Authors Bio
Donald Stevens Jr is a loving father to his two daughters Saniyah and Gabriella and husband to his beautiful wife Arsenia Stevens. He currently resides in White Plains, NY. Donald is also the author of the book Metamorfit: Renewing Your Mind, Reshaping Your Body. Donald has been serving as a musician for over 20 years and deacon for 10 years at his church. Although he has a heart for the people in the body of Christ, Donald felt a heavy burden to go out on the streets and minister to the people. There he began his journey to understand the ministry of healing and prophesy. Donald believes that everywhere you walk your pulpit. Donald has seen hundreds of healing take place out on the streets as well as in the church. Since 2014 Donald has been conducting conferences and seminars to churches and ministries around the tri-state area in the Northeast Region. In 2017 he led over 40 missionaries and leaders to Time Square, NY where many were healed, delivered, and set free out on the streets. Donald believes that anyone that has a desire can operate in the ministry, and that's it's not just for one person. Donald's vision is to see all churches come together one day, and focus on those who are in bondage. Donald believes everything we need is in Jesus, and we just believe for real, we can see his hand move in a mighty way in our lives. Donald's mission is to transform lives one person at a time through the power and demonstration of God.
Introduction
For years I have hidden behind doing church work, and not doing God's work, and yes, there is a difference. You see church work is the work you do when nobody else can or will do, so you are just assigned to it because of your talent, gift, or you are only willing. You can sometimes be faced with being the one person doing all the work. But guess what? The benefit of doing church work is the praise you get by the people and the pastor for your loyalty and commitment to the church organization. There is a big difference between loyalty to the church, and faithful to GodI'll be honest with you I didn't want to get stuck doing the same thing for 40 years and not really stepping out to see what God can really do. I have seen people get frustrated in the church because it has become too much of a routine. At the end of the day, when Sunday is over, you still have Monday thru Saturday to impact people outside of the church, outside of your comfort zone.
This book Dare to Be Bold began as a training curriculum for an evangelistic event I was running in August of 2019. I was actually writing a different book, but the Lord tugged on me to write this book. For one month, I stuck my face behind the computer and began writing and finished it in time for the August event. This is a practical guide to street ministry, for those who have a desire to step out and do what God called them to do in his word. I realize that you don't have to wait for the next prominent named prophet to tell you what already said in his word. No one is excluded from the great commission. You see, for too long we labored doing church work and called it God's work. Jesus told us to make disciples of nations, and we can't do that by only focusing on sounding good at the keyboard, and behind the microphone. What are you doing for the rest of the 6 days of the week?
This book will teach how to step out of your comfort zone and impact the lives of others. You will learn how to heal the sick, prophesy, and give words of knowledge. You will be able to use your testimony effectively to compel many to come to Christ. You will have daily exercises that will strengthen your spiritual muscles, which will allow you to become more effective as you speak to people in the market place. Dare to Be Bold is only a beginner's guide to launching out into the street ministry. I have tried to put together 5 years of experience on the street into one book. There're many details this book that can go deeper but would take a whole boot camp to cover. My prayer is that you get so fired up, that you began putting this knowledge into practice daily, and teach others how to do it as well. I Dare You to Be Bold!
The Power of Love
John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. That who so ever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life" It doesn't matter what version of the bible you use in this text, the truth remains the same, that God loved and demonstrated his love through giving. In 2009 Tim Tebow caught the attention of the NFL fans by wearing the scripture "John 3:16" under his eye during a football game. As a born-again believer, he wanted to promote his faith, not knowing how much of an impact it would have on viewers watching. Here is his account recording by CBN News.
"The next six weeks leading up to the game I was really agonizing and contemplating what verse and God kept bringing up to my heart and my head John 3:16 which is the essence of our Christianity. It's the essence of our hope," After winning the championship game, Tebow, later on, found out that 94 million people googled John 3:16. Tebow goes on to say, "Honestly my first thought was 'How do 94 million people not know John 3:16? I was just so humbled by how big God is that we serve."
Now I'll ask you the same question Tebow asked "How do 94 million people not know John 3:16? Well, the answer is pretty clear, some churches today have not demonstrated altogether John 3:16 to the world. You see 94 million people may have Googled the scripture, but to them, it might have just been words. We are called to be doers, not only hearers of the word.
Let us take a closer look at this scripture. "For God so loved the world," talks about his unconditional love or agape love. This is a love that is to hard to duplicate because of our falling nature, but we can still pursue it. Now the only reason why Jesus, God's Son, had to come, was to make things right after the fall of man and bring us back to a relationship with God. This love is a sacrificial love that comes with a purpose. We are called to love, no matter what, or who we face. The reason why the laborers are few out on the streets is that some churches have not yet learned how to love the way God intended us to so that we can be useful out on the streets.
"That he gave his only begotten son" speaks of the word put into action. The world has abused the word "love" to make a point or to get what they want. In most recent times, the LGBT communities market the word love to cover up lustful sensations towards the same sex, saying that "Love is Love", but in 1 John 4:8,16 says that "God is Love", the same God that sent his Son Jesus to die for the sins of the world. So it can be hard for true disciples of Christ to love unconditionally to a world that views love from to different perspective.
So how can we demonstrate this kind of love to a complete stranger? Well, let us look at what love is as it's stated in 1 Corinthians 13. Paul says that it doesn't matter how well we can speak in other tongues, prophecy, understand mysteries, and all knowledge and give all possessions to the poor, without love, we are nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (Amplified) says,
4 Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. 5 It is not rude; it is not self-seeking; it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. 6 It does not rejoice at injustice but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. 7 Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].
8 Love never fails [it never fades nor ends]. But as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for the gift of special knowledge, it will pass away.
Simply put, love is not you or me, It's God, and we have to pursue love as 1 Corinthian 14:1 (Amplified) says, "pursue [this] love [with eagerness', make it your goal]…" When we pursue God, we are also seeking true agape love. The same Holy Spirit that came upon Mary and conceived Jesus is the same Holy Spirit that came upon us, giving us the power and ability to love as Christ loved the world. There is power in being patient and kind and rejoicing in the truth. There is power in bearing all things and believing all things. There is power in enduring all things, and this love will never fail. There is power in love, and with love which God. As we continue, we will talk more about the power of love in the demonstration. Take about 5 minutes to go over this chart and do a self-assessment. Let's see how well we love and find out if we need to continue to pursue love.