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Raucous Crowd

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Raucous Crowd

Ministry Update August 27, 2024

Joshua, Anand (and two of his daughters), Anand’s dad Moses, Nancy, Justin and I witnessed downtown Friday night. Justin wanted to head the other direction, so he went by himself. The rest of us headed toward the square a couple of blocks away, but we never made it there. We ended up about a ½ block short of the square and witnessed to a raucous crowd waiting in line at The Regency to see Waka Flocka Flame. I’d never heard of him, so later on I tried to listen to one of his songs on Youtube. I didn’t even make it 30 seconds, but it did shed some light on the wild crowd.

Brother Moses had a small amplifier with him, so as soon as he saw the crowd, he started open-air preaching. Some of the people in the crowd immediately started going crazy, especially three women. They started cussing Moses and flipping him off. One of them even ran across the street and started twerking right next to him. But he didn’t miss a beat and kept on preaching! After a while the police showed up and told Moses that he couldn’t use amplification downtown. I’d forgot about the ordinance.

After the police shut him down, I started open-air preaching. I’ve only been handing out tracts the last couple of months, so it had been quite a while since I brought a message. But I really think it was righteous indignation that took over. The police weren’t rude or mean about the amplification, but it always bothers me when the Gospel is hindered. So I brought a message for as long as my voice held out. The crowd didn’t like that either. One the three women that heckled Moses, kept flipping me off and saying f-you. I told her “No thanks, I’m a happily married man.”

After I brought a message, brother Moses went right over next to the long line of people waiting to get into the show. He stood on a concrete platform that was right next to a temporary fence that the venue had set up. He preached right next to them. I love his boldness for the Lord. Moses is a soft-spoken person, so there was no way his voice was going to carry across the street, so he came up with the perfect solution.

Anand and his daughters, Nancy, Joshua and I all handed out tracts while Moses preached. We had a lot of rejections, but some people took them. Joshua got into a conversation with a young man that I had talked to a couple of times earlier. The young man was raised Amish and his girlfriend was raised Mormon. He took tracts and was willing to talk. He just kept saying that he doesn’t believe what he did when he was younger. Justin got into an hour long (plus) conversation with a person.

The raucous crowd reminded me of how witnessing downtown used to be. I have to admit that I enjoyed it. But mainly we pray that God will bless His truth that went forth through the Gospel tracts and the open-air preaching. Justin and I witnessed the two weeks prior and there wasn’t much to report except on Aug 9th we witnessed during the Route 66 Festival. There were so many people downtown that Joshua was there somewhere too, but Justin and I never even saw him. Justin and I handed out a lot of tracts. It was great seeing the crowd. Several of our group has been witnessing the last few months, we just haven’t posted about it.

Quiet First Week at MSU

I handed out tracts at MSU on Wednesday last week. Another group had a permit near Trottier where I had a permit. But MSU is adding onto or remodeling a building right next to the football stadium, so there literally was no traffic at the spot where I was at. Since the other group was where the students walk by, I moved up to different spot. It turned out to be a good place to hand out tracts. I gave out over 200 tracts in 30 minutes. I commented on the cross necklaces that some students wore and I also commented on any Christian t-shirts that I saw. I want to encourage them to be bold in their faith in Jesus. One student took a tract and took a few more steps as he walked away. He flipped the tract over and realized what it was and he gave out a hearty “Amen!” I really appreciated his willingness to speak up in public.

(These updates are given to encourage Christians to share their faith in Jesus with others. You may never open-air preach on a street corner, but all believers can hand out Gospel tracts and/or share their testimony with others.)

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)

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)

Blessed Week Witnessing

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Dennis Open-Air Preaching At MU

Blessed Week Witnessing

Ministry Update September 22, 2019

My wife and I were on vacation this week so I wasn’t sure how much witnessing I could work in, but I ended up having a blessed week witnessing. The week started out by handing out Gideon New Testaments with other Gideons at Missouri State University. I didn’t hear how many New Testaments were handed out, but three of us handed out 500 of them in front of Strong Hall. We had a few mockers, but most students were polite, even when they rejected a New Testament. One student told me that he reads his Bible every day. I told him that I do too and was glad to hear this. Charlie and I talked to a student named Ben. The student wanted to know what church we are with and we explained that we are from various churches. I gave Ben an invite card and invited him to visit my church – Crossway Baptist Church. [Read more…]

Atheists Demand The Impossible

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Conner Talking To A Group Of Atheists

Atheists Demand The Impossible

Ministry Update June 9, 2019

Friday night witnessing was a little strange this week. It was Artwalk and there was a band on the square and the street around the square was blocked off to traffic. Also, just North of our normal witnessing spot, Jefferson was blocked off to traffic and there was another band playing there. They were so loud, that Conner and I crossed the street and I brought a short message with the amp at about half volume. One guy stopped and shook my hand and thanked me for sharing the Gospel. But after I finished, Conner said that he wanted to go to the square and talk to the Atheists set up there. We did talk to them, but turns out Atheists demand the impossible. [Read more…]

Bible Comes Alive

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Bible Comes Alive

Ministry Update December 3, 2017

I love God’s word and I love reading the Bible. God constantly reveals truth to us through the Holy Spirit while reading the Bible, no matter how many times we’ve read a passage of Scripture. What’s really fascinating is how the Bible comes alive while out street witnessing. Many times we’ll be open-air preaching and just right on cue, God sends a mocker walking by that confirms His truth contained in His word. It never gets old seeing God proving the reliability of Bible when He makes it come alive.  [Read more…]