Christian Daily International was on ground in Berlin from May 27th to 30th, 2025. There, over 1,000 evangelical pastors and ministries leaders from 56 countries gathered at JW Marriott for the European Conference, hosted by the Billy Graham Evangelicalistic Association. With a theme rooted in Romans 1:16 – “Because I am not ashamed of the Gospel…” – The invite-only event featured 20 speakers from 13 countries and became Europe’s most diverse evangelical gathering since Amsterdam in 2000.
Christian Daily International has published articles during Congress, continuing to highlight detailed report releases, key sessions, interviews with Christian leaders, and insights shaping mission strategies across the continent.
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Rev. Skip Heizig, a senior pastor at Calvary Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, made a passionate call for evangelism during the European missionary conference. Heizig, a board member of the Christian Fellowship of Samaritan’s Wallets and Harvest, spoke about the topic “The Holy Spirit empowers the gospel.”
Drawn from the explosive growth of the early church, Heizig said, Acts 4:31 – “After they prayed, the place they met was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke boldly of the Word of God.” He urged his representatives to consider whether many believers today, like the disciples of Acts 19, have not known the Holy Spirit, but have never truly experienced his powerful presence. “There’s no real empowerment,” Heitzig said. “They have heard of the Holy Spirit of Creed, but have not encountered his power.”
“Giving the power of the Holy Spirit was the main reason that early church sermons were very effective,” Heizig pointed out.
“The idea of the spirit held by the average church member is so vague that it is almost nonexistent,” writes the late AW Tozer, a once famous Bible teacher. Heizig mentioned the quote and said that he himself discovered that some Christians feared the Holy Spirit.
“They just say, ‘I don’t want to do anything with that.’ But there is no need to fear the true movement and work of the Holy Spirit.
The late Rev. Lloyd John Ogilby, the Presbyterian pastor and the 61st Rev. of the United States Senate, once said that many Christians are only two-thirds of God’s calm: Father and Son, but not the Holy Spirit. In interpretation, Heizig said that the scenarios of the actions are very different.
“The Father sent his son into the world. His son Jesus purchased our salvation in Calvary, and then he sent the Holy Spirit to the church,” explained Heizig. “And the Holy Spirit strengthened the sermons, teaching and function of the Church in the Book of Action.
“Have you ever thought that it is impossible to go to 12 fishermen all over the world and preach the gospel? It was a committee that Jesus gave to 12 uneducated men, and knew nothing except fishing, nets and boats and small lakes.
“‘Enter into all worlds and declare the gospel to all living creatures.” Heizig records that within 30 years the gospel invaded the Roman Empire and spread throughout the empire, as the first Christians relied on the overall understanding and experience of the Holy Trinity in the early days.
Thus, Heights outlined three factors that explain early church success and the sermons of the apostles. It is the resurrection of Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the commission of Jesus’ disciples afterwards. He dismantled the trio of still-related stories of the trio as “new beings, new powers, new plans.”
First, in “New Being,” Heidig recounted that Luke from Acts 1 mentioned the previous gospel he wrote, and the doctor interpreted this to mean the mission of Jesus, whom he was said to be “the beginning of Jesus’ ministry,” and Luke now wanted to tell the rest of the story, a sequel.
“You know, we talk about the completed work of Jesus Christ. In fact, when it comes to redemption, his work is done. He said on the cross, “It’s finished.” You cannot add to it.
But in a sense, according to Heizig, the Ministry of Declaration, there is still an unfinished work of Jesus Christ.
“Redness is one thing. It’s done. The Ministry of Declaration continues many times,” he said.
“In fact, you might even say that it’s the only open-ended book we have in the Bible. There’s a new chapter written every day when men and women like you (representatives of the Berlin Congress) go out to your community, your area, your city.”
The book of acts is not “the act of the apostles,” and not as much as “the act of the Holy Spirit,” Heizig points out, adding that the Holy Spirit has been mentioned 55 times in the act. The book tells us that the Holy Spirit “enves, empowers and uses common individuals.”
Heizig then challenged the preconceived notion that the actions of the Holy Spirit belonged to the past rather than the present.
“What I read in this book means that God was doing things in the past, but that’s what you’re doing on your own ministry. And perhaps the reason you’ve lost the freshness and excitement of the gospel is because you’re doing it with your own energy.”
The power of resurrection that Jesus showed by bringing him to life was “a new being that our disciples had never known before.” In fact, “The whole reason for boldness, for power, and for the success of these early church members and apostles was the resurrection.”
“It is a resurrection that transformed the ti-sick fishermen into tireless evangelicals,” Heitzig further explained. “It was a resurrection that transformed co-sick people into heroes and mere men into powerful men.
