God's Power Inspires Atlanta Adventists

Evangelism Rally

God’s Power Inspires Atlanta Adventists

9/23/09

ATLANTA, GA—God’s power was the focus of the Good News Atlanta Evangelism Rally held Sept. 12 in Atlanta.

“If we can just put somebody in touch with Jesus…they come in touch with the greatest power in the world,” shared Gordon Retzer, Southern Union president and featured speaker for the rally. “The power is not in the church. The power is not in anything we can do. The power is in surrendering to Jesus Christ and lifting up Jesus Christ.”

Held at the Metropolitan Atlanta Hispanic Church, this was the first of four rallies to be held in the Atlanta area before the General Conference Session in June 2010. Georgia-Cumberland Conference and South Atlantic Conference, which are jointly sponsoring the rallies, are looking to unite, inspire, and involve Atlanta Adventists in evangelism.

“If you want excitement in your walk with Jesus, this is how you do it, you get involved with evangelism,” says David Penno, Georgia-Cumberland Conference evangelism coordinator.

The focus was not what people can do to bring others to Christ, but rather how God works through people.

Retzer shared, “God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power—not because of anything that we have, but because we are lifting up Jesus Christ… Every sermon, every witness, every piece of literature that you give where somebody comes in touch with Jesus Christ, they come in touch with great power.”

God’s power was also the focus of the words shared by Ed Wright, president of the Georgia-Cumberland Conference, as he outlined some of the plans for reaching out to Atlanta. The week prior to the General Conference Session, evangelists Mark Finley and Alejandro Bullón will hold simultaneous reaping events in English and Spanish June 16-19 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

“That is a major undertaking and, by faith, the steering committee has identified a baptismal goal of 800 souls,” said Wright. “By faith, we envision a mass baptism right here in Atlanta—not overseas shared by video, but right here. In human strength it is impossible. It will not happen unless God does something supernatural among us. We’re here to claim that today.”

Wright shared that churches in both Georgia-Cumberland and South Atlantic conferences are coordinating their evangelistic outreach efforts to coincide with the Atlanta reaping series so individuals who are already being brought to Christ can be part of that mass baptism.

“If we expect reaping during those four nights, there must be an awful lot of sowing. There must be an awful lot of preparing the ground, cultivating, and nurturing,” Wright shared. “The ministers of this movement are not just the pastors, but every dedicated believing member.”

People were encouraged to pray and consider how they felt God would have them be involved. They were invited to fill out response cards indicating how they would participate, including things such as being a prayer warrior, usher, greeter, or a door-to-door literature distributor.

Carmen Johnson of the Atlanta Berean Church attended the rally and said afterward, “It has inspired me to reach out, and I’m filling out this card so I can participate.”

“This is our opportunity to host the world,” said Wright, “but we also want to do a work for God between now and then so together our world church can celebrate what the Holy Spirit is doing right here in Atlanta.”

By Rebecca Brooks