Engage Your World Evangelism Podcast

Online Evangelism Course Launch Announcement In this episode Matt and Jordan discuss Engage 360's involvement in the SES National Conference on Christian Apologetics as well as our online evangelism course launch. Over the past six months we have received great feedback from our training process. We are extremely excited to deliver that same quality of training through an interactive online format. We trust this option will benefit all Christians. It will particularly give tech-savvy millennials access through a format they are increasingly familiar with. Conference link https://conference.ses.edu/ Online Evangelism Course Registration https://www.e360m.org/course/

Evangelism Excitement in Maine! We certainly had a lot of "evangelism excitement" up in Maine! In this episode, Ibrahim interviews Travis Pelletier about our recent Engage U Event. Pulling off a successful evangelism event requires a lot of coordination. For our recent Engage U event in Maine, Travis Pelletier, missionary apologist with Ratio Christi, did a great job at coordinating students and churches to come and participate in an amazing time of evangelism. This is what Travis had to say about the event: I'm trying to gather my thoughts. I am blown away by the success of the past week of outreach. We had hundreds of conversations, many of which lasted over an hour, and some over two hours. Of the 46 long discussions, seven people came to a place of repentance and faith. Yes, that's right, seven people followed Christ. I've been involved in evangelism quite a while, but I've never had that much response in three days. The Holy Spirit was definitely working. And in many of the other long conversations, there was a visible softening in the hearts of those being engaged with scriptural truth. After the three full days of evangelism, we had an open Q&A event in which almost 30 students (mostly non-believers) came to ask about the questions and difficulties they had with Christianity.   Immediately following the event, a Christian student contacted me to say that he had been struggling with doubts about Christianity and that the event not only answered his struggles, it answered several tough questions he hadn't thought of yet!   Another goal for the event was to have local believers be more engaged in sharing their faith. We worked with the organization "Engage360" to train believers from the surrounding churches and to get them signed on to the event. The training and modeling were both very effective. And we had over 15 believers from the local community come to help. We had enough that quite frequently we would have six or seven serious gospel conversations happening at the same time.   This event just reemphasized for me the need for both apologetics and evangelism training.

Evangelism Training on Campus In the last three weeks the E360 team has completed evangelism training on campus through two multi-day events. The first was at Appalachian State University Aug 27-29 and the second at the University of Maine September 10-12. In this episode of Engage Your World we share a few insights we gained from these events. Some key highlights from the events include: 26 volunteers who joined our team to watch, learn, and participate in evangelistic outreach Volunteers included college students all the way up to an 88 year old man 10 students coming to faith in Christ Over 60 students interested in one-on-one follow up Several aspects of these events demonstrated the accuracy of a recent post we did on evangelism misconceptions in the church.

Evangelism for Introverts In today's episode of Engage Your World, we get advice on evangelism for introverts from Trish Anderson. Trish serves as CFO for Engage 360 and is one of the primary trainers on the team. Trish is a strong introvert but also has a strong desire to engage in sharing her faith. If you are an introvert or know introverts, this episode will help you to be more effective in evangelism. Sharing the Gospel can be hard for anyone, but this is especially the case for introverts. However, introverts also have advantages, including the ability to listen well. Trish gives helpful tips on how to position yourself for spiritual conversations in everyday life. Overcome common evangelism misconceptions and reap the benefits of being intentional about sharing your faith.

Why I Joined an Evangelism Training Ministry Hear from Jordan Apodaca (Content Director for Engage 360) about why he joined an evangelism training ministry. Jordan has a passion to see the church awakened from it's evangelistic slumber. In this episode of Engage Your World, Jordan shares about the goals of Engage 360 and how he helps to accomplish those goals. Check out a few blog posts Jordan has written with links below: Tips for being fishers of men https://www.e360m.org/fishers-of-men-meaning-9-evangelism-lessons/ Definition of Evangelism in the Bible https://www.e360m.org/definition-of-evangelism-in-the-bible/ Jordan also volunteers with a campus ministry which you can learn about here.

The Works Based Mormon Gospel In our previous episodes, we considered the context, content, and response to the Gospel. Over the next few episodes we will consider false gospels or unnecessary additions to the Gospel. We will start with an interview on the works Mormon gospel. In this episode we interview Sandra Tanner who is the Great-Great Granddaughter of Brigham Young. She and her husband left the Mormon church just before they were married and began an outreach ministry which has continued to this day. Sandra's husband passed several years ago but Sandra has continued their ministry in Salt Lake City. Their ministry has impacted thousands of people. Helpful links from the episode: Visit Utah Lighthouse Ministry at http://www.utlm.org/ For a good summary of the biblical Gospel https://www.e360m.org/what-is-the-gospel-in-a-nutshell/

Responding to the Gospel: Faith and Repentance Once you share or hear the gospel, there should be a call to action. A biblical response to the Gospel involves faith and repentance. But what is the definition of faith? What is the definition of repentance? How do they relate? Further, what does it mean to have a simple child-like faith? Does salvation involve a series of steps that we do one at a time? All of these are questions that we should consider before we do evangelism, taking time to share our faith. We must be careful to explain what we mean when we use words like faith and repentance. If we are not careful we can leave those we are trying to reach more confused than when we started. The challenge is that those in the church are so used to hearing these words that we can easily assume everyone knows what they mean. We see this as a problem of using "Christianese" and it is a problem we must overcome. In this episode of Engage Your World we discuss how to help people understand a proper response to the Gospel, the importance of giving everyone a clear "call to action", and what happens for those that believe.  

