The_Good_News_Festival_&_Clinic.pdf

As Kempton Turner preached at the Downtown Saturday evening service on July 23, a young woman seated near the front of the sanctuary listened intently—her blue pew Bible open to Titus for ready reference. This was Tanya’s first service at Bethlehem.

During the prayer following the message, she gripped the pew in front of her and bowed her forehead onto the back of her hands. Then, as she stood singing the closing song, her lips moved slightly … As I ran my hell-bound race, indifferent to the cost, You looked upon my helpless state and led me to the cross….

The song ended, and Tanya’s friend from Bethlehem, Ka Yang, put her arm around her. Tanya could not hold in her emotion any longer. Her tears flowed as Ka prayed and stroked her back. “She hadn’t realized how hard [life] had gotten since she has tried to follow Christ,” Ka said later.

Now rewind one month.

The Good News Festival & Clinic
Walking in Powderhorn Park in late June, Tanya was handed an invitation to the Good News Festival & Clinic (GNFC) to be held the following week at the 16/33 Center. Booths would be set up where guests could receive a complimentary bag of groceries and a hygiene kit, as well as services like financial counsel, urban gardening tips, and even a screening for dental care. Most important, there would be a message of Good News.

Tanya could use some good news. In fact, it so happened that just the night before she had been crying out to God for help in her life.

When Tanya arrived on the brilliantly sunny, breezy, 85-degree day of the Festival, guests were being paired with orange-shirted “Advocates” who had been trained to walk through the clinic area with a guest or family—get to know them, have a meal with them, and seek opportunities for Christ-honoring conversation before sitting with them to hear a gospel message.

Tanya was paired with Advocate Ka Yang.

Disciple-Making
During the Festival, Tanya opened up to her new friend Ka about her struggles. In return, she heard words of hope that her heart craved. That day she realized at a deeper level that God was the only one who could help her with her troubles.

In the weeks following the Festival, she read through the Gospel of John. Ka stayed in touch with her, brought her to a Wednesday Connection gathering back at the 16/33 Center and—most recently—to the Saturday night service at Bethlehem.

Jahill Richards, who headed up the neighborhood canvassing for the Festival, had instructed his canvassers (many of whom became advocates) that the goal was not to pass out as many invitations as possible, but to have heart-felt gospel conversations with each person invited. In God’s providence, Jahill himself had handed Tanya her invitation when he saw her in Powderhorn Park—a direct answer to her desperate prayer.

“Matthew 28:18 tells us that Jesus is sovereign over heaven and earth and all human hearts,” said Festival organizer and evangelist Justin Hoover. “We’ve been commissioned to go and be his witnesses in the sovereign power that he provides. He goes before us and is with us, even as we walk up to people or knock on doors in the name of Jesus.”

Carol-June “CJ” Leonard was one of the 18–25 nightly canvassers from Bethlehem and partnering church Jubilee who walked through the neighborhood before the Festival handing out about 1,400 invitations.

CJ said that after the experience of intense witnessing and outreach, she will not be able to go back to the more passive Christian walk of her pre-Festival life. “I learned that all I have to do is sow seed, and the rest is up to God,” she said. “My success isn’t dependent on the character of the people hearing the Word of God, it’s dependent on my willingness to obey. … The battle is won for us and there’s nothing to fear.”

Now, CJ and several other advocates are planning to host a dinner for the friends they made and whom they are seeking to disciple since the Festival.

Advocates like Ka and CJ are seeing through real-life examples that soul satisfaction in Jesus rarely happens without discipleship and ongoing fellowship with those who have had an initial hunger awakened for Christ.

Tanya is Ka’s first experience with discipling. “I don’t know what to do,” Ka said, “but the Lord is showing me.”

Your Turn
On Wednesday, August 31 (3:00–7:30pm), a second Good News Festival & Clinic will, Lord willing, be a means of pouring the love of Jesus through word and deed into the Powderhorn neighborhood. If you are interested in being a canvasser and/or an advocate, come to the Thursday, August 18, Evangelism Training & Disciple-Making Class, 7:00–9:00pm, at the Downtown Campus in Room 52 (Youth Basement) … and watch how the Lord may use you!

Loving the neighborhood for Him,

Amanda Knoke
GNFC Planning Team Member
(& Bethlehem Communications Director)