>> View photos from the Calgary Evangelism Summit
“God’s up to something really wonderful.”
Those words, from Kelly Steffen of Prairie College in Alberta, identified the optimism felt among most of the 500-plus church leaders and everyday Christians attending the first of three Canadian Evangelism Summits Oct. 13 near Calgary.
After several years of division and challenge, Steffen noted “there seems to be a renewed energy” amongst congregations and believers.
That optimism was reflected in the near-capacity crowd at Rock Pointe Church, who participated in worship from Brooke Nicholls and took in challenging, encouraging messages from Will Graham, Dr. Hugh Osgood, Dr. Crawford Loritts, Rev. David Macfarlane, Dr. Charles Price and pastor Skip Heitzig.
Kelly Steffen brought 10 students to the Summit from Prairie College, most of them studying in youth and pastoral ministries.
“I needed to bring my students to the summit to spark evangelism as a central component of their faith,” he explained. “I wanted to be inspired and have my students inspired.”
Picking up on that theme, pastor Heitzig, who leads Calvary Church in New Mexico, told the audience, “we belong to the greatest company on earth. We have offices worldwide, our benefits are exceptional and our retirement package is second to none.”
In his message, Dr. Loritts, a former chaplain and pastor from Georgia, noted the importance of evangelism-minded Christians to pursue lives of holiness.
“In recent years, we’ve had too much to say and not enough Christian integrity to back up what we say. What gives us meaning and gravitas (in sharing our faith) is a real change in our lives.
“Call your sin what it is,” Dr. Loritts advised. “Own your decisions. And stop getting mad at other people and their bad stuff and hold up a mirror to ourselves.”
Eliana Nazari, one of the Prairie College students brought to the Evangelism Summit, was glad she attended because “I’ve been involved in evangelism before and it’s exciting to learn more. I liked the seriousness of all the topics; I don’t hear a lot of speakers who understand the depth of the need for evangelism.”
Please pray for the next Evangelism Summits in Halifax (Oct. 18) and Toronto (Oct. 20). And if you have friends or family in those cities, tell them about the summits and share this website so they can attend and be inspired to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Timothy 4:5, ESV).
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The Evangelism Summit will take place in Halifax on Oct. 18 and Toronto on Oct. 20, with each city featuring key speakers from across Canada and around the world to inspire and challenge us in evangelism.
For more details, or to register, see BillyGraham.ca/evangelism-summit.
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