Paul and Christie Johnson

Missionaries in Rochester, MN

Fall in Iowa

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Here we are in the middle of September and I’m exhausted.

The Rock has been pumping out events, t-shirts, invitations, music, food, signs, posters, but most of all I think this year we’re pumping out the gospel more than we have in the past.

We set our sights on this last spring and I think we’re making progress toward it. The idea was to step up in sharing the gospel even if it meant stepping back in other things.

The challenge is to take advantage of the opportunities given and well, God has been giving us opportunities. Would you pray that we would take those opportunities and that God would reap a harvest through them?

I’m tired, but from the right activities. I’m not tired from lots of meetings, from an abundance of administration of from a flood of ministry minutia. Nope, I’m tired because I’ve been sharing the gospel several times a week for the past month and I’ve been leading, encouraging and equipping others to do so. I’m excited that I’m tired for those reasons.

Does that make sense? 🙂

Wisconsin Dells

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Well we’ve been up here in the Dells for about a week now working hard at getting this program off the ground. We’ve had most of our 32 students show up, got them moved into the motel that we rented out for the summer, secured a meeting space and a place for meals complete with second hand stove and two refrigerators and started in on training in evangelism and all the rest.

We told the students from the beginning “it’s an artificial system” – this is not real life. We have the opportunity to live close to one, another share meals, hear great teaching and receive extra training, work together, reach out together… just like they did early in Acts!  In Acts persecution drove them out of Jerusalem, for us it will be school, work and different home churches – basically real life will return. God used that special “artificial system” early in Acts to get his church trained up and sent out. That’s our goal here too – let’s get people trained and sent back to their campuses on fire to make disciples.

Yesterday I took the 10 or so students who weren’t working to a park where we spent about three and a half hours spending time alone with God. Above is a picture of the Wisconsin River that runs along the park we were at. It was a beautiful spot!

Do the work of an Evangelist

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2 Timothy 4:5 (ESV)
As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Paul is readying Timothy to be without him so he rapid fires commands at him here calling him to be serious, suffer, evangelize and fulfill his ministry. Some think that Timothy had the gift of an evangelist and they then exclude this as a command for all elders (or even believers as a whole). Others will go that distance and call everyone to this role of an evangelist.

We are obviously all called to make disciples in Matt 28, so I think there is a lot of room here to take this command and apply it broadly. Also Paul seems to imply that Timothy was a timid person (2 Tim 1:7). The timid are rarely thought of as those gifted as evangelists.

What do you think?

Should we all do the work of an evangelist? Why wouldn’t we?