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Taking Every Thought Captive |
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Hello, In the summer of 2002 we brought Massimo Lorenzini in to help us evangelize in Santa Monica, CA. In addition to working our evangelistic booth on the 3rd Street Promenade he also trained us how to evangelize. He helped us to think through not only what the Gospel is all about but how to present it to a post-modern world. The materials that go along with his talks are not the traditional evidential arguments. So many people get so intimidated that they have to learn all this other stuff in order to share their faith. What was stressed was our need to learn the Word and then to share it in a simple non-argumentative manner. These sessions with the church were held for an hour after the service and about 1/3 of the church would show up and really get into it by asking questions and inquiring about the practical nature of sharing our faith with others. Massimo was more than an evangelism trainer he was also a church consultant to me as the pastor. He practically helped me think through what it means to function as a church without pushing a particular style of church or a cookie cutter approach for every church and culture. We were in the process of re-thinking church together not to be cool or trendy but to be Biblically effective in reaching our culture. His emphasis is on having Disciple-making churches but that does not just include teaching. That includes evangelism, building others up in the faith and then training them to live godly lives. He has a great detailed plan on how to practically carry that out. As we were going through this process he would send me books to read, articles to read and web-sites to check out. He really pointed me in the right direction. As a result I am really narrowing my focus on equipping the Body of Christ to be effective disciple makers. I would really encourage pastors and others to consider bringing Massimo in for a weekend get together. That could be a conference format but it could also be small group discussions with the leadership of the church. He really can function like a consultant, not in a pushy or arrogant way but in a humble and encouraging way. You can use him in this dual manner as a teacher to the laity in the areas of evangelism and apologetics but also use him as a consultant to the pastor or the elders. Please feel free to call me and I can give you more specifics on what went on in our church and how he helped me re-think what in the world I am doing as a pastor. Looking Toward Home, Pastor Providence Church (The Christian & Missioanary Alliance Church of Santa Monica) Santa Monica, California |
