Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
“Who Is God?” “These Guys Can Tell You”
Ministry Update June 2, 2026
Doug and I witnessed in downtown Springfield, MO last Friday night. The week before, God blessed us with two Gospel conversations. Doug shared the Gospel with Kyle and he seemed concerned about his eternal destiny, but was in too big of hurry to talk further. I didn’t catch the name of the young man I witnessed to, but I got to clearly share the Gospel with him. Then this last Friday, God blessed us with five Gospel conversations. I’m pointing these out because Gospel conversations have been rare the last few months. We’ve mainly only been able to hand out tracts. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to share the Gospel with others when we can. The best opening of the night was “Who is God?” “These guys can tell you” her friend answered.
Before those conversations, I had the opportunity to witness to Jessie and three of her friends. I handed them all Gospel tracts and asked, “Which one of you is the best person out of all of you?” At first they really didn’t want to say, but Jessie finally spoke up and said that she was. It was actually kind of funny. She said the guy next to her definitely wasn’t and the girl next to him definitely wasn’t, but she wasn’t so sure about their other friend. But Jessie thought she might still be a better person than him.
So I followed up with, let’s find out. I took her through the good person test and even though she admitted to being a liar, thief, blasphemer and adulterer at heart, she still thought that she was good enough to go to Heaven, even if God judges us by His moral law. I gently explained that God’s standard wasn’t how good we are compared to others, but how good we are compared to Him and He’s perfect! Then she acknowledged that she’d probably go to Hell if she died in her current condition. I explained that none of us are perfect and that’s why we need the perfect sacrifice, Jesus Himself. I went through the Gospel with her and pleaded with her to repent and believe the Gospel. She said that she’d think about what we talked about and that she has a Bible at home. I encouraged her to read it to see what I was telling her was true.
Do You Ever Think About Dying?
Then shortly after that, Doug talked to Deacon. Doug asked the young man if he ever thinks about dying and Deacon admitted that he does. When asked what he thinks happens after you die, Deacon wasn’t sure. Doug shared the Gospel with him and Deacon seemed truly concerned about the prospects of going to Hell after he dies (even though he thought he was good enough to go to Heaven). But then he said that he wasn’t going to worry about it right now because he works 70 hours a week. I jumped in and said that even though you are so busy, nothing is more important than your eternal soul. Doug highly encouraged him to think about what he said and pleaded with Deacon to repent and believe the Gospel. That was actually the tract from Moments With The Book that Doug handed him, so we encouraged Deacon to read the tract when he got home.
Who Is God?
We walked around and handed out more tracts. When we got to St. Louis St. and Jefferson, we normally would just head back up to the square. But there were three young people across the street, so I told Doug we should go talk to them. As we were waiting on the light to change, one guy and the girl were kissing. So I thought, we’ll just talk to the other guy that was with them. But right after we crossed the street, the girl said real loud, “Who is God?” The guy she had been kissing replied, “These guys can tell you.” Later, he said he noticed my orange Christ cap that has John 4:14 on the front.
Doug gladly took the opening and told Layla that God is the great Creator. Somehow right after this, Layla and I started talking and Doug witnessed to Trey and Dylan. Layla told me that she had been hurt in this life. I sincerely told her that I was very sorry to hear that. She didn’t go into any details and I didn’t ask. I just told her that Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden and we’ve all sinned since then. Satan deceived Adam and Eve and evil has been present ever since. She listened while I shared the Gospel and when I asked her if she would go to Heaven if God judged her by the 10 Commandments, she said yes. This was a running theme through the night. As the Bible says, most men (people) proclaim themselves good.
But after a while Layla admitted that she would go to Hell if she died tonight. It seemed to bother her, but not enough to do anything about it. She said that she has a Bible and I encourage her to read the book of John. After we finished talking, Doug was still mainly talking to Trey. But Dylan listened intently the whole time, just not saying much. Trey kept saying that God is a forgiving God and that Trey is only 21 years old and he likes to drink. I jumped in at this point and said, God is a forgiving God, but He also calls us to repent and believe the Gospel. Continuously getting drunk isn’t repentance.
You Shouldn’t Drink Alcohol?
Doug still mainly kept witnessing to Trey and Trey said that he knows the Bible says you shouldn’t drink alcohol. Doug and I both chimed in that the Bible doesn’t say we can’t drink, it says you shouldn’t be drunk to excess. I pointed out to Trey, why fall for the temptation? I asked him if he ever just drinks one or two beers? He replied heck no. So I said you drink to feel good, you drink to get drunk. To this he agreed.
I reminded him that getting drunk to excess is a sin and finally I told him that he doesn’t want to hear what we are saying because he loves his sin. He actually admitted that he does. He said that he might pursue Jesus when he gets older, but he wants to have fun. Doug reminded him that even though he’s very young, we don’t know when our time is up. He acknowledged this is true. All three said they have Bibles at home, so we encouraged them to read their Bibles. There seems to be less people all the time downtown and Gospel conversations seem to be rarer than they were years ago. So we thank God for the opportunities that He gives us to share the Gospel with this lost and dying world. We also pray that God will send others water these five souls we talked to on Friday night and may God give the increase 1 Corinthians 3:6-7.
(These updates are proved to encourage Christians to share the glorious Gospel with others).