Who are the great evangelists?

charles spurgeon

 

I believe great is a relative term. Of their own no one is great, he who goes in the name of the Jesus is great.

I feel anyone who sincerily asked someone lost to have a relationship with Christ is great.

Matthew 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

 

Adrian Rodgers

Adrian Rodgers
Belview Baptist
Tennesee
Their pastor for 33 years
(now deceased)

A humble man who dedicated his life to the saving of lost souls. He said,
"There are those
who can preach the Gospel
better than I can,
but there is nobody
who can preach
a better Gospel than I can."

He wasn't afraid to stand for the Truth of Scripture, no matter the cost. He often said,
"I would rather be divided by Truth,
than united in error."

He also had a wonderful sense of humour,
"I know some of you don't like what I've said.
If I've made any of you angry, just come up
to me after the sermon and apologize.
I'll forgive you.":smilewinkgrin:


He often ended his sermon with a tear in his eye and the simple quiet call of,
"Come to Jesus." ...and so now he is.

 

Uh- ya' think that last sentence might say it all??

Ed

 

Wow, do you have any messages from him I can hear? Sounds like a great and passionate man of God.

 

Other than the obvious Billy....

My grandmother once told me a wild story about Billy Sunday in her early days.

Before her time there was Moody.

Rob

 

Patrick

Though the catholics claim him, I don't think he was catholic, and he reached all of Ireland in ancient times.

 

Posted by LeBuick

Hi LeBuick:wavey:

I'd give you a little more information, but I've got to get to work. Adrian Rodgers--"Love Worth Finding Ministry". The website is under that name. They still show his sermons on TV. There are many good preachers I could name. He was the first to come to mind.

HAGD! :godisgood:

 

John R. Rice. He emphasized the power of the Holy Spirit for service, soul-winning and revival. In his Sword Conferences, the preachers were asked ahead of time to preach on those subjects, nothing else. Those who did not keep this simple rule were never asked back. I know of one well-know preacher who made the mistake of preaching on diet at a conference, and was thus never asked back.

To show the influence of John R. Rice on Baptists, here were some of the men who gave a word at his funeral: Bob Sumner, Lee Roberson, John Rawlings, Bill Rice 3rd, Pete Rice, Jerry Falwell, Tom Malone, Curtis Hutson, Jack Hyles. Many others attended (including Bob Jones Jr.) who were not asked to say anything, since there were just too many who wanted to. President Reagan sent a letter, the TN senators sent telegrams, Billy Graham sent a huge wreath, and others SBC preachers sent flowers. Thus you can see that a broad spectrum of Baptists and others gave him credit for their burden for souls and their stand on Scripture.

 

Grandma Rice was, beyond all doubt, the sweetest Christian I've ever known. Until she died, preachers and Christians young and old would come to visit her and often ask advice.

 

I like him, thanks... http://www.lwf.org/

 

Archived audio broadcasts are available at: OneChoice.com

 

