(July 25, 2022) Steeve Rees reports inspiring evangelistic news…

From Baptists to Pentecostals and everybody in between, people who believe the Lord Jesus wants to save at least one billion souls by 2030 also say his prayer for unity in John 17:23 is a key to breakthrough and harvest before the return of the Lord.

That is what was driving a diverse group of local, national and international believers to convene in Colorado Springs, Colorado earlier this month.

One billion souls harvest by 2030
Four ‘greats’ – unity, breakthrough, harvest and return – inspired national and global leaders, pastors, churches, ministries, and believers from across America and other nations, including many from South Korea, at a four-day summit of prayer, worship and missions-sharing.

While Evangelicals, Pentecostals and Charismatics are united in their desire for the Billion Soul Harvest (BSH), four of the eight billion people on earth have yet to hear the gospel for the first time. About one in four – or a little more than two billion people – call themselves Christians.

The Billion Soul Harvest Global Summit (https://www.billionsoulharvest.net) was stirred by Jesus’ vision of the fields ready for harvest (John 4:35). It sought to unite believers around the goal by 2030. But more than a billion is fine, too, if Jesus tarries after 2033.

‘The thing that’s unique about what we’re doing is that it doesn’t come from a particular denominational perspective or missions organisations. We’re bringing together leaders of global movements, prayer ministries, pastors and people together,’ commented Dai Sup Han, the BSH summit coordinator, and a national prayer ministry leader.

At least 100 prayer warriors from South Korea had planned to join another 100 or so national Korean-Americans and global leaders focusing on another ‘great’ biblical theme – Jesus’ commission in Matthew 28:18-20 – at Rocky Mountain Calvary in Colorado Springs.

Top leaders and movements involved
The honorary chairman, Dick Eastman of Every Home For Christ (Every Home for Christ – Home), hosted the summit with prayer leader Lou Engle of The Call and The Send movements; Luis and Doris Bush of the 10/40 Window Movement; John Robb championing Unreached People Groups; Hormoz Shariat of Iran Alive Ministries; Werner Nachtigal of the Go Movement; Austin Ukachi of the MANI Africa; Daniel Panji of the World Prayer Assembly and other global ministers.

One of the Korean-Americans representing BSH is a pastor and missionary who is assisting Ukrainian refugees from Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The displaced have received tons of food so far. His ministry also supported Afghanis who fled their country when the Taliban took it over. He has first-hand knowledge of at least 95,000 former Muslims who were baptised into Jesus. He believes, like other leaders, that the BSH starts with two people – one sharing the gospel and another responding to it in faith.

Last year, 40 prayer warriors from 37 states came to Colorado Springs to pray for revival in the spring. In the fall, approximately150 national and global leaders representing 50 nations gathered for the 2021 BSH at Glen Eyrie in Colorado Springs. This year’s summit was open to the body of Christ.

Gospel to everyone by 2030
Dr. James Hwang, who came to Jesus soon after Campus Crusade For Christ’s Explo `74 in Seoul, Korea breathed new life into the late Bill Bright’s desire to reach a billion souls for Christ.

Hwang is passionate about uniting the body of Christ in bringing the gospel to all humankind by 2030, which marks the 2,000-year anniversary of the death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord, as well as the birth of the church.

Like revival in Korea where Han’s parents came to faith in Jesus, the BSH needs to spread from neighbourhoods to cities, counties, states and nations.

Han’s paternal grandmother, maternal grandparents and great-grandmother came to faith in Jesus in the years after the 1907 Pyongyang Korean Revival – less than one year after the Azusa Street Revival in the United States.

International logo
The BSH (HOME | BillionSoulHarvest) logo is comprised of nine grains that look like the number 0, each representing cultures, languages and ethnicities. There are also nine zeroes in one billion.

‘Our mission is to accelerate Jesus’ great commission by being a catalyst for global cooperation for harvest among all nations, tribes, people and tongues in anticipation of his great return. And our vision is billions of people throughout the earth who are desperate for demonstration and proclamation of the gospel by the church in various regions and continents by 2030,’ said Han, who for 15 years has led Prayer Surge NOW! (prayersurgenow.net).

Of South Korean descent, Han served briefly in Washington, D.C. with the late Dick Simmons who successfully prayed for key appointments to the Supreme Court and the end of Roe v. Wade.

Holy Spirit’s unfinished business
At the summit, scores of speakers shared for around 10 minutes each on how God is moving in different parts of the world, the unfinished business of the Holy Spirit in various countries, and God’s burden for regions or nations.

In the two regions of the world once reached with the gospel – America and Western Europe – personal and national faith is now in decline. ‘It’s also an issue in the nation in which I was born – South Korea. There, like here, many young people are so attracted to tech companies, media, things of this world that many are no longer part of the church,’ said Han.

With a heart and ministry focused on refugees and relief work, Korean-American Young Cho will share at the BSH summit how the focus of his life and mission shifted to Ukraine – a nation that he’d not previously thought about – when Russia’s army invaded at Putin’s command.

The United Nations Human Rights Commission – in a recent document on international refugees – reported there are 90 million displaced people around the world including Ukraine and Islamic nations.

As Cho travels among the nations, he reminds himself and others that BSH is a catalyst for global cooperation in winning people to Christ by 2030.

‘One billion is a big number but, as long as each and every believer brings one person to faith in Jesus, I really believe we can achieve that goal before He comes back a second time,’ commented Cho, a missionary with the creative gospel-sharing movement, NOVO (Novo: Make New).

Global enablement
It is global connections and cooperation that’s enabling Cho to personally oversee the distribution of tons of food and aid into Ukraine and neighbouring nations.

‘From the get-go, I wanted to help orphanages. On the third trip, God placed a city on my heart. We shared the billion-soul harvest vision in a moment. Instead of waiting for the war to end – and I hope it will soon – we’re focused on rebuilding, spiritually, the nation with the true hope of the gospel,’ said Cho.

Ukrainian refugees are at liberty, like missionaries, to bring the gospel to the diaspora of people in great need, he added.

________________________________________________________

 Link: https://www.assistnews, ANS’s statement is ‘No “fake news” here. The gospel is our motivation. Our passion is to glorify God by reporting on world missions, the persecuted church, and stories and events that inspire our daily lives for Christ. ANS was founded by Dan Wooding to inform, educate, and inspire about all that God is doing in today’s culture. Assist News mobilises Christians to intervene on behalf of the persecuted church.’
_________________________________________________________