How Evangelism Multiplies Joy and Blesses the Local Church – Aaron Shafovaloff

in 2002 I went on a seven week summer mission trip to Ogden Utah at one point I slept in the back of a vacuum shop and I frequently took a bus down to Temple Square to do Street evangelism I had no idea what I was doing I didn't know how to start conversations and I didn't have anyone with me I was a fumbling bumbling fool you probably would have cringed if you saw me I still make people cringe but I didn't have tracks but I did have my Bible one day at the South Gate I came across a Believer named Rob he had a fanny pack full of tracks and he was speaking to a few young ladies he explained the gospel to them and he fielded some questions and objections he asked if he could pray for them he warned them and he beseeched them to follow Christ to receive Christ and then the conversation ended it wasn't as clever as I had seen Ray Comfort do on evangelism VHS tapes it wasn't dramatic by modern YouTube standards and it did not require Charisma sorry Rob or a quick wit but it was imitable approachable evangelism I thought to myself I can do that I could realistically share the gospel of grace in conversation in a repeatable peaceful way there was something about watching Rob that opened a whole new world for me and I was hooked this is ironic to many of you because Rob's known as more of a John the Baptist Street Preacher now but I met him in the context of gentle conversational evangelism Rob is versatile later that summer I flew back to Ohio and my then girlfriend I told my then girlfriend Stacy that if we got married I would move to Utah that we would come to Utah and I wanted to do evangelism for the rest of my life in December of 2005 we moved to Orem and I took a job as a computer programmer I did some evangelism by speaking to students in front of high schools and at skate parks it's a good option by the way they're very untapped evangelism fishing hole in 2007 we moved up to Salt Lake City where I was able to start weekly evangelism at Temple Square in earnest sometimes Rob would join me sometimes it was just me uh one day Paul stoddart of The Rock Church visited my then church Lifeline community and I invited Paul to join us soon we had three or four coming weekly then five or six then seven or eight when he got into a rhythm we'd show up on Thursday after work to intersect the tourists going into the tabernacle choir practice we would first pray and then we would hand out tracks and enter conversations these were full nights I have fun uh good of good memories of sitting in a circle on the grass sometimes until midnight or even 1am with uh Stacy calling are you okay speaking to curious unbelievers into ungodly hours of the morning we extended the night even more praying by name for those we had spoken to deeply thankful that the Lord had provided such conversations and we kept coming back every Thursday the bond of friendship between us Believers grew we were working together we were celebrating and defending the gospel together we were spending ourselves and pouring our hearts out for the Lost we were correcting and encouraging each other as evangelists by the way we were sharpening each other and we couldn't help but grow as partners in the gospel the spiritual bonfire that we gathered around every week grew larger and hotter and our love and our joy grew fast forward to 2022 continuations of the same group meet on Thursday nights near the Provost City Center Temple and at a busy corner at BYU's near BYU's campus we are breaking for winter and preparing for the next season hence this conference we want to gather with other evangelism minded Believers and encourage more bonfires more friendships more encouragement and more joy Brothers doing evangelism together multiplies our joy and that joy in turn fuels our evangelism let me enumerate some ways that this happens my wife always says number your pages our joy is not merely in the outcome or results of evangelism but in the very activity of evangelism there is pleasure in proclaiming the excellencies of Jesus Christ that pleasure is independent of the response of the people we speak to we preach Christ crucified Jesus Christ the lord of Glory God In the Flesh King of Kings Lord of lords image of the invisible God firstborn of all creation creator of all things visible and invisible Born Into the world as a baby does that ever stop you God became a baby concurring in two Natures as the God man revealed as wisdom incarnate by his words as Yahweh himself who controls Nature by stealing the sea as The Giver of Life by raising Lazarus from the dead forgiving Sinners with all authority and sending terrified demons away with all authority totally owning religious authorities who attempt to trap him to trap him confronting hypocrisy fulfilling prophecy restoring sight to the blind hearing to the deaf Mobility to the paralyzed showing astounding Grace to prostitutes and tax collectors and even to Peter who denied him three times setting his face toward Jerusalem with resolve praying for his enemies and caring for his mother on the cross satisfying Justice in totality by his own blood resurrecting himself with trinitarian unified action from the dead ascending on high and giving gifts to his people saving to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him sitting at the right hand of the father interceding for his people what a great savior there is pleasure in proclaiming the excellencies of Jesus Christ and what a great gospel for by Grace you have been saved through faith and this is not of your own doing it is the gift of God not a result of works so that