“In fact, there is no other explanation for the death my disciples were willing to suffer except for the resurrection,” added Heizig.
“Think about how Stephen of Acts 7 was stoned. The apostle Matthew was said to have been chopped into pieces in the x of battle. James, John’s brother, was beheaded.
“Except they saw the risen Christ, what could explain those willing to face such persecution and ultimately death?”
The resurrection “changed everything,” Heizig declared, referring to how the fact that Jesus was brought to life attracted the first disciples from a place of despair to what Peter called the “living hope.”
“So it is the living Christ that enables us to do ministry. We are not chasing the dead man who left us with a book full of words. Christianity is more than a worldview. It is more than a philosophical outlet. He is a man who conquer death and promises everyone who places hope in him.”
The second factor in the reasons for the success of the early church was new powers. Heizig immediately saw the resurrected Christ and was evangelistically pointed out the enthusiasm of the first disciples to “hit the way,” and was given a great committee to go all over the world and declare him.
They were “dismissed with enthusiasm,” Heizig said, but struggled with the temptation to try tasks with their own strength. But in Acts 1:4, Jesus tells them to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
“Jesus says you need equipment that is suitable for your task,” Heitzig said. “It’s like a soldier before he was sent to battle. He must be equipped with a helmet, a gun, a bullet. Before the mechanic can repair the car, you need the right tools, the right education.”
Jesus, the gift of the Holy Spirit, promised to God the Father and called to God the Son, is similarly necessary to equip evangelicals. Heizig emphasized that Jesus said it would be better for him to go so that the Holy Spirit could empower all his followers (John 16:7).
“Without the Holy Spirit, our work is impossible,” Heizig said. “We go to all worlds and preach the gospel to all living creatures. We were 12 fishermen at the time, so it’s impossible now, but we have the right equipment. We inject the power of the spirit, a brand new battle, and we can win.”
Heizig added that the early word “power” in the church was “dunamis” (Δυναμις), which is associated with dynamic or dynamite.
“It’s a new ability,” Heitzig emphasized the inherent energy of the first believers in Christ. “According to one version of the Bible, you will receive abilities, efficiency, and power. That is the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Differentiation was expressed by Heizig between the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit who “comes” to a man “together.” He said that Jesus first told his disciples that the Holy Spirit would live with them, and later in a biblical story the Holy Spirit would come to them: “The above is a small word called a preposition. The preposition expresses the function of a noun.”
“Doing it is very different to being together,” explained Heizig. “If you have a glass and you’ve been throwing water on the podium (in Congress), the water is in the glass because the water pitcher is next to the glass.
“If you start pouring a pitcher of water to fill your glass, now the water is not just “together,” but the water is in the “glass.” But if I keep pouring, pouring, pouring, and pouring, and overflowing the glass, the water will be “on the glass.” ”
“The Holy Spirit appears to you, and you will become my witness,” Heizig linked his water illustration to his followers to Jesus’ command.
According to Heizig of John 7, Jesus spoke of these differences in encounters with the Holy Spirit, and invited those who stood in the temple and came to him for thirst and drank him.
First, the Lord said, “Anyone who believes in me, as the Bible said, a living river of water flows from within them” (verse 38). However, as Haitzig explained, “Jesus meant that he (Jesus) meant the spirit he would receive later, and he was not given, so that he had not yet glorified, so he clarified the circumstances in which he would receive the Holy Spirit’s detention (verse 39).
“So when the Holy Spirit is above you, it is one thing to have the Holy Spirit with you,” Heizig said.
The third factor for the success of the early church was the new plan. Heizig said empowering the Holy Spirit to witness the truth of the gospel means witnessing believers in “Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria,” but he reminded his representatives that only the Lord knows the “times and seasons” of God’s kingdom.
The job of the evangelical was to follow the call of the great committee in witnessing Christ in any circumstances. It also meant a pattern in Heizig’s own life that he also noticed other expansions that began in the wider cities, including family, friends, neighborhoods and immigrants there.
“The greatest adventure in the world is to declare the gospel under the power of the Holy Spirit,” Heitzig said. “It’s the biggest thrill you can have so far.”
He recalled that after Jesus’ resurrection, the first disciples were given a grand committee and “they were unable to return to their everyday lives.”
“They were unable to return to the Sea of Galilee. They tried. They returned to fishing right after the resurrection, but it didn’t last very long. They experienced the richness of the gospel. And the world’s greatest evangelists were those who were empowered by the Holy Spirit, who believed in the resurrected Christ, and were ignored by the world, shameless, shameless, and obscene.
