As opening night of the conference-wide Prophecy Countdown was coming close, my email was flooding with people signing up to attend the evangelistic series. Obviously, the advertisement on the mailers was attracting the people to come to the series. Over 58 entries were made online to attend the series. But I didn’t let my guard down and I was nervous.

On opening night, March 31, about 40 minutes before the start time, visitors started flooding in and I was getting excited to see all these new people that would be hearing the truth presented from the Scriptures through Tom Michalski, our conference evangelist. Over 40 new people came the first night. But I still didn’t let my guard down and I was still nervous. The second night is what really mattered for me. The main question was, “Would these numbers hold up on the second night?”

I became the pastor of the Waukesha Seventh-day Adventist church close to four years ago, and while I was still in the honeymoon phase with my district, the conference asked if we would host Tom Michalski in his first campaign as conference evangelist. Since I do not usually say no, I told the conference we would gladly do it.

The first night of that evangelistic series was a great success. New people rushed in, and everything seemed great. But on the second night, most of these new people disappeared. When the series was over, God blessed us with two baptisms, but I was not satisfied. I wanted to know what happened to all those new visitors from the second night? Why did they not stick around?

I did not want to repeat this experience again. So, when the conference called and asked if our church would host this conference-wide evangelistic series, I said yes once again. This time, I wanted to be prepared. The church came together as one, and we prayed together for 40 days. 40 is a significant number in the Bible, and we wanted to follow that model. During the 40 days, we prayed together as a church that the Holy Spirit would lead and guide the series. We humbled our hearts and submitted ourselves to God that we would put our trust in Him during the series.

The second night of the series came. I was anxiously walking in the church hallway, being very nervous. Would all these people from the previous night show up again? Yes, God answered our prayers and more people showed up on the second night than the first! God continued to bless the series as new people consistently attended throughout the series.There is power in prayer.

I would also like to point out the commitment of our church family during this series. We not only prayed for 40 days, but we also actively engaged during the series. Every night after the presentation was over, we provided light snacks in the hallway so that people could visit and hang out. This was a time for our church members to actively interact with the new people. Our members were on fire. People were hanging out in the hallway long after the presentation was over. This active engagement encouraged the new people to keep coming back.

Eventually, during the series, the light snacks turned into a full meal down in the fellowship hall where people continued to visit with one another. Even though there was a lot of work and preparation put into each night, there was also great joy in serving and seeing God work in people’s lives.

We were blessed with a baptism service on May 21, 2022, and plan to have another baptism later in August as a result of this wonderful evangelism series.

There is power in prayer, and God will use us mightily when we commit ourselves to His wonderful ministry.

Myoung Kwon, Waukesha Church District Pastor