
From
the day Robert Tilton answered God's call to be a fisher of
men, he has never lost sight of this mission to bring souls
to Christ. His message of success, as positive and perhaps
more powerful than any other message today, has never taken
the precedence nor overshadowed his purpose.
At the end of every sermon and somewhere in every lesson is
the gentle invitation to every hearer to accept the gift of
salvation in Jesus Christ. No matter what it takes or where
he is called, Bob goes and does what is needed to be a
fisher of men.
Even before he left his home and security for the life of a
traveling evangelist, Bob felt compelled to share his
testimony in churches, on the street corners, wherever God
told him to go. " Bob would have witnessed whether anybody
listened or not" says one of the original seven members of
his congregation. "Bob has always spoken with the kind of
excitement and authority that just naturally draws people to
him. When Bob talked about Jesus and salvation, people would
always listen, and whoever was listening would soon have
Bob's enthusiasm too and be full of excitement."
He recalls how he met Bob in a parking lot after church one
night several years before Bob started Word of Faith Family
Church. The two men became friends, and they would spend
hours talking about Jesus, sharing the Word, and fishing for
men, winning them for Christ. He relates this story of one
of their "fishing trips."
One evening, "Bob was witnessing in a filling station when
an old man came reeling down the street. Bob yelled, "Praise
the Lord!" the old man stopped in his tracks, then just sort
of crumpled, and began to weap. "Bob went over to him, and
the old man said, "That's the first time I've heard anyone
praise the Lord since my mother did it 25 years ago." Bob
just kept listening and talking to him and about half an
hour later the old man sobered up.
"He seemed to get more peaceful as Bob talked to him and the
old man rededicated his life to Christ right there. Bob
always had time to talk to anyone who needed God." He still
does. Now through TV., he
just
talks to more people at one time. In fact, whatever means
have been at his disposal to reach people with the Good News
of Jesus Christ, that is what Robert Tilton has used.
Whether is was just a few folks in a parking lot or a
filling station, a tattered old second-hand tent, a dusty
warehouse, a multi-million dollar television system, an
island in the Pacific or a city ghetto in South America,
that is where he'll go to fulfill his mission of winning
souls for Christ. That is why so much effort has been put
into the television ministry. It is the medium of this age
and which more people can be reached at one time than by any
other means.
"We went on television because people were dying," Bob
explains. "I'm talking about people out there in the raw
world where there is no hope, where most of them don't know
anything but poverty, sickness, sorrow, addictions, bad
relationships, and every other kind of misery." To set
people free of their bondage to the evils of the world and
the thief that comes to kill, steal, and destroy is Robert
Tilton's mission.
Because he also believes that wherever the seed is sown, it
must be tended and nurtured if the plant is to thrive and
grow and bear fruit (Matthew 13:4), he teaches the Word and
prayer along with salvation. That is why Robert Tilton is
more then a "televangelist" or "electronic pastor." He
encourages viewers to come involved in their local churches
were they can be fed spiritual food and grow in the Lord.
Miracles
of Faith Crusades is another way Robert Tilton's mission has
expanded throughout the nation and the world. In 1987 and
1988, Miracles of Faith Crusades went into more than a dozen
major cities in the United States were thousands were saved
and healed. Two of the greatest triumphs for the Lord were
the Crusades in Brazil were 41,000 were saved one evening
and in the Philippines where the numbers were uncountable.
"One of the hardest things I have to do is leave a country
where the people have touched my heart," says Bob. "They are
so hungry for Christ that I just want to stay until everyone
gets fed."
Getting everyone fed in both the spiritual and natural food
is a mission of high priority for Robert Tilton Ministries.
In those places where political unrest and economic disarray
victimize entire populations, children suffer the most. The
ministry's most concentrated efforts in the past few years
have been directed to Mexico, Haiti, the Philippines,
Guatemala, and other third world countries.
This fisher of men, Robert Tilton, is always looking for a
bigger net so that none would ship away from God's love.
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