Ken Silva

[twinkle]

Ken Silva is coming to our Calvary Chapel this Sunday to give a class on evangelism.

What do you all think of Ken Silva?

Thanks.

eta: I was just checking out his website, he seems ok but I haven't noticed postings about him at RR. (I miss things here all the time though.)

[Nightelf]

I've consulted his website a lot regarding emergent issues. He's one of the leading Watchmen on the wall for faithfully exposing the heresies and apostasies that are infiltrating the church today. I've even emailed him a few times for advice on emergent issues and he's always replied right back with very well-thought out replies.

If he was going to speak on emertent issues, it would be interesting time well spent.

Having said that, let me caution you that he is a Calvinist. Interesting that he's teaching a class on evangelism, I'd be interested to hear how reaching the lost fits with predestination.

I'd go just to take notes and ask questions.

[Acts5:41]

I'd be very curious to hear what you thought, about his talk.

[twinkle]

hmmm, interesting. Our pastor has plainly said of himself (our pastor) that he isn't a Calvinist. Our pastor also was pastored under Jon Courson before he became a pastor himself. (hope you could follow that!)

I wasn't sure if I was going to attend, there is a small fee ($10.00) for materials and I could manage that. We were given some literature from Evangelism Explosion International. The program is called Share your Faith Workshop. I'm going to give the website but understand you will delete if need be:

www.syfonline.org

also this website given: www.xeee.info

Wow, I just noticed the hours 2:30pm-6:30pm Sunday. And 7:00-9:00pm Monday. I'm not sure I can do all that...

But I'm still very interested to know what this is all about. I'm new at this church and I'm watching it like a hawk.

I noticed that my links aren't working and I don't know why.

[Nightelf]

hmmm, interesting. Our pastor has plainly said of himself (our pastor) that he isn't a Calvinist. Our pastor also was pastored under Jon Courson before he became a pastor himself. (hope you could follow that!)

Unless your pastor is Ken Silva, no I don't get the connection.

Ken's site, apprising.org has a lot of Calvinist/Reformed/Monergistic links.

[twinkle]

Sorry...my pastor is Pastor Steve....Pastor Steve is not a Calvinist himself, he has said so...

Soooo... I'm not getting why Ken Silva, a Calvinist, is invited.

this is not looking too good.

[Nightelf]

Well, to be honest, I haven't heard Mr. Silva come right out and say, "I'm a Calvinist". But he's got a whole lot of Calvinist links on his website, that state the Calvinist belief that we have no choice in the matter of whether we are saved or not. And so I'm going on the "birds of a feather" assumption.

If I'm wrong, I'll gladly be corrected.

Perhaps if there's an open questions portion of the talk you could ask Mr. Silva (nicely) if he's a Calvinist or not, since I'm sure the approach to evangelism would be different. I'd go regardless.... it would be a good learning experience either way.

[twinkle]

thank you Nightelf, I do appreciate your thoughts and help. I will consider going but haven't decided yet. Those are long hours for me. (I've been on the mend) I will think on it though.

[Nightelf]

thank you Nightelf, I do appreciate your thoughts and help. I will consider going but haven't decided yet. Those are long hours for me. (I've been on the mend) I will think on it though.

Personally, I'd love to meet the man. He's one of the faithful Watchmen on the Wall, and he's been very outspoken against Rob Bell, Rick Warren et. al. and holding their feet to the fire.

If you do go, be sure to report back!

[Acts5:41]

Well, you know me.

What are the challenges he feels we face as evangelical American Christians?
What should "we" be doing, that we aren't?
What ARE we doing, that we shouldn't?
Is he more of a general evangelism guy, or one-on-one?
Does he have a "method"?

Obviously I am very curious, but God has had me working solo - which is fine. Not many people want to ride the buses I do, and get the looks.

[twinkle]

After reading the material I was provided (about the upcoming class) more carefully, I see that the class doesn't begin until May 22.

This is good that it gives me more time to prepare myself. I'm leaning towards going because of the encouragment that you guys have given me.

Acts, your questions are good ones and I'm going to write them down to help me to remember what to pay attention for. If anyone else has some general questions, post them and I'll try to listen for the answers. Not sure if there'll be a Q&A but I can't imagine why there wouldn't be.

iSong, thank you for the link. I've taken all day to get back here because frankly I couldn't discern the Calvinistic view in the article. I really, really hate to admit that but I read the article about six times and have spent most of the day thinking about it. The fact that I couldn't discern is a little scary for me personally.

I may have learned things in bygone years and didn't know any different. I am willing to learn, because I have been on a quest for years for God to show me His truth. Above all, I want the truth so I'm willing to make adjustments in my way of thinking. I do not have a deep knowledge of Calvinism, I just know bits and pieces. There is so much to learn 'out there' that I haven't been able to cover all the subjects. Life interrupts my efforts sometimes too.

