“If you were going to broadcast an evangelistic series to the world, where would you host it?”

The question hung in the air for only a moment before Ted N. C. Wilson, General Conference president, answered: “New York City.”

That conversation in 2022 between Wilson and Doug Batchelor, president and speaker of Amazing Facts International, was the genesis of Prophecy Odyssey, an evangelistic series hosted in Manhattan, New York from September 20 to October 5. The 15-part prophecy seminar was broadcast live in English and Spanish on Hope International, 3ABN, and AFTV and has already amassed well over 48 million views on YouTube and Facebook. Artificial intelligence software translated the meetings into 17 languages. Locally, more than 800 guests attended the sessions, and 377 chose baptism.

“This is just the beginning of what we believe God will do with this series,” Batchelor said. “So many people have already been touched through the meetings, and we know God will use them for years to come.”

“I praise God for everyone who was a part of Prophecy Odyssey,” Wilson added. “I am convinced that powerful evangelistic results will continue through the power of the Holy Spirit!”

Planning with Faith and Prayer

Barriers loomed large for Prophecy Odyssey. Batchelor and Wilson had not forgotten the tremendous amount of time, money, and effort that had gone into preaching and broadcasting the Millennium of Prophecy series from New York to the world by satellite in 1999.

Back then, the Seventh-day Adventist Church was riding the cusp of satellite technology and millennial fever. “Everyone thought Jesus would come right away,” Batchelor remembered. He grew up in New York but did not accept Jesus until he was 17 and living in a California cave. Millennium of Prophecy capitalized on the excitement of the turn of the century, and thousands of churches worldwide downlinked the series to share the good news with their communities.

Returning to New York in 2024 would require an immense outlay of means. Nothing has gotten cheaper in the past 25 years. Neither Amazing Facts, the General Conference, nor the Greater New York Conference (GNYC) could foot the bill alone to host a mega-evangelistic series in the Big Apple and stream it to the world.

“We started praying. A lot!” Batchelor said. “We moved forward by faith, and the Lord opened the door for us to return to the Manhattan Center’s largest venue. It’s been a wild ride ever since.”

With the full support of the General Conference, Amazing Facts linked forces with the local GNYC and began prayerfully planning for a crusade that would change thousands of lives.

Providential Timing

More than 800 guests traveled across New York City to attend the Prophecy Odyssey meetings each night; as many as 1,400 came on the weekends. Church members came for a revitalization of their faith. Others came who were curious about Bible prophecy or because a friend had invited them. Many spoke of God’s intervention in their schedule.

Claudia wasn’t supposed to be in New York to celebrate her birthday until a month later. “I didn’t even know about the Prophecy Odyssey meetings until I got here,” she said. But as soon as she heard about the meetings, she knew she needed to bring her cousin Paula, who had a lot of questions about God. “Now I know why I’m here now!” Claudia said.

Claudia and Paula came to the Prophecy Odyssey on the night when Batchelor explained the antichrist. The message fascinated Paula. “It answered a lot of my questions,” she said afterward.

Vanessa, an Ecuadorian housecleaner at a local hotel, heard about the meetings from a guest who had traveled to New York for Prophecy Odyssey. At her baptism, she said, “Coming to these meetings is part of the reason God brought me to America. Now, I just want to know God and help others know Him.”

Manhattan Missionaries

More than 100 Manhattan Missionaries traveled to New York from as far away as England and New Zealand to share Jesus. They joined the 26 Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism (AFCOE) students to learn effective witnessing techniques from Amazing Facts staff and pray with people on the streets.

“I’ve had the privilege of meeting so many people wanting prayer for themselves or some loved one,” said Noah Nino from Texas. “Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be doing that in one of the busiest cities in the world!”

Jason and Dee Patton, from New Jersey, had scheduled a trip to Peru to celebrate their seventeenth anniversary before they heard about the opportunity to be missionaries in New York. “We did the worst possible thing,” Dee said. “We decided to pray about it.”

The Pattons met Adrian in a local park on their first day of witnessing. He had just received a rejection letter on his sixth job application. He was desperate for prayer. Two days later, he accepted the Pattons’ invitation to attend Prophecy Odyssey with them.

“Pastor Doug told people they would get a special blessing from being here,” Dee said. “And guess what? Twenty-four hours after coming to the meeting, he got two job offers!”

“It gave me hope and faith to meet all the people at Prophecy Odyssey,” Adrian said. “I could tell people genuinely cared about me.” Adrian is studying the Bible with a local church member now.

Times Square Outreach

Hundreds of New Yorkers accepted prayer and invitations to the meetings. Not everyone was interested, of course, but “we were genuinely surprised by the spiritual hunger we found in the city,” AFCOE director Carlos Munoz said. “There were a lot of people who were very receptive.”