no one may boast he saved us not because of Works done by us in righteousness but according to his own Mercy therefore since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ God shows his love for us and that why we were still sinners Christ died for us if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved for with the heart One Believes and is Justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved there is pleasure in proclaiming this gospel when it comes out of your own mouth it goes back into your own ears if you show up for evangelism grumpy from a bad day tired from work stressed by conflict in the home discouraged by your own sin have you ever shown up on a Thursday night discouraged by your own sin the gospel is life-giving it reminds you of the Forgiveness that you have in Christ it reminds you of the glory of the Son of God it reminds you of the true story of the Gospel that far surpasses anything fictional DC Comics or especially Marvel or the Lord of the Rings or Netflix or anything Amazon Prime can give you boring There Is Power in the Blood and there is pleasure in preaching Christ crucified and there is encouragement in being reminded of the very gospel we preach we have never shared the gospel together and regretted it it is always only increased our joy and our friendship has grown carpooling became a part of the of the experience for us now we just meet at the church what 6 6 30 and we're together we're stuck in a car together and it's just we're just gluttons for more Fellowship more joy more more briefing more socialization in between the Evangelistic conversations now there's there is a kind of funny uh social Dynamic among evangelists you're on the street you're talking with each other bam you could walk away and there's somebody about to drop go and buy there's a track you got to get the tracked out see you just you stop mid-sentence and you just kind of get to you just you get used to it I mean like just mid-sentence somebody walks up I do that anyway I guess but I I mean it's just that's where I got it from maybe I don't know we have established camaraderie with Believers from other churches The Rock Corner Canyon the Mission Church Calvary Chapel Salt Lake City Jordan Valley Presbyterian Fellowship Bible Church in Linden Orchard Hill Orchard Hills Bible Church South Mountain Community Church The Refuge church it's hard to think of better ways to form the bond of friendships foreign [Music] in Christ [Applause] with Believers from other churches than to meet and do evangelism together we have also matured in Doctrine we have spent hours debriefing on our interactions recounting conversations and learning from hard questions we have been driven back to the scriptures over and over it's so interesting you can do evangelism for an hour one night and it'll energize you to hit the treasure chest of scripture for weeks afterwards for your own sake and for getting the drools out and letting other people enjoy them as well you can't hang out with evangelists and not talk Doctrine you can't become friends with evangelists and not grow in a love for theology we have grown in our boldness you ever feel like I mean even even the boldest Among Us you go out there again for the first time in a while and there's this thin sheet of ice you have to break through again it's like the it it freezes over and you have to break through you have to punch through the awkwardness and do it again right we have grown in our kindness some of us were very rough around the edges when we and sometimes we still devolve into that of an unkindness or an exasperation and being around brothers who are very kind I mean we catch so much subconsciously just by being around those who speak the truth and love we have learned to be thankful we have a ritual as of evangelists down Thursdays we ask the Lord for one good conversation for each of us before the night's over and the Lord lavishes us with way more than one typically but we're easily pleased which is a different way of saying we're easily thankful it's important for evangelists to have a healthy criteria for satisfaction and joy we go into the work of evangelism spring-loaded for Joy trigger happy for joy if I can hear the gospel come out of my own lips to an unwilling set of ears when evangelists are easily pleased you come home and your wife says how did it go and you can say I got to share the gospel I got to walk through the storyline of creation and fall and Israel and exodus and the longing for the Messiah and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ by a virgin birth and his powerful words and works as though speaking not from here but from above of the great God man Jesus Christ who died on a cross and busted out of the Tomb with infinite power and ascended on high and offers forgiveness do you really think Jesus in he offers all of himself immediately to anyone who would receive him I got to I got to share that with someone and I quite enjoyed it and added bonus maybe they were good listeners or it was received well or it seems like they're thinking about it or I think the Lord's doing something there our prayer has grown more fervent we have felt our need for the Lord we have prayed together that God would protect us from who from our own flesh and protect us from troublemakers who distract us and provoke us those are we have real thorns in the flesh do you realize that as as of evangelist over the years I've been doing this long enough to where Satan sins seemingly or God allows through sovereignty use whatever verbs you want there thorns in the flesh which distract us which make us cringe and groan and they distract