Smooth Super Bowl Outreach 2019

Smooth Super Bowl Outreach 2019

Ministry Update February 10, 2019

I typically name the Super Bowl Outreaches when I write up the ministry updates, but I struggled with the name this year. Last year it was so cold in Minnesota, that Super Cold Super Bowl Outreach seemed a no-brainer. Six years ago in New Orleans we heard someone say “Jesus is ruining New Orleans” so how could I resist a title like that? But this year I had trouble thinking of the right name until I flew back home on Monday from Atlanta, the day after the Super Bowl. Reflecting back over the three days of witnessing, I remembered many conversations with my team leader Andy on how smooth this year’s outreach was going. That’s it! Smooth Super Bowl Outreach 2019 and we thank God that it was so. 

Between 90 to 95 evangelists from around the country (and one from Canada) converged on Atlanta last week for three days of street witnessing before and the day of the Super Bowl. We were there on behalf of Sports Fan Outreach International and the outreach really did go smoothly. We had great teaching, wonderful fellowship and a fantastic time sharing the Gospel with thousands and thousands of people. Another exciting aspect was all of the young people that joined us this year. Some were teenagers and others were in their 20’s. Praise God that He is raising up young evangelists to share the Gospel with this lost and dying world.

Rapping The Gospel

On Friday, after Doc rapped the Gospel in a song on the box, he brought a message. He asked, “Are you following God or wickedness?” A young girl turned around toward him and yelled “Wickedness!” She was very pleased with herself. Right as she turned back around, I was standing there holding out a tract and she took it. Blake talked about spiritually dead men and several “dead men” mocked him, laughing and talking about dead men. I asked people who do you worship? Some said the Rams and others said Tom Brady. Several times during the weekend I kept saying, “Tom Brady may win another Super Bowl, but he can’t save your soul.” Sadly, most of the mockers just laughed and walked on.

Later on, a group of bucket drummers set up next to us. They did draw a crowd, but they were so loud that it was hard to hear Andy preach. The police told the guys they had to move since we were there first. We were grateful for their help. Andy preached that no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God and on cue a drunk guy stopped to argue with him. After a little bit the guy said f-you and walked on. Then John was preaching and asked, “Are you doing the devil’s work?” “Yes, we are religiously” one mocker yelled out. We also had encouragers while open-air preaching and handing out tracts.

Sin Of Getting Drunk And High

On Saturday Joe was preaching about the sin of getting drunk and high. A young girl walked by and said, “Yeah, drunk and high baby.” Later Joe asked the question, “Have you come to the foot of the cross?” An older woman said, “Noooooooooo.” While I was open-air preaching a young woman shook her head no to salvation. I pleaded with her to not continue rejecting such a great salvation. I pleaded with her to repent and trust Jesus, but she just kept shaking her head no as she walked away.

Andy was handing out tracts and a young lady took one. He asked her what she had in common with football players. They talked for a while and she appeared to be a believer. When Andy asked her if she knew how to share her faith, she didn’t. So he taught her how to give the good person test. John mentioned the lake of fire when he was preaching and guy just kept repeating fire, fire, fire as he walked past us.

Hebrew Israelite Claimed That Christ Sinned

While handing out tracts a very drunk guy stopped dead in his tracks and took a Gospel tract. He even stopped traffic behind him when he stopped so quickly. A Hebrew Israelite claimed that Christ sinned. I told him that was blasphemy to say such a thing. He said Jesus sinned. The man was referring to the time when Jesus said he that is without sin cast the first stone at the woman caught in adultery. Since Christ didn’t cast a stone, the man thinks that means Jesus sinned. (Talk about twisting Scripture or misinterpreting Scripture).

I told him if Jesus wasn’t sinless, then He couldn’t save us from our sins. Then shockingly the guy said that he didn’t want to be in Heaven where Christ never sinned. Sadly, the man is going to get his wish if he doesn’t repent and put his faith in the real Jesus, the true Jesus, the Savior in the Bible, the sinless Son of God.

Southern Baptist Convention Handing Out Books of John

There was a large group that walked past us that were from the Southern Baptist Convention. Praise God, they were out handing out books of John with the Roman’s Road inside them. One of the guys patted me on the shoulder and said, “Thank you guys for being out here.” I thanked them for being out there witnessing too.   Andy asked several times throughout the day if people could name the 10 Commandments.

