True, Beautiful, Just Evangelism | A Conversation with Pastor Ryan Bell

Posted May 18th, 2008 by Alexander Carpenter
in

Welcome to the Spectrum Podcast.

We'll be providing eclectic content starting today.

Kicking it off right now I'm starting a weekly series on Innovation in Church Work.

These are about seven minute conversations with Adventists who are doing creative things in our community.

Coming up, we'll have:

  • Ray Dabrowski, Director of Communication for the Seventh-day Adventist Church
  • Chuck Scriven, president of Kettering College of Medical Arts and chairman of Spectrum|Adventist Forum
  • James Standish, directs legislative affairs for the NAD and is the Executive Director of the North American Religious Liberty Association.

But today, first up, we've got Ryan Bell, pastor of the Hollywood SDA Church. As many of you know, evangelism is a hot topic these days in Adventism. There are over 200 comments on the It is Written post. One of the things that I'm interested in is thinking about evangelism constructively, even creatively, beyond the usual stereotypes. Ryan is doing that.

I've posted a link to his church website where you can check it out for yourselves: Hollywood Seventh-day Adventist Church .

Does this sound too radical or can you share something true, beautiful, or just that your church does or could do to reach out to the community?

Comments

"The role of the church is to point towards the Kingdom of God"- Ryan Bell
That sounds downright radical to me. Christ like even. I like.

My home church has a tutoring program I was a part of while in high school. I never thought of it as evangelism then but now I think it is a positive contribution to the community in ways that mirror, and witness, Christ.

I wish I had something beautiful to share. I like beautiful things- they make life worthwhile. Thank you Ryan for your ministry. It's something we are right to be proud of.

I like these podcasts and I like that they're short. Seriously. It means that I'll listen to each and every one.

Posted by: Johnny A. Ramirez | 19 May 2008 at 5:45

Glad you got this going. Definitely going to be a great resource for all of us.

I love the way the wall of the church is being used to unite the community and will be a great witness to millions of people as they drive by on the 101. Great stuff.

Posted by: Trevan Osborn (not verified) | 19 May 2008 at 9:31

Glad people are checking this out.

Help us out for future episodes:

Who else do you know in Adventism who is doing creative things with their part of the church?

With whom would you like to hear an interview?

Posted by: Alexander Carpenter | 19 May 2008 at 10:39

Enjoyed the podcost! If you continue to keep them short, I'll continue to enjoy them.

Also, I'd like to see a picture of the mural Ryan speaks about in this podcast.

Posted by: SAR (not verified) | 19 May 2008 at 1:49

Fantastic idea, Alex. Fantastic ideaS, Ryan! THANKS!!

Posted by: Gaylene (not verified) | 19 May 2008 at 2:23

I'd love to hear an interview with Ron Pickell. He's the Adventist Christian Fellowship director at Berkeley. He makes a living from making Adventist campus ministries creative. But what's more, he knows a lot about what kind of creative things are being done elsewhere in the country by other people in order to mitigate the church's hemorrhaging of college students and young adults.

Posted by: Robert Jacobson (not verified) | 19 May 2008 at 4:47

We've hit some political snags with our mural (no fault of our own, we've just gotten caught in a city-wide issue with public art). When the mural is completed you can be sure we're post photos and write about it. Thanks everyone, for your encouragement.

Posted by: Ryan Bell | 20 May 2008 at 8:14

My conviction that evangelism is more about “being” than it is about “doing” only grows deeper with time and maturity.
Check out this “bullet-proof” approach to transformational evangelism.:
http://georgiagrown.blogspot.com/2008_04_06_archive.html

Also explore this "being evangelism" approach by SAU students:
http://www.myspace.com/seycopendoor

Posted by: Harold Cunningham (not verified) | 24 May 2008 at 4:20

Hey Harold,

All the best to you in "get ur dun" Georgia. :~)

pat

Posted by: pat travis | 24 May 2008 at 5:31

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