FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)-—Nationwide crusades in Spain and France in 2006 have been announced by W.H. (Dub) Jackson, founder of Partnership Evangelism (formerly the World Evangelism Foundation).
Jackson also has announced plans for nationwide crusades in Germany and Korea in 2007 and Japan, where he once served as a missionary, in 2008.
The 81-year-old missions leader declared, “I will continue to lead and coordinate witnessing by our people so long as the Lord gives strength and leading!”
Jackson’s half-century of missions involvement is chronicled in his 2003 book, “Whatever it Takes: The Amazing Adventure of God’s Work Around the World” published by the Broadman & Holman division of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Just ahead on Jackson’s calendar is a July 20-Aug. 1 citywide outreach with the Hong Kong Baptist Convention, involving a team of about 80 volunteers from a half-dozen states. Last-minute volunteers are still needed, with no visa being required.
The 2006 crusades will be July 12-24 in partnership with the Spanish Baptist Union and yet-to-be-selected fall dates with the French Baptist Union. Jackson said more than 100 team members and 13 to 20 participating churches will be needed in each partnership.
In the spring of 2007, Partnership Evangelism will work with 15 to 20 churches in Germany in a nationwide outreach — Jackson’s fifth in Germany, this one being coordinated through the Baptist Seminary in Bonn.
In the fall of 2007, Jackson will return to Korea for his seventh nationwide partnership in what he described as “one of the most responsive and joyous nations we have visited in the last 50 years.” Jackson said he will be recruiting 100-200 team members from 20 churches for the outreach.
In 2008, Partnership Evangelism will work with the Japan Baptist Convention. Jackson recounted that the first nationwide partnership in Japan in 1963 resulted in more than 25,000 Japanese bowing and praying to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Jackson recounts in the book his first trip to Japan in 1950 while he was attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
“There were seven of us from Southwestern and none of us had any money saved,” Jackson said during a recent interview. “But we had to come up with $1,600. When we got up from praying at Gambrell Street Baptist Church that day we knew that God was leading us to go, so we committed to it and God provided.”
Jackson said God “can and will use anyone who is willing to be used. Some of the greatest victories we have seen have been through the most unlikely people you can imagine.
“When I was finishing this book, I got an e-mail about a man who accepted Christ during one of our missions. He had stumbled into a service in 1955 after having had a few drinks. He was smoking a cigarette and didn’t remove his hat. He had never been to church, but when he heard the Gospel he accepted Christ. Four years later, he became a pastor, and pastored in Japan for 44 years, until the Lord called him home.”
Any pastor and or potential team member interested in being a part of the campaigns can contact the Partnership Office at (325) 698-8480 or Jackson at (817) 481-9888 for further information. The mailing address is Partnership Evangelism 4400 Buffalo Gap Road, Suite 0275, Abilene, TX 79606; e-mail, [email protected].
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Compiled by Art Toalston, with reporting by Samuel Smith.