Some people could say one or two, but most people said nothing. When he preached late in the day, a woman on the other side of a fence behind us said “Yea Jesus.” Andy asked again if anyone knows the 10 Commandments and she rattled off most of them. This same lady kept saying Amen throughout Andy’s message. It’s always great to see Christians that love hearing Jesus proclaimed in the open-air. I know I never get tired of hearing our Lord and Savior being lifted up.

Tom Brady Cannot Give You Eternal Life

On Sunday Dan B. was preaching and said, “Tom Brady cannot give you eternal life.” A mocker spoke up, “How about Bill Belichick?’ “Bill Belichick cannot save you.” “Yes he can.” Sadly, this was a typical response throughout the day. When I was bringing a message, a young man walked by and said, “Jesus Christ loves Tom Brady.” I said, “Tom Brady cannot save you.” Again, there were several exchanges like this on Sunday. It’s really sad how many people worship football, players and/or coaches. Anything you love more than God is an idol. We witnessed many people idolizing the New England Patriots and Tom Brady in particular on Super Bowl Sunday.

Jenifer was talking to someone when a guy noticed her Million Dollar Bill tracts in her hand. He asked if he could have one and she said sure and gave one to him. Then she asked him if he thinks he’s a good person. He thought he was, but after taking the good person test, he admitted that he isn’t good and that he deserves to go to Hell. This bothered him greatly. May God convict and convert the man.

Cults Were Everywhere

All weekend long we ran into a lot of cults – Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists and Muslims. Many of these people were more zealous for false religions than many professing Christians are for the true faith. By Sunday afternoon, I was burdened and grieved over all these cults promoting their false religions. So I brought a message pointing out that false religions try to get you to work hard and earn your way to Heaven. Christianity cannot be earned; it is a free gift from God. Cults promote doing, doing and doing more. Christianity is based upon what has already been done, the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ Himself. He bore the guilt and punishment that we deserve. But we must repent from our sins and surrender our lives to Him to receive salvation.

Muslims Handing Out Islam Tracts

Since several Muslims were handing out Islam tracts only about 20 feet from where we were preaching, I especially hit Islam hard. I kept saying Allah has no sons, Jesus is the Son of God. It can’t be both ways. It isn’t just coexist. One is right and the other is wrong. Since Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet, how can a prophet lie? If a prophet lied, then he really wasn’t a prophet. Since Jesus said that He is the Son of God and He is a Prophet, then He cannot lie. Let God be true and every man a liar.

After I finished the message, an older Muslim walked right up to me. I didn’t know what to expect, so I steadied myself and thought, here we go. What’s he going to say or do? Surprisingly, he looked down at the tracts in my hand that read, “Do You Know Jesus Christ?” Then the man said, “I’ll take one of those.” I was shocked, didn’t say a word and handed him the tract. He just said thanks and walked away.

Boa Constrictor

May people rode scooters around that you could readily rent on about every corner. Only one woman riding a scooter took a tract from me the whole weekend. Most just rode on past. A guy with a boa constrictor wrapped around him rode near me. He refused a tract, so I hollered at him, “Hey, can I take a picture of you?” He told his friend that was in front of him to stop. The guy let me take a picture, then he took the tract that I handed him before he rode off.

Yes, there were many mockers over the weekend out of the thousands of people that walked past us, but we also had several encouragers. In addition to the blessing of so many young evangelists joining us this year, I also noticed little kids as they walked by while we were open-air preaching. I just encouraged the kids to trust Jesus. May God save many of them when they get older.

Singing Hymns

Joshua sang hymns in between people open-air preaching. Doc rapped the Gospel on the box and Heath would sing a hymn every now and then before he preached. But we also sang hymns while standing on the platforms, waiting on the trains at the subway stations. Sometimes we could see other people join us as we sang Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus or Amazing Grace. Several times we even sang as we rode the subway. We got some funny looks, but we didn’t care. It was fun singing hymns and praising our Lord Jesus. Many Bibles were handed out along with thousands of Gospel tracts as well as one to one conversations and thousands upon thousands of people heard the Gospel as they passed by. May God save many lost souls and it was an honor to participate in the Smooth Super Bowl Outreach 2019.