Month: July 2022

Praise Satan!

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Praise Satan!

Ministry Update July 31, 2022

You never know what you will see or hear while out street witnessing. Friday night was one of those on the wilder side. There were eight of us witnessing and Conner brought two of his young kids out with him. We were just getting started witnessing and nobody had even started open air preaching yet. A car full of people pulled up and the driver yelled, “Are you Baptists?” Elly replied, “We are Reformed Baptists.” It appears these young people don’t understand Reformed Baptists, so the driver yelled again, “Are you Baptists?” Elly again replied, “We are Reformed Baptists.” But this time she walked over to their car and handed Gospel tracts to the driver and front passenger. To her credit, she then asked how many are in the backseat and they said two more so she handed them two more tracts. As she walked away, they drove off and the front passenger yelled, “Praise Satan!”

Girl That Says She Slept With Her Stepbrother

That was just the start of a somewhat crazy night. After that, Trevor and Elly were on a corner across the street and they tried to hand tracts to a couple. Both of them refused, but then the woman pulled her pants down. I’ve had women lift up their tops before, but I’ve never seen anyone do that. Conner was preaching during this time and three people crossed in front of Trevor and Elly, but one of the women yelled toward Conner, “I f’d my stepbrother.” All three of them laughed as they walked on. Then a few minutes later, they drove right in front of Conner and woman yelled the same thing again. The man that was driving yelled too, but I couldn’t hear what he said. Obviously they were looking for shock value, or who knows, maybe the guy she kissed in front of us really is her stepbrother.

What Do You Believe In?

Trevor brought the first message of the night, then Conner and I brought one after that. As I was open air preaching, a guy on a bicycle stopped and talked to Matthew and Joshua. Joshua asked the man if he’s a believer and he replied that he believes. Joshua questioned the man what he believed in and that started about a 30 minute conversation that was mainly between the man and Matthew. They had a good discussion and by the end of it, the man understood that faith in Jesus is what we really need.

Matthew Talking To The Guy On A Bicycle

Then Matthew brought him across the street to us because they needed an ink pen. Matthew was giving the guy his phone number. I asked him if he had a Bible and he said that Tyail gave him her Bible, right there on the street! We thank God that Tyail did so and we pray that the man will call Matthew this week. When they were done talking, Matthew prayed a beautiful prayer with the man and prayed that God would save him if he isn’t really saved.

Fellowship With Fellow Believers

Toward the end of the night, I looked around and all of us were conversing with each other. I truly enjoy the fellowship with the other evangelists as much as actually evangelizing. Also Conner’s daughter listened as I was open air preaching and afterward she asked me who was next. She was ready to hear more and I was the third one to bring a message. After that she handed out tracts. I love seeing children hand out tracts. I thank God for Trevor, Elly, their girls, Tyail, Conner (and two of his kids), Matthew and Joshua for coming out witnessing. The fellowship with these dear brothers and sisters in Christ is very sweet. Speaking of which, while Joshua, Matthew and I were talking toward the end, a guy stopped his car in front of us and encouraged Joshua for us to keep doing what we are doing. Then a truck drove by and an older lady in the passenger seat gave us a thumbs up as they went by. So even though we some vile mockers earlier, God blessed us with a couple of encouragers there at the end.

(These updates are given to encourage Christians to share the Gospel with others)

Conner’s Daughter Handing Out Tracts

Elly With The Kids

Joshua Handing Out Tracts

Matthew And Tyail Talking To A Guy

Trevor Open Air Preaching

Conner Open Air Preaching

What Do You Glory In?

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Photo by Karollyne Hubert on Unsplash

What Do you Glory In?

One of the things the Ukrainians said a lot during the early stages of the Russian invasion is “Glory to Ukraine”. I understand why they do this, because they want to unify their country and emphatically state that they are a free nation, not under the rule of anyone else. I really do understand their desire for this. But as a Christian, I hate hearing this phrase. As Christians we are to glory in Jesus Christ and in Him alone. [Read more…]

Can I Get A Hallelujah?

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Guy On The Right Says Can I Get A Hallelujah?

Can I Get A Hallelujah?

Ministry Update July 24, 2022

Friday night was full of mockers from beginning to End. A couple walked by while I was open air preaching. The woman stopped and yelled, “Get a life” at the exact moment when I was saying that Satan is the little g god of this world who has blinded unrepentant sinners to the Gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4). I explained that she is one of those people and pleaded with her to repent and trust Jesus. Then another mocker yelled out after that. We even had mockers while we handed out tracts. While Trevor was open air preaching, I was caddie corner from him and three guys walked by. One of them mockingly put his hands together like he was praying and asked, “Can I get a hallelujah?” I replied, “You can get a repent and trust Jesus.” I continued pleading with him to repent as he walked away laughing.

