Dear Pastors

Four weeks ago I was happily going about my everyday business and getting serious about semi-retirement (at last). Out of the blue I receive a phone call from a colleague at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) asking if I would consider a role as Regional Advisor for the Asian-Pacific Congress on Evangelism to be held in Sydney in August 2027. I said yes! I mean to say, Is the Pope a Catholic?

In the next few days I received a few emails from BGEA Head Office and another call outlining the role in more detail. I must confess to just a little bit of low level anxiety but mixed with….Wow, what an amazing opportunity!

My role is to assemble no less than 425 leaders in the Church and para-church sector throughout NZ. Each of these leaders need to be people with a deep commitment to the Gospel and proclamation evangelism¹ together with proven experience. And here is the ‘kicker’. BGEA has offered to cover ALL expenses for all 425 delegates from NZ (and a total of 2500 from the Asia-Pacific Region). So all travel, hotel, meals and conference fees will be covered by BGEA. What a gift not just for the delegates but for the Church in NZ.

If you are further interested in this event, you can read the media release here

The Congress will invite a broad range of speakers including theologians, apologists, missiologists, evangelists and pastors from many different countries. It will be a full on three day immersive experience. It really is a once-in-a-life-time opportunity.

I’ve started by reaching out to some ‘key’ Christian leaders that I know and asking them to partner with me (and BGEA) to start putting together a list of nominations. I am grateful for the many Christian leaders that I already know. However, I know for sure there is no way that I know or even aware of many others doing important and interesting Gospel work around the motu. So today I am asking if you, as a Christian leader who receives my blog, could you prayerfully consider about who you think could benefit from a congress like this. Perhaps I have piqued your interest and you would love to come or someone you know well. If you have a name of person(s) that fulfils the above criteria….that is, a person who is 100% committed to the Gospel and to proclamation evangelism and with proven experience, then please send them this email and ask if they would like to be nominated. If they say ‘yes’ then would you be kind enough to drop me a note at alan.vink@leadershipworx.org.nz or feel free to give me a call on 021 562743.

Finally, for today. Given this opportunity I am already believing for a significant uplift in evangelistic fervour and fruit in and through local churches and para-church ministries in NZ. Just think about 425 leaders coming home from the congress with a renewed passion for sharing the Gospel. As Leighton Ford said so many years ago, ‘good news is for sharing’.

Many Thanks and God Bless
Alan

¹ Proclamation Evangelism simply refers to a person and/or local church and/or Ministry organisation that can whole heartedly concur in both profession and practise with the Apostle Paul when he declares in Romans 1:16:-

“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile”. (NLT) And in The Message:- “It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else! God’s way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: “The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives.”