Dr. Gene Scott, if you wanna know

Gene Scott was the only preacher on tv worth watching. Over 30 years on the tube, he grew long hair and a big shaggy beard, and was usually chewing on a cigar. He came off as more of a really nutty professor rather than a preacher per se, given to reading extensively on air from obscure historical works and history books- with commentary, of course.
Then for a break, he'd talk about his fancy cars and race horses. Queue up the video, and he'd be out in the barn inspecting his prize race horses- with a couple of big-breasted model types on his arm.
This purely boyish delight in showing off his goodies and getting the goats of all the church ladies (religious and secular) naturally enraged all kinds of self-appointed guardians of public morality. He had run-ins with different official types, trying to make some kind of case of fraud or financial impropriety. The California Attorney General's office screwed with him for a couple of years in the 70s before legislative reform finally trimmed their harassment abilities.
They never got anywhere, most likely because he was clean and above board. Also, he was famously resistant to auditors. Robin Williams once imitated him, saying, "The word 'audit' does not appear in the Bible." I'd presume that Williams made that up, but it's not far from stuff I heard him actually say on a regular basis. It was also hard to really justify being indignant when his followers were sending in donations marked with statements like, "Gene Scott can do whatever he wants with this money."
Really, these attorney generals and tax folk just provided grist for his mill. Among other things, this Rennaissance man was a painter. (He's said to have his own paintings displayed in his private museum alongside original Rembrandt and Monet.) At one point in the early '90s, I saw him hawking prints of an impressionist painting he'd done called "A Bureaucrat (And what to do with him)."
"A skinflint may get to Heaven, but what awaits him are a rusty old halo, a skinny old cloud, and a robe so worn it scratches. First-class salvation costs money."
Among his many interests, he played saxophone. Obviously he liked to share that gift on air. I believe he was also a songwriter. I don't know who else could possibly have written such a song as his perennial favorite "Kill a Pissant for Jesus." He was also considered a world-class stamp collector. (For being the author of a couple of dozen books, a stamp book was the only thing I could find for him on Amazon.)
Here's a particularly fun bio of Dr Scott from Rotten.com. This makes a good example of a fairly common phenomenon: Even people dead set on hating "televangelists" can't quite help but admire him, and revel in his rebel charm.
I've seen several stories such as this Rotten.com piece describe Dr Gene as perpetually "angry." That's really not right at all. Now, he could certainly get annoyed with whatever jackass crossed his path that day, but such displays were seemingly more for the entertainment of his audience than from any deep feelings of resentment. His anger was mostly skin deep. He really seriously ENJOYED his work, and it came through. Gene Scott gave FUN rants, not hate rants.
As to the shaking down of the congregation for some bucks, he had rather a different outlook than most. He generally didn't come begging on how the church needs money, or some Third World food bank he was sponsoring needed help, or any of those typical approaches.
As he viewed it, his students OWED him money for his teaching. If you're learning from his broadcasts, then you should be paying the teacher. "Get on the telephone!" he liked to bellow in that gravelly voice. "I'm not selling forty-pound Bibles, or water from Jordan, or 4,000 plastic crosses made by the Japanese and sold to Arabs. I don't send out 'healing cloths' or tear up my shirt. I say: what's what I've done worth? Whatever the meal I've fed you is worth, pay up."
He was born in Idaho in 1929, the son of an itinerant preacher. As a young boy, his infant brother died in the bed next to him, resulting in this explanation from his mother Inez Leona Graves Scott in a 1980 interview, "I saw a stairway begin to roll down from heaven and come right down to the side of my bed. Two angels walked down and they stopped in front of Gene. I said, 'Oh no, Lord, you can't take Gene!' and they just went around him and picked the baby up."
You can well imagine how such a background- coupled with genius intelligence- might result in an exceptionally interesting character. It did.
He got a PhD in 1957 from Stanford University for "philosophies of education," whatever that exactly means. He sure seemed to have created his own special philosophy of education as a tv preacher.
He was some kind of freaky evangelical. He was involved somewhere in the creation of Oral Roberts University. His background and original affiliation was Assemblies of God, which he resigned before he took over as pastor of the Faith Center in the 70s, leading to the 15K member congregation and television presence of his glory days.
I'm not sure the state of his empire at the time of his death, but he was broadcasting on his own satellite University Network channel 24/7, and was translated into at least eight languages broadcast on tv and radio in over 180 countries. The dude was a machine.
As a theologian, he de-emphasized what he might have viewed as relatively trivial lifestyle issues. "I take you as you are, as God takes me as I am." He was not known for wagging the finger at sinners for typical petty sins of the flesh. I don't think I ever heard him preach against drugs and fornication.
What he preached FOR was a staunch belief in the Resurrection, and the power of believing in Jesus Christ of Nazareth. That, and the therapeutic power of screwing with bureaucrats.
He mostly liked to carry on with his bad boy image, but he was also major philanthropist, giving and raising money for many charitable causes over the years. Among other things, he was on the board of the Richard Pryor Burn Center.
Maybe Dr Scott can learn some of them old popes and saints and such a thing or two about the Bible and God and law. It'd sure be fun to watch him try.


