Hey GNN downtown team and prayer partners, 11/22/07
Have you noticed the fresh air of some cool fronts? We are glad to see it! But it would also be a good reminder to dress warmer, and bring an extra coat just in case it’s windy.
We can’t say it enough how much of an encouragement each and all of you to us. We pray God’s blessings on each of you!
We believe that the singing and street-preaching idea has potential. We are discovering that it is hard to add anything else to December’s schedule, so we are setting the idea aside until January or February next year.
(Barbara’s update)
Last week was Thanksgiving, and I was thinking Friday night as we were downtown how thankful I am that God lets us share the gospel with whomever we are willing to talk to and share our hearts and lives with. We saw Jamie a homeless lady and Steven shared some valuable truths with her and we shared a bite to eat with her. We see Jamie pretty regularly, and it's neat to see her change as we have built this friendship with her. She smiles and in her own way says thanks for being my friend. We have only a moment with some people down there or at the store or wherever God allows us to be His witness, but what a joy it is to be His messenger to encourage and exhort.
David was talking with Mike at the hot dog stand and he seemed so far from seeing the truth, but he asks so many questions. His beliefs are really strange but he asks the type of questions that are pleading with someone to prove to him what is really true. He was raised as an orphan in a Catholic orphanage so he has some Catholic beliefs, and a lot of other beliefs from reading fictional books.
This time of the year really causes so many people to care about others, thinking of family and all. I pray that it will cause each of us to care about every person God puts in our path. And how important it is for us to not only say hello and wish people "Happy Thanksgiving", but to show them that the God who created this world and each and every one of us wants to have a relationship with them too. Share your lives and your testimony and heart with whomever God sets before you and see the joy only God can give a lost world. You see we are not of this world if we are a follower of Christ, but we are looking forward to a home with Our Holy Heavenly Father one day, and who are we taking with us?
God gave me a song when I was praying one day to Him after my dad died and I said Lord I miss my dad so much and God said Barbara He's with me, his work is done, but go tell others about Me. And this is a prayer in a song that God gave me, maybe sometime I can sing it to you all. I included the words of the song at the end. ‘Jesus, Help Me to Disciple’ (see verses at the bottom)
As Children of the Lord Jesus Christ; God calls us to be His ambassadors.
2 Corinthians 5:20 says, “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God."
I pray God will teach each of us to be His disciples each and every day until we see Jesus.
Love, Barbara
(Steven’s update)
One unique conversation, I (Steven) had was with three ladies, I briefly took the ‘Smart Card’ test with them and had a brief conversation with them. We were kind of walking quickly because of the cold, but they appreciated the conversation, so that was good! Every so often, some of our family is able to join the downtown Saturday evening soul-winning team (Operation 180), and Paul and I were able to do that last Saturday. We had quite a few very interesting conversations! It was pretty cool! But the highlight of the evening, for Sean, Matt, Marie and I was talking with a Muslim man! Wow, what an incredible conversation! He actually challenged us to be even more bold about not only following Christ, but challenging more people to join us!... but I’m getting ahead of myself… It started when we saw this family (dad, mom, 3 kids – elementary age) all by themselves. It was obvious that they were homeless and they looked kind of sad, so we went over and talked to them. We talked with the guy, named Steve, most of them time and found out that he was raised a Christian and then decided that 4+ years ago, that he wanted to be a Muslim. He mostly blamed it on the hypocrites in the church, but it was also obvious that he wanted something other than the gospel Jesus taught. So, he asked us a few questions and we showed him several verses, but he was still trying to hold onto his view. Then toward the end of the conversation, he went on and on for maybe 5-10 minutes about the hypocrites in the church (though he tried to say that all of us are hypocrites, and we nicely reminded him that we aren’t). We heartily agreed with his assessment of the so many people who say they follow Christ and are really looking out for their own greed, but we also contrasted that by pointing out that those people he was pointing at aren’t Christ, and that He is perfect and He doesn’t mistreat people like that… anyway, interesting conversation… Then at the end of the conversation, he also encouraged us and challenged us to keep looking for people who are willing to stand with all they have on God’s truth. TALK ABOUT INSPIRING! Wow!... needless to say, all four of us were fired up even more to follow Christ better! What an incredible opportunity to hear from someone who calls himself a Muslim challenging us to follow Christ with all we have!... kind of strange, but this guy clearly saw and admitted that what we had is genuine. And he’s right. What God has given each of us who follow Him as best as we can, is the real thing! It is more valuable than anything else people are looking for! And we also know, that as we are following Christ as best as we can, God’s clear testimony is challenging the hearts of those around us that they too need to get serious about their relationship with Christ. What an honor – what a privilege it is to have this wonderful, amazing opportunity of a relationship with the Creator of this Universe – perfect God, desiring a relationship with us, sinners saved by grace – WOW!