us from doing effective evangelism and we're praying Lord please keep them away we pray that God would send just the right people to talk to us we pray in Preparatory Psalms for the destruction of false temples we pray that God would Grant repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth that he would draw yet more people to himself and make the fame of Jesus Christ yet more known in the Salt Lake and Utah valleys we pray that our mouths would be open and that we would speak the word of Truth and do so in love we have developed a habit of singing together we have learned to sing without a guitar and without any musically gifted persons Among Us foreign how fitting that we would finish a night of gospel Proclamation and evangelism with singing oh it's such a natural overflow to get Brothers together and sing and sing and pray and pray it's just it's just the cap it's just it's just what you do it's the whole point of it all it's weird when we don't do it we had one night when we were at the the new Corner near BYU and it was just a late night it was a super late night we were just oh man we're getting tired we just gotten our cars and left and we're like texting later to each other I'm really sorry we didn't sing we didn't pray we didn't cat it was just a weird night that we didn't cap it off that way our appreciation for greeting Believers has grown if you're talking all night long with polytheists and agnostics and atheists and cynics and then you meet someone in town for a business convention who's a Baptist from Dallas and by all accounts you can tell he's happy that you're there he said he might say something like man it just feels spiritually oppressive and heavy around here and I was just praying I'd run into someone who would share the gospel I'm so glad you're here I'll be praying for you where do you go to church I go to such and such Church let's hear these words it's good to meet a believer greetings brother you ever wonder about how we're supposed to obey those commands in the New Testament greet each other with a holy kiss greet the friends the friends greet you each by name Grace and peace in Christ to you I think we can obey that in some spirited way warm affection formal familial joyful ingredients Way Beyond business casual Way Beyond professional Way Beyond casual it's good to see you believe brother good to meet you where do you go to church we have learned more of the spiritual discipline of being excited to run into a believer and pray with them and greet them warmly our familiarity with our lost neighbors has grown at Temple Square we speak to agnostics with progressives with atheists with Muslims with Hindus with traditional Mormons with Jack Mormons with agnostic Mormons with transgender Mormons with atheist Mormons and post-modern Mormons and BYU business college students and University of Utah students and Temple visiting LDS couples and very old Bruce McConkey fans and visiting business professionals and skiers and tourists and MLM conference attendees who would love to tell you about the oils they have and it's like you share the gospel with them and they're like I have something to share too that's like the spiritualize the uh the anyway Comic-Con attendees in full costume Pokemon go players in Mass fervent Believers in false religion closet doubters by the way closet doubters at BYU who tell us they no longer believe a thing and they're just finishing out their degree closet doubters who reveal their struggles our love for the Lost has grown one of my favorite questions I've learned to use over the years is have you ever well I'll start out with this uh did you ever have any born-again Christian friends growing up did you go on a mission did you have any interesting interactions with born-again Christians or Baptist or Protestants did you ever have any interesting Faith conversations and then it kind of leads to this question of have you ever heard a born-again Christian explain the gospel before and if it's typical that to their memory they have not and it's such an instructor it's such a helpful question to ask because either which way they answer you have something to work with if they say yes they have they have heard it before you can just say well what did they say and you can build off of that work with that move with that if they say no which is often the case you can stop in your heart and be provoked with compassion this person to their memory in America has never heard the gospel that summarized before by a born-again Christian at least through memory and so you can say may I so simple it's almost formulaic at this point just a great way to share the gospel but it provokes your heart these people don't know the gospel they don't know it it's not like they've examined all the is this distinct tenets of Evangelical historic Christianity or Protestant Christianity and found them wanting for the most part they just don't understand most of what we teach but there's also a hard-heartedness that I does think that I do that I do think provokes compassion there's a there's a strange Supernatural spiritual Dynamic where you'll have a very simple believer explaining a very simple gospel concept to a PhD academic who is not lacking for intellectual capacity but cannot make sense of what this believer is saying it has nothing to do with the whether they're smart or not it is spiritual there's a veil they can't see it it's right there in front of them and well but it provokes compassion these people are blind as my friend Rob once said you don't beat up blind people it's also so helpful for me to talk to Common People on the street especially here in