Best teaching on the Resurrection imho:http://www.resurrectionism.com/

 

This is the kind of man you call a great evangelist? And "clean and above board" while he was "be out in the barn inspecting his prize race horses- with a couple of big-breasted model types on his arm"? :tear:

I have known many evangelists in my day, including the big names of the IFB movement, and I'd put any of them before this dude in godliness and true success in evangelism.

That includes my father, who never held great meetings when he was an evangelist, but ministered in many local churches and saw folks genuinely come to Christ, get right with God and be called to preach.

That also includes Monroe "Monk" Parker, strong as a bull spiritually, physically and mentally. He was a Ph. D. in theology who studied some at Princeton, but also a weight lifter who once lifted the pulpit out of the way and dared an armed intruder, come to kill him, to go ahead and shoot. The man fled. Dr. Parker's greatest revival was at a town in Kentucky so wicked that it was nicknamed "Hell." They sent a man to kill him there, but he got the drop on the guy with a roll of dimes in his pocket. 100s got saved in that town, and the town was never the same. Read Monk Parker's story in his own words in Through Sunshine and Shadows. Now that man was a real evangelist, not one of your silly TV money-grubbers. And I'm thrilled that I was privileged to call him friend and mentor for a few short years.

And while we are talking about real men, let's throw in karate evangelist Mike Crain, another friend of mine. You may not like his methods, but he's a real man--and a one woman man who deeply loves his wife, not some silly TV type who gallivants around with bosomy models. (Unbelievable!) Mike has a real heart for missions, too. Last time I had dinner with him he told me about his trip to Africa, where he had a full contact match (in his late 40's) with the African karate champion--and saw many 100's of Africans come to Christ. Oh, yes, and there are his many trips to Cuba, where he has seen hundreds of Cubans come to Christ. And many other countries.

And while we are talking about great evangelists, let me tell you about my mother's cousin Pete Rice. Pete keeps a low profile here in the States. You'll never see him begging for money on TV. Nope. He's more likely to be holding a city-wide campaign in a South American country, with 1000's of Hispanic folk coming to know Jesus Christ as Savior. Oh, yes, and he's a real man, too, a genuine cowboy who grew up on the Bill Rice Ranch, knows how to ride a bronc, lasso a dogey and shoot a six-gun. And he has no mansions, race-horses, fancy cars or high-upkeep women like those TV preachers. Nope. Pete just humbly walks with His God, and seeks to see folks saved all around the world. He came over here to Japan several years ago, and didn't want to sight see at all. No, his biggest thrill was seeing a lady come to Christ in a church in Sapporo where I had the privilege of interpreting for him.

You can keep your TV evangelists--ALL of them. I'd much rather know and honor a real evangelist--one who sacrifices all for Christ, walks daily with Jesus, and seeks with all of his heart to be used of God.

 

Me thinks you did read the teaching on the Resurrection ..I Stand on that

Ignorance is bliss I guess me thinks you did not give a fair airing of his teaching on the Resurrection the best teaching ever given ..beside the bible. Again imho...the op asked a question ...I answered it imho ..now instead of attacking my humble choice ...give yours without putting down a very good evangelist and teacher...bottom line he met the criteria of an evangelist and yes it was via satellite, radio, TV and shortwave...what is wrong with that??? nothing. Now I have nothing bad to say about your choices ..kinda wished it was a little more humble and minus the lashing out of my choice...which is fine...like I said you are ignorant of Dr. Gene per dictionary definition which is fine but I did link to his teaching on the Resurrection and it is spot on and it is the greatest evangelist tool the Holy Spirit can help you with....either it is a lie or it is not and Dr. Gene does a masterful job of really explaining it and in so doing finding faith and salvation. imho

Let me link to it again so you can come into the light and out of the world of not knowing.

Best teaching on the Resurrection imho:http://www.resurrectionism.com/