Middle East (MNN) ― As the idea of effective Muslim outreach emerges from Lausanne, there are some whose foresight already had them laying the groundwork for this.
Evangelist Sammy Tippit recently joined with Barry St. Clair, founder of ReachOut Ministries, in the Middle East to train youth to reach and disciple their peers in two creative access countries.
Tippit says disillusionment in the "system" has stimulated openness to the Gospel. "There are a lot of students who are coming to Christ, so we want to enable and empower those students and help this revival movement to take a real positive direction."
As a result, "One of the needs that we identified was to train leaders to be able to minister to those young people to help them to grow in their faith, and not only grow in their faith, but multiply."
Eagerness and expectation hung over the conference attendees, Tippit says. "One of the things they got the most excited about was teaching them how to share their testimony in a very clear and effective and simple manner."
Several of the youth leaders commented that they had never been trained to give their testimonies in a simple and clear manner. They were so excited to try it that they practiced on the hotel staff. What came next was no surprise. "At the hotel where we were staying, there were several workers who became Christians as a result of these young people just going out and sharing their testimony."
While St. Clair trained the participants to "reach up and then reach out" to young people, Tippit taught principles of prayer, revival, and purity which enabled those participating to reach up and out.
The teachings dovetailed into a foundation for ministry. "We train them in the basics of how to share your faith, how to help someone grow in Christ, how to do a Bible study, how to lead a small group study, and how to identify potential leaders. So all of these things together will enable them not only to reach people, but to reach them in a healthy way."
Many of the participants sought God for revival in their lives and asked Him to help them establish their ministries on prayer. "With each other, they were able to work through some of the problems and the difficulties they'll have in implementing it, and then they'll have prayer partners as they go back."
Tippit said they also spent time with their teams establishing a plan of action for their return to their respective ministries in their countries. Because of the difficulties they'll likely face in launching their plans, they need your help. "The biggest thing to pray for is their safety, their security, and their courage, because they're going to face some really tough things."
