Mayor Tom Potter of Portland, Oregon introduced Wednesday’s Keynote Speaker, International Evangelist Luis Palau as a local activist helping in the movement to eradicate homelessness over ten years. Palau opened with a fantastic joke in which the punch line featured a latino heaven and then quickly segued into the more serious topic of social action, quoting Jeremiah 29:11 - “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” “I am not going to preach tonight,” Luis interjected, as he continued to speak of his growing awareness to meet the social needs of those right outside his front door.
Evangelism was born out of a desire to impact people for the benefit of social change. As years of change have brought diminishing returns on good news driven festivals, Luis Palau has found a new way to approach evangelism. The Portland Cityfest is an annual event which features the telling of the good news amidst popular musicians and other sources of creative entertainment. Portland Cityfest is a collaborative effort, raising awareness of the issues of homelessness, hunger and other social concerns, while encouraging the involvement of several hundred churches in the local area so that, as the Word of God says, the city would become blessed through the involvement of those who love God and pray for the city, seeking its care.
Luis’ son, Kevin Palau, continued to talk about the event, promoting the Season of Service. The goal is to see 20,000 people commit community service hours. This call is for everyone. Businesses such as Intel, Nike, Wells Fargo and Keybank are contributing thousands of volunteer hours. The end goal is to encourage people to take a part in bettering their own community, uniting business leaders, churches and civic authority. It is no secret that Luis Palau will be openly contributing himself in order to preach the good news as well.
Boldly changing the prejudiced image against evangelicals by reaching out in a positive and inclusive way in order to bless the local community, Palau believes that unity in service is key to living out the Christian life. “This is not just a gimmick,” he says, “ this is not a cute little way that we’ve found to sell something to people … as believers, we’ve come together; we’ve done a quality job.”
I guess he was here to preach a message after all.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment