Tom,

The paragraphs you quoted contained the following phrases containing a form of the term "evangelism":

earnestly evangelistic; passion for evangelism; evangelists; devoted their ministries primarily to evangelism; Neither ... writings ... nor conferences ... focus much on evangelism

My concern with the critique--assuming it was unaccompanied by a more in-depth explanation--is that it equivocates the term "evangelism" as understood among Arminians and Calvinists, and ends up measuring Calvinist activity by the Arminian understanding.

This shows up in the phrase "famous Calvinists now living who ...". Well, what if the biblical approach to evangelism does not necessarily generate fame for the evangelist? Think of parents who catechise their covenant children, elders who disciple their flocks over the decades, VBS teachers and children's club leaders who begin to expose the pagan children to their place in redemptive history, laymen who go out on evenings to talk to their neighborhood gang members about the sole rule of Christ, college students who meekly challenge the foolishness of their wise professors' presuppositions, reformed missionaries strengthening national pastors with sound teaching under the very noses of hostile governments; are not all of these doing the work of an evangelist, and are not each of these primarily equipped and motivated to do so, not by writings and conferences, but by the normal ministry of the church?

Having said that, yes--we have held evangelism seminars and classes--but primarily to raise these issues among those who were not so trained.

I would prefer to say that there is always room for improvement, but I would see this less in terms of "mega-evangelists", but rather more church-planting, especially in urban areas. (It constantly surprises me that the majority of the reformed participants at this site seem to be in rural/suburban environments, while a large majority of people in North America are city-dwellers) Within an hour's drive from here in the Bronx I could find over a dozen adequately reformed churches in suburban nothern New Jersey, but there are only a handful in this huge city itself. I appreciate rural Erskine College's decision last year to open a branch campus in Harlem. Would that more would be willing to go where most people really live, or short of that, to use their resources in a way that would assist those who do ...

In Christ,
Paul S