The following is an excerpt from Tom Shanklin’s book, You Can Touch the World.

“Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.” Acts 8:5, KJV. 

Now, let’s look more closely at the ministry of the evangelist. The message of the evangelist is “Christ and Him crucified.” It’s the message of the Messiah, the Savior of the world. It’s the message that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son…” This is the predominant message of the evangelist. This is where his ministry functions most effectively.

An evangelist is a specialist. This is his special area of gifting—proclaiming the Good News. It doesn’t mean that other ministers cannot or should not preach the simple Gospel. On the contrary, they should. In fact, none of us should ever stray too far from the simple Gospel. It is the foundation of everything we do. But for the evangelist, it’s his heart and soul. He lives to preach the Good News.

Notice the results of Philip’s preaching: “And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city.” Acts 8:6-8, KJV.

The Good News brings great joy! As the Scripture says, “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and brings glad tidings of good things!” If you’re an evangelist, somebody’s going to be glad to see you coming their way, because you’re going to give them some good news about their eternal destiny. You’re going to let them know that there is a God who loves them and forgives them and heals them. Oh, happy days! The evangelist is coming to town!

Even church people need this type of ministry. Sometimes God’s people have been taught and taught and discipled and told how to live the Christian life, but they just need somebody to come and preach the happy Good News. There’s just something refreshing about hearing it again, basking in the truth, and remembering once again all the benefits of the Gospel. In fact, as we pointed out earlier, all five ministry gifts are given “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building of the Body of Christ.” So, the evangelist’s gift is needed inside the church as well as outside the church. The job of the evangelist is to inspire, encourage, train, and model evangelism, so that the entire Body of Christ may come into the proper alignment for reaching the lost of this world.

Notice when Philip came down to Samaria, the people listened to him “hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.” The Scriptures tell us that God confirms His word with signs following. As we go forth, preaching the Good News of the resurrected Savior, He will work with us, demonstrating that Jesus is alive. These miracles are part of the divine equipment of the evangelist, which help him to reach the unreachable and to touch the untouchable.

After Philip held his campaign in Samaria, the apostles from Jerusalem came to minister further to the people: “Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.” Acts 8:14-17, KJV.

So Philip had preached the Gospel of Christ. He had done miracles and cast out devils. He had baptized many converts, yet the apostles came down and ministered to the people so that they might receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

So, Philip was apparently not especially gifted on teaching on the baptism of the Holy Spirit or for praying for people to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He was no doubt baptized in the Holy Spirit himself, as evidenced by the signs and wonders in his ministry, but evidently he was not especially gifted in ministering the baptism of the Holy Spirit to others.

Now, we could be in danger of painting ourselves into a corner here by stating that evangelists are gifted in healing the sick, but not ministering the baptism of the Holy Spirit. However, we know many evangelists are used greatly in helping people to receive this precious gift. It would probably be more appropriate for us to draw the following truth from the biblical account: not all ministers are gifted to do all things. Therefore we need one another. We need to take a team approach to ministry, rather than operating as a one-man show.

Philip had a tremendous Gospel crusade in Samaria and many came to Christ. He could have stayed there and enjoyed all the accolades and the fruit of his labors. But the Lord had other plans: “And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.” Acts 8:26-28, KJV.

So this evangelist left this tremendous meeting and the crowds of people coming to Christ in order to minister to one man, the Ethiopian eunuch. Now, again, we need to be careful not to draw absolute conclusions from one example, but the evangelist is often “on the go.” He is sent to bring the Gospel to those who need it and to reap the harvest wherever it is ripe. Most often, it is not a stationary ministry, like the pastor. The evangelist is on assignment by the Lord. And whether he is preaching to a multitude or one eunuch, he is on a mission to take the Gospel to the world. (By the way, in this book, I am using the pronoun “he” editorially. Thank God, there are female evangelists as well!)

Now let’s look at Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch: “Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.” Acts 8:29-35, KJV.

Here again we see that Philip’s message was Jesus. The eunuch was reading in Isaiah and Philip began at that same scripture and preached Jesus. No matter where he starts, an evangelist always gets back to his main message, Jesus Christ and His crucifixion.

For more information or to order You Can Touch the World, click here.