Joy And The Evangelism Conference

Surprised By Joy At Evangelism Conference 

by Anthony Jordan

C.S. Lewis wrote a powerful testimony of his conversion to Christ in the book “Surprised By Joy.”  That wonderful title could be used to describe the moment any person receives salvation from Jesus into his heart.

At the Evangelism Conference, I was reminded again of God’s indescribable love for us and of the pursuing nature of that love.  On Monday evening, the first preacher struck hard at the issue of religion without salvation.  Atypical to an Evangelism Conference, he gave an invitation.  The results can be described only as phenomenal.  Thirty-five precious souls were born into the Kingdom of God, and numerous others found cleansing and a renewed sense of God’s power.

I had the privilege of counseling a man during the invitation. (Some smart-alec friends expressed amazement that I had not lost my ability to tell people about Jesus since becoming a denominational servant!)

The man shared with me a powerful testimony of the initiating love of the Savior.  He had spent years in a mainline liberal church.  He had served his church in many different capacities, but never felt his spiritual emptiness filled.  A friend suggested that he try the church around the corner from his house that had lively worship and spiritually-charged services.  Still, the clear presentation of repentance and faith never got through to him.  After years of religious activity and compromised living he still had not found soul satisfaction.

Monday night he felt remarkably drawn as a non-Baptist to the Evangelism Conference.  He told me, “I do not know why I decided to come, but I skipped a training session in business to be here.”  I knew why he was there.  The Spirit of God had called him to an unfamiliar church, a strange conference, among people totally outside his normal traffic patterns.  He did not know what he would find at Del City, First Southern–but God did. This man was surprised by joy!!!

In all my years of attending Evangelism Conferences I do not remember anyone ever preaching more clearly to the lost or giving as the central part of an invitation a call to salvation.  But William Blackburn did, and my new friend found the joy of a lifetime and eternity.  He was surprised by the joy of salvation in Jesus.

God’s love is beyond compare.  Oh, what a Savior! I am convinced He would have gotten all of us together at First Southern just so my friend could find Jesus as his Savior.  The value of a soul to our Lord cannot be calculated.

If God loved my new friend that much, maybe you and I ought to love lost people around us with His kind of love.  His love knows no boundaries and no limits.  He gave the ultimate sacrifice that we might know God personally and eternally.

Perhaps it is time we as individuals and as churches set aside every weight that easily distracts us and focus our energy and resources on loving our friends, families and strangers enough to tell them of the love of Jesus.  Watch Videos Of William Blackburn In Revival.

Anthony Jordan is executive director/treasurer of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.

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