Woman Yells Get A Life

Jesus Never Had A Megaphone

Trevor had several mockers too. One man yelled for Trevor to shut the f up and another woman yelled “Abortion” as her car went past us. During this time a couple walked by and they both refused tracts and the guy said that he’s covered by the blood of Jesus. He asked if I was too? I told him yes, that’s why we are out here. They kept walking away, but he turned around and said, “You need to live it instead of saying it. Jesus never had a megaphone.” So I reminded him that Jesus said go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). Jesus also said that what we hear whispered in the ear, we are to proclaim from the rooftops (Matthew 10:27). I asked him if he reads his Bible every day. By that time, I couldn’t hear his reply, so I encouraged him to read the Bible and obey it.

Maybe you are reading this and thinking like the guy that said we shouldn’t use amplifiers. That’s ok if you don’t agree with us, but I ask you: how do you share the Gospel? What I’ve found most of the time is that professing Christians that don’t agree with open air preaching do absolutely no evangelism at all. So if this is you, I also ask you, are you being obedient to our Lord Jesus Christ? He says to share the Gospel with every creature so how is no evangelism accomplishing that?

No Way And Plenty To Read At Home

One woman refused a tract from Elly and said, “No way.” Another woman took a tract from Trevor then promptly handed it right back, saying that she had plenty to read at home. One driver went the wrong way down the one-way street in front of us. This always reminds me of lost souls going the wrong way in life and how badly they need the Good News of Jesus Christ so they can repent and believe the Gospel.

Matthew And Cindy Witnessing To Jason

Matthew and his mother Cindy spent most of the night talking to a homeless guy named Jason. Sadly, Jason thinks that he keeps most of the 10 Commandments and that his efforts will be good enough for God. None of us are good enough. That’s why we need Jesus to save us. Only the sinless One can save you. At the end of the night three people helped their extremely drunk friend to the car. She was so drunk that they literally were holding her up and halfway carrying her to the car. It was heartbreaking to see. Trevor started preaching to the group. He kept preaching even after they got to their car. At that time, a drive by mocker yelled “Yeah boy” out of the passenger window. Then Trevor had one last walk by mocker to end the night. I thank and praise God for Trevor, Elly, their girls, Tyail who held her Jesus sign as well as Matthew and Cindy for coming out witnessing.

Three People Helping Their Extremely Drunk Friend To Their Car

(These updates are given to encourage Christians to share the Gospel with others. You may never go street witnessing and that’s ok. But if you are truly a follower of Christ, please tell others about our Lord and Savior and how He’s the only way of salvation. You don’t just live it, you also share it. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God – Romans 10:17.)

Guy Mocking Trevor At The End Of The Night

Elly Handing Out A Tract

Driver Messing With Trevor Open Air Preaching

Drive By Mocker

Car Going The Wrong Way

True Repentance

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Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

True Repentance

While street witnessing, my friends and I plead with people to repent and surrender their lives to Jesus. Our Lord and Savior called people to repent. Jesus said unless you repent, you will all likewise perish (Luke 3:13). It was also the very first message Jesus preached when he walked this earth. The Lord said that we are to repent and believe the Gospel (Mark 1:14-15). But what is true repentance? What does it mean to repent?

True repentance is not merely being sorry for doing something wrong. Whenever our kids did something wrong when they were little, a lot of times they would say that they were sorry, but you could hear in the tone of their voice that they really didn’t mean it. No, they were sorry that they got caught, but not truly repentant. Judas who betrayed Jesus was sorry afterwards, but he did not have godly sorrow over his sin. Judas went out and hung himself, but he did not repent. So repentance is more than being sorry. [Read more…]

I’m Already Going To Hell

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Guy That Said “I’m Already Going To Hell”

I’m Already Going To Hell

Ministry Update July 17, 2022

We praise God that there were 11 of us witnessing downtown Friday night. There were several mockers, including one guy that yelled “Abort babies” even before we started open air preaching. Others yelled things, revved their engines or honked their horns to disrupt the preaching of the Gospel. We walk by and drive by mockers. The walk by mocker yelled, “Love is love.” One guy walked by me with two little kids and he refused a tract. As he walked on past me he turned around and said “I’m already going to Hell.” I said “Yes you are and that’s the point, we don’t want you to die in your sins and go to Hell. Instead, we want you to repent and trust Jesus”. He just kept on walking.

