It is time to start re-evangelizing the Body of Christ
As I wrote this article, the Fourth Congress on World Evangelism was meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. Coordinator Michael Oh and other speakers stressed the need to re-evangelize the body of Christ – nominal Christians.
This also resounds with our CFO experience. In our face-to-face events, we too see the need to re-evangelize those who have fallen away or never really understood what they did and were supposed to do when they accepted Jesus.
During the past year, more than 10,000 people heard the Gospel message in CFO booths at events in the five-state area. The Lord also blessed more than 2,000 persons led by the Holy Spirit to pray with one of us to repent and follow Jesus.
We also distributed more than 50,000 bracelets/tracts to partners in 50 states and 105 countries. Testimonies from our partners indicate many thousands more have been led by the Spirit to repent.
So, with covid restrictions seemingly passing, we are looking to strengthen our ability to reach more people with the Good News. In Maryland, we successfully recruited new volunteers to work in our public events. We also upgraded and formalized our training program. (See Page 21.)
With inflation influencing everything we do, we made some changes to save funds while not affecting our success. Due to continuing price increases for our traditional “walking stick” gifts, we decided to stop using them and to rely on rawhide and rubber bracelets.
We also found a new U.S. rawhide supplier to replace the former supplier from China. This will guarantee a quality supply from within the U.S. at the same price.
We also have begun to document and standardize our policies and procedures to ensure continuity and prepare for expansion. We believe that the situation in the world continues to show that the return of our Lord is coming soon.
We want to help prepare the way by reaching more people in more locations. We do not want to get ahead of the Lord’s timing. But we do want to be prepared to do whatever he calls us to do as our part of the Body of Christ.
Since our inception, CFO has depended on prayer and the leading of the Lord. That hasn’t changed. Now we want to engage you to pray with us about CFO’s next steps in preparing for what He is calling us to do.
We basically have two separate but related activities. One is conducting public events where we rent space to erect a booth or tent to offer a free gift to anyone who listens to a short personal presentation of the Gospel. That presentation uses five colors to represent the essential Biblical requirement for salvation (See Page 22.)
The second is offering free bracelets and Gospel tracts in 22 languages (explaining the colors) to any one or organization who agrees to use them for personal presentations of the Gospel.
Over 38 years of operation, CFO has grown tremendously. We have been tremendously blessed to have the Holy Spirit use us and these materials to lead thousands of seekers around the world to repent and follow Jesus. Opportunities to expand abound.
Where to from here?
The Lord knows, and we are praying to be ready as the time draws nearer for the return of Jesus Christ. In 2022, I shared that the Lord was leading us to plant more CFO operations around the United States and around the globe.
We started such an effort in North Carolina, and it is now operating. In other areas, Christian organizations and individuals use CFO materials and our presentation method with great success.
This second area seems to be growing, and more and more organizations are using CFO materials. It has been suggested that this is the opportunity the Lord is opening for us to pray about and explore.
As a very small part of the Body of Christ, our little ministry has collaborated and/or partnered with four of the world’s largest, most successful ministries as well as with hundreds of churches plus small and individual evangelistic efforts around the world.
Looking ahead
So, what can this tiny little part of the Body do to contribute? We want to make this coming year a year to explore what the Lord would have us do. The Book of Zechariah reminds us: “Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord.”
We want your prayers. We want your ideas. We want your support. Will you join us?
Pray for us and send us your ideas and views on how we can follow the Holy Spirit’s leading to best fulfill His goal.
Perhaps you can be a part of fulfilling that goal by becoming an evangelist. Maybe the Lord has given you a ministry or an idea that fits within CFO’s calling. Pray about this and send us an e-mail or letter with your thoughts.