Raising up the next generation of Evangelists.

Every generation of the church of Jesus is in need of evangelists Our generation is no different. Where shall we find them? We must send young men into the pressure cooker of obedience and see what God produces. Samuel Davies, the eighteenth Presbyterian evangelist of Hanover, Virginia, died at the age of thirty-seven, but God used him powerfully in evangelistic preaching throughout the Richmond, Virginia region, planting at least thirteen churches in the process.[1]

We are looking for young men who have a desire to be bold with the gospel of grace, who will come to Bristol, Tennessee during the Nascar races of August 18-19. If you are a pastor, missionary, street preacher, lay evangelist, or a man with a growing passion to proclaim Christ, then this is for you. If you are an older man, then you are still welcome to attend as long as you bring at least one young man with you. Just as we do not learn to swim in the desert, we likewise cannot become effective evangelists in the classroom alone. We must go into the field. What better way to learn than by listening to qualified men speak to the issue, and then send out their students to practice. The Bristol Motor Speedway will have 160,000 people present. After lengthy times each morning of prayer and instruction from God's word, we will then go to the racetrack and practice preaching in the open air, engage in one on one personal evangelism, and gospel tract distribution. You will be challenged and inspired as you see God work powerfully through you.

The conference will start on Wednesday, August 16 and go through Saturday evening, August 19. Participants are free to leave Saturday afternoon or they can stay until Sunday morning, if they wish. Those who stay are
welcome to worship that Sunday with the nearby Eastern Heights Presbyterian Church if they wish.

  Speakers

John Barber

Dewey Roberts

Dewey Roberts is the Executive Director of Church Planting International which promotes indigenous missions in their respective countries. He also leads a Reformed Pastors Conference every year in Russia with attendance of over 100 pastors and international recognized speakers. Dewey majored in Bible and minored in English at Belhaven College and graduated in 1973. He received his Master of Divinty in 1976 from Reformed Theological Seminary. Dewey and his wife, Jane, have been married since 1979 and have two children and 4 grandchildren. Dewey served for 24 years as a chaplain in the Army Reserve and retired in the rank of Colonel. He has pastored many churches in the US and has been on many missions trips to various countries.

Al Baker

[1] Below is an article written by Rev. Al Baker about Samuel Davies and the importance of raising up a generation of evangelists modeled after him.

Who was Samuel Davies? Born in November, 1723 in New Castle County, Delaware to godly Welsh parents, Samuel gained his education under the tutelage of the Revered Samuel Blair at Faggs Manor, Pennsylvania. He was only eighteen years old when the full power of the Great Awakening through the preaching of Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and William and Gilbert Tennent was sweeping through Pennsylvania, Delarware, New York, and New England. Davies suffered his entire life with the ravages of tuberculosis and consequently believed he would live only a short life. He therefore rejected the call to pastoral ministry, but he was willing to serve as an evangelist. Davies was ordained by the New Side Presbyterians in 1747 and was called to Hanover, Virginia, the Richmond area. The state religion at the time was Anglican and Davies convinced the Governor of Virginia to allow him as a Presbyterian to preach there. Davies had seven different preaching stations in six counties, traveling weekly by horseback to each one. He was a powerful, eloquent, Spirit anointed, Calvinistic preacher. Patrick Henry, the great orator and major architect of the American Revolution, often heard Davies preach and said that he was the most eloquent man he had ever heard. Through Davies' evangelistic efforts, as many as thirteen Presbyterian churches were planted in the Hanover region. After Jonathan Edwards' death, Davies was called to replace Edwards as the President of the College of New Jersey (Princeton) in 1759. He continued there for two years until he finally succumbed to tuberculosis in 1761 at the age of thirty-seven. Davies was deeply committed to the Westminster Confession of Faith but he also was New Side, meaning he supported the Great Awakening as an authentic movement of the Holy Spirit.