Conner Getting Ready To Open Air Preach And Brad Holding A Sign

Matthew Witnessing To Some Homeless People

Conner and Trevor brought messages after I brought a short one. But the night was mainly about conversations and we praise God for that. I believe as the apostle Paul said, by all means save some (1 Corinthians 9:22). So I believe in open air preaching, holding signs and handing out tracts. But I also believe that the real field work is in one to one conversations and there were plenty of those. Matthew got there before anyone else and he walked over to 6 or 8 homeless people that were about a half a block away from our witnessing spot. I think he literally spoke to each and every one of them over the next two hours. We praise God for that! [Read more…]

Knowing Is Not Enough

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Knowing Is Not Enough

Springfield Missouri is in the Bible Belt. A lot of people around here have grown up in church. Most people in our area know the Gospel. They know the facts about Jesus, how he came to this earth 2,000 years ago. How Jesus is the Son of God and how He took the punishment that guilty people deserve. Yes, many people know how Jesus suffer, bled and died on the cross, was buried and rose again the third day. A lot of people know this, but knowing is not enough.

Just knowing the facts about salvation is not the same thing as salvation itself. Yes, everything I just said is true. Jesus did suffer, bleed and die on the cruel cross and He rose victoriously from the grave three days later. Jesus defeated sin, death, Hell and Satan. This is all true. But knowing these facts do not save you. Again, knowing is not enough.

[Read more…]

I Hate You

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I Hate You Mocker

I Hate You!

Ministry Update July 10, 2022

Praise God there were nine of us witnessing downtown Friday night. It was really hot out, but it wasn’t too bad in the shade. Trevor and his family brought new witnessing signs that had just arrived the night before and they are great signs. Trevor started off open air preaching after we all prayed and right off the bat he had a mocker that said something before ducking into a store. A little while later the mocker walked by with a group of his friends and yelled at Trevor, “I hate you. I hate someone telling me what to do.” This didn’t shock us because non-believers don’t want to submit to the authority of God. They don’t want anyone telling them what to do. Nevertheless, as Christians, it is our duty to share the Gospel with this lost and dying world. Hell awaits all who die in their sins; who die without Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Elly And Trevor With Their New Signs

Uptight About Drinking

Keven ended up talking to two different guys that needed prayer. So he brought them over (at different times) to where Elly and I were standing. The first guy wouldn’t give us his name. Keven prayed for his prayer needs. Before I could pray the guy prayed for us. After he finished praying, I asked him if he was a Christian. He proceeded to say yeah f-ing aye. I told him that I wouldn’t have put it quite like that and that as Christians we aren’t supposed to let any corrupt communication proceed from our mouth (Ephesians 4:29). Then he said curse words in the bible didn’t mean cuss words today. I didn’t go down that rabbit hole.

Keven Talking To A Guy Before He Asked For Prayer. Reed, Trevor And Elly’s Youngest Daughter Holding Signs, Tyail Holding Her Jesus Sign and Trevor And Ellly’s Oldest Daughter.

We talked some more and Elly quoted him Scripture about how we aren’t to be sexually immoral, drunkards, etc. He got a little uptight about the drinking part, but she explained that the Bible doesn’t say you can’t drink, you aren’t supposed to get drunk. Keven had given him a tract before we all talked and Elly was able to get a tract into the woman’s hand that was with him. I just kept circling back to repentance and faith in Jesus and talked to the man about Psalm 51, where David writes about true repentance. But instead of receiving this, the man goes off on what a sinner David was. Yes David sinned, but he greatly repented. David was a man after God’s own heart. But instead of understanding that part, the man just wanted to justify himself by saying David sinned. We pray that the man and the woman will read the tracts and that God will open their eyes to their need of Jesus.

Keven Talking To Christian

Christian In Name Only?

Then shortly thereafter, Keven brought Christian over for prayer. Keven prayed for his prayer needs, better housing, a better job and some sort of transportation. I prayed that God would save Christian if he isn’t really saved. After we prayed, I asked him if he was a Christian, not in name, but truly a follower of Christ. He said that he had been closer to God in the past, but when life is tough, he drifts away from God. I pointed out that we live in a fallen world and we aren’t promised an easy path. That our salvation doesn’t depend on our physical circumstances. We talked about repentance and surrendering our lives to Jesus. Keven had also given him a tract already and I encouraged him to read his Bible daily.

Trevor Talking To Guy That Says Christians Twist Scriptures

Trevor got into a long conversation with a man. The guy said that he believed in the Bible, but then tried to twist everything that he said was from the Bible. Joshua was there with them at first and heard the guy say that the problem with Christians is they twist Scripture to say what they want. As the guy started doing that, Joshua called him out on it he was doing exactly what he accused Christians of doing. But Trevor patiently shared truth with the guy. At the end of the night, Joshua got into a good conversation with another man toward the end of the night.

