Students Learn Evangelism Through Practice

HOUSTON – On a Wednesday evening at the Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church in Houston, guests filtered through the sanctuary doors as theology students from Southwestern Adventist University (SWAU) greeted attendees, handed out materials and distributed registration cards. In the fellowship hall, students helped pack purple gift bags and prepare food that would be served after the meeting.

These students were participating in the Southwestern Union’s annual Field School of Evangelism, a required summer course for theology juniors at SWAU. From May 15 through June 20, the program combined classroom instruction, hands-on ministry experience and the opportunity for students to conduct their own evangelistic series in Austin-area churches.

“The hope is that not only will they learn some public evangelistic skills, but also they will have an experience that will leave an indelible mark where they will always have that desire to win souls,” said Stephen Brooks, Southwestern Union executive secretary.

Mornings were spent in class with Brooks, afternoons were dedicated to sermon preparation and evenings were spent assisting with the nightly revival meetings. Throughout the series, students rotated through responsibilities, including audiovisual support, children’s programming and transporting attendees to and from meetings.

In addition to providing classroom instruction and modeling evangelistic ministry through the nightly meetings, the Southwestern Union also helped cover tuition, hotel costs, transportation and daily stipends for students participating in the field school.

“We try to make it as stress free as possible for them,” Brooks said.

For field school participant Max Gucake, the experience reshaped the way he thought about ministry, challenging him to simplify his approach, focus more intentionally on people and slow down enough to give others his full attention rather than immediately trying to fix their problems.

“Sometimes people just want to offload,” Gucake said. “I don’t have to fix it in that moment. I can just listen.”

Participant Claudette Henry-Davis described Brooks’ approach as “the Jesus method,” saying his style of evangelism was simple enough “that even the smallest child can grasp.”

Students also said they were struck by the community’s response to the meetings. Attendance grew throughout the week, surprising organizers who had prepared for smaller crowds.

“I’ve never seen visitors come to an evangelistic series in droves,” Henry-Davis said. “People are hungry for the message.”

Gucake, who helped transport attendees to and from the meetings, said the response became visible almost immediately. “It’s definitely been a blessing,” he said. “A lot of people showed up.”

Students later moved from observing ministry to leading it themselves as they conducted their own meetings in local churches.

Brooks said the goal was not only for students to learn ministry skills, but to experience firsthand what it means to lead others to Christ. 

“We want the meetings to be real evangelistic meetings,” he said, “to give these students an opportunity to win souls.”

By Lori Futcher

Record Editor

‍