Overview
Our theme this year is to glorify God in the Gospel. There are none to compare to God, He shows His love for us in sending His Son to save us from our sin. Before He was crucified for our sin, Jesus prayed to glorify the Son and the Father in what was accomplished on the cross for our salvation.
Come learn to share the gospel with others through this unique event. You will receive clear, practical teaching from our speakers, Dr. Anthony Silvestro and Jon Neifert on evangelism and apologetics. Learn to articulate the good news of the gospel, how to use God’s creation in evangelism, and how to base our apologetics on God and His word. You will hear some background of the amazing Christian history of Pella as its founders fled Holland under religious persecution.
You will have the opportunity to distribute tracts, engage in one-on-one conversations about Christ and speak about what He has accomplished on the cross. Our outreach and witnessing time will be led by experienced team leaders and coaches to help you learn and grow as you apply your learning. You will have time to practice together, ask questions, receive feedback and to apply what you learn. There are 2 times daily to distribute gospel tracts before each parade, and plenty of time to share the gospel and enjoy the festival.
This coincides with the annual Pella Tulip Time Festival celebrating the settlers’ Dutch heritage, the tulips, and the deep Christian history of the founders of Pella, IA. There is ample opportunity to engage in Christ-centered conversation with a myriad of visitors that come to enjoy the festival.
The event is free, but we suggest a donation of $25 per person, or $60 per family to help cover the cost of putting on this event. Simply Donate after registration or when you arrive.
Meals and parking are not provided with the registration. You are encouraged to fellowship and share your experience with your team members over a meal during the festival. There are plenty of options available.
Schedule
May 4 - 6, 2023| Thursday | ||
| 8:30 am | Welcome and Registration | |
| 9:00 am | Introduction to Tulip Time | Jon Neifert |
| Learn about the history of Pella and how God has worked through the lives of its founders to establish a City of Refuge built upon Christian principles after fleeing persecution by the state church in Holland. You will also receive information about the Tulip Time Festival and introduction to resources and our plan to proclaim the gospel for three-day festival. | ||
| 10:30 am | Intro to Biblical Evangelism | Dr. Anthony Silvestro |
| This talk will cover evangelism basics. First, you will learn how to give the Gospel as written in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, making sure that everyone can articulate it. Then, you will learn how to use Ray Comfort's "Good Person Test" which uses The Law (the 10 Commandments) to show people their sin before giving them the good news of the Gospel. Lastly, you will learn some good "opening lines" in order to get into a Gospel conversation! | ||
| 12:00 - 7:00 pm | Practice and Witnessing | Outreach Teams |
| Break into small teams, practice sharing the gospel through role play to prepare ourselves. Grab some lunch together and begin to distribute tracts, engage in conversation, and share the gospel message on the streets of Pella. | ||
| 2:00 & 8:00 pm | Pre-Parade Tract Distribution | Outreach Teams |
| The time before the parade is a great time to distribute tracts. Many take and read the tracts while they are waiting for the parade to begin. The parades begin at 2:30 and 8:30 each day. After the parade, coordinate with your team leader to share the gospel and engage in Christ-centered conversation. | ||
| 7:00 pm | Group Sharing and Q&A | Speakers and Leaders |
| Gather back at the church to share you witnessing experiences and ask questions of the speaker panel and team leaders. | ||
| Friday | ||
| 8:30 am | Welcome and Registration | |
| 9:00 am | Glorifying God in Creation | Jon Neifert |
| Romans 1:20 tells us that God is known through what was made, His Creation. Examine ways to point others to God and the gospel through what God has made. | ||
| 10:30 am | The problems with Social Justice | Dr. Anthony Silvestro |
| This talk discusses how we are to biblically view the social justice movement. It is derived from Marxism, which was started as an attack on God and Christianity. This discussion will walk you through the history of the social justice movement, starting at the beginning of time, through the renaissance period, French revolution, and all the way to Karl Marx in Europe. Then, we will cover the history of Marxism infiltrating our country and churches starting in the early 1900s. After speedily walking through the history of social justice, this talk will teach you how to Biblically and scientifically combat its components today, including: homosexuality, transgenderism, egalitarianism, critical race theory, intersectionality, the false gospel and many more. | ||
| 12:00 -7:00 pm | Practice and Witnessing | Outreach Teams |
| Break into small teams, practice sharing the gospel through role play to prepare ourselves. Grab some lunch together and begin to distribute tracts, engage in conversation, and share the gospel message on the streets of Pella. | ||
| 2:00 & 8:00 pm | Pre-Parade Tract Distribution | Outreach Teams |