Utah common Mormon people it's so easy to love the LDS people they don't make it hard it's very hard to love Mormon apologists they can be some of the nastiest people that I've interacted with they're very vicious and slanderous not pleasant to work with and it's so dangerous for me it's so it's such a Temptation you might see this with other long time evangelists where they've or sorry apologists where they've done so much interaction with the worst characters that they Harden their hearts and they stiffen up it's so important for me to talk to normal common people and to have my heart warmed in second Timothy 2 Paul says that we ought not be quarrelsome but we should teach and correct with long-suffering and patience and paraphrase in here but Paul says God May perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth and he says these people have been ensnared by the devil they're under a trap they're spiritually enslaved to do the devil's will whoa these people need God to grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth so there's a kind of at the edge of your seat optimism God May perhaps Grant this person repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth God might do it it's Paul's use of terms is very interesting God May perhaps grant them repentance so you should teach and preach and correct with long-suffering and patience and kindness God May perhaps grant them so us evangelists we're excited about that we're optimistic about that God loves Utah he loves the people here he's not done with him he's so patient he loves to save Sinners God loves to save Sinners Jesus loves Utah and he loves to draw people to himself all this stirs our hearts and it moves us to love our neighbors and it motivates us to keep at it so the befriending Believers from other churches Joy hearing the gospel again and again Joy stirring each other up to the work of evangelism and joy energize to better know the scripture a joy learning more about our lost neighbors Joy proclaiming the excellencies of Jesus Christ Joy rehearsing and reviewing and repeating and reveling in the gospel of grace over and over and over again joy joy joy I like to say evangelism is less like Seminary and more like Sunday school you're saying the same basic things over and over again to a very simple people who don't need academic Precision they just need basic introduction John Piper says we aim that they share our joy and that we share theirs so that both Joys are larger because of being shared it is fitting that evangelists be a joyful people evangelism is fueled both by joy and an expectation of even more future Joy do you remember the women who left the tomb what did they do after they saw the Risen Christ they departed quote quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell the disciples part of what motivated them to run his Joy why do the apostles remind us of their eyewitness testimony of the Risen Christ quote that which we have seen and heard we Proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us indeed our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ and we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete John is a glutton for more joy more joy more joy more mutually shared growing multiplied joy in the recounting of the eyewitness testimony of the Risen Christ Listen to King David after he participates in the adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah what does he ask for and why does he ask for it he says in Psalm 51 restore to me the what the joy of my salvation and uphold me with the Willing spirit then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you just got done doing something that cost him the death of his firstborn son and he says to God please restore to me the joy of my salvation I want to go tell people about how great you are that applies to you Brothers if David can pray that you can pray that after you've stumbled into awful sin repent make it right and say to God restore to me the joy of my salvation I want to hit the streets again with my brothers with full Joy I want to tell people about you what is Paul's how does Paul speak of those who are a fruit of his Apostolic evangelism and church planning paulsons in Philippians 4 1. therefore my brothers whom I love and long for my joy and my crown stand firm thus in the Lord my beloved he calls them my joy and my crown so talking here about an expectation of future increased Joy what will your converts be to you my joy and my crown Jesus says well he interacts with the woman at the well in John 4 and she runs with Troy to tell people about the man who told her everything she ever did and Jesus says to the disciples that came back look I tell you lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for Harvest already one the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life so that sower and Reaper May rejoice together for here the saying holds true one sows in another reaps I sent you to reap for that which you did not labor others have labored and you have entered into their labor notice a few things Jesus often ordains it such that the sower and the reaper are not the same person that is a pattern in the growth of the Kingdom typically the person who reaps is not the person who sows typically Christians are coming in and they're building on the existing work that another Christian another set of Christians has laid you and I are building off the existing work that Christ has worked through previous generations of Believers in Utah who we have since long forgotten we don't even know their names we don't have much of a sense of history and continuity in Utah we need more of that