I just got back from 2 days at Wheaton College speaking at the Converge conference there. I am adjunct faculty at Wheaton and look forward to teaching a class there next year. On the campus they have the Billy Graham Center Museum which goes through the history of evangelism in the United States and also the life of Billy Graham. I was pleasantly encouraged seeing that Billy Graham had quite a high set of hair in his early years. These are photos I took of some of the display photos.
And the timing was perfect when I went to the museum, as I walked in the lobby there was my friend Lon Allison, who is the Director of the Billy Graham Center. Lon ended up giving me a walk through the museum and we hung out in his office for a little bit after. I love hanging out with Lon and he is someone who naturally breathes out a passion for evangelism and when you are around him it is contagious.
The conference itself was also very refreshing for me as it was people who have a passion for evangelism. It was a joy to meet Nicky Gumbel and reconnect with Todd Hunter and Garry Poole. I was a main session speaker and then part of a panel with Todd, Nicky and Garry and I also led a workshop. Tim Hughes led the musical worship for the conference, so it was fun getting to meet someone whose songs I have heard so many times sung in our church's gatherings.
Yesterday morning I went to the Christianity Today offices which are near Wheaton College. We recorded some podcasts for Leadership Journal. I am a columnist for Leadership Journal and it is cool seeing how Skye Jethani (who has a book coming out next year) and Marshall Shelley is taking the Journal in a direction for the future church and connecting with younger leaders.
This morning I keep thinking about the Billy Graham Center Museum, as it showed how God used different people in the history of America with so many different approaches to evangelism. I could have easily spent 2 hours in there or more slowly going through each time period. But it reminded me of the importance of evangelism. It is interesting as I keep finding myself thinking about what I am going to pour my life into in the next season or perhaps I can even say next half, as I am of the half-way age now. And the themes I think of constantly are encouraging the local church to be passionate about evangelism, the importance of encouraging younger leaders to lead missional churches and the need for teaching and training in apologetics in our emerging culture. I really believe that the American church must renew our commitment to evangelism, but in a healthy way - just seeing conversions happen but seeing conversions occur who become disciples of Jesus.
