By Dan Wooding

Founder of ASSIST Ministries

ORLANDO, FL (ANS) -- About 700 people have been gathering in Orlando, Florida, to "seek God's vision for evangelism in the next decade." Fueled by the momentum of Cape Town 2010, the Lausanne Movement gathering of 4,000 leaders from 198 countries last Fall, the U.S. Lausanne Committee / Mission America Coalition (MAC) has convened hundreds of U.S. leaders, and some from other countries.

According to a news release from Susan Brill of Mission America, twenty-eight separate “affinity consultation” groups discussed the issues the Church faces in carrying out the Great Commission and will submit practical next steps following the Consultation. Their topics span every arena of evangelism and missions from global justice to creation care to Islam to mobilizing congregations in missions.

The event opened Monday (April 4, 2011) with a prayer focus -- participants around 110 tables prayed for humble Christ-like hearts.

“You could feel the vibe in the whole room as people from table to table began to pray for each other. It was really exciting for me. A great evening,” said Glenda Washington, of Jacksonville, Fla.

Dr. Paul Cedar

“This is what the Mission America Coalition is all about,” says Paul Cedar, chairman, “bringing together leaders from all sectors of the Body of Christ--denominations, ministry networks, city movements, churches, evangelism and mission organizations--to humbly carry out the Great Commission together. That's why we began with an evening devoted to prayer.”

On Tuesday, Lon Allison, executive director, Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College, gave the morning plenary address, “A Larger Evangelism.”

Allison said many Christians fall into three camps of “Words, Works, and Wonders,” but we need them all. “Both the Church and the world are blessed by this fullness of God in action through us...in a tired American world where modernity hopes have grown...disappointed.”

R. York Moore, national evangelist for Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, delivered one of the responses to the plenary. “The long history of our evangelical heritage placed too much emphasis on the wrath of God and far too little on the wonder working power of God to re-create the nations--to transform not only soul, but society as well,” he said. “Our hope is not in the destruction of the world but

in its re-creation.”

The event ended today (Wednesday, April 06, 2011). For the affinity consultation findings and ongoing dialog on the topics, go to servingbettertogether.com.

For more information about the Mission America Coalition / U.S. Lausanne Committee see www.missionamerica.org. For interviews, call Susan Brill, director of communications, at (715) 559-1068

Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 47 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries. You can follow Dan on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.

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