It Was Worth All the Sacrifice, Sweat and Tears
There are special moments in our lives that affect us so profoundly that we can’t help but say, “It was worth it! It was worth all the sacrifice, sweat and tears.”
I had such a moment in November, but it wasn’t just my moment—it was yours, too. Allow me to explain.
Oscar grew up in the church. His mother was a strong believer, but he said, “As soon as I was on my own, I forgot about God, got involved with the wrong people and did things that I thought I would never do. With no family to remind me of my beliefs and that God cared for me, my life quickly became meaningless.”
The turning point for Oscar came when friends texted him that Shadow Empire [our four-part series on the life of Constantine] was being shown at a local church. He thought he knew all there was to know about the Bible, but he went anyway and heard the last 20 minutes of the final presentation. He was hooked! He then attended the Revelation Speaks Peace series that followed.
As Oscar attended every night, the conviction grew that he should give his heart to Jesus “The day of my baptism was the happiest day of my life, as it was for my mom, who had been praying for me for six years. Now I see everything differently, and my life has a purpose. I don’t ever want to live without God again,” he said.
Reaching the Spiritually Hungry
As a child, the only time Wendy attended church was with her grandmother on Easter and Christmas. But even that attendance stopped when she was just eight years old. This past September, she received a flyer in the mail inviting her to attend a Revelation Speaks Peace prophecy seminar at a local church. Before she could decide whether or not to go, her friend Tammy called saying she had signed Wendy up for that exact seminar!
“Everything the pastor said made so much sense even though I had a whole lot of questions,” she said. “It was an eye-opener for me who had never had any religious training. I was sad when the meetings ended, but now I’m committed to the truth and learning more about God.”
I have a special burden for people like Oscar and Wendy. But I can’t reach them all. We need more hands on deck. That’s why I invested months of painstaking work last year compiling my more than 20 years of evangelism experience into a new “plug and play” full-message evangelism resource for pastors and churches.
I want churches like the ones Oscar and Wendy attended to be fully equipped to conduct engaging, top-notch evangelism seminars in their own community. To accomplish this, I took the 22 presentations I give during our major citywide Revelation Speaks Peace campaigns, and wrote them out word for word. Then I created special “behind the scenes” instructions for the presenters to reference with each slide. We then packaged this “preach-it” resource with a full set of slides and advertising resources and gave it to 100 churches—including the ones Oscar and Wendy attended—to test-drive last fall.
This “preach-it” series is so easy to use that someone can just preach from the script. But the beauty of this resource is that it’s also customizable, allowing pastors to present a full-message campaign and still “fight in their own armor.” This makes it possible for any church, regardless of size, resources or experience, to conduct an evangelistic campaign in their community.
In October, 100 courageous churches ventured out in faith with this pilot program. The Holy Spirit blessed their efforts. Community members returned night after night to learn new truths and hundreds of people ultimately made decisions for Jesus!
I wish you could see the joy on Oscar and Wendy’s faces—and the hundreds of others like them. It’s thrilling to see the joy not only on the faces of those who have found the truth and given their hearts to Jesus, but also on the faces of the pastors as well. This made ever sacrifice you and I have faced together and every sleepless night and worth it!
Equipping and Energizing Pastors
From the beginning of time, the Gospel message has been the same: we are saved by grace through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus. But through the centuries, God has also had a present truth. Noah had a truth to proclaim, as did John the Baptist and all the prophets—a specific message for their time. And God’s last-day church has a special message as well—to warn the world of what is to come as revealed by God through Bible prophecy, and to prepare the world for the coming of Jesus!
And that’s why this “preach-it” resource is so vital. If we could put this resource in the hands of every pastor in North America, just imagine how quickly God’s end-time message could spread even faster to more Oscars and Wendys. But we need your help to turn this test-pilot edition into a comprehensive resource for local pastors!
We received special copyright permission to use the images currently in the test pilot. But for the final product, we’ll need to acquire 500 unique illustrations to use in the 22 slide presentations. These photorealistic illustrations will help captivate the attention and imagination of today’s audiences and connect them with the message. We expect the commissioned artwork to cost nearly $500,000—a bargain in the world of copyrighted artwork. I’m aware of similar projects that have cost $1.3 million. Regardless, it’s still a substantial commitment, especially since we’re still rebuilding the ministry. So we are praying for an even better solution! Will you join me in praying for that solution?
Thank you for your faithful prayers and support. Your gift will help make this “preach-it” resource a reality. There are millions more people like Oscar and Wendy just waiting to come home. Jesus is at the door. Will you help us reach them with God’s last-day message of hope? Is it worth it? Most definitely! One day soon, you and I will see the fruits of our labor and be amazed.
Thank you for partnering with the Voice of Prophecy in this adventure of faith.
Your brother in ministry,
Pastor Shawn Boonstra
Speaker/Director