AND GOD CALLED SOME EVANGELISTS
BY EVANGELIST CHARLES MAHANEY
EPHESIANS 4:11-12
Nothing equal the power of a God-called, Spirit-anointed evangelist. God facilitates His great evangelistic effort by pouring
Himself into the wounded, riven, broken heart of a man who has learned that the secret of daily living is a daily dying. This is the heartbeat of the evangelist. A person with these dimensions can change a life, a church, and a generation.
We realize we have a race to run, but it is not to the Cross. It is from the Cross. Our start was there. All that counts for eternity is
there. The success of our revivals, crusades, and whatever we attempt is there. The Cross is God’s great, magnificent “plus” sign! The tiniest leaflet on the farthest branch of the vine has the same vine life and importance as the largest branch, the trunk, or the root.
In Ephesians 4:11-12, along with the rest of the fivefold ministry, is the ministry of the evangelist. Through Paul’s pen the
Holy Ghost placed the ministry of the evangelist right in the center, with apostles and prophets on one side, and teachers and pastors on the other side. God’s placing of these ministries in the church tells us all that we are interdependent. We all build on what others have done. The price of independence is ignorance and failure. We are “laborers together.”
There are God-called evangelists who move among us. They are not in between pastorates. They are not on the field trying to learn and get a little experience. The nature of people thirsts for better housing, more security, nicer transportation, and being with family and friends. They dealt with all these issues and launched into the joy and heartbreak we call the “evangelistic field.”
Before the priest could trim the lamps in the Tabernacle, he had to burn incense. Before we can take the pulpit and hold the souls of men in our hands, incense must go up before God. Revival praying must come before revival preaching. The coals from God’s altar must touch lips of clay.
Whenever there are sinners present, the Holy Ghost has a warrant for their arrest, and as an evangelist you are to serve that warrant. You feel the direction, the flow of the anointing, and you begin to hammer it home. You cannot go too long or you will lose them, and yet you cannot cut it off too soon. The net is cast. You and the Spirit of God are pulling it in. Everyone should feel at least one time the challenge, the joy, and the terror a man feels in this place of awesome responsibility. One soul, that one soul, makes you able to travel to the next place and do it again.
You are back in your motel, trailer, or the evangelist quarters. Your family is asleep but you lie there and stare at a dark ceiling.
You feel pretty good. You gave it your best shot, and a lot of them came to the altar. Then you remember a young man who sat toward the back on the left side, and the young couple who came with some saints. They did not come to the altar.
Was this your only chance to reach them? It will be several hours before you can go to sleep anyway. The service still has you all keyed up. You slip out of bed and lie on your face, preaching the sermon again. You search yourself. Did I do all I could do? I need to fast tomorrow, pray a little longer, and study a little harder. Maybe they will come back tomorrow. Maybe we can touch them tomorrow. THIS IS THE HEARTBEAT OF THE EVANGELIST.
We are part of the complex circle that God gave the church called the “ministry.” You will see us at camps and conferences, and make us feel welcome. You share your burdens with us. We want to share with you. The only place we have to go is back to a motel, a trailer, or the room they tried to fix up in the church. We are among you. God placed us in the plan. We are people dominated by an all-consuming passion for the souls of men. We have found our cause, we have defined our calling–definitely it is a cause worth living for.
I speak for the people who have left house and furniture, family and friends. We learned to be pliable, to change, to adapt to each
church’s personality and each pastor’s conviction. We have learned to plan and make it through the average sixty days a year of holidays, camp-time, downtimes because of car trouble or sickness, or when our income stops for any reason. But the center of God’s will, beats anything home and comfort can offer. All we want is revival, souls, and to be a servant by holding up the pastor’s hands and seeing the harvest in your field. THIS IS THE HEARTBEAT OF THE EVANGELIST!
THE ABOVE MATERIAL WAS PUBLISHED BY THE PENTECOSTAL HERALD, FEBRUARY, 1999, PAGE 10.
THIS MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY BE USED FOR STUDY & RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.
