October 1, 2026
WOODSTOCK, Ga. — Evangelist Tony Nolan recently preached in the morning worship services at First Baptist Church in Woodstock, where he and his wife Tammy are members. When he gave the invitation, scores of people came to the altar in response to the gospel invitation. Dozens came to profess their faith in Christ.
“The church faithfully prepared for the kind of response we were blessed to see on that special Lord’s Day," Nolan said. "In fact, one of the clearest indications of that preparation came afterward when Executive Pastor Matt Lawson shared a testimony with me about one of the men who surrendered his life to Christ that day.
“Matt personally began investing in him, helping him connect with the discipleship opportunities within the church, and now they are watching transformation happen right before their eyes. The new believer is shedding old patterns of his life, faithfully attending church each week, bringing his family with him, and preparing to be baptized.”
Noland added, “This is the kind of lasting fruit that can happen when a prepared local church partners with an Ephesians 4:11 evangelist. The gospel is proclaimed, people are reached, and then the church lovingly walks beside them as they grow into fully devoted followers of Jesus. That is a tremendous blessing to witness, and once again, all the glory goes to God.”
“There is no other way to explain it. God’s hand is on Tony," said First Baptist Woodstock Pastor Jeremy Morton. "He is real, and his unique gift to draw the net for Christ is a gift from heaven. We had people of all ages and from all walks of life experience transformation from having said, ‘Yes’ to Christ under Tony’s clear and convicting gospel preaching.”
Nolan, in turn, is appreciative of Morton and the team at FBC Woodstock. “I have a deep respect for Pastor Jeremy Morton and the entire team at First Baptist Woodstock. They have walked through some very difficult seasons over the years, yet by God’s grace have emerged as a vibrant, healthy, and growing church. One of the reasons, in my opinion, is their unwavering commitment to being a church for others—a church deeply focused on reaching people far from God.
"It was truly an honor to preach there, especially because that church played such an important role in strengthening my spiritual vitality and helping encourage my return to evangelism. Seeing souls saved that day was simply the icing on the cake, and all glory belongs to God for that."
Nolan’s call to evangelism first grew out of his personal walk with God, shaped by godly mentors who taught him to seek the Lord above all else. In October 1999, his growing passion for Christ led him to surrender to God’s call to be an Ephesians 4:11 evangelist.
For almost 20 years, Nolan devoted himself to the ministry of an evangelist, traveling all over the country preaching the gospel, mostly in arenas and large-scale evangelistic events, and seeing thousands of people saved.
Nolan declared, “While many attendees initially came to hear the musical artists, they genuinely carried a burden to see people encounter the Jesus they were singing about.
“In the middle of those events, I would preach the gospel and invite people to surrender their lives to Christ. By God’s grace, we witnessed hundreds of thousands of people make professions of faith over the years.
“Now, I can’t claim that those events sparked a Great Awakening. But I absolutely believe large evangelistic gatherings can become significant moments in the spiritual history of a nation when God chooses to breathe on them. What made those events especially impactful was their partnership with local churches. The goal was never merely a moment of decision, but a pathway to discipleship. New believers were connected to churches where they could grow in Christ, learn Scripture, serve others, and become surrendered saints.”
Nolan continues, “In fact, some of the greatest encouragements of my life now come from hearing stories of people who were saved in those meetings and are currently serving as pastors, missionaries, worship leaders, church members, and faithful witnesses for Christ. Many of those testimonies are shared on my website. My prayer is that those transformed lives—and countless others like them—would become glowing embers in the hands of God, helping ignite another spiritual awakening for His glory.
“What I meant by that is this: while I am deeply grateful for every arena and large-scale event God allowed me to preach in, I have become increasingly convinced that the local church is God’s primary instrument for making disciples.”
After looking back over many years of arena ministry, Nolan explained that the stories that encourage him were not simply about people making decisions for Christ in a moment, but about those who became fully devoted followers of Jesus over time. He indicated that almost without exception, those stories involved a strong connection to a local church.
That is why, in this new season of his evangelistic ministry, he has resolved to become very intentional about focusing on one-day harvest events hosted directly through local churches called “Be My Guest Sundays.” He has developed it to be a full-service evangelistic strategy grounded in prayer and designed to mobilize church members to personally invite friends, coworkers, neighbors, and loved ones to attend church with them.
The spiritual impact of Nolan’s model is that when people respond to the gospel, they are not being left disconnected after the service ends. They are already connected to the very spiritual family and discipleship structure God designed to help them grow. He has already led several of these events and has been pleased with the results. Many people responded to the gospel, but just as importantly, they immediately have begun building relationships within the church that can help them mature spiritually, discover their purpose, and become contributing disciples advancing God’s Kingdom on earth.
Indeed, that combination—personal invitation, gospel proclamation, and intentional discipleship through the local church—is one of the most effective ways to produce lasting spiritual fruit.
In the past seven years, God has provided a pathway to solidify Nolan’s ultimate calling as an evangelist who partners with pastors in reaching the lost.
He testified, “In 2018, burdened by the weight of ministry and inspired by the contemplative depth of the late John Stott’s writings, I stepped away from public ministry for two years to pursue a deeper intimacy with God. I went completely off-grid—deleted all social media, stopped preaching entirely, and spent my days gardening on a five-acre property graciously loaned to me by friends.
“That season became sacred ground for me. In the quietness, God did deep work in my heart. He brought healing to wounds connected to my traumatic childhood, recalibrated my soul, and taught me again that my identity was not rooted in ministry activity, but in intimacy with Christ.
“During that time, the Lord began stirring in me a desire to better understand and serve pastors. In 2020, God called me to pastor a small church, and for five years I embraced the beautiful burden of shepherding, came to realize what it is like for a pastor to pour his heart and life into the needs of a congregation, sense their unseen sacrifices, experience the labor of loving people through heartbreak and resistance, and the arduous work of making disciples—a task that never fully feels complete. It was one of the richest and most refining seasons of my life.”
Then in 2025, during an intense time of solitude and prayer, Nolan sensed the Lord leading him to pull out a map of the United States. As he stared at that map, memories began flooding his mind—city after city, church after church, spanning more than two decades of evangelistic ministry. He recalled the invitations, the altar calls, the salvations, and the countless lives transformed by the power of the Gospel.
“As I began writing those moments down,” Nolan reminisced, “I could suddenly see the unmistakable handprint of God on my calling. And in that moment, deep in my spirit, I sensed the Lord whisper: ‘Well done on your pastoral assignment. Now it’s time to return to your primary gifting.’ That moment marked my return to full-time evangelism.”
Having experienced the challenges and triumphs of being a pastor, Tony Nolan has returned to his early calling, better equipped to serve pastors and churches in winning the lost to a saving knowledge of Christ. He boldly proclaims, “The gospel is still the power of God unto salvation, and people are still hungry for hope, truth, forgiveness, and new life in Christ.”
Visit Tony Nolan’s website at: www.tonynolan.org.
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