One other thought (Steven). I have been finding God opening more little opportunities to talk with people in a variety of places lately, and I’m grateful. We are praying that God would be doing that with each of you too, and we trust that He is! Everything done for Him will be rewarded! Thank you again to each of you for your part in this team. We are a team of believers/followers of Christ. J
Your friends and fellow laborers,
David, Barbara, Steven and Paul
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Jesus, Help Me to Disciple
Jesus, help me to disciple.
And live for you each day.
Jesus help me to love you more..
And learn to walk Your way.
Verse
Jesus life here is hard.
But you said, You'd guide us through.
Jesus help me to encourage those.
Who will and do belong to you.
Verse
Life here on earth is so short.
But in Heaven, We'll be forever with You
So keep from getting busy
On things that don't glorify
You.
Jesus help me to disciple
And live for You each day.
Jesus help me to read Your Word
And learn to love Your way
Verse
You said one day we'd be in Heaven.
And earthly things won't matter anymore.
You said one day we'd be with You
And that's what life worth living for.
Jesus, help me to disciple..
And live for you each day.
Jesus help me too
Do Your work.
So I'll be found faithful.
When I see You.
'Way of the Master' Transformed Conference
Living Waters Ministries
Free ~ 30 booklets of the Gospel of John
Hello, my name is Steven Henry and in case you didn't already know about it, the site below allows you to sign up for free and get 30 booklets of the Book of John for free. They are great for handing out to people. I just present that for your consideration.
~ your friend and
a servant of Christ, Steven : )
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thursday, November 29
Monday, November 12
It's an exciting adventure!
Hello GNN team and fellow soul-winners, 11-02-07
Wow! Last Friday evening was really exciting! There were a lot of interesting conversations and the little we did hear from the other groups was really encouraging too!
This week, we were joined by Joann and John and Ristela and our friends from the Metro, and Kayla tells more about that in her update later on in this email…
(David’s brief note)
Last Friday I saw a group of 5 or 6 guys walking down the street and I walked alongside them and started a survey with anyone who had spiritual beliefs. One guy, Alex, said he was Bahia. I think he saw his spiritual theory fell apart the more he said. Then I found out that he went to a Christian school as a kid. From there, we shifted to the Ten Commandments, and the more we reviewed God’s Law, the faster he walked. His religion went into a backslide with a guilty conscience.
My sister-in-law recently gave us some of Pastor Chuck Missler’s CDs and WOW! He explains the mathematical structure of God’s Word. We have 3- CD set that we intend to make available to the team sometime soon. Steven’s CD burner had a disk shatter inside his burner and we hope to get that up and running again sometime this coming week.
(Barbara’s update)
Joanne and I (Barbara) dropped in at the Subway shop near our corner of Central and Orange and we met Bradley, who works there. He just moved down here and is staying with his dad while he goes to college. I gave him one of the “101 One Liner” tracts and asked if he had any spiritual beliefs. He said oh yes, he believed in Jesus, but hasn’t found a church down here to go to. I recommended Metro Life. I told him I cared for him like a mom and I wanted to warn him that he working at a place right in the middle of sin and party world. And I’ve found when people stay too long around such things they become numb to it and even start checking it out. He said He didn’t want to go to any of the bars, but would think about what I said. I told him there are even many down here that believe they are saved and now they can do what ever they want, they’re sins are taken care of. But Jesus said many will come to me and say, Lord, Lord, did I not do this and that for you…… and Jesus will say, Depart from me you worker of iniquity I never knew you. If someone really is a child of God then they have repented of their sins, that means turned from them and turned toward God. Because if we aren’t getting closer to God we are getting farther away from Him and we may not even realize it. So I suggested to Bradley that he strive to learn more about God and get involved in a church where he would have accountability and get into God’s Word daily.
He said he really enjoyed talking to us and would love to chat some more. I told him there are lots of us down here for the soul purpose of handing out tracts with hopes of chatting and leading or encouraging people to get closer to God.
