•  The New Testament Evangelist

  • Below are a couple of articles written by Dr. LaBorg. This one  was published in the Fires of Revival Newspaper. 

  • As promised Dr.LaBorg will be publishing a brief article to answer your requests for his recommendations concerning the use of Evangelists, who he recommends, what to ask and who to ask before you invite an evangelist to your church.

• God's Gifts  
• Ephesians Four is without question one of my favorite passages in all of Holy Scriptures. The New Testament provides three different lists of spiritual gifts, and none of them are identical or exhaustive. The Ephesians Four passage differs from the other two (I Corinthians 12:4-11 and Romans 12:3-8) because the Apostle Paul reveals to us that there are men who are to be recognized as gifts to the believers and not primarily the spiritual gifts of believers listed in the other two passages. The intent of this brief article is to encourage pastors, church leaders and saints to once again realize the marvelous gift that our Lord Jesus Christ has given in the men that occupy the office of the New Testament Evangelist. We are quick to complain about the spiritual darkness that covers our land and bemoan the apathy that paralyzes so many of our churches, but we are complicit in the problem because we have rejected God's remedy.
  Prognosticators and pundits spend countless hours debating the reasons for declining baptisms and plateaued churches, yet all the while ignoring God's answer in the office of the evangelist. The Lord has given His Church a cadre of gifted and anointed harvesters that are supernaturally affective in reaching the lost and awakening the slumbering saints, and we ignore these men at our own peril. I am taking this opportunity to express a word of sincere appreciation, admiration, and lastly, a word of recommendation to my fellow pastor. To the Evangelist, I want to thank you for your example of faith as you live out of suitcases, survive on fast food and live week after week estranged from your family in places most pastors would never allow their family to stay one hour much less a week. The average evangelist lives by faith every week knowing that there are no paid sick days and that he is only one love offering from his last pay check. He is often criticized for his inconsiderate tone when the truth of the matter is, he has simply confronted the sins that too many pastors have willfully ignored for too long. For the countless hours you spend alone on the road, sitting in airports, forgotten in some motel room, and misunderstood by those who have settled in Sodom and Gomorrah, I write to remind you that there are those who respect and admire you more than you will ever know.
  I close with a word of recommendation to the pastors across this land: stop looking for the latest fad to fill the baptistery and stop the decline of the membership rolls. We already have God's answer: call some anointed evangelist today. He is by no means the only answer but he is certainly among the most neglected of our day. Allow me to anticipate the most common complaint I receive these days concerning the use of evangelists who have caused you to cease using the evangelist. You had a bad experience, or there are some notable but less than ethical evangelist who have caused you to cease using the evangelist. If that is the line of logic we are going to use, then churches should cease to call pastors because of the failures of Jim Baker and Ted Haggard. If the New Testament Evangelist has become obsolete then what precludes the New Testament Pastor from the same fate? Is he not listed in the same verse as the evangelist? I realize gifted men in these last days? Ask God for direction today about planning an evangelistic meeting in the future that will bring souls into the Kingdom and stir the hearts of your people. Invite an anointed evangelist, and when he arrives treat him like the gift from God that he is. May the Lord be glorified among the nations and give us souls for our labor as we await His Return. Maranatha!

SECOND ARTICLE 

•  You Never See That One Coming.

• God has been so gracious to allow me to witness some incrediable things and preach in so many different places over the years.  As a result of witnessing God moving among his people and experiencing the Holy winds of revival blow across my brow, I have often wondered how it is that some who have witnessed similar (sometimes the same) moves of God could be affected so differently or in reality, not affected at all. Did they not see and sense what others witnessed in the moving of God's Holy Spirit?  How could some be so profoundly affected by anointed worship and preaching of the Word while others remain so indifferent?  Well, A.W. Tozer helped me greatly with this quandry when he wrote, "Truth that is not experienced is no better than error, and may be fully as dangerous. The scribes who sat in Moses' seat were not the victims of error; they were the victims of their failure to experience what they taught."  The Apostle Paul said that "knowledge puffs up"(1 Cor 8:1) and there is little doubt that many contemporary churches are filled with "bloated believers" that have been exposed to a great deal of truth but have applied so very little of it.  Among the multiplied mistakes I have made throughout my pastoral ministry the most grievous has been to assume that exposure to truth equals experienced truth.  How can I say this . . .  I was wrong, wrong and very wrong.  Again Tozer rescues me from my naivete when he said, "The devil is a better theologian than any of us but he is still a devil."  Allow me to give a word of warning to my contemporary pastor brethren. The fact that a deacon,  Sunday School teacher, staff member, senior pastor, etc. has been exposed to the greatest of preachers and/or involved in the finest of churches  is not sufficient evidence apart from Spiritual fruit.  Truth that is not applied is truth that is denied.  I have paid the "stupid tax" too many times because I failed to understand that sanctification is not accomplished by association.  Guard your hearts. Examine the life of those that you allow into your arena of confidence because the enenmy knows that those closest to you can inflict the most damage.  The psalmist was well acquainted with this reality and it would profit us all to permit his words to sober us to this sad and necessary reality:

Psalms 55:12-13
¹² For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; Then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; Then I could hide from him.
¹³ But it was you, a man my equal, My companion and my acquaintance.

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