Can a pandemic shut down soul winning? Of course not!
Pastor John Bradshaw and the It Is Written team were ready to launch Hope Awakens, a city-wide evangelistic series in Indianapolis, Indiana this spring as part of the preparation for the General Conference Session scheduled for summer 2020. But then COVID – 19 swept the globe and the best laid plans seemed to be completely blocked.
When God allows a door to close He may be opening a window. A window of opportunity! The It Is Written team saw a God-given opportunity to take the Hope Awakens evangelistic series globally online at a time when millions would be limited to their homes. Why not spread the everlasting gospel and the Three Angels Message faster than the coronavirus! Major adjustments were made and plans revised.
Leading up to opening night April 17, over 70,000 people registered online for the series! On opening night there was a malicious coordinated cyber attack that had to be overcome to keep presenting the message! Satan was trying to hinder but God’s people were determined to trust Him.
It’s one thing to present a series of meetings online. It’s another to minister to those who are watching. How can you connect with people you can’t see? How can you encourage them, pray for and with them and invite them to connect with God’s final movement? That’s where Virtual Bible Workers come in.
Virtual Bible Workers are dedicated Adventists, both lay members and pastors, who take a set of names to pray for, email, respond to when there is an interest and help their virtual friends in their new found journey with Jesus.
How can you best match Virtual Bible Workers with those who register for the online series of meetings? Some churches were quick to jump on board the concept, advertise to their communities online and train members to be Virtual Bible Workers to connect with interests in their geographic areas. But what about the places where there are no sponsoring churches? For example, what about the 888 interests in Texas not connected to any local church? An urgent appeal was sent out to Texas Conference Pastors to help and 37 pastors responded immediately to take 20-30 interest names each for the entire series.
Each week each interest receives a personal email from their Virtual Bible Worker and prays for them by name. Friendships are being formed. The online series is continuing. And people across Texas and around the world are finding Bible truths and a family of caring people they have been searching for all their life. In heaven someday our guardian angels will introduce us to people we may have never met in person, but perhaps online, as a Virtual Bible Worker!
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Click this link to join the Hope Awakens journey.
Dan Serns 