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Can I Pray With You Real Quick?

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Can I Pray With You Real Quick?
Ministry Update November 19, 2024

It was a soggy day at MSU last Wednesday. I only handed out around 15 or 20 tracts before it was raining enough the students wouldn’t take anymore. So I brought an open-air message. I had been there about 15 minutes when a student walked up to me and asked, “Can I pray with you real quick?”  “Sure” I replied. I told him my name and he put his hand on my shoulder and then the young man said the most encouraging prayer that I’ve ever had a student pray. After he finished, I told him that he doesn’t know how encouraging that was. Praise God!!!

Then toward the end of the message a girl noticed my recorder and asked, “Are you practicing or preaching?” I didn’t catch her question, so she repeated it again. I told her that I was preaching, but thought to myself it must not be very effective if she’s asking me if I’m practicing. So I stopped the message and talked to her. I asked her how she came to faith and she said that she was an atheist who grew up in an atheistic home. But praise God that He reached her even then. She wanted to know how to share her faith with her friends. I pointed her to Ray Comfort’s Hell’s Best Kept Secret link and to the Way of the Master Videos. May God bless the young man that prayed for me and may He show the young lady how to share the Gospel.

One of Five Encouragers

The week before that, I had five encouragers during that one witnessing time. Three young men walked up and shook my hand and told me to keep preaching. One girl nodded and smiled as she walked by and one young man yelled, “Jesus Christ is Lord!” I was open-air preaching, so I didn’t catch it. I really thought he was a mocker. So I asked him what he said and he repeated it again. I said “AMEN!”.

Many students have taken tracts this year and a few weeks ago a young man stopped to talk while I was handing out tracts. He was afraid that he was a false convert. After talking to him, I think he is too. But I quoted scriptures to him and encouraged him to read the Bible and for him to cry out for God to reveal Himself to him. Earlier this year, a student heard Anand’s dad open-air preaching and got convicted. Anand’s wife witnessed to him. I’ve been going to the college since 2011 and I’ve never seen anything like this and I’m hearing this from other evangelists around the country. Some tell me they still get more mockers, but  more friends than not are seeing the same thing I’m seeing. May God save many of these young people!

Spiderman

Friday night Doug, Joshua and I were joined by Anand and three of his kids as well as Conner and three of his kids. Unfortunately it was a really quiet night. We had a great group and some good discussions amongst ourselves, but there just weren’t that many people downtown that night. Everyone handed out tracts when we had the chance. When I told the guys that I was going to head home, I spun around and there were two guys walking by me. One of them was wearing a Spiderman (full face) mask. I handed them both tracts.

Spiderman wanted to know what it was. I told him a Gospel tract. He didn’t say anything. So then I said, “It tells you about Jesus?” He still didn’t say anything. Then I asked, “Do you know Him?” Still no response. So then I asked him if he died tonight, would he go to Heaven? He replied, “I hope so”. I asked him how you get there and he didn’t know. I told him that I could clearly see that they were headed somewhere, but there’s nothing more important than your eternal soul. They both listened as I clearly shared the Gospel with them.

Afterwards, I asked him if he has a Bible at home and he said he does. I encouraged him to start in Matthew and read the New Testament, asking God to reveal Himself to him. Then I asked the young man his name and he replied, “Spiderman.” Even though I don’t know his name, God does and may the Lord save the young man and his friend. The friend never said anything, but he listened the whole time.

These updates are provided to encourage Christians to share the glorious Gospel with others. Not all encounters are encouraging, but you just keep witnessing!

Religious Stuff

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Religious Stuff

Ministry Update August 7, 2023

Praise God that Michael and Anand witnessed downtown last Friday night. Here’s the update Michael provided: “Anand and I walked around and attempted to pray for and talk to a few people in the square and gave out tracts. We walked down our normal way after that and continued handing out tracts.

There was one family that came out of a place that I think was an art studio. It was a man and woman with a maybe 10-12 year old girl. I don’t know if they were parents or grandparents, but the man refused a tract and the girl asked “what is it?” And I said “it’s a gospel tract”. She said “what’s that?”, I said something like “it talks about Jesus”. The man said “it’s religious stuff” and the woman told her “just take one” so she took one. After that Anand and I prayed for the girl, that God would save her and her family. I think it’d be good for us to continue to pray for her.” Yes, we pray that God will save the little girl, her family and the others that received tracts Friday night.

