3.5-Minute Read //
What has shaped your perspective of literature evangelism?
Stephen had just experienced something new in his walk with God. After participating in FAST, a Bible school program focused on discipleship and scripture memorization program at his church in Hawaii, he felt a strong desire to live for Christ.
“One day, I prayed, and I said, ‘Lord, help me to get trained to work for you.’ That was not a plan of mine to say, but that’s what came out of my mouth when I prayed. And I remember telling my wife Deborah, ‘I didn’t know why I said that.’
Shortly after this, Stephen’s church invited the pastor who founded FAST, Dan Vis, to be a guest speaker for their week of prayer. During that week of prayer, Stephen got to know Pastor Vis. One day, Pastor Vis told him about a ministry training program called Chicago Outpost that he was conducting and invited Stephen and his wife to attend.
Stephen expressed his appreciation, yet initially dismissed the idea.
“Then my wife said, ‘Didn’t you pray for an opportunity to get trained? This is a training opportunity.'”
The two decided to pray about it. When God made it clear, they made the preparations and moved to Chicago, Illinois, to begin the program.
Once in Chicago, Stephen received training in multiple areas of ministry, including door-to-door colporter work. One week, after spending time in the classroom learning about literature evangelism, his class was paired up in teams of two for time out in the field.
“The thing that stands out to me the most was the young man that I went with,” Stephen recalls. “I knew he loved the Lord. I knew he was committed to the work. And I knew that he cared about people.”
Stephen describes how his colporter partner for the program would almost run door to door, often while singing hymns. His partner also always offered to pray with people and had a way of engaging them with genuine interest.
One experience especially stands out in Stephen’s mind.
“I remember standing in a living room with this gentleman in his 60’s,” Stephen shares. “He had just purchased a copy of The Great Controversy and we prayed for him and his family there in his living room, holding hands. That left such an impression on me. I thought, ‘Wow, how meaningful is this?’ Sure, some people rejected us. But there’s so many people out there who are seeking God. Every day, there’s at least a handful of people that said, ‘Thank you so much for coming.’ This is exactly what I needed.”
For Stephen, working alongside someone who was consecrated to the Lord and on fire for the work made a huge difference in his own experience. At the end of the program in Chicago, Stephen was impressed that he wanted to participate in literature evangelism.
“What’s interesting is, I had another friend who participated in literature evangelism training too, except for he had a different partner,” Stephen shares. “And the partner was not interested in what he was doing. He wasn’t urgent about anything. He was even kind of grumpy. And that broke the spirit of my friend. My friend walked away from that experience saying, ‘I never want to do that again.’ I feel like I tell this story everywhere, because when you’re out there, and you’re committed to God, and you’re out there as a student evangelist or something similar, do it with all your heart and be a co-laborer with Jesus because you don’t know whose life you’re going to impact.”
Are you curious about door-to-door work? Join the next Streams of Light mission trip, taking place in Lansing, Michigan, April 14-21, 2024. For seven days, volunteers from across the United States will distribute 50,000 copies of The Great Controversy in this influential capital city.
To learn more about this upcoming outreach, visit our mission trips page.
Stephen at the North Aurora SDA Church in Chicago, Illinois, during a training program called Chicago Outpost.