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MEDIA
WISE |
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Passing
the Torch: Billy Graham's Amsterdam 2000
By
Dr. Ted Baehr, Publisher, Movie-Guide ® |
| Ten
thousand evangelists, church leaders, pastors, strategists,
foundations, and press from 206 countries gathered in Amsterdam at
the end of July and the beginning of August of the year 2000 to
strategize on fulfilling the Great Commission. The beloved
evangelist Billy Graham called this meeting to pass the torch from
the older generation of evangelists to the next generation, to equip
the next generation and to strategize on how to fulfill the Great
Commission given by Jesus Christ to every believer in Matthew 28.
Powerful preachers from around the world gave inspiring talks on
evangelism and presented practical tools on how to do it well. These
plenary sessions were augmented by workshops dedicated to refining
people’s skills and equipping the participants.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect was three Task
Group meetings where top leaders, pastors and theologians from
around the world came together to look at the future of evangelism.
In the leaders Task Group, I personally expressed concern about the
three billion children in the world who are not as easily reached as
their predecessors. Often, their lives are not spent playing in
their real neighborhoods but in the virtual neighborhoods of the
online world of mass media entertainment. As if to reinforce this,
one young seminary student told me that he met his wife in a chat
room on the Internet. By the end of the conference, concerns about
these children and about using the mass media well were incorporated
into important position papers, which will determine the course of
much evangelism over the next few decades.
Many of the participants were from the so-called
third world. However, these participants were not ill-equipped for
advanced training in evangelism. In fact, contrary to expectations,
many of them are constantly involved with the mass media, have their
own email and are successfully doing evangelism within their own
sphere of influence. One friend of mine, whom I trained when I spoke
at the Bombay Communications Institute in India over a decade ago,
has churched over 23,000 of his fellow Indians, pastors a church of
800, has a successful printing business, and teaches communications
based on my book, GETTING THE WORD OUT. He was concerned that some
of the workshops did not recognize the level of expertise of the
participants. However, the intensive ten days of plenary sessions
provided superb training in effective evangelism.
A few things, of course, could have been added,
such as more videos and movies to reflect other models of mass media
of entertainment evangelism. One of the most pressing desires of my
heart is to see all children around the world, and their parents,
watching more and more uplifting videos and movies that highlight
the Bible and center on Jesus Christ and His Gospel. Such videos and
movies can play a crucial role not only in evangelism, but also in
strengthening discipleship programs.
One issue that was brought up in the
leader’s task force meeting, in which I participated, was the
nature of evangelism in the 21st Century. The wonderful crusade
model instituted by Billy Graham reaches a great number of people,
but when all is said and done, perhaps 4 to 10 percent become
involved with their local church. Clearly, dialogical evangelism,
friendship evangelism, discipleship evangelism, and Kerygma or
marketplace evangelism needs to augment and supplement the Crusade
model. For instance, dialogical evangelism has a 73 percent
retention rate. There is also the issue of whether the approximately
90 percent who come forward in a crusade, but then don’t get
involved in the local church, actually may become inoculated against
Christian growth and discipleship.
These and many more questions were discussed and
examined. The organization of the event was commendable, in that it
facilitated the whole vision and purpose of Amsterdam 2000.
In fact, the most commendable aspect of the event
was the 2000 volunteers from all over the world. These volunteers
set a very high standard for graciousness and hospitality. Many of
them came from successful business and academic backgrounds and were
CEOs of their own businesses. With very little training, they not
only processed and cared for 10,000 participants, but they did so
with a love and a joy that transformed the participants’ lives.
Clearly, Amsterdam 2000 has passed
the torch to 10,000 new evangelists who will go into all the world
to set people free from the confusions of our 21st Century culture.
Regrettably, Billy Graham was not able to attend
the event because of his failing health. He did watch the event from
his room at the Mayo Clinic and sent personal massages back to the
participants. It was clear, though, that his passion for evangelism,
prompted by his love for God and for his fellow man, governed and
blessed the whole event. |
Media
Wise Authors
Dr. Ted Baehr
Dr. Tom Snyder
Dan Wooding |
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Copyright 2006, Ankerberg Theological Research Institute
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