Larry Tomczak

Larry Tomczak Dot Com



         Founded by Rice Brooks, ICE-CAP seeks to address
        declining U.S. church attendance among young adults

      Network Formed to
     Plant Churches in U.S.		 headed People of Destiny International. Renamed Sovereign Grace Ministries in 2003, it's a pioneering church planting movement that has established more than 60 churches in the U.S. and abroad.
Broocks also brought on board Dale Evrist, author and pastor of New Song Christian Fellowship in Brentwood, Tenn.The team united to form ICE-CAP with a goal to contribute to world evangelism, beginning at home. "We've

group of charismatic pastors
has teamed up tp launch a church-planting movement
whose goal is to expand God's kingdom through evangelism
and prayer.
The International Center for Evangelism, Church-Planting and Prayer (ICECAP) launched last summer in Nashville, Tenn., as an extension of Every Nation, an international network comprising more than 400 churches in 50 countries. 		theory" put forward by Ron Luce, founder of Texas-based Teen Mania Mnistries and a proponent of the view that only 4 percent of today's children will become "Bible-believing" adults. In comparrison, Broocks said, 65 percent of the World War II generation, 35 percent of the baby boomer generation and 17 percent of the current millenium generation are considered "Bible-believing." all planted a lot of churches, but the key for us is not about my church or Dale's church succeeding," Broocks said. " A key phrase for us is that it's going to take the whole church to reach the whole world.'"It also takes leaders, stressed ICE-CAP director Larry Tomczak. "A strong percentage of people in churches are not sharing their faith and have never led anybody to Christ," Tomczak said. "A lot of people are apologetic, fearful; they don't know how to present the gospel."
The organization was formed in response to declining U.S. church attendance, specifically among young adults, said ICE-CAP founder Rice Broocks, pastor of Bethel World Outreach Center in Nashville.
"You have this growing concern that the rate of people becoming Chrisitians in America is not even keeping up with the population growth" said Rice Broocks, who with pastors Steve Murell and Phil Bonasso co-founded Every Nation in 1994 under the name Morning Star International. "I see a lot of church planting
>>  Rice Broocks (left) and Larry Tomczak of ICE-CAP say relational evangelism is key to chuch growth.		 With that in mind, ICE-CAP launched it's Leadership Training Institute in October. More than 80 students converged in its first semester to learn about leadership through evangelism and prayer. Currently, the institute is wrapping up it's second semester.
The group is also connecting with religious leaders nation wide to help develop strategies for church planting. But without evangelism rooted in relationship, little will change, Tomczak said, "Things have become too institutional, mechanical," he explained. "We've got to get back
around the world but, when we come back to America, churches, according to statistics, are closing more than opening.
He noted that The Barna Group released a study last year showing church attendance declining, most prevalently among 16- to 29 year olds. The report revealed that this age group tended to be "more skeptical of, and resistant to, Christianity" than the same demographic a decade earlier. Broocks also noted the "4 percent		 "Think about all the things that took place under the watch of the baby boomer generation-abortion, prayer taken out of schools," Broocks said. "Think about what America's going to be like when this '4 percent generation' takes over. If we don't do something within the next five years, what is America going to look like ?"
Hoping to play a part in changing those statistics, Broocks teamed up with author and pastor Larry Tomczak, who once		 to the relational aspect, and that's critical in reaching this next generation. There's been a real disconnect there."
Tomczak said ICE-CAP is following a simple, fool proof model. "Our model for evangelism is Jesus," he said. "We've got to get out into the marketplace, into the highways and byways, and do like Jesus did - love people, engage people, befriend people, find ways to serve people."
-SUZY A. RICHARDSON
April 2008/ CHARISMA 27