Synergy of Evangelism

On Sabbath, June 24, a large crowd gathered at the Salt River. With hundreds of people looking on as they floated by, 15 people were baptized by Pastors Ed Anderson and Don Bishop. The baptisms represent a synergy of efforts by both Arizona Conference administration and sister churches. The 15 people being baptized were the result of seeds planted during an evangelistic series in December 2022 by Arizona Conference President Ed Keyes. That evangelistic effort yielded one baptism and set the stage for hearts to be impacted through the subsequent work of lay people and visiting pastors from sister churches.

“The Casa Grande church had no pastor, was renting a small storefront while their church was being built, and was trying to reach the community with health seminars,” said Pastor Anderson. “The obstacles were many.”

After the evangelistic series by Elder Keyes, Pastor Anderson visited the church over the course of three months and held four revival services. During the final service in May, he made an appeal for baptism, and nine people raised their hands. But the church has no baptistry. “These people wanted to give their life to Jesus now! So, I told them that we’ll go to the Salt River about 45 miles away,” Pastor Anderson said.

Between the time of the altar call and the baptism, Pastor Don Bishop was called to the ministry of the Casa Grande church. “It was important to have Pastor Bishop there to participate in the baptism as a great way to start his ministry in Casa Grande,” Pastor Anderson said. When Pastor Anderson made a shoreline appeal on the day of the baptism, five more people stepped forward, resulting in 14 total baptisms that Pastors Anderson and Bishop conducted. “This is a direct result of what Elder Keyes started in December,” Pastor Anderson said.

While Anderson was walking back to his car, two random people came up to ask about the baptism. “They start Bible studies next week!” he exclaimed. The synergy of evangelism is producing results in the Arizona Conference.

By Jeff Rogers