(These updates are provided to encourage Christians to share their faith in Jesus with others)

Homeless Woman And Houseless Man

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Photo by Ev on Unsplash

A Homeless Woman And A Houseless Man

I still can’t go out witnessing due to health issues, but I thank and praise God that some of my friends went out Friday night. Joshua, Lydia and Michael went witnessing downtown and they talked to a homeless woman and a houseless man. I must admit that I hadn’t heard the term houseless instead of homeless, so I googled it and found a video from a homeless “expert” that said it’s some of the homeless themselves that make the distinction. Their reasoning is that “home is where the heart is” is you have home wherever you are, but you can still be houseless. Again, I’d never heard this distinction before.

More importantly, here’s the update from Friday night from Michael’s own words, “Joshua, Lydia, and I went downtown last night. We came across a homeless lady named Nancy that we’ve met before. She took a Paul Washer booklet on the Gospel. We handed out some tracts and met a “houseless” (as he said, not homeless) man named John. We talked with him for awhile. He claimed Christ, but there doesn’t seem to be fruit. It was not an easy conversation. He had some knowledge of Scripture but mixed with some other ideas of his. We tried pointing him to Christ, though he didn’t seem to understand. But God is able to use that conversation. In the end, he took a Bible and some other things we gave him to read.” Again, praise God for Michael, Lydia and Joshua sharing the Gospel in downtown Springfield, MO on Friday night and may God save Nancy and John and may the Lord bless the other tracts that were handed out.

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

Why Share The Gospel?

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Why Share The Gospel?

Why share the Gospel? Because Jesus shared the Gospel when He walked this earth 2,000 years ago. Mark 1:14-15 says: Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people (Matthew 4:23). These are just a few verses about Jesus preaching the Gospel. [Read more…]

Good Moral Teachings

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Childlike – Good Moral Teachings.
(Photo by MI PHAM on Unsplash.

Good Moral Teachings

The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl on February 12, 2023. If you watched the game, you probably saw a couple of the He gets us TV ads. Admittedly, I don’t know too much about the He gets us ads nor their website. I’ve seen a few of their ads and they appear to be about good moral teachings. I’ve seen the ones that say be childlike and love your enemies. What’s wrong with these messages? Nothing’s inherently wrong with the messages. They contain good moral teachings. But good moral teachings are not the Gospel. [Read more…]

Another Corner

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Another Corner

Ministry Update February 5, 2023

It was a real blessing to witness Friday night. Joshua brought Lydia with him and Anand came out again with Michael and it was great to have Matthew join us again. The street and sidewalk are still torn up near our normal witnessing spot. So after I brought a short message, we all walked around downtown handing out tracts. It was slow near the square, but there seemed to be more people passing by at another corner. We ended up witnessing at the corner of South and Walnut.

We were handing out tracts there and as a couple of guys walked past us, I asked, “Do you know Jesus?” The guy named William turned back around and said that he did. But they kept walking past me. Joshua was around the corner and I don’t know what he said to Cory, the young man with William, but he stopped and engaged in a conversation with him. Joshua was talking to both of them at first, but then Michael started talking to William while Joshua continued talking to Cory. They ended up having a long conversation and from what I heard, William may not know the Lord after all. But Michael was able to share truth with him.

While Joshua and Michael were witnessing, the rest of us had fellowship together while we handed out tracts. After a little while, a homeless guy named Dave started talking to Joshua. Joshua’s church had prepared a few blessing bags for homeless people. Joshua gave Dave a blessing bag, but it turned out that Dave needed a sleeping bag too. Joshua had one in his car, so he went back to his car and grabbed it and gave it to Dave. The homeless man said that he didn’t get drunk or get high. He appeared to be sober and it sounded like Dave is a true believer. After we finished witnessing, I was walking to my car and a gentleman stopped me and asked I was part of the group witnessing on the corner. He wanted to know what church we were with and I told him that we attend various churches. We are just out sharing the Gospel together. He thanked me and encouraged us to keep on witnessing.

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

Long Way From Home

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Long Way From Home

Ministry Update January 23, 2023

Before Michael and I walked around downtown Friday night and handed out Gospel tracts, he prayed a really nice prayer and he asked God to bless any conversations that we get into. We received a lot of no’s when offering tracts, but we had a few takers. There were a couple of guys standing in front of a bar and I handed both of them tracts. As they thumbed through them, I told them they were Gospel tracts that tell you about Jesus. Then I asked them if they know who Jesus is and surprisingly they both shook their heads no. They were a long way from home since they are from Bangladesh, but we were still surprised that they didn’t know who Jesus is.

