The word evangelist is a transliteration of the Greek word euaggelistes, meaning an announcer of good news. We are not specifically told how to recognize an evangelist sent by God, but we are given an example of one. In Acts 21:8 Phillip was called "the evangelist." In Acts 8:5-6 we read that "Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did." In Acts 8: 26-38 we see him preaching to the Ethiopian eunuch, with the result of that man's conversion. In Acts 8:40 we find him again preaching "in all the cities" from Azotus to Caesarea. An evangelist, then, is one who gives himself to the proclamation of the good news. Timothy was told to "do the work of an evangelist." (2 Timothy 4:5) Anyone who preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ is, of course, an evangelist in the broad sense of the word. But a gift as an evangelist is an unusual ability in this line. When a man preaches the gospel, do people believe? Are they converted? If so, he is an evangelist.
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