Joshua In A Conversation With A Man At The End Of The Night

Mockers And Encouragers

We had some drive by mockers as well as one drive by encourager. One passenger yelled from the back of the car and even got half way out of the vehicle to keep yelling as the car drove away from us. I gave a tract to a guy on a bicycle. He stopped and I asked him if he knew Jesus. He said he was from Afghanistan. So again I asked him if he knew Jesus and replied that he knows a little English. I just encouraged him to read the back of the tract. But while I was asking him if he knew Jesus, a guy walking by spoke up, “Jesus is Lord.!” I said Amen to that. The same guy that said Jesus is Lord came back by later on and had a conversation with Elly. The guy appeared to be a fellow believer.

At one point, I was holding one of Trevor’s signs and a guy was walking in my direction. Before I could hold out my arm to give him a tract, he walked toward me and reached his hand out for one. That rarely happens. Elly offered tracts to several women and they all refused. Following them was a little girl and Elly asked her mom if she could give the girl a tract and the mom said she could. Praise God for that. As usual, the fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ was as sweet as the evangelizing. Thank God for Trevor, Elly, their girls, Keven, Joshua, Tyail and Reed for coming out to share the Gospel Friday night.

(These updates are provided to encourage Christians to share the glorious Gospel with others)

 

 

Unloving?

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Unloving?

While out street witnessing, sometimes we get accused of being unloving. We are accused of being unloving because we talk about the exclusivity of Jesus. That Jesus Christ is the only Savior. So I ask you, is it unloving to say that Jesus is the only way of salvation? Is it unloving to not be more inclusive?

Actually, it would be more unloving to pretend to be inclusive, to put inclusivity above all else. That would be unloving. Just trying to make people feel better about themselves is unloving. Withholding the truth would be more unloving. If there was eminent danger for you walking down the street right now and I didn’t tell you when I knew about it, that would be unloving. [Read more…]

Jesus Never Said That

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Jesus Never Said That

Jesus Never Said That

Ministry Update July 3, 2022

Friday night was such a blessing. Praise God, there were 11 of us out witnessing Friday night. Trevor, Elly, their two girls, Joshua, Tyail, Chase and his wife Myeisha (and their baby), Reed, Matthew and myself. There was open-air preaching, conversations and tracts handed out as well as great fellowship. But the thing that stood out the most to me were the things that were said, including the woman who yelled, “Jesus never said that.”

Trevor, Joshua, Reed and I were standing on one corner when the pedal pub (trolley) peddled past us. Trevor spoke up to the people at the pedal bar, “Repent of your sins, turn to Christ and you will be saved.” As they peddled around the corner a woman yelled back, “Jesus never said that.” So I yelled back, “Yes He did. Jesus said unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. That’s Luke 13:3.” I encouraged her to read the Bible for herself so she’ll know what it really says. They were moving away from us or I would have also added the very first message Jesus preached was repent and believe the Gospel (Mark 1:14-15).

Guy That Says Jesus Will Never Find Him

I Will Never Find Jesus

Before this, I tried to hand a tract to a guy and he shook his head no and said, “I will never find Jesus.” It was a very sad comment. But he kept walking, so I couldn’t really talk to him. I just replied that unfortunately that means that Hell awaits him. He just shrugged his shoulders and kept walking. If people really understood how horrible Hell really is, they would not be so nonchalant about it. Then later a man and woman refused a tract and he just shook his head no. When they walked back by, Joshua tried to hand a tract to him, but he shook his head no again and put his fingers in the shape of an X and held his fingers near the tracts Joshua was holding.

Chase In A Conversation With An Atheist As His Wife Watches

Guy Flipped Me Off And Yelled At Me

Matthew In Long Conversation With The Guy That Flipped Me Off. Trevor’s Youngest Daughter Handing Out Tracts While Trevor And Joshua Stand Nearby Matthew. Tyail Holding Her Jesus Sign.

Before all of us got to the witnessing spot, Chase got into a conversation with an atheist. She took a tract and they talked for quite a while. I think he got her to understand that she really doesn’t know right from wrong without taking it from a Christian world view. While I was bringing a message, a guy stopped across the street, flipped me off and yelled something. I just kept on with the message. But Matthew was nearby and he got into a conversation with the guy and they talked for 20 or 30 minutes. Reed also got into a long conversation with a different guy. Trevor and Chase also brought messages. One driver slowed down and encouraged Elly as she was handing out tracts. All in all, it was a good night and may God bless the conversations, the messages and the tracts that were handed out.

Trevor and Matthew And Trevors Youngest Daughter Handing Out Tracts and Tyail Holding Her Jesus Sign

Reed and Joshua Handing Out Tracts

Elly And Her Oldest Daughter Handing Out Tracts While Chase Open-air Preaches

Trevor Open-air Preaching

Driver Slowed Down To Encourage Elly And Her Daughter While We Were Out Witnessing

(These updates are provided to encourage Christians to share their faith in our Lord Jesus with this lost and dying world)