Expanding the Church’s Evangelistic Effectiveness through Apologetics

By Dr. Richard Tompkins,

Hi, my name is Richard Tompkins.  I am a graduate of Southern Evangelical Seminary, having earned a Doctor of Ministry in Apologetics.  I also hold a MA in Christian Thought (Theology) from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and an MBA from Southern Illinois University.  I am the founder and president of Explore Truth Ministries (ETM) which provides consulting services, workshops, and seminars in leadership, discipleship, apologetics, and evangelism.  I also teach Christian Studies at Providence Classical School of Rock Hill.  I am an ordained minister and served in pastoral ministry for eight years before forming ETM.  My session at this year’s National Conference on Christian Apologetics is titled “Expanding the Church’s Evangelistic Effectiveness through Apologetics,” which I will be presenting on Friday morning.

While not all of us are called and gifted as professional evangelists, we are all commanded in Scripture to share our faith and to reflect Christ’s light to this world.  During this session, we will explore how to become more effective in sharing the Gospel.  Participants will learn about the relationship between apologetics and evangelism, why the two must be practiced together, the need for targeted evangelism that focuses on a person’s distance from God and his level of understanding, and how to match specific apologetic approaches to each specific evangelistic need.

We live in the secular Western world, and effectively presenting the Gospel has never been more difficult. In this environment there is a growing resistance to acceptance of the Christian message as representing truth and having relevance to modern life.  We must not only be able to tell what we believe, but also why we believe our faith is grounded on the truth, using tools that target a person’s level of understanding, breaking down barriers to the Christian faith, and leading them to a point where they are receptive to the Gospel.  My goal at this year’s conference is to provide you with some tools to do this with confidence.

I’m looking forward to seeing you at Southern Evangelical Seminary’s National Conference on Christian Apologetics, Oct. 13-15.