putting into practice the teachings of Jesus by loving and investing in these vulnerable children.

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How much control should Christian groups exercise over their people?  Should people be free to research and diverge from past ways of thinking?  In this interview, I talk with William Barlow who grew up in the Way International, but ran into problems when he started suggesting changes to the administrators at the Way Corps leadership training program.  After three and a half years of attending, when he was just a few months from graduation, they dismissed him from the program, dashing his dreams of becoming a minister.  Thankfully his story did not end there.

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Last week John Truitt began discussing the theological framework of dispensationalism, especially the “mid-Acts dispensationalism” taught by the Way International.  He pointed out some flaws that got his attention and made him explore the issue more deeply.  In the course of his research, Truitt discovered another way of approaching scripture known as covenantalism.  In this episode he explains his covenantal approach with special emphasis on the new covenant, including the responsibilities and benefits of this new way of relating to God.

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Have you ever been on a long drive in the summer when you wore sunglasses for hours and hours?  It’s getting dark and then suddenly you realize you’re still wearing sunglasses.  You take them off and the whole world brightens and  you realize it’s not nearly as dark as you thought?  This is the nature of looking through a lens–it colors your perception of reality.  Today, we are beginning a two part series to talk about lenses through which we read scripture.  What’s your hermeneutic or interpretation strategy?

Today we’ll focus on the view known as dispensationalism, championed by Dallas Theological Seminary, the Way International, many Baptists, Charismatics, and non-denominational churches as well as theologians like Charles Ryrie, C. I. Scofield, and E. W. Bullinger.  We’ll get into what this system entails in just a moment, but let me first introduce my guest.

John Truitt grew up in California and Texas converting to Christianity as a Methodist at 14. After a few years of not attending church, at 21 he converted to biblical unitarianism in the shadow of the Way International through an ex-Way group and learned to read the bible in line with classic dispensationalism.  Later on he joined Spirit and Truth Fellowship and even served on the board for a number of years.  After this, Truitt co-founded Allegiance to the King, a web-based ministry with over 150 video teachings, regular virtual church video-conferencing meetings, and an annual young adult event in Kentucky.  Truitt is also the founder and owner of Kalleo Technologies, a managed IT service provider company, based out of Paducah, Kentucky.

Today he’s going to talk to us about dispensationalism.  Whether that’s where you’re coming from or not, this interview should broaden your understanding of the topic.

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