Five To One
Ministry Update January 29, 2017
I’m not a gambler & I don’t believe in gambling, but I liked the five to one at MSU Jan 25th. Aaron & I had five encouragers and only one mocker. When the kid rode his bicycle near me mouthing off I just said May God bless you and kept on preaching. He didn’t know what to say after that.
With open-air preaching at the university, you never know what’s going to happen. So encouragers are always a welcomed sight, but five different ones in the same day is very unusual. The one that stood out the most was Caleb. He walked up originally while I was bringing a message. Caleb stood in front of me, so I stopped preaching and asked him if he had a question. He did ask one. I replied, then he thanked me and walked back over to the nearby bench and sat down.
After I finished the message he came back up to me; smiling and shook my hand. He said he’d never seen open-air preaching before and I think it was encouraging to him. I asked him where he goes to church and he said that he has a church back home two hours away, but not one here locally. So I pulled out an invite card and invited him to come to Crossway Baptist Church. Caleb wanted to hear Aaron preach, but he had to get on to class.
Then while Aaron brought a message I handed out several tracts. More students took them than refused the tracts. Before Aaron finished his message, our fifth encourager walked up and shook his hand. God compels us to proclaim the Gospel whether they receive or reject it. But a little encouragement every now and then is greatly appreciated.
Coats For The Homeless
I was too sick to witness downtown on Friday night, but Kelly preached downtown. Here’s his update in his own words: What a blessed time last night! Only three of us came out but God showed up (myself, Ms. Erica, and Bro. Justin). God blessed me with the privilege to preach twice (Romans 1&2 was the 1st message and then Matthew 7 was the 2nd)! We handed out several coats and prayed over many people. I ask that you join me in praying for the following people and encounters we had:
Wayne – This gentlemen just got out of jail and is homeless. He took a coat and allowed me to pray for him. I ask you pray he gets a job and finds decent shelter (living in a tent currently).
David- This gentlemen also is homeless and took a coat for himself and his girlfriend. Very similar to Wayne’s story.
Tweet – Very silent and homeless. Refused a coat.
Nicole – She refused a coat (looked and said she was warm enough). We prayed with her about the “drama” and as she put it “games” in her life and that they would subside.
Dakota – As the night started to wind down for us we began to stop and Ms. Erica wanted to sing one more song. As we started to begin this young man came to us and wanted to talk about Jesus! He used to go to church. He told me he does not believe in God and that it was “forced” on him when he was younger. I asked him what he did about the sin in his life and the guilt that comes with committing those sins (quoting Romans 3:23). He really stumbled around this question. I told him I have the opportunity to repent and be forgiven of my sins. I informed him that God brought him to us tonight and that we loved him. He allowed me to pray with him and left us with respect.
All these people were handed Gospel tracts along with a few others. We all agreed that it was a blessed night and God gave us several divine appointments. Very enjoyable and I am very happy in Christ!
(These updates are posted to encourage fellow believers to share the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord with others)