of the John D nuttings of the visit the Robert Lamb or the guy who gave the lectures that impacted Sandra Tanner who of the Wally taupes anybody know Wally tote he died doing Street evangelism he's a brother worth getting to know of the countless Church planners that came to Utah even in the late 19th century all the single Presbyterian women missionaries that came out to Utah we don't know these people and they served as Schoolhouse teachers as a part of a missionary effort Utah had no Public Schools prior to 1890 do you know that and there were hordes of Christians galvanizing money and people and prayer to send people to Utah which was not yet a state it was foreign missions among polygamist people who did not even have a schooling system and so what was the main missionary strategy back then setting up Presbyterian and later Baptist schools and these single women were coming out and they were going to rural Utah and they had a special Inn with these rural communities to share the gospel in ways that these other men couldn't do wow wow and all the church planners that have come to Utah even the ones that have burned out even the ones that had to leave even the ones that didn't make it they helped they helped plant and sow seeds thank you Lord thank you Lord for previous generations of churches and evangelists we follow in a venerable tradition of blessed believers where was I [Music] evangelism is fueled again both by joy and the expectation of even more future Joy so think about that phrase that Jesus said so that sower and Reaper May Rejoice together another observation Jesus means for evangelism to end with a shared and mutual Joy between those who have each invested differently into the kingdom of God's to the growth of the Kingdom God means for evangelists someday to Rejoice together with the people who disciple people that with the church planners with the disciplers you and I are meant to have a shared Joy with who chiefly the people who are in the local churches were sending people to Paul says in Ephesians 4 he gave Christ gave to the church he gave Apostles the prophets the evangelists the Shepherds and teachers to equip the Saints for the work of Ministry for the building up of the body of Christ God means for evangelists to bless the local church he means to use evangelists to equip the Saints for the further work of ministry which will build up the church but how that's a question brothers that I submit we should camp on for the next year obviously one reason one way that God might equip the Saints through evangelism is through adding Saints to the household of God it's pretty simple right evangelists share the gospel people get saved and they go they join churches this is something that God may choose to do granting a person repentance that leads to a knowledge of the truth and then leading that person to gather with the Saints what is the most appropriate place for believers to gather I don't feel like I need to pound This Heart in this room but maybe the recording is really important evangelist historically I think veered away from a healthy view of a local church so this is important what is the most appropriate place for believers to gather to be incubated to be discipled to be shepherded to be befriended what is the most appropriate context for the exercise of the gifts the spiritual gifts of Believers where is the center of relational gravity meant to be for believers it's not an Evangelistic para Church fellowships as hot and awesome and warm and bonfire large that is that might be as as amazing as I love my my brothers who do evangelism with me from other churches as sweet as that is to me the center of relational gravity and joy for me is the what it's the local church and I want other people to enjoy that that's the whole point brother in some sense here at this think about it when a when a missionary agency sends out missionaries what's the what's the pattern well you do entry you do evangelism you do discipleship you do church planting you set up a church that is self-governing that financially can survive on its own it's self-perpetuating it has in turn evangelists who maintain a gospel witness in the area they're at and in the the missionary leaves and he does it again somewhere else and that's what we are brothers we're the evangelists who maintain a gospel witness a proclamation of the Gospel in Utah extending the work of the local church Aaron you got to put some sorry okay our aim as evangelist is to share the gospel and point people to local churches not to be an annoyance to local churches but to be a blessing to them foreign we want to bless the pastors of our local churches we want to have good rapport with them we want to know who they are Brothers do we even know the local churches that are available to the people who are witnessing to I challenge you Brothers this year to know a half dozen churches that you can in good conscience Point people to we want to know what's available we want to do follow-up we want to invite Brothers let me end with this major Point here your evangelism has a long-term Downstream encouraging effect on your local church so now we're revisiting that text Jesus Paul says God gave Christ gave among others evangelists to bless to equip the local to equip the Saints for the work of ministry to build up the local church eventually so how is God using evangelists like you and me to bless the local church that's the big question and I'm telling you my thesis is God has designed evangelism and evangelists to the long-term Downstream encouraging effect on the local church but how a couple ways one if you establish a stable and regular