(Steven’s update)
Chris K. and I (Steven) hung around home base (where our flipchart and tracts are) and we had some interesting interactions with different people. Brian and Allura were able to bring the portable PA system, so that was our first chance to try that out. It was actually quite interesting to see the people curious as we would lead people through the ‘Intelligence Test’. Chris and I had a teamwork going where after we took them through the ‘Intelligence Test’ and interacted with them, he would hand them a ‘101 funniest one-liners’ tract and thanked them for stopping and talking with us… I think the funniest part to me was the group of people that would stop by and listen briefly while we were going through the intelligence test! Anyway, it was a start and I have been working on ideas on how to use it more effectively, like transitioning from the flipchart to then pointing out how we can’t trust our senses because they can fool us, and then go to the good person test… working on thoughts and I look forward to continuing to learn how to use this tool effectively too!
One other really cool conversation Chris K. and I (Steven) had was with like 4 teenagers who were downtown, apparently for the bands… Anyway, we got into a pretty cool conversation with these 4 guys. I started by handing them each of them the smart card tracts, and a couple of them took the test, and I took it with them… it was pretty fun! Then I briefly took them through the 10 commandments, but they kept interrupting me and reminding me that Jesus has forgiven us, and so I asked them some questions, and they explained the gospel pretty well – which was pretty cool coming from some youths! Then I took them through some of Jesus’ words that remind us that there are going to be many who will one day call Jesus, Lord, Lord, and will be turned away because their life showed they didn’t follow Jesus. We talked about that some more and also about how no hypocrite will get into Heaven – not those who sin and confess it, but those who say they are following Christ but deny Him in their actions and put a majority of their focus and energy in something other than their relationship with Him. So, we had a great conversation and I encouraged them to check out the website on the back of the smart card and www.wayofthemaster.com. They really appreciated that, and they probably would have talked longer, but they had to get back to their car and the parking meter! J I’m praying that God continues to challenge them to follow Him with more passion ~ how exciting!
(Paul’s update)
There is so much to say about this last Friday! It was probably one of the most encouraging and emboldening nights we've had as a team. It was our first time joining the group at the Graham's house, which is where the Metro Life Church group meets for Bible study and prayer and worship before they come down and join us on the streets. Our topic was mainly about the fear of the Lord, which is one of our favorite topics, because it is such an essential truth for having a relationship with our heavenly Father, and yet the churches seem to have mostly replaced this truth for a more comfortable and relaxed approach to fellowship with God. We had a great discussion that I'm sure caused all of us to be more aware of how much our Holy God is angry toward sin and rebellion, and I believe it challenged some of us to be more bold in rescuing lost souls from all of the lies they are told about God.
I personally tend to be a little reluctant sometimes to inform people of God's wrath on them because of their rebellion. But during that Bible study I realized that sinners are aware of God's anger toward sin in the back of their mind; so when we dodge the subject, they know that something is missing. Sinners know that they are only pretending when they assume that they must be getting away with their sin. Also, God's anger at sin is a proof that God loves us, otherwise He would have to not care what happens to us.
All right, now I have to share one story with you all. I teamed up with Brittany and Daniel and Caleb. There was a different feeling downtown that night, because there were a lot of young people like high-school and young college age, which is not typical. So my three friends told me that they were relying on me to start up conversations, so I immediately started working on ideas. There were a couple of bands playing down there somewhere, which is apparently what attracted the young crowd. One of the main ideas I used for starting conversation was to ask if there was a concert going on somewhere. That started a couple of brief and very strange conversations. At one point, after we had a few strange conversations, the four of us were left standing there trying to figure out where to go next. So Daniel suggested that we go find Rich (Brittany’s dad), since he would be able to help us get conversations going. So we paused right there, and we asked ourselves why we would we need Rich, since we have the same Holy Spirit with us. So we agreed that God can help us to do the same thing and that God wants to build our faith so that He can use us in great ways too!
