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Evangelistic Endeavor -- 5 (Sun, 9/10)

SUNDAY, 9/10

MORNING:


Had class this morning and it was a good session. We were able to share stories and hear about how things were going in both churches. The attitude is very positive and we all feel good about what’s happened thus far. One thing that was brought out in class was the need to respect people’s time. We always announce what time we’ll start but don’t say when the program will end. The teacher feels like this is a major problem and we need to be more respectful of the decisions people make. I agree and think this is an area for improvement at our meetings.

THIRD NIGHT:

Things were uneventful leading up to the meeting until we realized that the evangelist forgot the PowerPoint clicker so I was going to have to try and switch the slides for him. Luckily, my roommate, Moses, had a clicker that he was able to use instead.

Money is a powerful motivator. One man actually brought 10 people tonight and the evangelist gave him 100 dollars. It really was amazing and he was really excited about it. This wasn’t an Adventist either, it was a guy that came the first two nights and got motivated to bring people. Apparently he has plans on bringing a fresh ten again soon. Five of the 10 were actually a sisters (I think) who were teenagers and some had children. I watched them throughout the evening because I wanted to see their facial reactions.

The sermon was on the Trinity and we all know how difficult that is to explain. The evangelist did a good job of using relevant illustrations and the response from the people was strong. As he was preaching on the Trinity, I could tell some of the girls were engaged and others weren’t. However, he ended up basically preaching to them. He connected with them and asked them a question or two and started with his testimony and they connected with the rest of the sermon and came forward for the appeal, which was general again. It will be interesting to see if they’ll come back again.

Since we are in the YMCA gym, we had to take down all the chairs so they can use it during our off-day tomorrow. We asked all the men to help and it basically cleared up in 10 minutes which was encouraging. Of course, putting them back on Tuesday when few people are around will be much more work.

COMMENTARY:

I think the evangelist did a great job of connecting with the young ladies. He didn’t pry too much but it was clear they were the center of attention which is fine. We can’t reach everyone every night and trying to focus on a particular group is smart.

I wonder about a sermon on the Trinity for night 3. It’s one of the most difficult doctrines of the church and probably should come later in the series. However, I think the evangelist explained it as well as possible and the people seemed engaged.

We are off for the whole day tomorrow and everyone is excited. We are drained and ready for rest. It’s really easy to not take care of yourself in meetings like these. Making sure we take off for a whole day is going to be necessary to help us make it through the month.

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