“When church members get involved, things just take off,” said Rev. Raúl Moreno, director of Hispanic Ministries for the American Baptist Churches of the West (Growing Healthy Churches region). Moreno’s comment relates to lay leadership being equipped through evangelism training, such as GotStyle?™— a personality-based approach developed by Dr. Jeffrey Johnson under the auspices of National Ministries.

Rev. Pablo Calzoncit, National Ministries’ Hispanic churches strategist, presented GotStyle? at the Hispanic Churches Convention in Modesto, Calif., in March. The convention drew 28 Hispanic churches from the region and involved some people who are church members and others who are not. Both clergy and lay church leadership attended. All proceedings were in Spanish for about 600 people in attendance.

Calzoncit presented an overview of GotStyle? to 40 Hispanic pastors and lay leaders, so they could understand and be receptive to having a NET associate give the seminar at their churches. “We raised interest among the churches in the program as an evangelism strategy,” said Calzoncit. His presentation also gave two trained NET associates in the region an opportunity to see how they can train others to conduct church evaluations, a foundational component of GotStyle?

Morena observed that the region as a whole is moving out in church planting, with Hispanic churches as the fast-growing segment. National Ministries has helped resource these churches regionally and nationally. “NET training will help us evangelize at a greater pace than even now,” said Moreno.

This year’s focus on evangelism was reinforced by the presence of Rev. Dr. Alberto Mottesi, a world-renowned evangelist among Hispanic churches. He preached for a worship service at the convention and 20 came to Christ, 12 for the first time and eight for recommitment.

If your church is interested in having an individualized Got Style? consultation, contact Dr. Jeffrey Johnson, NET strategist and specialist for evangelism at (800) ABC-3USA, ext. 2406, or jeffrey.johnson@abc-usa.org.

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