September/October 2023

Three churches in Idaho shared how evangelism is transforming their church communities.

Idaho Falls

Idaho Conference had already made a collaborative decision to invest in public evangelism across southern Idaho and eastern Oregon before the arrival of Peter Simpson, Idaho Falls district pastor.

Idaho Falls Church hadn’t signed up to be part of The Great ReSet meetings planned across the conference because they didn’t know what was possible or even available.

Simpson brought his head elder to a pastors’ retreat where they heard an announcement that there might be one last opportunity to participate.

“When those words were uttered, we looked at one another, nodded in consent and signed up,” Simpson said. “We promoted the idea to our board, got together teams, hung banners, picked up materials and anxiously awaited the drop of ads in our area.”

Simpson reported how the first online registration was received with much joy. The church welcomed 60 people on opening night. “This was a great series and a wonderful way for a new district pastor to get an interest list going,” he said.

Cloverdale

Cloverdale Church held a traditional evangelism campaign in 2022 with Tyler Long, an evangelist from Washington Conference. The experience was positive overall, yet the church particularly struggled to find volunteers toward the end of the meetings.

When it came time to consider their next evangelism involvement, Cloverdale Church decided to host an intensive week-long effort and then transition to weekly small groups to finish The Great ReSet topics.

The weekly small groups attract about 40 participants including 10 people who are not members, reported Marlon Seifert, Cloverdale Church pastor.

“The Great ReSet meetings have served as a revival for our members,” Seifert said. “One member organized a visitation team that included members who were baptized during last year’s evangelistic meetings. They were so excited to receive training and go door-to-door inviting others to come to our meetings. This experience caused their faith to grow!”

Meridian

“What do you say when you've seen the Holy Spirit do things in your church that were hopes and dreams only a few months ago? Amen, and amen!” wrote Michael Gee, Meridian Church pastor, in an evangelism report.

Meridian Adventist Church recently concluded meetings with Eric Flickinger, It Is Written associate speaker.

“Leading up to our meetings, we met every Friday evening for a prayer vespers to ask God to bring revival and reformation to our church, as well as to our community. And that's exactly what God did,” Gee said.

“I usually don't like to use the word 'revival' very often because it isn't something I've often seen on a grander scale, but that is what happened in my congregation,” Gee reported. “Prior to these meetings we had a low team morale, a weakened focus on our purpose and a distant memory of what the fruit of evangelism tastes like. That has all changed!”

The final weekend of meetings ended with nine baptisms and nine re-baptisms, with more coming up soon. Gee shared how the church feels like a family, the focus is on Christ and His mission and the people have tasted and seen that the Lord is good!