Evangelism is sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God.
“I’ve always loved that definition,” Jeff Iorg, president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, said. “That’s what it means to me. Sharing the good news of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God.”
Iorg was one of the featured speakers at the 2025 Statewide Conference on Evangelism and Church Health (ECON) Jan. 27-28 at Geyer Springs First Baptist Church in Little Rock.
The Evangelism Conference equips, encourages and empowers Arkansas Baptist leaders to bring the good news to the forefront of their ministries.
“It encourages people who are in smaller churches to come together and see that there are large numbers of people that are trying to do what they are trying to do, which is reach people with the gospel,” Iorg said.
ABSC Church Health + Evangelism Team Leader Warren Gasaway said pastors and staff have reached out since the conference letting him know of their discussions of evangelism strategy and implementation.
“They were inspired to put some ideas to work, and we are ready to serve churches and their leaders,” Gasaway said. “We’re grateful that God orchestrated the conference, gave us great worship leaders and speakers, and unified the churches in the room in the mission of the gospel.”
In addition to Iorg, speakers at the event included: Nick Floyd, senior pastor of Cross Church in Northwest Arkansas; Ted Cunningham, founding pastor of Woodland Hills Family Church in Branson, Missouri; J.J. Washington, director of personal evangelism for the North American Mission Board; Lee Strobel, best-selling author of The Case for Christ; and Tom Richter, pastor of Cullman Alabama First Baptist Church.
Additionally, ECON culminated with multiple workshops for pastors, women, youth and children’s leaders, worship leaders, and church administrators. Warren noted they had almost 600 people register for the workshops.
Prior to ECON, Strobel led a pre-con workshop, where he discussed what he considers a key issue in American Christianity – reaching the lost. More than 500 people were in attendance.
“Our team focused on glorifying God and encouraging pastors while equipping them with ideas and tools for evangelism. We’re thankful the Lord helped us with those efforts,” Gasaway said.
ECON and the workshops were free to attend thanks to the generous giving of Arkansas Baptists to the Cooperative Program.
Sermons from the Evangelism Conference are available on the ABSC website. For ECON Replay, click here.
ABSC podcasters Arkansas Baptist Women, Lead Defend, and Missionize with the Missions Guys recorded interviews with several of the speakers during the event. Check out absc.org/podcasts for upcoming episodes.