User Stories

Over 33 years ago, I was a young, fairly clueless youth pastor at my first church. My pastor encouraged me to attend a Sonlife training seminar. The man who led it gave me hope that it could be done. He showed me that disciple-making cultures could exist in the local church and gave me practical tools to pursue that vision. At the end of the training, he thanked us and said it was his very first Sonlife seminar. I didn’t know it then, but the time I spent with him would shape the next three decades of my life and ministry. Over the years, I lost touch with that trainer, but I never lost the principles. God used them as I served as a youth pastor, senior pastor, and now in my role with The Navigators Church Ministry. In January 2026. I was attending the Disciple Makers Summit in Newnan, Georgia, when a speaker named Jim Halstead began sharing. As he spoke, details of his story sounded incredibly familiar—Sonlife, his church background—and suddenly I wondered, could this be that guy? After he finished speaking, I approached him and said, ” Yes. It was him! I was overwhelmed with emotion as I realized the man God used to give me hope at the very beginning of my ministry was standing right in front of me. Jim may never meet most of the people whose lives were impacted through his faithfulness, but I am one of them—and so are many others because of the ripple effect of disciple-making. Today, I have the privilege of investing in youth pastors, helping them build disciple-making cultures by applying principles I learned from Jim. I am deeply grateful for his life, his obedience, and the quiet, lasting legacy God has built through him.

A special thank you to Jim Halstead and for the tremendous impact he made at the “2026 Disciple Making Summit” at Crossroads Church in Newnan, Georgia. His time with us was both inspiring and deeply challenging in the best way. The powerful stories he shared, combined with his clear and compelling emphasis on the priority of evangelism and disciple making, stirred hearts and refocused attention on the Great Commission to every listener. You helped move evangelism from an abstract idea to a personal, practical calling. I know many left equipped and motivated to live out the daily disciple-making call in their lives. A truly a powerful communicator for any event a church may want to build around leadership, evangelism, and the priority of disciple-making.

The Go and Tell Evangelism Workshop was both deeply encouraging and highly practical for our church. Jim helped remove fear and replace it with a clear, Gospel centered confidence to share Christ in everyday conversations. Our people left equipped, motivated, and eager to engage the lost with love and truth.

“Greetings to you in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I used the Go & Tell Evangelism Workshop videos and booklet with our pastors and believers. We used the materials during church training and small group sessions. Our participants were encouraged and gained the boldness to share the Gospel in their villages. These teachings are very helpful for grassroots ministry and village churches like ours. Thank you again for making these resources freely available. We are grateful for your ministry and heart for the Great Commission.

Pastor Jim presented a wonderful way to present Jesus, especially to those with whom we can develop a relationship, but also to those we don’t know well at all, guided by the Spirit. He offered wonderful tools and processes, but no set formula. He encouraged all to know the process well, yet to assess the situation and, especially, to depend on guidance from the Holy Spirit. His teaching offers a non-confrontational way to sow seeds of truth, always certain that how it is received is in the Father’s hands. Jim left us cards and brochures for our outreach, as well as unfettered access to studies and small-group resources to further this ministry within our church body. I highly recommend inviting Jim for a weekend, as any church will benefit greatly from his teaching and resources.

I work with The Navigators in their church-focus branch, Navigator Church Ministries. I attended an evangelism training workshop at a small church just across the Indiana state line in Illinois. It was a great workshop. There was the vision for reaching those who don’t know Christ, a simple method for sharing the gospel verbally, and discussion about how to engage with pre-believers in relationships. The dynamics for this workshop were great with good discussion and personal application in break-out discussion parings. I recommend this workshop for evangelism training.

Thanks again for sharing your workshop with us earlier this month. Your passion for sharing the Gospel is evident. I was simultaneously convicted and encouraged. Convicted by how little I live into what I agree is an essential part of being a follower of Jesus, and encouraged by how naturally and straightforwardly you demonstrated what it looks like.

Go and Tell Ministries was a great training seminar for our church. One lady who attended stopped me the next week and said “The entire seminar was amazing, like every part.” She followed up with “And I never say that!”

What a timely voice Jim Halstead has been for our growing church family. We have been leaning into the heart of what it means to be the Church, and Jim’s clear and practical mission to equip the Church to share the Gospel and make disciples was just what we needed. With many thanks, Jim.

I appreciated Jim’s focus on prayer, navigating gospel conversations, and compassionate challenge to do relational evangelism. It was encouraging to see many church members attend the Saturday workshop and absorb the Sunday sermon. God will work through this weekend for the good of our church and the glory of Jesus Christ.

It was great to have Jim come and present the Evangelism Workshop on Saturday, and then preach on the Great Commission and discipleship on Sunday. I and others were blessed by Jim’s humble and personal example and teaching. While good tools were given for sharing the gospel, perhaps the greatest take-away was that it flows from genuine relationships and care for others. In the week since Jim was here, I’ve already been encouraged hearing how folks have been praying regularly for “their three” and looking for opportunities to speak from their hearts to introduce others to Jesus.

I really appreciated Pastor Jim’s care and concern for rural churches. His teachings were both encouraging and challenging, reminding us of the importance of not only going, but also telling the good news of Jesus. Hosting a Go and Tell Weekend is a great way to encourage your church to embrace the Great Commission with greater passion and enthusiasm.

We need to learn more about sharing Jesus as our Savior with others, and Pastor Jim taught us about it in the church. It was very helpful for me! Thank you! Thank the Lord! Hallelujah!😊✌️👍

Hey Jim, how are you? Some good news for you is that I have been helping a friend out, and way back before the conference, I was telling her about Jesus Christ. She wanted nothing to do with it, but just recently she wrote me a letter saying, ‘God, maybe, is what my family needs, and that’s all. Thanks to you, Timothy, for introducing her to Jesus Christ.’ I had prayed for this moment for a couple of years, and to see the work of God’s mighty hand at work in this family is Amazing, truly a blessing from heaven. I thought that you would like to hear about this, and may God bless you and your family.

We just had Jim speak at our National Conference. I would highly recommend Jim’ s ministry to anyone serious about evangelism and discipleship. His presentations were pragmatic and very applicable to today’s culture. You will love Jim’s down to earth manner, humor and spirit.

Having recently listened to Jim Halstead describe his experiences at a Conference in Canada, I’m honestly struck by the “organic” nature of this program. So many (sincere) attempts at Christian evangelism come across as formulaic, contrived, or even as mere “stunts”. By contrast, it was a privilege to hear Jim present a program that is as natural as it is prayerfully intentional.

The Congregational Christian Church of Canada held the National Annual Conference in Spruce Grove, Alberta, with Jim Halstead as the keynote speaker. What a gifted man of God. Jim’s presentation and workshop were spirit-led, meaningful, and uplifting. His easily identifiable leadership was evident during his presentations and further enhanced during personal discussions. What a man of God! Lloyd Culham Past Board Chair -Christian Fellowship Church

After the Go & Tell Evangelism Workshop, our congregation is very excited about evangelism. We are thankful and look forward to seeing what God has in store for us!

The Go and Tell workshop was very inspiring. Asking questions is a great way to start a conversation about the gospel, and praying for those you want to share the gospel with is so important. I’m glad I was able to attend.

Over the weekend, I learned a lot that I can use to help communicate the Gospel message of Jesus Christ in ways that are not stressful to me or to the one I’m sharing it with. One truth that sticks with me is that I can’t talk to my friend about Jesus until I’ve talked to Jesus about my friend. Thank you, Jim!