Countdown Back to the Future
The planning began before COVID in a pastor’s meeting at the WA Conference Office, but the pedal hit the metal about April/May of this year when it all became real. We were running an evangelism program called Prophetica!
We began work on sourcing and booking venues. We arranged the distribution of 18 000 brochures. We looked for a caterer. We ducked and weaved around the punches the enemy threw at us. The mail out scams, venue clashes and just as it all finally came together, we heard Pastor Gary had “the spicy cough” (COVID). But cancellation of the outreach was not an option.
The thing that got us through everything, all the planning, the emails and applications was prayer. We decided incredibly early that prayer was going to be the biggest part of this gig - and we set out as we intended. We formed prayer partnerships within our church family and a month before Prophetica began, we prayed daily with our partner for the upcoming campaign. The faithful prayed daily,
and every Wednesday in our prayer meeting, the pastoral team prayed at every opportunity we had. We knew this was God’s work and we were just there to help. Hope Spring Fellowship with Port Kennedy Fellowship joined forces together.
Well Prophetica rolled around pretty quickly and we’ve got to say we were a tad nervous - would they come? Our faith was to be tested! Like that mustard seed of faith, that we do not have - it was in the back of our mind - would they come? We knew we’d done our best, but had we done enough ? We’d letterboxed, prayer walked, invited our friends and neighbours, but would they come?
They came! Prophetica had the Medina Hall packed on a Sunday night with many being directly from the community. God was always one step ahead of us. In every aspect, God had this gig under control. The presentations, dinners and response were tremendous.
The Countdown Back To The Future had begun. Now came the organization of three nights a week for next five weeks. As most of us were new to this kind of thing we learned as we went along but we learnt quickly. We went from just hot drinks to refreshments included and got the venue set up and pack up down to a fine art. The congregation was divided into their existing groups and rostered on for various tasks. We have about thirty non-Adventists attending and good relationships are being built daily. The enthusiasm and relaxed fellowship is certainly enjoyable. The presentations are dynamite, holding interest and generating questions. People are responding to the “card questions” and bringing their friends.
Halfway through the campaign we still have the same number of attendees and have also added a live streaming option which now goes worldwide to approximately six hundred people. We have also developed a Facebook presence.