May 2012
Hello friends and family,
It’s been another eventful and fruitful month. We traveled all throughout America this past month with exciting news to share! As summer approaches, it means another semester comes to an end. I taught at C.F.N.I. and Heartland School of Ministry again this year. It is an amazing privilege to train and equip around 260 of tomorrow’s church leaders in evangelism. Training young leaders to effectively reach the lost is one of my greatest passions.
While in Birmingham, AL I was with a good friend of mine, Pastor Tim Mills who leads Life Church of Birmingham.The services were very powerful and the children 12 and under were mightily touched and testified they had never experienced God’s presence asthey did that night. We mobilized a team and went out in some neighborhoods around the church. One family of five that I personally met at their door came to church on Sunday. The pastor told me their attendance was definitely up. We installed an evangelism director and put a team in place. As you know, I love it when fruit remains long after I’m gone.
I also had the privilege of speaking in North Dakota at their yearly Assembly of God District Council. This is a conference held once a year where all of the pastors in the state come together. I was asked to ignite them to become more evangelistic. God led me to start off with my testimony and tell stories of what God has done through my life in reaching the lost. After the message I gave a call to receive a fresh anointing to reach their cities. When the pastors came forward the power of God came down and dozens were hit by the power of God. They were stirred and moved to reach out. I’ve been asked several times to return and implement what I ‘ve been doing in North Texas and other areas throughout America. This is the third district that has asked me to come and serve in the area of evangelism. (The others are Nebraska and North Texas) I am very thankful to God and the leadership of these districts for this opportunity to serve in this capacity.
My trip to Scottsbluff, Nebraska was also very fruitful. Three churches came together to be trained and equipped in evangelism. We mobilized teams and reached many homes. The services were very powerful, and many testified that they had never in their life experienced God’s power like they did in these services. The last night was explosive with all three churches coming back together for a final rally. The altar was filled with scores crying out for revival. Two evangelism directors and teams were set in place, as well. Another great weekend with remaining fruit. Thank you for helping make all this possible through your prayers and financial support.
Lastly, I was able to minister in Waxahachie Texas. This was one of the best outreaches we have had in North Texas. Nine churches/ministries came together to help Freedom Fellowship (lead by a great leader, Pastor John Bates). We trained and mobilized around 160 people in one afternoon. We reached somewhere around 1900 homes. The city was rushed with people sharing Christ! I found this to be very rewarding to me personally; to see the years of hard work and relationship-building payoff with a city being impacted with the love of Jesus Christ. Freedom Fellowship already has an evangelism director (which is rare). But, we are continuing to encourage and work with them as they strategize to reach their city.
All of these churches will be joining our monthly conference call, called R.E.A.C.H. America. They have also decided to take their teams through the Acts 29 School of Evangelism DVD series and manual. These are two ways we continue to serve the churches we work with for years to come. This helps keep evangelism strong and functioning well, especially for teams just getting started.
As you know, the Global Outreach Day is just around the corner! We are partnering with Evangelist Werner Nachtigal from Germany for the first Global Outreach Day. Hundreds of cities and churches are joining together throughout the world on June 2nd to reach their cities. Many world leaders are supporting this outreach, such as Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, Dr. Yong Ye Cho, Lauren Cunningham, Rick Warren and Cindy Jacobs, just to name a few. I am honored to be the American director and organizer of G.O.D. state side. We put together a three-part free DVD training with Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke and Evangelist Werner Nachtigal. Your support is helping staff and finance this Global event! We believe in reaching as many lost people as we can for Christ all in one day. We want heaven full and hell empty! Please pray that this will be a mighty harvest of souls on June 2nd.
If you would like to be a part of covering this ministry and my family in prayer, please drop me a note as we are organizing this much needed branch of the ministry. In addition, if you would like e-mails from us throughout the month with any special announcement or encouraging words, please send us your e-mail address. Thank you once again for all of your prayer and support. It takes team-work to make the dream work!
Together in the harvest,
Joe Oden