The Great Commission
Mark 16:15 – “And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
From the very beginning of Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, our number one priority has always been about souls – doing our part to fulfill the Great Commission.
GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD
I really don’t know how to explain this but even as a child being raised on the road, staying in church basements, peoples’ homes, and other places, I knew that there was something different about my father. As stated, I don’t know how to explain that, but I just knew he was different.
From church revivals lasting four to nine weeks, from preaching summer campmeetings in the Assemblies of God, to the 1969 launch of The Campmeeting Hour – a 15-minute daily radio program – I could tell that he was not like other preachers.
MINISTRY GROWTH
As the radio ministry began to grow, the crowds began to grow even larger in the local churches where Dad was preaching, but these people were different. They were not Assemblies of God or even Pentecostal. Actually, many of them had never even heard of the Assemblies of God.
The crowds grew to the point that churches were no longer an option, so we had to start going into city auditoriums. Our world was expanding as the gospel was reaching hearts and lives beyond our prior borders of church.
Then, in 1971, Dad felt led to start a television ministry. At that time there were only three preachers on nationwide TV. They were Rex Humbard, Oral Roberts, and Robert Schuller. Now, only Dad is left, which means that he is now America’s longest running televangelist.
Once again, our world was enlarged as the crowds started flocking to the meetings. This forced us to go into even larger coliseums. There were thousands attending, with a mixture of the church and the unchurched.
Not only were the crowds larger, but the altar calls also became massive, with people giving their hearts to the Lord and coming forward to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
NATIONAL TO INTERNATIONAL
Then our world enlarged even more as Dad felt led to put the telecast on in foreign countries, translated into their own languages. This included Central America, South America, Africa, Australia, the Islands of the Sea, Europe, and Russia.
The telecast had such an impact in some countries that the offices we set up in capital cities were receiving 10,000 to 15,000 letters a week.
These countries had never been exposed to preaching such as they were seeing on their TVs every Sunday. Actually, it got to the place that in most countries, we were airing the telecast three to five times per week. Such was the demand.
Then the Lord directed Dad to start holding foreign crusades. We went to Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chili, Paraguay, South Africa, Swaziland, Ivory Coast, Liberia, New Zealand, Australia, and the Philippines.
Thousands each night would flock to the largest stadiums in the capital cities of these countries, with thousands responding to the altar calls at the close of each service to give their hearts to the Lord.
THEN AND NOW
Now, through SonLife Broadcasting Network, we are able to go into nations and homes of 285,000,000 people, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
It has taken 60 years for all of this to happen, but they have been the greatest years of my life. It’s been a life that I wouldn’t trade for all the wealth of the world. Understand this: We are not slowing down or thinking about retirement or our sunset years. No, we are pressing ahead.
Why?
Because the Word of the Lord says, “Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, You are old and stricken in years, and there remains yet very much land to be possessed” (Josh. 13:1).
As long as we have breath, we will “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
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