2022 Is Flying By!

ETeamGlobal has enjoyed a busy and productive first half of 2022. This newsletter will update you on the many significant opportunities to preach the Gospel and to train evangelists that have blessed this ministry through the first six months of the year. What is unseen are the prayers and plans that have been made on behalf of the future for ETeamGlobal.

We are entering an amazing season of opportunity to train evangelists and preach the Gospel. The second half of 2022 affords ETeamGlobal the privilege to expand our training of national evangelists to both Western and Eastern Europe. We have done ministry for over a decade in these regions, but have not, to date, had the invitation to conduct longer term and in-depth training. So, rejoice and pray with us for these new fields in Spain and Slovakia. Jesus commanded us to “pray for workers to be sent into the harvest” (Matt. 9:38)—ETG is delighted to be a part of the answer to that prayer.

Join us as never before to accelerate the sending of called, gifted, and trained evangelists into the harvest fields.

A Mid-Year Report

Nigeria Forum: Six students expanding their skills.

It was not only a busy first six months, it was six months filled with firsts for ETG.

Our first “legacy” students enrolled in the ETG Forum for Evangelists training program in Nigeria!
We launched our first Forum for Evangelists session in Ethiopia!
We joined with ministry partners in Europe to form the new European Evangelists Coalition, our first ever joint-ministry effort of this type!

Nigeria

The 6th Forum for Nigerian Evangelists is proving to be an incredibly blessed milestone for this key piece of ETG’s ministry. The Forum is a comprehensive, ETG developed, training program that requires a two-year commitment from the students. ETG’s goal in launching this 6th Forum was to bring in younger evangelists.

God answered our prayers with a class that is younger than most recent Forum cohorts. Our desire is to get younger still in the coming years, but we are grateful for these students as they represent a new generation of evangelical leaders preparing to step into the gap! We are grateful too to have two ‘legacies’ in this year’s class, students whose fathers preceded them in the Forums!

During last month’s session, students participated in two nights of evangelism built around showing the Jesus Film. Peter Adamu, project coordinator with ministry partner New Life for All, said the first night was particularly compelling -- “the first time in many years of events that there seemed to be a very real sense of the moving of the Holy Spirit.” That part of the slums where the film was shown had never had a public outreach before and there was a hushed quietness as the Gospel was preached and viewed with the Jesus Film. About 550 people attended the showings over the two nights, with 84 repenting and believing in Jesus!

Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, we are excited, challenged, and humbled by the vision and goals of the first Forum for Ethiopian Evangelists. As we’ve shared previously, the Ethiopia Forum is in partnership with Kale Heywitt, Ethiopia’s largest evangelical church denomination. Church leaders have shared with us their vision to double their 10 million membership by 2028, driven in large part by the evangelist training ETG will provide through the Forum over the next two years.

Please pray for this church’s vision to grow the Kingdom of God!

The first students in the forum for Ethiopian evangelists

We are encouraged by the inaugural class of the Ethiopia Forum, as God has blessed us with a group of inspiring workers for the harvest field! Several members of this first class are denominational leaders who each have responsibilities for evangelism, missions, and training of between 800 and 1,200 churches in their assigned regions. A couple mentioned to us that the forum training was “revelatory and will help us move outside the church like our forebearers did almost 100 years ago.”

European Evangelists Coalition (EEC)

Earlier this year, ETG and several of our ministry partners in Europe launched the EEC with the mission of identifying and training young evangelists in Europe who will lead a revival that will sweep across the continent! In mid-June, we completed our first mission under the banner of the EEC, and this Fall we’ll hold our first official EEC-led training sessions, modeled after ETG’s Forum training program.

Please pray for these students! We don’t know who they are yet, but we trust that God is already working on their hearts to commit to this two-to-three-year training program.

Meanwhile, ETG’s Chris Kingston just completed our first official ETG/EEC mission, spending one week in Slovakia with Pavle Cekov.

