Signs & Wonders Blog

During my early days with evangelism, I developed an approach called the Survey Technique . By asking short direct questions, you can maintain control of the conversation and find out quickly what a person’s spiritual beliefs are. Although the Survey Technique has helped me lead thousands to the Lord, I’m still open to utilizing new methods in reaching people with the gospel. Rodney Howard-Browne 's ministry uses a tool called the Gospel Soul-Winning Script , which originated during their Good News New York campaign in 1999. I became familiar with it a few years later during evangelism outreaches with Rodney’s church in Tampa, Florida. At first, I resisted using the script. I found it restrictive and thought sinners wouldn’t be receptive to me reading the whole thing to them. Then while taking part in a 2009 outreach with Rodney’s ministry in Washington, D.C., my team leader asked me to “stick with the script.” Wanting to maintain unity, I complied with his request. Initially it fe...

Years ago when Rodney Howard-Browne first started out in ministry, he was frequently asked to present ordination papers he didn’t have. Ironically once the revivalist got his papers and offered to show them to pastors interested in him speaking at their churches, Rodney was told they weren't necessary. People have asked if I’ve been ordained or licensed as a minister. Yesterday that became official through Christ’s Mandate for Missions . Certainly, there are advantages to having such credentials. One would need them to legally conduct weddings. I hadn’t really sought this but asked the Lord to make it possible in His timing. As an evangelist, my focus has been preaching the gospel on the streets and through the Internet. Nevertheless, I still received invites to minister in churches. Nowadays anyone can show off a certificate declaring themselves a minister. An organization called the Universal Life Church has instantly ordained over 20 million people free of charge. They inclu...

Last Sunday, I went to a gathering of friends from church. Most of them weren’t interested in the Super Bowl. I didn’t start watching the game until the second quarter and mostly ignored the commercials plus muted the halftime show. Therefore, I missed seeing the Jeep advertisement featuring Bruce Springsteen. I wasn’t aware of the commercial until three days later when noticing a link to that in an article about The Boss facing a drunk driving charge (which resulted in Jeep pulling the ad off the air). I’ve never been a fan of Springsteen but appreciated his talents as a singer, songwriter, and musician. During the 1980s, I often played his records while working as a disc jockey. However, I became turned off to Springsteen as he vocalized his political beliefs more. 1994’s “Streets of Philadelphia” was written for a movie that condoned homosexuality. I thought it was one of The Boss’s weakest recordings. Yet “Philadelphia” was a top ten hit that won four Grammy Awards plus an Oscar ...

In 1977, I was a 13-year-old writer for the student newspaper at the now-defunct Central Junior High School in Moorhead, Minnesota. Among my articles was a music poll to determine the most popular songs and artists amongst my peers. Manfred Mann’s “Blinded by the Light” and the rock group Kiss topped my survey. Eventually, I conducted another poll that included the worst songs and artists. Classmates mentioned some of my personal favorites but were still included in my tallies. I desired accuracy and truthfulness. There’s an old saying, “Cheaters never win.” Sadly, I later succumbed to peer pressure by being dishonest in areas like cheating on algebra tests. While that helped me get better grades at the time, I was only hurting myself. I continued struggling with algebra in high school and college. Proverbs 28:18 in the Holman Christian Standard Bible says, “The one who lives with integrity will be helped, but one who distorts right and wrong will suddenly fall.”   Companies who...