Articles from PEN Newsletter - April 2002

The IE is a exciting, multi-denominational support ministry that focuses on equipping active intinerant evangelists from evangelical churches and ministries. The IE owes its beginnings to a partnership between the BGEA (Billy Graham via Viktor Hamm) and EWMI (East-West Ministries International).  Other strategic partners have joined the project, now in its second year, as they have shared the excitement of its vision and commitment to its goals.   The overarching goal of IE is to come alongside itinerant evangelists who are already involved in evangelism, helping them in practical ways to grow spiritually, mentally emotionally, and to produce greater fruit through their evangelistic outreaches.

We are introducing a three-year Institute that will meet four times a year. The Institute balances its focus among three areas: academics, practical application and spiritual formation.  We work with both the evangelist and spouse as they give themselves to the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

With a task the size of reaching a generation for Christ, partnership within the Body of Christ is essential. We are thankful for the organizations that have already become foundational to this new work -- Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, East-West Ministries Intl, and Bible Education by Extension (BEE, Int'l).  St. Petersburg (Russia) Christian University is in discussion and planning stage of including IE as their practical evangelistic ministry department.  We are hoping to gather broad participation within the evangelical community.

This program is run by evangelists for evangelists.  We are already privileged to have 21 active students, from places like: Belarus, Moldova, Moscow, Ukraine, and Siberia.  (see the following story for related information)

 

The following is an excerpt from an inprocess report regarding the IE from Hannes & Annamarie Furter, East-West Ministries Intl:

We have come to the end of yet another successful session of the Institute for Itinerant Evangelists (March 26-Apr 3).  The Hand of our Lord Jesus Christ was clearly upon all of us, and His Spirit filled our hearts!  This was the fifth session and the second family training session.   We had 19 men and 15 wives with several children and two baby-sitters.  Students are from 4 countries – Moldova, Ukraine, Belorussia, and Russia, from the western cities of Beltsi in Moldova and Kobrin in Belorussia to the eastern city of Vladivostok! ...

... there is a definite change in the attitude and understanding of the students regarding their future and responsibility as itinerant evangelists.  The impact of what the ministry of an itinerant ministry really means and its potential global impact is awakening their hearts to the passion of our Lord for the lost.  This is evident in the questions and in the advice given by these experienced teachers.  I had several discussions with students and the following are some of the issues they struggle with:

 

MADURAI, India, reported in Wesley Paul Intl Ministries Newsletter, Spring 2002.  Wes is a member of the Next Generation Alliance.  In alliance with Evangelists Luis Palau and Mike Silva, Wesley and a dozen other evangelists reach the massess in India.  43,000 made decisions for Christ in the February Good News Festivals conducted in southern India.  When the two-week mission concluded last February, nearly hald a million people had heard the Good News; more than 43,000 had made decisions for Christ.  In villages like Kariapatty, the church grew by more than 50% in four days.  In a nation of 1 billion people, one evangelist would have a difficult time making such an impact.  But thanks to Next Generation Alliance, a ministry that Evangelist Luis Palau started in 1998, the philosophy is to encourage and equip a new generation of evangelists to proclaim the gospel of Christ.  The mission in Madurai, India was an effort of a dozen NGA evangelists from five nations.  21 cities hosted these festivals for a total of 84 nights.  The meetings ranged in attendance from a few hundred to 70,000 per night.  More than half a million people attended the meetings and heard the gospel of Christ presented clearly.

 

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, March 21, 2002 -- One year after Franklin Graham delivered aid to earthquake victims in El Salvador, he returned with another delivery -- this time, a message of spiritual hope.

Crowds totaling 151,500 gathered for the three-day evangelistic Festival led by Graham March 14-16 in San Salvador. The event was a partnership with more than 400 local churches in the city of 1.8 million people. By the final night, 6,356 people had responded to Graham's invitation to put their faith in Jesus Christ.  "Last year, when this country was hit by two devastating earthquakes, many people's lives were taken," said Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. "But no matter what happens to this country or to you, your soul is eternal. God wants your soul to live with Him for eternity."

Each night, crowds heard Graham's straightforward message, along with high-energy and inspirational music by popular Christian artists Jaci Velasquez and Marcos Vidal, acoustic guitarist Dennis Agajanian, the Gutierrez Brothers, and the California-based Tommy Coomes Praise Band. A Saturday-morning kids' event brought more than 40,000 children from the greater San Salvador area.

Gratitude from the President
Before the crowds gathered at Cuscatlán stadium, Graham was invited to El Salvador's Presidential Palace, where President Francisco Flores thanked Graham for his relief efforts in the country and for the message of hope he was bringing to the people.

Spiritual and Physical Hope
During the week, Graham and teams from Samaritan's Purse handed out a portion of some 110,000 gift-filled shoe boxes to underprivileged children in El Salvador as part of the organization's Operation Christmas Child project. In response to last year's earthquakes that killed 1,159 people and damaged or destroyed more than 270,000 homes, Samaritan's Purse, the international relief organization headed by Graham, in partnership with U.S. Agency for International Development, is providing more than $2 million in aid and rebuilding 576 permanent homes.