Michigan Camp Meeting 2016: The Harvest is Great

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

SPARK: How to Start a Fire for the Lord in Your Church

Olan Thomas

SPARK: How to Start a Fire for the Lord in Your Church- Part 1

Our Father and our God, we have come here to seek wisdom, to seek direction from you.

It is written as a ministry dedicated to promoting the advancement of your gospel.

The Michigan Conference and each church that we represent has the same goal and the same mission.

And Lord, we're here for these few minutes together to learn how to better, how to more effectively present your message to those around us.

Lord, we need tools, we need wisdom, we need training, whatever it is, provide it for us.

Bless us as we share these moments together in Jesus' name.

Well, It's a privilege for me to be here.

I just arrived yesterday, so if I'm a little blurry-eyed this morning, you'll know why.

We've been traveling a little bit the last week or so, and that's part of life at It Is Written.

I've pastored several churches here in the Michigan Conference.

Then they drug me into planned giving ministry at the Michigan Conference.

And after a while from there, I received a call to it as written.

And God seemed to definitely indicate that's what I should do.

So That's where I've been now for almost 8 years, 8 years and just a few more weeks.

It's always a privilege though to come back.

I was born just up the road here, up in Hope, Michigan, Edenville, Michigan.

This is my brother and his wife, by the way.

Glad to have them here from Ohio right now.

And so we will have some exciting things to share with you.

I have today, tomorrow, and Friday with you at this period.

So if you can put up with me, you're welcome back.

We have a lot of neat stuff that'll be coming up as well, even after today.

So today is just sort of a, excuse me, an introduction to get us started.

Feel free to pick up the handout as you come in.

Really what we're trying to remind ourselves of is the old principles, the old things that work.

It's amazing how we come along with all this new technology and new stuff, and we end up finding sometimes it's the stuff we used to do that works.

For example, our father had the old reel-to-reel tape machines.

Some of you younger people have never even seen them.

You don't even know what I'm talking about.

It's quarter inch tape, they were recorded on big wheels.

Big wheels, some big, some about 8 inches.

So you had to carry this 30 pound machine into someone's house just for audio, just so they could hear it.

And then of course we came along with the Duquesne projector.

People are busy, people don't have a lot of time, people just want a friend and they want to know God's word better.

This is how to do a Bible school in your church.

Now Pastor Jim called it an It Is Written Bible School.

You can call it your church Bible school.

The advantage of being connected with It Is Written is You not only get the direct interest that your church generates, but you get any interest that it is written generates.

What do we need to know as we think about evangelism?

When I say the word evangelism and we're an Adventist audience, what do you think of?

We just don't know what date it'll be, but it'll be in October, it'll be September.

What we want to talk about for about 30 minutes is evangelism is really continuous.

So you go home from here and you begin doing evangelism.

And so we're gonna talk firstly here about the evangelism cycle.

This is an exciting thing if you've never heard it before because Evangelism is not an event.

For so many years, we've been depending on evangelism events.

We invite Pastor Bradshaw to come to the Detroit area, do an event.

And so we're going to do evangelism and we're going to reap souls and we do, it works.

But how much more powerful would it be if we had prepared for, we had followed the cycle of evangelism and had had that series of meetings just like they used to do as reaping meetings.

It's what they do in the South American countries.

The church members are working, doing small groups and different things.

Then the Evangelist comes for about 10 days and helps those people make decisions.

But they've already been informed, they've already learned, they've already got friends in the church.

So it's easy for them, easier I should say for them to make that decision and come in and follow through and be part of it.

What we want to talk about is how it's a cycle.

It's something that goes on continuously.

And we're going to look at some Bible, Luke 8 for that.

Would someone read, you can read it right off the slide there.

And when much people were gathered together and were come to him, other than every city, he spake by it.

A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.

It fell upon the rock, and as soon As it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.

And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up, and it was with it and choked it.

And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bear fruit a hundredfold.

And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?

And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to others in parables, that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

Now the parable is this, The seed is the word of God.

Those by the wayside, are they that hear, they then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should leave and be saved.

SPARK: How to Start a Fire for the Lord in Your Church- Part 2

God and Father, we accept your commission as saints, meaning that you live in us.

Thus, we represent you to those around us.

So today, as we think about how, some of the mechanics even, of how to organize ourselves for more efficient service.

Give us efficiency, wisdom, thoughts after you, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Let's see if this thing will work for us.

Now you could take It Is Written now or you can leave It Is Written in, it doesn't really matter.

But how would you do a local church Bible school?

You've seen the It Is Written Bible lessons.

You understand that the It Is Written Bible lessons are not necessarily designed for correspondence.

They're designed for face-to-face or you know sharing however, but why is that?

You should be able to answer them using the Bible verse.

So they don't have to be mailed in to be corrected or anything like that.

It is written, and I work for It Is Written, as you know, so I can only speak for It Is Written specifically, but it is written when they designed these, they said, we will not have a correspondence school.

It's very expensive, it's a lot of work, let me tell you, a lot of work.

And so they designed these so that they would not have to be handled in a correspondence method.

John's in Williamston, some of those members are here, we looked into the Discover Bible School.

And I'm only making a comparison here, there's no criticism, you understand.

The Discover Bible School, I don't know, maybe they've changed it even.

But at that time, basically you needed about a half-time person just to manage the materials and the stuff that you needed to operate the school.

Because for every 2 lessons or 3 at the time, there was like an answer sheet that had to go separate.

There was a special envelope, a special appeal card, and you had to stock all of this stuff so that you would have it when you needed it, and so we opted against going that way.

With this, I'm here to tell you, it's simple and inexpensive.

So what we're talking about really today should be titled probably Evangelism on the Cheap.

