Facts About the Evangelist

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Dr. David Davis

Eagle with verse

Evangelists — An Endangered Species

One of the biggest questions that has been asked over the past several years is: “What does an evangelist do now?”

A Southern Baptist leader answered the question regarding the decline of revivals in churches from all across America. And the ones that are suffering the most are those who have surrendered their lives to God's call to full-time vocational evangelism.

When it is all said and done — what is the alternative for someone who has committed, not just their ministry, but the entire welfare of their family to the ministry of evangelism?

Having been in evangelism for 25-plus years — I have always seen a church excited when a few days were set aside for a revival effort.

There seems to be a spirit of expectancy and excitement that is raised to a new level when the services finally arrive and meeting begins.

Having pastored for 10 years — I, too, as a pastor, was excited to be able to sit under the preaching of an anointed evangelist that would honor God's Word and reap a harvest.

Many times, I would stand amazed when people would make decisions during the invitation as a result of God blessing a man who would use his spiritual gift to draw the net to see souls saved.

I wasn't intimidated nor was I worried that someone might compare my preaching to that of the evangelist.

In fact — I think it is safe to say that I have never seen a church, following a revival meeting, fire the pastor and call the evangelist to be their pastor.

If an evangelist is sensitive to the pastor — he will let the people know how blessed they are to have a caring and loving shepherd who loves his sheep.

Any evangelist worth his salt will also realize that the harvest of souls that is witnessed during the course of a meeting is a result of a pastor who has been planting the seeds of God's Word for months and years.

The pastor is the one who has been planting and watering and the evangelist is the one who gathers in the crops (souls) during harvest time.

In other words — it takes both to work together to experience the blessings of God and to ultimately give God the glory in all that is seen and done.

I still recall one of my last conversations with the late revivalist, Manley Beasley, who posed this issue regarding pastors.

He said, "Pastors have to decide whether they are going to lead like a Moses or an Aaron."

When I asked him to explain, he said — "Aaron gave the people what they wanted. Moses gave the people what God wanted."

We are living in some of the most critical days in our nation's history. If there was ever a desperate need for revival — it is NOW!

Yet — we are seeing pastors cut back one of the most effective tools that God has blessed for centuries.

Manley went on to say, "We are seeing churches seeing every kind of program that is being developed for ministry. Perhaps we would see a great spiritual awakening if we would get back to just preaching Jesus and Him only."

Programs are fine, but when we begin to try and program the Holy Spirit — then we are in trouble.

Churches that have implemented programs instead of reaching people for Christ, have seen a decline in baptisms. Jesus said if we would lift up His Name — He would draw all men unto Him. I believe that is the way it works!

Is the "gift of the evangelist" still relevant? Only a pastor can answer that question.

We are nearing a critical time when this generation of young people have never heard an evangelist and most have never met one.

When 50 percent of those, who presently sit in the church pew, were saved in a revival crusade, then it appears that God knew what he was doing when he established the "gift of the evangelist" for the local church.