The Harvest Field Awaits in Slovakia, Europe

ETG’s first official mission in partnership with the newly formed EEC was a productive and exciting time spent serving the Lord and planning for bigger things! Chris Kingston spent six days in Slovakia with EEC partner Pavle Cekov participating in several outreach events while pushing forward planning for the first ETG/EEC Evangelist training Forum later this Fall.

Chris and Pavle participated and led several small, intimate outreach and affinity events that touched more than 130 lives in towns and villages around Nesvady, Slovakia. Chris also led an evangelist training session at a local church that attracted 22 people.

But perhaps the most powerful moment was the time Chris spent at a local shelter and rehab center, sharing his testimony, and teaching 14 young men about Jesus. Five made decisions for Christ during Chris’ visit there. Chris would appreciate your prayers for four young men who particularly touched his heart:

Chris shares the Gospel at rehab center.

Milo’s only been at the shelter for a few weeks. He is an alcoholic in his mid-twenties and recovering from a broken arm suffered while drinking.

Eric is really struggling with alcohol and homelessness, but he’s ready for God to take over and lead his life and recovery.

Michael struggles with drug abuse and has been at the shelter for 7 months now. Please pray that he can set aside his pride, open up, and trust the shelter team more. Pray too that he develops a passion to be in God’s word daily.

Nicholas is the youngest in the shelter program at 21 years old and is a homosexual. Nicholas wants to grow in Christ and stepped forward during Chris’ visit to start his journey with God’s leading!

In addition to the outreach events, Chris also met with leaders at Gateway Bible College in Nitra, Slovakia. Gateway will be the host of this Fall’s first ETG/EEC Evangelist Forum training conference. It is the hope and prayer that this Forum will attract young evangelists from across the Baltics and southern Europe.

The planning team fro this Fall’s training forum in Slovakia

Major Hurdles Challenge ETG Students!!

International students participating in ETG’s Excellence in Training program and enrolled in advanced-degree classes at Multnomah University (Portland, Ore.), returned to the virtual classroom in June. Nine international students are currently attending classes on ETG scholarships, seeking either Master’s or PhD degrees in Global Evangelism.

Unfortunately, almost all of these students are having difficulties obtaining student visas to the US. Visa interviews and approvals at the US embassies/consulates in the students’ respective countries are proving universally hard to obtain. Without these visas, the students can’t travel to the US to attend classes in-person at Multnomah Univ. or meet face-to-face with their classmates. The face-to-face interactions with their ‘cohorts’ are an underappreciated, yet crucial element of advanced degree study programs.

Your prayers are critically needed:

For the students to effectively & productively engage in classes via Zoom.
That the visa interviews and approvals would come quickly so these students can travel to the US this Fall to participate in an intensive, immersive study retreat on the east coast. The retreat is an important part of the ETG training philosophy. It gives these students the opportunity to interact with each other and with leading, innovative members of the evangelist community. This ten-day retreat will include a week on the campus of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association’s (BGEA) campus where they’ll have access to ministry leaders as well as to the new Billy Graham research library.
For our fundraising efforts to support this part of our ministry. Providing advanced training to innovative evangelical leaders will reap untold rewards over the coming decades, but it is not cheap! This academic year alone (June 2022 – May 2023), expenses will total $65,000. ETG must raise these funds to pay for this academic year’s tuition and fees, as well as the costs of this Fall’s study retreat on the east coast.

The Next Six Months!

As we enter the next six months of 2022, know that the team at ETG covets your prayers and treasures the support you’ve provided over the past 11 years! God is opening up some amazing opportunities to serve Him and advance His Kingdom!

Please join us, with your prayers, your time, and your financial support. If you would like more information on to give, click here. And soon we’ll be sharing information on some exciting mission opportunities where you can volunteer your time if that’s where the Lord is leading you!

With your support, we can create positive memories for 2022!