With 178 people on opening night, the Jewish-Adventist evangelistic series last May in Vancouver, Wash., clearly struck a nerve in the community. Coordinated by David Cairns, over the next 17 days of the series there were a consistent number of people in attendance, with an average of 141 people per night. In total there were over 389 people that attended at least one day of the series. The most interesting statistic: over 80% of the attendees (315 people) were non-Adventist.
Dr. Alexander “Sasha” Bolotnikov led the evangelistic series titled, “The Gospel through the Eyes of a Jew,” at Beit Shalom Balevav Adventist Community Church, a Jewish-Adventist Congregation in Vancouver, Wash. One big reason the event did so well was due to help from the Members In Ministry outreach team. This group was important to the success of the campaign because they organized the event, a team effort that built a sense of community. Members In Ministry went as far as planning, orchestrating, and executing the evangelistic series and committed to fundraising, advertising the campaign, and coordinating event activities.
This valuable work showed results. With the event being properly targeted and marketed to a specific group of people, the campaign had a large turnout, reaching many people outside of the Adventist community. The event was also streamed live online, with as many as 42 viewers each night.
After the evangelistic series ended, there were plenty of attendees that displayed interest in follow-ups. Twelve participants requested baptisms, 20 wanted further bible studies, and over 40 had prayer requests.
David Cairns believes the event was a clear success due to the hard work of the people in the community, the vision set by Members In Ministry, and the feeling attendees had of being part of something special. Most importantly, with God all things are possible. When the people were faithful to His vision, God blessed in a big way.