equipping Kentucky Baptists for missions

In my last post, Open Air Evangelism, I discussed this exciting method for taking the gospel outside the four walls of the church to those who need to hear. One tool I told you about for accomplishing that end is the evangelistic paint talk. In this post I want to introduce you to one of the main proponents of the paint talk, Open Air Campaigners (OAC).

OAC International is an interdenominational ministry of evangelism committed to preaching the gospel to the unreached through open air and other outreaches in partnership with the church. It was begun in Sydney, Australia in 1892, and today has offices in the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

The organization has trained thousands in conducting open-air evangelistic meetings and offers opportunities to use that training through overseas mission trips, Summer and Short-term missions, even as career evangelists. They also serve as a resource for obtaining open-air ministry supplies. I first came into contact with them ordering paint and other materials for projects in Brazil.

OAC feels it is important to mobilize the Church to go out where the people are since most never go to church. Their primary means of accomplishing this is through National Training Seminars. These one-week seminars are designed to equip participants to go back to their home church or field of ministry in order to conduct fruitful open-air outreaches.  The seminars offer classroom lectures on evangelism strategy for working with all ages, hands-on sketch board workshops, and practical on-site training.

Training Seminars for 2010:

• Baltimore -Washington, DC – May 31 – June 5
• Boston, Massachusetts - June 7-12
• Southern California – June 14-19
• Kansas City, Kansas – June 14-19

For more information on OAC you can go to their website www.oacusa.org. If you have general questions about how to get started in an Evangelisitic Paint Talk Ministry, just send me an email or use the comment box below.

When I was a missionary in Brazil we quite often utilized what is termed “open-air evangelism”. Those that came down as volunteers have some great stories about their experiences with this evangelisitic tool – the night air, the large, milling crowds, the thousands of tracts passed out, the drunks and the hecklers, the people speaking an unfamiliar language, hundreds of kids running around, the loud music, the preaching, the insect that secrets acid on your face, the Jesus film, the “paint talk,” the jugglers, the  counseling opportunities – it sounds crazy, and, well, quite frankly, it is . . . . but it’s worth it.

These open-air events can vary in their content and purpose, but most have one ultimate goal: Taking the gospel to people that most likely will not set foot in a church or hear it any other way. In Brazil most of our open-air activities were at night because of the heat. Regardless of the type of event, most fall in to one of two catagories:  those that draw a crowd or those that take advantage of another event that draws a crowd. An often used method in the U.S.  that would fall into the first catagory would be a block party, whereas an example of the second would be passing out tracks at a large sports event.

The main three open-air events we used were preaching, showing the Jesus Film, and the evangelistic paint talk. I want to introduce the last one to those of you who are not familiar with it because it is a method that can be used overseas as well as here in the U.S.

Though there are hundreds of paint talk presentations, the one I was trained to present is called “The Cross of Christ.” Although it’s not required, we always used florescent paint under a black light powered by a car battery for that extra special crowd drawing effect. We also used a portable battery powered sound system in order to be heard over the noises of the event.

Before beginning, the presenter prepares a blank sheet of 24″ x 48″ paper for the presentation, painting it to look like the illustration above. This is done either before arriving at the event or on location in between presentations. Both methods have their pros and cons. If time is short, it is best to prepare before arriving. However, preparing the presentation on site is a great attention getter because people start gathering to watch, curious about what you are doing.

Once the presenter is ready to begin, she starts adding other brush strokes to the paper that illustrate the spoken message while slowly revealing more about the significance of the ”painting”. This particular presentation talks about how mankind longs for peace and life, but  only encounters conflict and fear in the world. It then goes on to present God’s plan of salvation through Jesus’ death on the cross.

When finished the paint board looks something like the illustration below (this one is in Portuguese, so it will still be a little hard to understand everything, but you get “the picture”).  The presenter gives an opportunity for those who understood the message to accept Christ as Savior and then dismisses the crowd. A team of prepared couselors stand ready to follow-up immediately with those who indicated their desire to accept Christ.

In the next post I will continue talking about evangelistic paint talks and how you can get involved!

What is the person of peace principle in church planting?  

Very simply put, this principle puts forth the idea that God always has someone in an unevangelized area that will be receptive to the gospel. Therefore, as church planters and those working with them make their initial contacts with a new area they should be sensitive to the Holy Spirit leading them to this person. Most often God uses this person and their family to establish a “beachhead” for the infiltration of the gospel into that neighborhood.

What is the basis of this principle?

The concept is based on the account of Jesus sending out the disciples two by two to minister in the surronding communities recorded in  Matthew 10, Luke 9, and Luke 10. As He  sent them, He gave certain instructions about what they were to do, what they should pack, and how they were to respond based upon a person’s reception. Specifically, in Luke 10: 5-7 Jesus instructs them:

When you enter a house offer peace. If a Person of Peace is present, your peace will rest on him. Stay in theat house, eat and drink what is put before you, and do not move around from house to house.   

Obviously, Jesus did not say, “here is the key person for starting a church plant in the area.” The passage can safely be interpreted, however, to imply that when you are entering a new territory with the gospel (the essence of missions) there are going to be those that will receive you well. We should recognize their reception as a place to begin fellowship. 

Who is the person of peace? 

You never know who this person is going to be. Oftentimes, God prepares the most unlikely candidate to take on this role. I recall in one of my last church plants in Brazil the “person of peace” turned out to be a family that had what we called “the bicycle shop.” The shop was nothing more than the palm leaf covered “front porch” of the mud and stick house where they lived. Of course, God knew that their location was not only strategically located, but well known by the residents of the neighborhood. In a recent church start effort in Mexico, the lady pictured at the right turned out to be the “person of peace.”

How does the principle apply to volunteer missionaries?  

One of the primary uses of volunteers by careeer missionaries is to cover great areas of geography to make multiple contacts with people that the missionary might not otherwise locate if he worked alone. Therefore, as a volunteer missionary, you play an incredibly important role in being a “scout” for the missionary and his church planting teams to help find the persons of peace which are so vital in the life of new church plants.