They exalted the Savior, equipped the saints and evangelized the sinner. Then they watched as 1,200 to 1,500 Brazilians prayed to receive Christ as their Savior.
Sixteen volunteers from Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., traveled to the Vitria da Conquista community in Bahia, Brazil, to evangelize and to teach believers witnessing methods during a March 2-14 mission trip.
Using material from Darrell Robinson’s book, “People Sharing Jesus,” the team taught more than 600 people in seven Brazilian Baptist churches how to share their faith.
The evangelism method, based on Robinson’s “Total Church Life” strategy, adapted for use by Brazilian Baptists across the country, presents a natural, sensitive approach to helping others know Christ.
The Roswell Street volunteers – led by the church’s pastor to Brazilians, Odilon Pereira, and lay leader Don Beasley – joined with the Brazilian churches to practice sharing their faith and then went to the streets in a Wednesday-Thursday evangelistic effort.
The teams shared Christ in public schools, chicken factories, prisons and any place where crowds gathered. They also went door-to-door in neighborhood homes to share the good news of Christ.
They ended the week with a citywide crusade held at the city’s Sport Gymnasium. More than 2,000 people attended the Saturday night event, and 125 people accepted Christ.
All together, in the community of about 300,000, from 1,200 to 1,500 people prayed to receive Christ.
“I have never been in one environment where I saw so many people respond to Christ at one time,” said Ernest Easley, Roswell Street’s senior pastor, who has used the People Sharing Jesus strategy for more than 15 years.
“Not only that, but we left an army of 600 people who were just trained in sharing their faith,” Easley noted, rejoicing in the fact that the newly equipped churches would follow up with the new believers.
“The whole thing was a reminder that God still honors one-to-one witnessing. Soul-winning is still on God’s agenda,” the pastor said.