've gotten a lot of credit for conducting a series of evangelistic meetings that tens of thousands attended and that result in the baptism of thousands of people. That's wrong.

We had this series in Aba, Nigeria, last November. (You may have read about it in the January issue of the Review.) It was uplinked all over Africa, but all I did was speak. Now, that was an important task, and a hard task. I wanted to tell people about Jesus in the most winsome way possible, so I spent a lot of time studying and praying.

But a guy named Warren Judd from the Adventist Media Center was just as important. He ran the audio for the event, and people wouldn't have heard a word if he hadn't been an evangelist. Reini Blech from the media center is a camera operator, and people wouldn't have seen me if he hadn't been an evangelist too.

Now, this isn't trivial. Reini stood in pouring rain one night. He was so wet that he couldn't have gotten wetter. But he made sure the tarp was over the camera; it had to stay dry; he could get wet. He's an evangelist.

And the evangelistic series wouldn't have been anything without the Adventists in Aba and the surrounding region. They held Bible studies with people, brought them to the meetings, encouraged them in decisions for Jesus. They too are evangelists--just not at the pulpit.

All this is important to remember for the Year of World Evangelism in 2004.

You may not feel you're ready to speak. That's fine. The person who greets people at the door is an evangelist; can you do that? The person who enters the Bible study card names into the computer is an evangelist; can you do that? The person who runs the projection gear, or the person who organizes the advertising, or the person who makes sure the building is heated or cooled--they're evangelists.

Being an evangelist means you use your gift to help people learn about Jesus. Will you be an evangelist this year?

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Don Schneider is president of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.