I am soon celebrating 26 years of ministry as an evangelist. What have I done? What have I tried to do?

I have “gone into all the world and preached the gospel” to as many people as I could possibly reach. I have given my life to “Go . . . And teach all nations!” I have given hours of my life to partner with pastors and teachers “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” I have prayed for power so that our family could be “witnesses . . . Unto the uttermost part of the earth.” I have tried to “cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” I have tried to go “everywhere preaching the word.” And I cannot count the times that I have been told that what I do isn’t the right definition of the word evangelist; that I should do it differently; that evangelists aren’t for today; that itinerant work isn’t for today; that I should be a missionary like Paul and stop traveling; that I should only preach the gospel where no one else has done so; and so forth.

My list of negatives and of naysayers are a mile long. These are good people – big name pastors who travel and preach more than I do; missionaries who are trying to win some souls in a village somewhere around the world; pastors who have been burned by some itinerant preacher; theologians who are influenced against the gospel, and so forth. I love them and often preach for them and with them. We are not enemies and never have been. We are in this together.

Remember this:

1. The work of the evangelist is gospel work and the enemy hates gospel work so the discouraging flow of negativity is not surprising (just like pastors who face continual opinions about how he should or should not do the work of the pastor)

2. If God has burdened you to preach the gospel and help His churches, welcome to evangelism. Now go preach the gospel in every way and to every person you can. Plant churches. Win souls. Preach some revivals and stir some dead and dying churches to new life. Help pastors and encourage them and love them. Go to the ends of the earth and preach Jesus. Go to jails and preach Jesus. Go to a nursing home and preach Jesus. Love the Truth. Love the gospel. Love Revival. Love Jesus. And preach Him everywhere.

And know this, I am one preacher who will support you and pray for you and believe in you and your work! And I firmly believe that our Savior will be pleased and when you bow in His presence, you will hear Him say, “well done!” And that is really all that matters anyway.

So keep it up my evangelist friends.

Thanks for reading.

Your sincere friend,

Dave Young