Darian wandered into Times Square wearing bright yellow pants, a bra, and long purple hair. He might have looked out of place elsewhere, but here, he blended easily with the colorful crowd. He had no plan; he was just passing the time until he could return to the homeless shelter for the night. That’s when he heard singing. Hymns. It was an unusual sound floating above the din. He sat down on a post and listened as the group of Manhattan Missionaries sang about Jesus. Then, a man about Darian’s age stood up and told how Jesus had set him free from marijuana.

When the program was over, Darian stayed to talk. He leaned in for long hugs and went to lunch with his new friends. That night, he joined the crowd in the Manhattan Center to hear Batchelor preach about the Bible’s longest time prophecy. Today, Darian is doing Bible studies with Isabelle, a local church member.

New York’s Church Planters

The Greater New York Conference was heavily involved in praying for and supporting Prophecy Odyssey. Hundreds of church members helped with and attended the meetings, bringing friends and coworkers with them. Some members even took time off work to do outreach with the Manhattan Missionaries.

Bianel Lara, GNYC’s personal ministries and church planting director, came to NYC from the Dominican Republic as a self-supporting colporteur fourteen years ago. He made a deal with the Lord. “If you give me 50 souls this year, I’ll plant a church.” God answered his prayer, and Lara has since helped to plant 31 churches in New York.

Lara’s faith hasn’t slowed down at all. He worked closely with Amazing Facts to prepare for Prophecy Odyssey, mentoring 18 Bible workers who spent two months sharing Jesus on the streets of New York. Their official goal? One baptism per Bible worker.

Lara’s prayer goal? 250 baptisms. God richly rewarded his faith and industry; 329 were baptized, and 49 joined the church through profession of faith. They even planted two new churches — a Spanish church in Manhattan and a Chinese church in Brooklyn.

“It’s exciting to see results in parts of the city where we’ve never had growth before,” GNYC president Alonzo Smith said.

The New York City results show how effective evangelism can be when local church and media ministries collaborate. “Our church is here. Our contacts are here,” said Wayne Jamel, who planted the Bryant Park company near Times Square two years ago. “Many of our contacts said they had already been listening to Amazing Facts. We prepared the field for Amazing Facts. And they prepared the field for us.”

The Wider Impact

Prophecy Odyssey reached millions worldwide. But their impact does not end there. Amazing Facts is repackaging the Prophecy Odyssey recordings for broadcast on traditional and streaming television services. The recordings are also available in 17 languages for use around the world.

Thousands of people expressed their appreciation as they watched Prophecy Odyssey online. One viewer wrote: “I was suicidal as this series started. Watching has completely turned things around for me and has given me hope and something to look forward to and believe in. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

The Adventist school and church in Chehalis, Washington, decided at the last minute to host Prophecy Odyssey. About 30 members and guests gathered each evening. “Pastor Doug is brilliant in dealing with difficult subjects in a disarming way,” Chehalis pastor Matt Para said. “Watching the series together helped our members rally around our common faith and be excited about evangelism again.” Three individuals made decisions for baptism.  

“The North American Division has launched a major initiative for next year called Pentecost 2025, challenging churches across the division to conduct 3,000 evangelistic meetings,” Batchelor said. “The Prophecy Odyssey series is an ideal resource for churches to use for Pentecost 2025.”

The Prophecy Odyssey recordings are available free of charge to any church or group that wants to host the 15-part evangelistic series for their community. The up-to-date messages and Bible lessons make it a perfect option for churches wanting to reach out in today’s world. Amazing Facts also offers a set of curated marketing and planning resources to help churches conduct successful evangelistic outreaches with Prophecy Odyssey.

“We are excited to be able to offer these free resources to churches as an evangelistic tool,” Teri Fode, Amazing Facts marketing director, said.

An Old Story Continued

Reaching the world from New York is not a new idea. It goes back to our spiritual roots. In the nineteenth century, William Miller’s preaching aroused much interest in New York, but it wasn’t until 1883 that Seventh-day Adventists began official mission work in New York City. The work went slowly, but by 1889, there was a growing congregation in Brooklyn.

Ellen White wrote more about the need to reach the New York metropolitan area than any other city. She stated: “Those who bear the burden of the work in Greater New York should have the help of the best workers that can be secured. Here, let a center for God’s work be made, and let all that is done be a symbol of the work the Lord desires to see done in the world” (Evangelism, pp. 384, 385).

The church has continued to work and grow in this challenging urban jungle, but much remains to be done. Prophecy Odyssey added one more exciting chapter to God’s work in New York.

“I have a great burden for the cities of the world,” said Wilson, who worked in New York City as a young pastor and launched the worldwide Mission to the Cities initiative by personally preaching a campaign in New York. “It is not an easy place to work, but it is a great blessing to share Christ with the people of the city. I am delighted that Amazing Facts accepted the burden for NYC. May every church member have a burden for the people of the cities.”

This article was provided by Amazing Facts International. Amazing Facts is a self-supporting ministry and is not operated by the corporate Seventh-day Adventist Church.