I don't know where to go from here regarding the article. A thread in another forum perhaps? I'm willing to accept that the article is Calvinistic without further ado, also.

[injeralover]

What do you all think of Ken Silva?

If you do a google search on Pastor Ken Silva you will also find that he has been "pastoring" a church in New Hampshire for a number of years. The congregation went from over 100 down to 8. Make your own inferences. A good question to keep in mind is "Who is watching the Watchers?"

[Nightelf]

If you do a google search on Pastor Ken Silva you will also find that he has been "pastoring" a church in New Hampshire for a number of years. The congregation went from over 100 down to 8. Make your own inferences. A good question to keep in mind is "Who is watching the Watchers?"

Please withhold judgement unless you know all the facts first. There could be any number of reasons for that happening.

[twinkle]

I attended Dr. Ken Silva's sessions, four hours this past Sunday and nearly three hours on Monday. He added another session for Wed. night that I plan to attend.

I found Ken Silva to be humble, kind, and has a wonderful sense of humor. He knows evangelism and practices what he teaches/preaches. He has gone to laundromats, malls, restaurants, bars (yes, those places that sell beer though he orders non-alcoholic drinks) and has knocked on doors. He trains people to train people for evangelism.

Since I first posted I learned that Silva's youngest son is our church's youth pastor who came to our church about last Dec., and that was shortly before I began going to this church. His son John also leads worship sometimes. This is the connection as to how and why Ken Silva came to our church. (John has also given a couple of sermons when our pastor was away.)

I do not believe that Ken Silva is a Calvinist. He challenged us to be "fishers of men". He included the whole sea of fish. He challenged us to change our attitudes about the lost, thinking of them as pre-Christian. Implying that everyone has the option to choose Jesus. He gave a short sermon about Jesus and His attitude towards the lost. Jesus called Himself the "Friend of Sinners".

I just noticed that the materials given to me are copyrighted. I did learn some general information that I feel I can share. If I get a chance tonight, I will ask Ken Silva how much I can share of the materials on the internet.

I'm very glad I went, the sessions were informative and uplifting. I'm better
prepared to share my faith than I was before. These were condensed sessions, Silva (and trained others) also teach a seven week course.

This course was first developed by Dr. D. James Kennedy several years ago and Ken Silva has expanded/refined the sessions. I believe that Silva said of himself that he's the Vice-president for the N. American chapter.

I'll come back to post what I can, another day. I'm pressed for time today. I'll be checking
back before I leave this evening (in about six hours from the time of this post) There are some general tips that I learned that I feel I can share without infringing on copyrights.

[Acts5:41]

Cool. The way I see people, we have the saved and the unreached. Work on reaching them!

I would be curious to learn, does he have a specific method (like Way of the Master) or does he tailor it to the situation? If you can tell us.

I don't think anyone can accuse me of having a "method". If so, it could be summed up in my sign "Free Bibles".

[Nightelf]

Thanks for sharing, Twinkle.

If you get a chance (a Q&A session maybe) ask him about his Watcman on the wall ministry, exposing the emergent church, maybe he'd speak on it a bit.

[twinkle]

Well, you know me.

What are the challenges he feels we face as evangelical American Christians?
What should "we" be doing, that we aren't?
What ARE we doing, that we shouldn't?
Is he more of a general evangelism guy, or one-on-one?
Does he have a "method"?

Obviously I am very curious, but God has had me working solo - which is fine. Not many people want to ride the buses I do, and get the looks.

Cool. The way I see people, we have the saved and the unreached. Work on reaching them!

I would be curious to learn, does he have a specific method (like Way of the Master) or does he tailor it to the situation? If you can tell us.

I don't think anyone can accuse me of having a "method". If so, it could be summed up in my sign "Free Bibles".

What are the challenges he feels we face as evangelical American Christians?

The fact that many American Christians feel that America has been "reached" already. Ken Silva (KS) thinks not. People here still need someone to lead them to Christ even if they've heard the Gospel message already.

What should "we" be doing, that we aren't?

Going to places that Christians normally don't, like bars, etc. We need to get out of our "comfort zone". KS has brought prostitutes to Christ. (With the help of the Holy Spirit, of course.) There is more and I'll try to address this later on.

What ARE we doing, that we shouldn't?

Having a negative attitude towards the unsaved. Our mindset is often thinking of them in negative terms like "unsaved". KS prefers to think of them as pre-Christians. More on this, too.

Is he more of a general evangelism guy, or one-on-one?

He is mostly one-on-one, but goes with what the situation dictates. He related stories of more than one at a time coming to Christ.

Does he have a "method"?

Yes. His whole course is his method. He's learned from past mistakes and has refined his approach.

I would be curious to learn, does he have a specific method (like Way of the Master) or does he tailor it to the situation?

