Reaching the Marketplace for Jesus

As some of you know, AEM (as of this writing on April 3, 2007) is in its first month of existence. We are dedicated to reaching the marketplaces of America and the world with the gospel of salvation through Jesus. Our mission statement reads:

Our mission is to reach the lost when they gather in places such as state fairs, county fairs, sports shows, farm shows and carnivals. We will do this by training and equipping Christians and local churches to work in evangelism booths and tents to give a clear, effective verbal presentation of the gospel of eternal life through Jesus Christ. We will also partner with local churches to guide the newly saved into an effective discipleship program.

We are hoping to facilitate at least 4 events this summer.  They are:

Anne Arundel County Fair (Crownsville, MD)

Allegheny County Fair (Cumberland, MD)

At least one event in the Carroll County, Maryland Area
Jane Lew Fireman’s Festival (Jane Lew, WV)

We are filling out the contracts for the Anne Arundel County Fair and the Allegany County Fair right now. As a matter of fact, someone has already donated the fee for the rental of a 20x12 space at the Allegheny County Fair (praise the Lord!).

I also want to give you a little update on the business side of the ministry. On March 22 we became incorporated. The board of directors consists of Dr Norris Belcher (Senior Pastor of the Church of the Open Door in Westminster, MD), Dr Larry Staner (Outreach Pastor of the Church of the Open Door), Cathy Dudley (Chief Financial Officer of AEM) and Bob Dudley (Chief Executive Officer of AEM), We also received our EIN (this is an Employee Identification Number, kinda like a business’s social security number). On April 2 we got our Trader’s license. This allows us to buy things wholesale.

The last (and longest) step is getting our tax-exempt status is the Form 1023. We have submitted the Form 1023 package to the IRS. Now we just wait (anywhere from 2 to 8 months) for them to approve our application. Then we will be a 501(c)(3) – this is government-speak for a tax-exempt organization. In other words, people can donate money to AEM and receive a tax break. The good news is that, until the determination is made, the Church of the Open Door has agreed to be our fiscal sponsor. This means that you can send your tax-deductible donations marked for Agora Evangelism Ministries to the Church of he Open Door and they will get it to us. Praise the Lord.

So, what do evangelists do while they are waiting for all the paperwork to catch up to them and there are no fairs to attend until July? That’s a good question and one Cathy and I prayed about. Mostly we are getting all of our documentation ready.  This is a lot more involved than I would have thought. We need to:

1.      design a logo,

2.      design tracts (Rachael Comstock at the Church of the Open Door is helping us here),

3.      design three training manuals  (for the booth evangelists, booth captain and event coordinator),

4.      develop a format for our follow-up cards,

5.      design a follow-up book,

6.      put together our display for mission conferences, and

7.      design a tri-fold to explain the AEM mission and ministry to fellow Christians.

Please, pray for Agora Evangelism Ministries as we are going through the growing pains of a new ministry. Also, pray for Cathy and I, that God would give us the wisdom and boldness to do His will in this. Finally, pray that God will send the resources we desperately need to get AEM off the ground. We need to order all of our supplies by the first of May to have them in time for the July events we are planning. It will cost several thousand dollars up front to be able to order all that we will need to be an effect witness for Jesus in these events.