Fourteen lay evangelists recently received certificates for completing a five-week training course equipping them for outreach in their communities. The classes were sponsored by End Times Like These Ministries, a lay organization that has been training SCC church members in the Greater Los Angeles Region churches for outreach since 1988.

According to Michael Johnson, ETLTM president, “We now have graduated into the work of soul-winning more than 200 persons since 1989. On graduation days, such as our spring event at the Valley Crossroads church, past and current graduates tell how the Lord has blessed them in bringing souls to Christ.”

Johnson, who was a postal carrier for 22 years and has been a general contractor since 1980, has “a passion for seeing the work finished.” As he and his wife, R. Denise Johnson, a Bible instructor at the Voice of Prophecy, pursue their shared fervor for evangelism through their ministry, they reap personal benefits that have surprised them. “It has been a big fulfillment to see people light up,” Michael Johnson said. “They come to the classes overwhelmed at encountering the demands of training for lay ministry and leave able to do the work of God. Being part of that process is so rewarding.”

ETLT classes teach the basics of witnessing, giving Bible studies, gaining decisions, medical missionary work, witnessing in family territory and much more. According to the endtimeslikethese.org website, the ministry is “driven by the power of Christ and the great commission of Matthew 28:19-20. The End Times Like These team, now eight persons strong, is determined to place the ministry of soul winning and training on the forefront of their life activities until Jesus comes.”

Another general contractor, ETLT alumnus Bert Leverett, acknowledged that he, too, is excited about evangelism. “I took the training classes as a result of things the Lord had brought into my life; I was looking for something to do for the Lord. The classes were most helpful in teaching me how to deal with one-on-one Bible studies as well as with group Bible studies.” (Breach Builders, Leverett’s own ministry, takes him and his team on four mission trips a year. Following evangelistic series in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, “Breach Builders” team members were packing for an evangelistic trip to the Philippines.)

Linda Pollenitz is an Eligibility Supervisor for the L.A. County Department of Social Services. “What is most exciting to me is the sense of fulfillment that I receive from serving the Lord and bringing people into the church. When I was baptized in 1992, God revealed my spiritual gifts to me personally, and I also participated in a spiritual gifts seminar at my church. With the ETLT training, I was prepared to use my spiritual gifts.” Pollenitz has served as a lay Bible worker at the Normandie Avenue church since 1993.

The fourth and final End Times Like These Ministries training session in 2006 is scheduled for Sept. 5 to Oct. 14 at the Palmdale church. For details, call 805-531-9718.