Evangelism: Eternal Life, Forgiveness, and Operating Systems
A little known story: When I was writing Selling the Dream—How to Promote Your Product, Company, or Idea—and Make a Difference Using Everyday Evangelism, I attended the Billy Graham School of Evangelismto learn from the best. It was a very interesting experience. Some ofthe finest speakers that I’ve seen (and tried to copy) were on apulpit—not an operating system or music-player pulpit—but a churchpulpit.
Fast forward a few years: I am on the board of directors of a para-church organization called Hawaiian Islands Ministries. Its mantra(if I can help it, no organization that I’m affiliated with has amission statement) is to “train the trainers”— that is, pastors,ministers, deacons, elders, etc. Twice a year it runs a conference featuring some of the best Christian speakers. If you like to watch and hear the sessions from this Fall’s conference, click here. For example, streaming video is available of these sessions:
-
Bill Hybels: “Give God Glory in Our Leadership.”Founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek, Bill is well known for hisrelevant and insightful Bible-based teaching. He is the author ofseventeen books, including Rediscovering Church and Fit to Be Tied(co-authored with his wife Lynne), Too Busy Not to Pray, Becoming aContagious Christian (with Mark Mittelberg), and The God You’re LookingFor. He is chairman of the Willow Creek Association’s board ofdirectors. Bill holds a bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies and anhonorary Doctorate of Divinity from Trinity College.
-
Juan Carlos Ortiz: “Supernatural Experiences Are For Today.”Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Juan Carlos was ordained in theChristian Assemblies of Argentina and is presently a minister in theReformed Church in America. His vast experience in discipleship andsmall groups has taken him to conventions, congresses, universities,seminaries and churches on five continents. He has founded sixchurches, was professor at Instituto Biblico Rio de la Plata inArgentina, and at present is professor at the Robert Schuller School ofPreaching in Los Angeles, CA. Pastor Emeritus of the Crystal Cathedralin Garden Grove, California, Juan Carlos’s world renown books include Discipleship, Call to Discipleship, and God Is Closer Than You Think.
-
Francis Chan: “Give God Glory in Our Calling.” Francis is pastorof Cornerstone Church and president of Eternity Bible College in SimiValley. He is a highly sought after and gifted speaker, engaging adultsand youth throughout the U.S. and challenging them to deepercommitment. He can be heard on his radio program “Truth Be Known”.Francis has a great sense of humor, a genuine love for Christ and acommitment to teach straight from the Word of God. Francis and his wifeLisa have been married for twelve years and have four children. He is agraduate of The Master’s College and Seminary.
-
Brenda Salter McNeil: “Give God Glory in Our Relationships.”Brenda is a gifted communicator who has a wealth of knowledge andexperience in the area of racial and ethnic reconciliation. She isfounder of Overflow Ministries, a nonprofit, faith based organizationdevoted to the ministry of racial reconciliation. She continues thiswork through Salter McNeil & Associates, LLC, a racial and ethnicreconciliation training, consulting and leadership development companybased in Chicago. She earned an M. Div. at Fuller Theological Seminaryand a D. Min. from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
-
Dan Chun. Dan is president of Hawaiian Islands Ministries (HIM),which he founded with his wife Pam in 1983. He has been senior pastorof First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu since 1994. Prior to that hewas associate pastor with singles at Menlo Park Presbyterian Churchfrom 1985 to 1992. Born and raised in Hawaii, Dan left an early careerin television broadcast journalism with the Honolulu, Hawaii CBSaffiliate KGMB-TV to commit to full-time Christian ministry. Dan hasbeen a speaker at national Promise Keepers stadium events and ispassionate about bringing revival to the Bay Area and Hawaii by unitingthe Church of Jesus Christ through equipping church leaders.
Even if you’re not a Christian, you should watch these sessions outas examples of great speaking and evangelism although this isn’t a faircomparison because eternal life and forgiveness are far better productsthan most operating systems. :-)
Permalink Here: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/12/evangelism_eter.html