I talked to them about how Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and why He came to this earth that He created. Then I asked them if they consider themselves to be good. Adeem’s friend said yes, but Adeem said that he was probably more good than bad. I explained how God is perfect and none of us are perfect. That’s why we need a Savior, since we’ve all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. They both listened graciously while I shared the Gospel with them.

Do You Have A Bible?

Afterwards, I asked them if they have Bibles and both of them said they didn’t. So then I asked if they’d read it if I gave them one. Adeem’s friend said no, but Adeem thought for a second and then said that he would read it. I handed him a New Testament, pointed to the sky and told him that this book is unlike any other book he’s ever read. It is inspired by the Creator God in Heaven and that if he will ask God to reveal His truth to Adeem, that I believe God will do so. I also encouraged Adeem to read the Bible to see if what we were telling him was the truth. Both guys shook our hands and thanked us for talking with them. May God convict and convert Adeem and his friend. Michael and I handed out some more tracts before the night was over. But this encounter is what we pray for and hope God will bless us with. We don’t always get the opportunity to clearly present the Gospel while witnessing, but it’s always encouraging and a real blessing when we get to do so.

(These updates are provided to encourage Christians to share the glorious Gospel with this lost and dying world)

Rejoice

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Rejoice

Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash

Rejoice

Rejoice. Now this is a word that the average person doesn’t use very often. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of rejoice is: 1. To give joy to or 2. To feel joy or great delight. Again, I’d say this is a word the average person probably doesn’t use or doesn’t use very often. But my friends and I are Christians, so chances are we probably use this word more often than non-believers. [Read more…]

Surrounded By Encouragers

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Surrounded By Encouragers

Ministry Update June 19, 2022

Brad, Keven and I started out witnessing Friday night. Keven handed out tracts, Brad held his large banner sign that says Trust Jesus and Jesus Saves From Hell on the other side and I brought a message. We think it was a combination of Brad’s banner and my message, but we had several encouragers as well as several mockers. But at the end of the night, Brad was surrounded by encouragers.

Pro Abortion Woman Cussing As She Drove By.

I started off with a message about no neutrality. The central theme of the message was about how people cannot be neutral when it comes to Jesus. But before that, I used abortion as an example. You cannot be neutral about killing a baby in the womb. You are either for life or pro-death, but you cannot be neutral. One woman drove by and cussed as she passed when I was discussing abortion. But a lady crossed the street after taking a tract from Keven and she agreed when I said abortion is murder. I further said that being pro-life included from conception to death and she agreed with that too. Then a woman drove by and yelled “Jesus is a punk”. Brad had several other mockers as well as encouragers while he held his sign.

Woman Yelled Jesus Is A Punk As She Drove By Us.

Pro-life Lady Encourages Us As She Crosses The Street.

Can I Hold My Jesus Sign Next To You?

While bringing the message, a young lady named Tyail walked up and asked if she could hold her Jesus sign next to us. I told her she could. My thought was that if her sign wasn’t a good one, I’d have to explain why she couldn’t hold it near us, but it turned out that the sign read Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).So it  was a great sign. She ended up holding the sign near Keven across the street from us. After my message, I walked over and asked her where she got the sign from and she said from Joshua. I told her we know Joshua. Well, it turns out that while I’ve had health issues off and on the past two years, she was coming out witnessing with Keven and Joshua. I had no idea, but I was glad  to hear it.

Keven Handing Out Tracts, Tyail Holding Her Jesus Sign and Brad Holding His Banner.

Then I went back across the street and Brad said something about bringing a message, but he didn’t have one prepared. I told him that he should give the good person test. Instead, he got up and talked about several Way of the Master (Ray Comfort) examples such as jumping out an airplane with no parachute and the court room example of how Jesus paid our sin debt. Thank God that Brad did so, he ended up having five people come over and encourage him. Five people! At the end, four of them were there at the same time and he was surrounded by encourgers. Praise God! You expect to have some mockers when you share the truth, but you don’t always get encouragers and to be completely surrounded by them is really unusual.

Great Time Of Fellowship

Not only did we have a great time evangelizing, but we also had a great time of fellowship together. Joshua ended up joining us about half way through, so we had a great time visiting with each other as well as handing out tracts and New Testaments. One of Brad’s encouragers came over and asked me what we expected to accomplish while out witnessing. I was holding Brad’s banner sign while Brad was open-air preaching. I told the gentleman that our goal is to share the Gospel through open-air preaching, holding signs, handing out Gospel tracts and Bibles. Then he said, “so you are planting seeds.” Yes, we are planting seeds. May God send someone else to water and May God give the increase, all for His honor and glory.

Joshua Ready To Hand Out Tracts.

 

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