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More than 30 sites hosted a “Hope Can Be Yours” series of meetings for Chicagoland residents.
Chicagoland series
touch lives for Jesus
“Hope Can Be Yours” began as an
idea in late 2005 and the beginning of
2006 as a way to reach the sprawling
population of Chicagoland. According
to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency
for Planning, the Chicagoland area is
defined as the greater metropolitan
area of Northeastern Illinois, which
includes Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall,
Lake, McHenry and Will counties.
With more than 10 million people
in this area, Chicagoland is one of
the largest metropolitan areas in the
United States. Yet, even with this
large population, the Chicagoland area
has an Adventist demographic that is
below the North American division
average.
The Illinois Conference, as a part
of its initiative “Touch Everyone for
Jesus,” made reaching the people of
Chicagoland a priority. The “Hope Can
Be Yours” campaign was planned to be
the final push of “Touch Everyone for
Jesus.”
The original plan and thought process
was to have a major “Net” event
and broadcast it across the Chicago
area with Mark Finley, then vice president
of evangelism for the Seventh-day
Adventist World Church, as speaker.
However, through prayer and the guidance
of the Holy Spirit, the decision
was made to not have one central evangelistic
meeting broadcast throughout
Chicagoland, but rather strategically
plan on a number of locations to have
“live” evangelistic series.
Because the Chicagoland area is
shared by two conferences, it was also
deemed to be of utmost importance to
include the Lake Region Conference
in planning. Famous Murray was the
Lake Region Conference leader. As
the Chicagoland Evangelism committee
began the planning process, they
utilized James 5:7–8 as the guiding
text. The text counsels that we should
“watch the farmer.” Learning from the
farmer, the plan was put in place to
have a plan, cultivate the soil, sow the
seeds, care for growth, reap the harvest
and preserve that harvest.
As pastors and conference leaders
heard this plan, excitement began to
grow; and the original 12 sites grew to
18 sites, then 18 sites to 22 sites, then
Christian Prohaska
22 sites to 26 sites, and finally ending
with more than 30 sites across Chicagoland.
Training was held in the fall and
winter of 2009. Lay members and
pastors were trained in Bible instruction,
small group studies using Unsealing
Daniel’s Mysteries, CHIP, the Nedley
Depression Recovery Program, Lifestyle Matters,
Stress: Beyond Coping, and Country Life
Natural Foods Cooking Schools. More than
1,000 people were trained in these various
ministries. In addition, literature
and DVDs from Anchor Point Films
were distributed, and health expos
held. There was a flurry of activity for
the Kingdom as God’s people utilized
their training and began sharing with
friends and family.
As the evangelistic series grew closer,
advertising efforts were expanded.
There were 30 radio spots on WBBM
AM, newspaper advertisements and
more than 1.2 million handbills sent
out across Chicagoland. Yet, most
importantly, people all across Chicagoland
prayed that God’s spirit would be
poured out.
The involvement in the project was
tremendous not only from a lay perspective,
but also in church leadership.
Pastors led their congregations; several
pastors were speakers for the series,
many invited evangelists participated
and Illinois Conference president, Ken
Denslow, was a speaker. Union officials
were very supportive and helped create
promotional material. NADEI director
Ron Clouzet was a speaker, and 40
seminary students came as a support
team and completed part of their field
school requirements in Chicagoland.
Finley and Armando Miranda, a vice
president of the World Church, were
speakers. Something special was happening
in Chicago.
Opening night of all locations,
there were more than 4,600 people in
attendance. More than 2,700 of those
attendees were guests. As of today,
300-plus people have been baptized
with many more expected. By the fall,
there should be between 400 and 500
baptisms total.
Vi s i t w w w. L a k e Un i o n He r a l d . o r g L a k e U n i o n H e r a l d • Au g u s t 2 0 1 0 | 31