What do you need to do an It Is Written Bible School?

I'm going to tell you and then I'll tell you again, okay?

So you don't have to order that special, right?

Now you may have to order a few for your interests.

But you need lessons and you need people to follow up.

Well, you need the Holy Spirit in prayer.

Students, right, people to take the lessons.

And we're gonna talk about all of that as we go along.

We know generally speaking, people do not join the church just because we're right.

People join the church because they like you.

They come because they feel like we're right, but we also are friendly.

We're people who can help them, encourage them.

People need to connect with people in the church.

So, how do you start an It Is Written Bible School?

Yesterday we talked about evangelism teams, right?

Where you join together in a little group and you pray for God to lead you.

Pretty hard to do alone because if you do a mailing or anything you're probably going to get more interest than 1 person can handle.

So you need a little team, a little group.

Doesn't have to be a formal group in the church, doesn't have to be elected by the church board or any of that, but a group of you in a region or a church that are wanting to do something for God.

We're going to talk a little more about that in a moment.

You need the Unwritten Bible Study Guides.

Of course you should speak to your church leadership, your pastor, head elder, some don't have pastors, so talk to the head elder.

And then of course you need the students.

So we're going to look at each of these briefly.

The great mass of mankind, great mass of mankind are engrossed in the things of this life.

Amassing wealth, whatever, engrossed in the things of this life and divine truth can find no abiding place in their hearts.

And yet all the blessings, benefits, blessings, all the blessings which the world can give fail to satisfy the wants of the soul." Is it true?

So they're amassing everything they can, trying to rely on this.

SPARK: How to Start a Fire for the Lord in Your Church- Part 3

Father God, you've blessed this church with ministries like it is written.

You've blessed this church with local congregations where when people are interested, they can come and not only learn truth, but also be enveloped in the arms of those who love you.

May we be those people who have those open arms to receive those new newcomers.

We know you're gonna bring many to us as we set about seeking to invite others in.

Bless now as we share this time together in Jesus' name.

All right, so what do you do while you wait?

Yesterday we talked about mailing out the interest cards, right?

If the cards have been mailed out, that's an important time to pray, isn't it?

That that card will drop in the box, maybe on top of the other mail.

Or when they bring it in and throw it on the table, it'll land right side up, whatever that means for them.

We can be specific about this, that God will guide those pieces as they come into that home through that mailbox.

We need to pray for the postal service, that they'll in fact deliver them.

The postage has been paid, how can they do that?

Anyway, so it underlines, doesn't it, the importance of praying as we know this mailing is taking place.

Then of course you have your evangelism team we talked about on Wednesday, your little group that's armed and ready, so to speak, that's prepared for when those interests come.

You're going to be prompt, able to be prompt in responding to those interests.

You have your supplies, the Bible guides you need, which is really all you need.

Maybe some other literature that you could share, Steps to Christ or something.

Most churches have plenty of those in the closet, so you don't have to worry too much about those kinds of things usually.

And then become familiar yourself with the lessons.

Make sure you know what's in there before you try taking it to someone else.

If they say to you, does this talk about?

You can answer that question because you know what it talks about.

You've taken the 20 minutes to review that lesson.

And that's a rule, by the way, always before you go with that lesson.

You must know what's in there, otherwise you could be a bit embarrassed and that would be unfortunate.

So become familiar with the lessons yourself, that is you, your little evangelism team.

And I mentioned last time that you could set up a video orientation, not with me, but with somebody at the office that really knows what they're talking about, that would help you maybe, how to do some of these specific steps.

And then of course, continue to pray and trust God and success will come.

So we talked about this before based on our past experience.

You can expect from 5 to 10 responses for each thousand that you mail out.

So you can base your preparedness on that sort of a ratio.

So the process is we're gonna call her Betty.

She received whichever 1 of those cards you chose to send out.

The Holy Spirit speaking to her heart, she feels impressed to sign and fill out that card.

She tears it off, drops it in the mailbox, no postage necessary.

Well, as you know, it goes to It Is Written.

It Is Written has a special person already in place to anticipate those cards.

When the cards come, she will scan them so it can never get lost.

So if you say, I had a card for Betty but I can't find it, Can you help me?

So Betty receives the mailer, she fills out the card, places it in her mailbox, the card goes to Chattanooga, Tennessee, that's where it is written's office is.

The card is sorted and scanned there, in other words, our employee will scan it so we have a permanent record for you and look at that.

They will mail that card immediately directly back to the contact person in your church.

Whatever contact person in your church has been registered as the 1 to send these to.

If that contact person has email, they will email it.

So that...exactly, that's the next step here.

You've gotten the card, not just an email, but the actual card from Betty And you're excited because you spent a couple bucks, but you now have your first Bible study interest.

Now, of course, we all know there are lots of circumstances that can happen, but Betty asked for it.

So you and your partner, spouse, your partner from church, whoever it is, you take Betty's car and you pray over it, right?

Lord help us to arrive at Betty's house at a good time, not when she's paddling the child.

So you go on Sabbath afternoon, rather for your lay activities, your layman's, your layperson's activity.

Well, you don't necessarily have to dress even like me today, But dress nice, especially clean and a little bit professional so they know you're not just wanderers, you know.

Hers won't say free of course because it is free.

That way if the husband needs to leave, you're not parked behind him or something like that.

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Series

SPARK: How to Start a Fire for the Lord in Your Church

SPARK: How to Start a Fire for the Lord in Your Church- Part 3

Transcript

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Parts

SPARK: How to Start a Fire for the Lord in Your Church- Part 1

1h 13m

SPARK: How to Start a Fire for the Lord in Your Church- Part 2

1h 10m

SPARK: How to Start a Fire for the Lord in Your Church- Part 3

1h 1m

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