Evangelistic pattern and presence the pastors of your churches will be happy to send Believers your way hey uh brother I just met another person in the church who says they have an itch to scratch they want to learn how to do evangelism and I'm thinking I could send them your way and I trust you we we take people who are new to evangelism who might not even develop a big habit out of it but they want they want to experience it so they could come and they can Shadow and they can be blessed by that another way that evangelists and evangelism blesses the local churches through reports and I you can see this precedented in the book of Acts what is the book of Acts other than a set of Glory stories of how God worked to grow the church through the Holy Spirit God loves to use your reports brothers and your stories of your Evangelistic encounters he loves it he loves to use your stories your your practical Evangelistic stories of what just happened this week or yesterday to bless the Believers in your local church even the hard stories this is a tremendously encouraging in the local church for one it focuses people on the gospel there are battles worth fighting over Doctrine and culture and ethics but evangelism helps you crystallize your focus on the gospel by doing this it helps you live in Christian Community with others who have very different viewpoints than you on certain points of theology evangelism helps me have chummy camaraderie and sweet fellowship with stodgy Presbyterians very loud charismatics and we we have been on the street before praying together and we look around and we think the churches we're from are very different we're very different we've had Anthony with us he would in the prayer the group Prayer by shouting uh declarations that Christ would come and conquer the demons that are among us and we're all sitting here like but he total brother total genuine totally genuine loved having him there bring it brother bring it we have had brothers that are are quiet spirited and um who have just have different style doing things than us we've had brothers that are very Ardent principled Armenians or Ardent principled Calvinists on the street sharing the gospel we work together and we do so with joy and we bring that kind of spiritual Unity back into the church what I mean by that is in your local church you have differences between brothers and your evangelism crystallizes a focus on the gospel which brings Unity to the church it blesses the local Believers this unified focus of evangelists is a blessing on the local church this also emboldens your brothers and encourages your sisters evangelism requires a kind of backbone it emboldens you you have to straighten up your spine evangelism can be costly to your reputation people we speak to on the street want to bring up hot button cultural topics I just talked to an atheist a month or two ago who who said I just have one question for you what do you think about same-sex marriage and it was like the pivotal question the answer to which decided whether he would talk to me or not and I told him I had a traditional sexual ethic and I I believed the Bible when it talked about marriage and sexuality and he walked he abruptly walked away before my sentence even finished Brothers we we have to learn to be bold on the street to speak Faithfully to such issues and that's that straightens up your spine it forces you to exercise courage and boldness even just beyond starting religious conversations with strangers on the street that requires a kind of boldness this matures men into being bold soldiers it has a downstream edifying effect on the local body like I mentioned earlier has a downstream effect on the local church by influencing Believers to have a love for Doctrine like I said earlier you can't get a dozen guys together for evangelism without eventually enjoying theology together and finally it trains Believers to share and articulate the gospel in a simple and accessible way to to unbelievers this is really simple when you share the gospel a hundred times it helps doesn't it you start practicing different and more clear ways to explain the gospel to people this has a an effect on your local church this helps you explain the gospel in your local church because you realize don't you that sometimes people in the local church they need to hear the gospel over and over and over again and sometimes your visitors need to hear the gospel all in with a story uh with of Lee Miller who could not be here and I remember sitting on the chair in the lobby this is a common occurrence actually but I just remember a couple weeks ago sitting on the chair and looking out at the lobby and Lee Miller was kindly explaining the gospel to a relatively new visitor with his deep and clear and kind voice with his hands and his look of concern and his gentleness he was sharing the gospel with a visitor at the local church very kindly where did Lee get that from Lee has spent years now on the street and we love if you're if you're ever discouraged come on a Thursday night and just Shadow Lee Miller just listen to him share the gospel with someone that man loves the gospel so Brothers let us be refreshed this winter let us prepare for Joy multiplying spring evangelism that shares the gospel of grace and blesses your local churches I encourage you to exchange contact information with each other and increase the bond of friendship and fellowship between those who love to do evangelism

Channel: Aaron Shafovaloff

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Id: Kzk-dIExC6w

Length: 42min 17sec (2537 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 22 2022