KS would not put down any other methods, he thinks there is probably a time and place for most methods. KS method is to avoid argument or confrontation. He said that one thing he agreed with Way of the Master is how they use the Ten Commandments when someone has a sticking point about thinking that they're a good person and will go to heaven on their "goodness".

There is more but I wanted to answer your questions, at least in part, now.

eta: I forgot to answer about tailoring to the situation: He has a method (which I will try to cover the best I can) but this method leaves room for tailoring to the situation. He said he tried the rigid method way at first but found that it works better to be flexable to the situation. I'll try to explain once I get there in my future posts.

[twinkle]

Thanks for sharing, Twinkle.

If you get a chance (a Q&A session maybe) ask him about his Watcman on the wall ministry, exposing the emergent church, maybe he'd speak on it a bit.

I'm most pleased to share what I've learned. I was unable to question him about his Watchman ministry, our pastor put a time limit on KS, for his own good, I think. KS had another engagement on the heels of this one. I think Pastor wanted KS to have some time to unwind. Rightfully so. KS looked a bit tired. I would have loved to hear him talk on the emergent church. I was really kind of sad to see Dr. Silva leave us. I would have loved to listen to him on either topic.

I have a lot of information to process and share with you all. It's going to take me most likely several days, even a week. I'll post bits as I prepare it and when I've reached the end of it, I'll state that I've finished it.

I'm happy to do this, it's going to take me a while though.

Glory to God! He's blessed me by allowing me to learn new things. May He use this to bring in His harvest!

[Acts5:41]

I like what you shared.

I really view "them" as the unreached, because they are. We haven't reached them yet with the Gospel.

And I completely agree; PLENTY of work to be done here in America!

Funny about getting out of the comfort zone; that's exactly what I've been called to do.

Thank you!

[twinkle]

Please remember that I'm slightly modifying what I learned at the
Share Your Faith Workshops. I'm certain that KS doesn't mind us
sharing what we learn with others. This is usually done in person
but since I'm sharing via the internet, I need to avoid infringing
on copyrights.

To start, think about and possibly write down why you want to
share your faith with others. Why is it hard to share your faith?
List excuses and reasons.

Five points to sharing the Gospel:

1. Heaven is a free gift. It is not earned or deserved. Rom. 6:23

2. Man is a sinner and cannot save himself. Eph. 2:8-9

3. God is merciful and doesn't want to punish us. 1 John 4:8b God
is Just and must punish our sins.Ex. 34:7b

4. Christ is both God and Man. John 1:1,14 He died on the cross and
rose from the dead to pay the penalty for our sins
and purchased a place in heaven for us. Isa.53:6

5. Faith is not just head knowledge James 2:19 nor is it temporary
faith. True saving faith is TRUST in Jesus Christ alone
for our eternal life. Acts 16:31

It is not necessary to recite the Bible verses. And probably best not
to at this point. I added the verses just in case you want or need them.

After presenting the five points of the Gospel ask the person if
this makes sense. If they say yes, they are probably ready to receive
Christ. Lead them in prayer. If they say no, go back over each point
one at a time and ask them after each point if that's where they're stuck.
Don't ask them a general, open-ended question like "what don't you
understand?" This leaves it wide open and can easily get you off track.

If a question comes up that you're not prepared to answer, either
because you don't know the answer or the answer is so long that it
takes you off track, try this: Say to them, "That's a very good
question, would it be ok if I write that down and got back to you
on it?" If they agree, (they should) write it down and make an
appointment to get back to them.


List the fears that YOU have about witnessing. List some Bible verses
that help you to overcome fear.

The key to successful witnessing is to go fishing with the Master.

Read Luke 5:1-11

What was Jesus teaching the fishermen after they'd been fishing
all night and caught nothing? Remember, these were experienced fishermen
yet they obeyed when Jesus told them when and where to let down their
nets. What was the result? The nets of fish were so full that they
nearly sunk the boats! This was a lesson Jesus taught them just before
he commanded them to become 'fishers of men'.

What lessons can we take away from this example?

1. Jesus KNOWS where the fish are.

2. The men caught fish because they OBEYED Jesus.

3. You can EXPECT miraculous results.

The most important thing to do before witnessing is PRAY!

Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to people who are ready and open
to the Gospel.

Always ask the person if you can ask them a personal question. If they
say no, then move on. If they give you permission to ask them a
question then you are NOT pushing 'religion' down their throat. If at
anytime their body language (or they say it) tells you that they are
closed to hearing the Gospel, don't push it. Move on. You are asking
God to lead you to those who are open and ready to hear the Gospel.

This method reminds me of two stories in the NT. Philip and the
Ethiopian Acts 8:26-38 and Peter and Cornelius Acts 10: 24-43. I know
that these are different than a usual witnessing but the hearts of
these people were ready to receive Christ.

Always share a personal spiritual story with them (possibly your personal testimony)
first before you ask a question of them.

more later.