This is one of the better threads I've encountered here in the forum, lots of sharing, no shouting, obviously a bunch of people who are genuinely concerned for the lost, as am I.
For what its worth, and this is just my opinion, I think there are far too many brothers out in the streets preaching that were never called by God to do so, or were called by God but have not put the necessary preparation into their ministry to be effective.
For anyone who may already be in the street preaching, or believes that God may be placing such a burden on their hearts, I highly recommend the book.
"The Ministry of Gods Word"
by Watchman Nee
If you are unaware of Brother Nee, he planted many churches in China before spending the last twenty years of his life in prison for his faith in Christ. He's Chinese obviously, so one must keep in mind that he has a much different way of seeing things than we do here in the West, and as far as I know, he never learned English and all of his books are translations, which can lead to some confusion when trying to grasp the profound thoughts that God so clearly placed upon his heart. That being said, the book I mentioned above is the best explanation I have read about how the Holy Spirit works through men to deliver divine revelation sufficient for saving faith.
Unfortunately, Nee had a protégé named Witness Lee who travelled to America and a rather creepy cult has sprang up around the person and his teachings, which has caused many to lump them both together. They are worlds apart.
If we truly desire to serve God through evangelism, we must first be sure that this is also Gods divine will for our life. Sharing Christ through our example, our love, and always being willing and ready to boldly profess Christ when the Spirit moves upon our hearts to do so is the duty, and should be the desire of every believer. However, being called by God to the ministry of an Evangelist is a much different thing, and requires a level of surrender and devotion that would be uncommon for the average saint.
I hope that most of us here have had the experience of speaking the truth into the heart and mind of another individual by the Spirit, watching the Spirit work in that persons life through direct revelation, with power and conviction, its a truly blessed thing to be a part of. It certainly has not been the norm in my own experience, but I have experienced it, it's humbling to say the least.
But being a part of that ministry as a matter of daily occurrence, has been the domain of a select few of Gods chosen servants. I believe that scripture and history declare this to be true.
Sorry for the long post.
Yah alone be praised.