| The time before the parade is a great time to distribute tracts. Many take and read the tracts while they are waiting for the parade to begin. The parades begin at 2:30 and 8:30 each day. After the parade, coordinate with your team leader to share the gospel and engage in Christ-centered conversation. | ||
| 7:00 pm | Group Sharing and Q&A | Speakers and Leaders |
| Gather back at the church to share you witnessing experiences and ask questions of the speaker panel and team leaders. | ||
| Saturday | ||
| 8:30 am | Welcome and Registration | |
| 9:00 am | Lay-Level Presuppositional Apologetics, Part 1 | Dr. Anthony Silvestro |
| Part 1 discusses the differences between: evidential, classical, & presuppositional apologetics. While evidential apologetics has its place, presuppositional is foundational for apologetics! This talk also teaches how properly done apologetics should always lead to evangelism, and gives people more confidence in themselves as being an apologist. | ||
| 10:30 am | Lay-Level Presuppositional Apologetics, Part 2 | Dr. Anthony Silvestro |
| Part 2 walks you through how this all works, functionally, and briefly talks about moral arguments as presuppositional. Important concepts here: 1. Romans 1 teaches that all people know God exists (which means we do not have the burden of proof when talking to someone) 2. Romans 2 says that God has written the moral law on everyone’s heart, which means people also know God exists by their conscience. | ||
| 12:00 - 7:00 pm | Practice and Witnessing | Outreach Teams |
| Break into small teams, practice sharing the gospel through role play to prepare ourselves. Grab some lunch together and begin to distribute tracts, engage in conversation, and share the gospel message on the streets of Pella. | ||
| 2:00 & 8:00 pm | Pre-Parade Tract Distribution | Outreach Teams |
| The time before the parade is a great time to distribute tracts. Many take and read the tracts while they are waiting for the parade to begin. The parades begin at 2:30 and 8:30 each day. After the parade, coordinate with your team leader to share the gospel and engage in Christ-centered conversation. | ||
| 7:00 pm | Group Sharing and Closing Remarks | Speakers and Leaders |
| Gather back at the church to share you witnessing experiences and ask questions of the speaker panel and team leaders. | ||
Speaker Information
Dr. Anthony R. Silvestro, Jr., was once an unsaved evolutionist but now is an avid Biblical creationist – teaching adults and kids alike that God didn’t create man from ape-like creatures, and that the Bible can be trusted from beginning to end, starting with the book of Genesis!
Dr. Silvestro resides in a suburb of Cleveland, OH, with his wife Julie, and his son, Anthony III. After receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Math and Chemistry from Baldwin-Wallace College, he attended The Ohio State University College of Dentistry and received his dental degree. Dr. Silvestro continues to practice general dentistry in Middleburg Hts., OH, and is also trained in most of the dental specialties.
After years of training and self-study, Dr. Silvestro speaks for Creation Training Initiative with former Answers in Genesis speaker, Mike Riddle, on many popular topics. He also trains new evangelists at Ray Comfort’s Ambassador’s Academy every year. You may have even seen him in the Christian movies, American Gospel, and American Gospel 2!
Christians have benefitted by his teaching at conferences, youth groups, and Christian radio shows, including ApologeticsLive.com. Fan-favorites include presuppositional apologetics for the layperson, problems with the social justice movement and critical race theory, Biblical evangelism, and street-level apologetics to be able to witness to anyone, even your family members at the Christmas dinner table! He also does teaching on Biblical Creation and how science supports the Biblical account of creation as well as the age of the earth.
Dr. Silvestro especially enjoys teaching presuppositional apologetics, the biblical apologetic method, to help equip Christians to proclaim the Gospel. He recently published his first book, On the Origin of Kinds, to help teach Christians how to Biblically evangelize using the Law and Gospel while answering any objection to the Christian worldview.
His book, On the Origin of Kinds, is one-of-a-kind. While many fantastic books exist that teach Biblical evangelism, presuppositional apologetics, and creation apologetics separately, there are not any that put everything together into one easy-to-apply book like this does. In this book, you will learn how to Biblically evangelize, using the Law and the Gospel, and to handle the most common objections using presuppositional and creation apologetics.
Jon Neifert is the founder of Tulip Gospel Outreach and finds great joy in sharing the gospel message and telling others of the work of Christ. Jon has has attended and served as a team leader for the Living Waters Ambassador’s Academy and has experience sharing the gospel and coordinating outreach events since 2017.
Jon, his wife, and two sons enjoy technology, outdoors, hiking and wildlife, and raising animals on their acreage near Pella, IA. Jon has a degree in Applied Computer Science form William Penn University. He grew up as a pastors kid in the Friends church. He currently attends and serves his local church, Tracy Christian Reformed Church.
Location
First Church Pella, please enter at the Northwest entrance.
605 Broadway St, Pella, IA 50219
Event Sponsor: Jon Neifert