What is the Gospel Message? In episode 6 of Engage Your World, we discuss the question, "What is the Gospel Message?" In the previous episode, we focused on the context of the Gospel and asking "Why do we need the Gospel?" Unfortunately, we often over-complicate the simple Gospel and add a lot of terminology that can leave our hearer confused. The Engage 360 team believes that the first step to successfully sharing your faith is to clear away the clutter. We must know how to give the simple Gospel message. Once we are clear on the simple Gospel, we can learn how to better present it to different people and in different contexts. What is interesting, is that the core Gospel message involves layers of evidence. The death and resurrection of the Christ was prophesied in Old Testament scripture. The burial is evidence Jesus truly died. The appearances are proof that Jesus rose from the dead. Our faith is not based on wishful thinking, it is based on a series of very public events. A great Bible passage that summarizes what is the Gospel message can be found in 1 Corinthians 15. Check out our blog on the Gospel https://www.e360m.org/what-is-the-gospel-in-a-nutshell/ If you live near Boone, NC or Bangor, Maine check out our upcoming events where you can join us in evangelistic outreach on a university campus https://www.e360m.org/boone/ and https://www.e360m.org/orono

Why do we need the Gospel? Before a person can understand the good news, they have to first understand the bad news. This includes an answer to the question, "Why do we need the Gospel?" This question is the focus of episode 5 of the Engage Your World Evangelism Podcast. Greg, Jordan, and Matt will discuss the context of the Gospel. Understanding this context is a key element to effectively sharing your faith. Not only do we need to understand the context, we need to effectively communicate that context to others. Imagine talking to someone who only speaks English. You give a masterful evangelistic presentation in fluent Italian and wait in anticipation. However, only silence follows. There is no response from your hearer because they do not understand the words that you used. In the same way, using English words such as sin, the fall, repent, justification, propitiation, and more can lead to confusion if not explained properly. We need to do more than use church language. We need to ensure that our hearer actually understands the words we are using. If we do that, they will be much more likely to understand the truth of the message. In this episode we will give some helpful tips of what to avoid and what to focus on when setting up the context of the Gospel. The Gospel in a nutshell https://www.e360m.org/what-is-the-gospel-in-a-nutshell/ The meaning of repentance https://www.e360m.org/definition-of-repentance-in-the-bible-true-meaning/ The Need for the Gospel today https://www.e360m.org/the-need-for-the-gospel-in-todays-world/  

In today's episode Jordan, Greg, and Matt discuss the question, "What does the biblical evangelist do?" Further, what is their role in the church? There are a lot of ideas that jump out when we say, "evangelist". Some may think of tent revivals, Billy Graham, televangelists, or a street preacher on the corner. But the real question is, "Would any of those ideas be in line with a biblical evangelist?" If you are interested in participating in biblical evangelism yourself check out the upcoming events listed below. 2 Day biblical evangelism training in Boone, NC Aug 2-3 www.e360m.org/evangelism-training-event-in-boone-north-carolina/ 3 Day evangelism outreach at Appalachian State University Aug. 27-29 www.e360m.org/boone 3 Day evangelism outreach at The University of Maine www.e360m.org/orono/

In this episode we interview Pastor Sam McKeen about the need for the Gospel in Maine and his experience at our recent training. Sam pastors a small church in a town of only a few hundred people. He discusses some of the unique challenges and opportunities for evangelism in Maine. He also share his excitement for the upcoming Engage U event at the University of Maine. To learn more about volunteering or donating to support Engage U Maine https://www.e360m.org/orono/ To read about the evangelism training event https://www.e360m.org/evangelism-training-event-in-central-maine-a-big-success/ What is the gospel in a nutshell? https://www.e360m.org/what-is-the-gospel-in-a-nutshell/

In this episode we share an E360 evangelism training success story. We are joined by Sarah Nicholson who attended our Engage 360 evangelism training in Central Maine. Sarah ended up sharing her entire testimony, which sets the stage for why the impact of the training was so significant and makes her an evangelism training success story. As you'll hear, Sarah was raised in the church. She walked away from her faith during college, leading to a frightening incident with a psychic. She then came back to Christianity, but there were some bumps in the road. In the end, Sarah came away with a passion for understanding the Bible but needed help to share her faith. Sarah also shares the immense need for the broader church to rally and support the local in church in Maine. You can be a part of that impact by applying to join us for an evangelism outreach event  at the University of Maine https://www.e360m.org/orono/. This event will take place September 10-12. Links below as to how you can be involved either on the ground or financially. -Apply as a local volunteer (Maine area residents) https://airtable.com/shrG00VsaMzpGnL92 -Apply as a short-term missionary (non-Maine residents) https://airtable.com/shrJiVoIyBmJmmjFU -Donate to help support the Engage U evangelism event https://secure.egsnetwork.com/donate/DDC5908D92EA4A2

In this episode on university evangelism in Maine, Matt Schmidt (E360 CEO) and Jordan Apodaca (E360 Content Director) have a discussion with Travis Pelletier, who is a campus minister at the University of Maine. Travis serves with Ratio Christi (Latin for Reason for Christ), which seeks to bring a thoughtful Christianity to the University, helping students to understand the reasons that Christianity is true. They discuss: - The need for evangelism at the university in general and the New England area in particular. - E360's approach to training Christians in evangelism and the value of role playing different conversations and scenarios. - A recent E360 training that happened in Orono, Maine at the end of May https://www.e360m.org/evangelism-training-event-in-central-maine-a-big-success/ - An Engage U event happening at the University of Maine September 11-14. To apply to go with the E360 team to Maine in September or make a donation to help support the evangelism event, click https://www.e360m.org/orono/