Ministry Update February 7, 2016
Last Friday night Kelly and his son Steven joined us witnessing downtown and Kelly did something different. He handed out some tracts and sang hymns with us, but mostly he asked everybody that walked by: Can I pray for you tonight? Yes he had many rejections, but that didn’t faze him. He kept asking and praying and when the night was over he had prayed with 11 people. Praise God!
Here’s Kelly’s description in his own words that he posted on Facebook on February 6, 2016: Last night (Friday 2/5) was amazing. Steven wanted to go downtown so we joined some other brothers and sisters in Christ in witnessing and preaching. Very fruitful handing out Gospel tracts and engaging people. Please join with me in praying for these people:
Frederick & Lacey: This young couple is living together. They both said they believed in God so my question to them was, “How do you expect God to bless you if you are living a sinful lifestyle?” They agreed they had work to do. Lacey told me she wanted happiness and is regretful of here estranged relationship with her mom and sister. I told her about the peace with Christ.
Brandon & Rachel: This young couple was downtown witnessing as well. I prayed with them for God’s guidance and that hearts would be open to the message of God’s grace.
Joey: This gentlemen is a universalist (there is multiple pathways to God). I asked him if he believed the Bible, he said he did. So my next question was, “If you read the Bible and understand it how can there be more than one way to Heaven?” He had no response but did allow me to pray with/over him.
Tabitha: This lady is a recovering drug addict from Lebanon, MO. She was a real encouragement and said what we were doing was spot on. She and I prayed together for the advancement of God’s kingdom.
Nick: This young man goes to high school here at Central. When I asked if I could pray with him he said yes and asked I prayed for his “wellness” at high school (grades, etc.). He then told me he was agnostic. I asked him what happened and he said he quit going to church when he realized God was unreal. I told him that was not true for me and my friends are a witness to exactly how real He is. HE did allow me to pray over him and I petitioned God to do a mighty work in his life.
Katherine: This young lady is the girlfriend of Nick above. She told me she attended church at Elizabeth Ann Seaton. I asked God to help her make wise decisions and surround her with Godly council.
The drunkard: This gentlemen did not give me his name but engaged me in a conversation about God. He said he did not think God would send drunkards to hell. I told him those without Christ will go to hell. That included drunkards according to 1 Corinthians 6. He said what we were doing is wrong and I told him what we are doing is Biblical. I pointed out to him that it even gave he and I an opportunity to talk about Christ. So please pray that God convicts this man and enables him to turn away from alcohol addiction.
Justin, Jessica, & Rochele: This youthful group was downtown witnessing. They attend Evangel college. They allowed me to pray with them for God’s guidance and I told them I was excited that they were advancing the kingdom of God.
We are praying that God will save the lost souls and encourage the ones that are saved. Aaron, Erica, Serenity, Kelly, Steven and I started the night off singing hymns. Then I brought a message called Changed Life. I had barely started when a guy walked by us cussing and yelling for me to shut up. I kept preaching. Then another guy walked up and wanted to tell me how what I was doing was wrong, but Kelly intercepted him and the Gospel kept going forth. As I brought the message I saw that Kelly was talking to several people and Aaron talked to a young man that he’s witnessed to in the past. There was also a young man who walked across the street and he stood by a lamp post a little ways down the street (pictured below), but he listened to quite bit of the message.
Then Aaron preached and Dave who rode up on a bicycle came over to talk to me. I think his intent was also to tell me that he didn’t agree with our method, but I asked him where he goes to church and how he came to faith and we had a good conversation. We talked about how so many people especially here in the Bible Belt claim Jesus as their Savior, but they don’t live their life for Him. I told Dave that my message was about this very thing. When God saves you, He changes you through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Dave and I were just about finishing up our conversation when Aaron mentioned that no drunkard shall enter the kingdom of Heaven. That’s about the time a drunkard walked around the corner and stopped to listen. Kelly tried to talk to him but he didn’t want to talk. He walked away but came back later. He walked aggressively up to Kelly and started ranting and raving, but Kelly pointed him to 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. I heard him tell Kelly that he had a Bible in his backpack and he didn’t think God would send drunkards to Hell. We pray that God will reach this man.
We ended the night singing hymns. One person sung a little bit with us and several people waived to us as they drove by. But a woman in a dark vehicle with her window cracked, stuck her middle finger out of her window and flipped us off as they pulled up to the stop sign in front of us. I thanked her and said God bless you and she changed the finger salute into a waiving hand. I understand that some people don’t like the open proclamation of the Gospel in the streets. But I’ll never understand why people cuss, yell and flip us off while we are singing hymns. It makes no sense to me. We encourage Christians everywhere to look for opportunities in everyday life to say can I pray for you?, at work or when you are out shopping (1 Timothy 2:8).
Angry Old Man With a Bullhorn
Aaron and I witnessed Wednesday during the lunch hour at MSU. It had been a pretty quiet day of witnessing and as I was just finishing up, the angry old man came near us talking nonsense through a bullhorn. We are in a free speech zone at the campus where we preach, but it is supposed to be without amplification. I kept preaching and he drew a small crowd with another one of his God hating displays. When he finished, the people standing around gave him an ovation for trying to interrupt us.
Aaron noticed that a woman that was walking with him is the same woman that used to lead the atheists who came downtown holding signs and protesting us when we preach there. As the angry old man and atheist woman walked away, I pointed out to him that I have prayed for him and the students. I kept pleading with the students to not be like him. I begged them to not join this angry old man someday in Hell, which they will do if they and the old man don’t repent and trust Jesus.
After I finished up, Aaron preached and I handed out tracts. Evidently there was a new group of students taking a tour by us and they walked around us and heard Aaron’s message. When we finished up he struck up a conversation with a student walking our direction. Then we split up and I was heading to my car when I ran into another group of students taking a tour of the university. Many of them actually stopped to get a tract from me. I handed one guy two tracts by mistake and he just turned around and handed the extra one to another student. I love it when that happens! It was also good to see so many students take tracts. Much of this younger generation seems hardened, but may our gracious Father God reach them and draw them to Himself (John 6:44).
(These updates are provided to encourage Christians to share the glorious Gospel with others)