Steve Joiner was reminded “how easy it is to come to Jesus” during an evangelistic mission to Taiwan.
Joiner and several others from the congregation he pastors, the Abilene-area First Baptist Church in Buffalo Gap, Tex., were part of a Partnership Evangelism campaign that was “one of the most exciting and uplifting events of my life.”
Partnership Evangelism is the organization W.H. “Dub” Jackson founded to encourage pastors and church members to venture overseas to help lead people to Christ alongside each country’s pastors, church members and missionaries.
The 81-year-old Jackson’s desire is unwavering: “to win every person on earth to the Lord,” said Joiner, who is pastor to Jackson and his wife Doris.
“His passion rivals that of 100 churches,” Joiner said. “He bleeds evangelism.”
But Jackson was only the catalyst for what Joiner experienced in Taiwan.
“On many occasions, we would enter a home with incense burning and idols to their different gods,” the pastor recounted. “We would walk in with no previous notice, but, under the leadership and power of the Holy Spirit, in 10 minutes you see a new life being born of the Spirit.”
It underscored to Joiner “that if we would walk in the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our local community, we would also see lives changed. We do not need ‘friendship evangelism’ as much as we need ‘Spirit-led evangelism.'”
For Joiner, the most memorable day in Taiwan was the campaign’s last Sunday.
“The church had three morning services and held about 400 people,” Joiner began. “At the first service, the place was full and people were standing at the back. When we gave the invitation, both aisles were full, from the front to the back door, and people just kept coming down.”
At both the second and third services, the church was full, people were lined up outside and overflowed into the streets. “I had never experienced anything like this,” Joiner said. During the invitation, again, both aisles were full and flowed outside the doors. “It was not me, as I am not a professional evangelist. It was the movement of the Holy Spirit in a town where idols and Buddhist temples were on every corner,” he said.
Joiner noted, “Reality struck me one night as to how much we have taken things for granted in America when I was talking to some local workers. One asked me, ‘What generation Christian are you?’ I asked, ‘What do you mean?’ He replied, ‘My parents are Hindu. I am a first-generation Christian.’ Then the second and third persons said the same thing.
“I responded, ‘Well, my parents are Christian and my grandparents and great-grandparents.’ Then I stopped and said, ‘I guess I never gave it that much thought; my family has had a Christian heritage going back 300 years or more.’
“They all looked at me like I was someone very special, mouths were opened and they all said, ‘Wow.’
“I was so convicted that I prayed, ‘Dear Lord, forgive me for taking my Christian heritage for granted. You have blessed me so much with a wonderful family who helped me to find Christ.’
“These young first-generation Christians in Taiwan showed excitement and an eagerness to learn all they can about the Bible. I came back a different person, with a new understanding of how much of a responsibility God has given me to do his work.”