

From the day Robert Tilton answered God's call to be a fisher of men, he has never lost sight of this mission to bring souls to Christ. His message of success, as positive and perhaps more powerful than any other message today, has never taken the precedence nor overshadowed his purpose.



At the end of every sermon and somewhere in every lesson is the gentle invitation to every hearer to accept the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. No matter what it takes or where he is called, Bob goes and does what is needed to be a fisher of men.



Even before he left his home and security for the life of a traveling evangelist, Bob felt compelled to share his testimony in churches, on the street corners, wherever God told him to go. " Bob would have witnessed whether anybody listened or not" says one of the original seven members of his congregation. "Bob has always spoken with the kind of excitement and authority that just naturally draws people to him. When Bob talked about Jesus and salvation, people would always listen, and whoever was listening would soon have Bob's enthusiasm too and be full of excitement."



He recalls how he met Bob in a parking lot after church one night several years before Bob started Word of Faith Family Church. The two men became friends, and they would spend hours talking about Jesus, sharing the Word, and fishing for men, winning them for Christ. He relates this story of one of their "fishing trips."



One evening, "Bob was witnessing in a filling station when an old man came reeling down the street. Bob yelled, "Praise the Lord!" the old man stopped in his tracks, then just sort of crumpled, and began to weap. "Bob went over to him, and the old man said, "That's the first time I've heard anyone praise the Lord since my mother did it 25 years ago." Bob just kept listening and talking to him and about half an hour later the old man sobered up.



"He seemed to get more peaceful as Bob talked to him and the old man rededicated his life to Christ right there. Bob always had time to talk to anyone who needed God." He still does. Now through TV., he just talks to more people at one time. In fact, whatever means have been at his disposal to reach people with the Good News of Jesus Christ, that is what Robert Tilton has used. Whether is was just a few folks in a parking lot or a filling station, a tattered old second-hand tent, a dusty warehouse, a multi-million dollar television system, an island in the Pacific or a city ghetto in South America, that is where he'll go to fulfill his mission of winning souls for Christ. That is why so much effort has been put into the television ministry. It is the medium of this age and which more people can be reached at one time than by any other means.



"We went on television because people were dying," Bob explains. "I'm talking about people out there in the raw world where there is no hope, where most of them don't know anything but poverty, sickness, sorrow, addictions, bad relationships, and every other kind of misery." To set people free of their bondage to the evils of the world and the thief that comes to kill, steal, and destroy is Robert Tilton's mission.



Because he also believes that wherever the seed is sown, it must be tended and nurtured if the plant is to thrive and grow and bear fruit (Matthew 13:4), he teaches the Word and prayer along with salvation. That is why Robert Tilton is more then a "televangelist" or "electronic pastor." He encourages viewers to come involved in their local churches were they can be fed spiritual food and grow in the Lord.



Miracles of Faith Crusades is another way Robert Tilton's mission has expanded throughout the nation and the world. In 1987 and 1988, Miracles of Faith Crusades went into more than a dozen major cities in the United States were thousands were saved and healed. Two of the greatest triumphs for the Lord were the Crusades in Brazil were 41,000 were saved one evening and in the Philippines where the numbers were uncountable. "One of the hardest things I have to do is leave a country where the people have touched my heart," says Bob. "They are so hungry for Christ that I just want to stay until everyone gets fed."





Getting everyone fed in both the spiritual and natural food is a mission of high priority for Robert Tilton Ministries. In those places where political unrest and economic disarray victimize entire populations, children suffer the most. The ministry's most concentrated efforts in the past few years have been directed to Mexico, Haiti, the Philippines, Guatemala, and other third world countries.



This fisher of men, Robert Tilton, is always looking for a bigger net so that none would ship away from God's love.