Shortly after that, we had the best conversation of the night when we walked up to a group of six to eight people and handed a few of them some '101 Funniest One-liners'. Their first comments were about skydiving because of the picture on the front, and then they started wondering if it was something religious. And then the conversation totally changed when one of the ladies noticed my shirt. The shirt I was wearing says, 'body piercing saved my life' and it has two hands on the back with nail holes in them. So she asked me what that meant and off we went into a conversation about God and sin and how to get to heaven. Then her friend, Diane comes over and interrupts me, wanting to know what I'm pushing on her friend. So I talked with Diane while Daniel and Brittany talked to the first woman. Diane so appreciated our conversation that she kept hugging me. I challenged her views with God's Word and encouraged her to keep going toward God. At the end another young friend of theirs came over and said he really respected what we were doing and really appreciated that we cared so much, but he had some objection. I forget what it was, but he really appreciated my response to his objection and he thanked me for talking with them and he gave me a hug and shook my hand as they left. It was interesting, that was for sure. Oh, by the way, all of that took place directly in front of an entrance to one of the clubs with several workers from that club standing right there watching the whole thing. I could tell afterward that they found it to be very interesting!
I wish I had time to share more, we also had a really good conversation with John who is a hotel owner down there that we've talked to before! We had a great night! We were all greatly encouraged!
…………………….
One little note: the four of us are trying to do a new strategy: if you are driving us at home base and you’re all by yourself to go look for a parking spot, please stop by our corner long enough to get one of our attention, so one of us can hop in your car and join you as an escort. We have seen a couple of times where some of our team like extra security. We have not heard of any stories from our team that had any security problems, but caution is a good idea.
> Special announcement and looking for volunteers:
Barbara, Steven, and Paul are working on doing some worship music and street-preaching the Friday after Thanksgiving Day, but we need volunteers to sing with us! So, we would like to have some people join us to sing like 4 songs, and we would like to hear back from you as soon as possible so we can plan a brief practice time with those of you who can join us. We are also looking for 2+ volunteers to street-preach right after the music. If you’re curious, just email us and we can explain it in a little more detail.
Below is an encouraging update from Kayla from last Friday [written the next morning I think… : )]
Also, does anyone have any suggestions for how to reach Hindus? Allura (Metro friend) has someone she is trying to witness to and is looking for an effective strategy. We did find the ‘Way of the Master’ Evidence Bible link on Hinduism: http://www.livingwaters.com/witnessingtool/hinduism.shtml... Thank you in advance for your help and prayers for Rima.
We look forward to seeing what God will do this week! We plan to be on the 7th floor of $5 parking garage from around 8:30 until around 9:10ish, and then we plan to be on the streets.
Thank you to each of you who are able to join us and to those who pray and even have others pray for this ministry ~ thank you!
Your friends and fellow laborers,
David, Barbara, Steven and Paul
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(Kayla’s brief note)
It's 9:25 am saturday morning. And as my body is aching from a long night, my mind is fully awake, mullying over and over the wonderful things that occured only just a few short hours ago. Being so fresh on my mind (now that I'm more fully awake) I invite you to ..circle around and come and listen to what our Great King has done.
As any good story starts, we must begin with the obvious- the beginning. It began at 8 pm at the grahams house. One by one people trickled in, to enjoy the fellowship and ready to listen to God's word and worship. This week we were joined by GNN's very own Henry's, which we were so very delighted to see! Rich led us in 2 Corinthians 5: 11-21 and we began to discuss the questions he had prepared- we were able only though talk about the first one-1) What motivated Paul to preach the gospel ? The fear of the Lord became our discussion. How do we fear the Lord, and how we are taught to fear GOD and not man, for God is the one who has the power to send our bodies into hell, man can only kill us. Fear was something so prevelavent in the mind of our culture since we are on the tailend of Halloween. How man has made such a mess of fear!
Rich had a good quote saying "If we fear anything in the universe other than GOD, we are deceived." We also began to talk about how the Love of Christ compels us to preach and share. Sometimes we are motivated by pure obediance to the great commission but how we long for sharing because we are so sparked and enamored by the LOVE of Christ, we cannot help but to preach. May God continue to awaken in our hearts this desire.
With that on our minds, Scott lead us in the song "In the presence of a Holy God" (by mark altrogge)..
In the presence of a Holy God
There's new meaning now to Grace
You took all my sins upon yourself
I can only stand amazed
In the presence of your infinite might
Im so small and frail and weak
When I see your power and wisdom Lord
I have no words left to speak
In the presence of your glory
All my crowns lie in the dust
You are righteous in your judgements Lord
You are faithful true and just
Chorus
And I cry Holy Holy Holy God
How awesome in your name
Holy Holy Holy God
How majestic is your reign
And I am changed
In the presence of a Holy God
The night waned later, and the call to embark on our mission was more prevelant, so we said a closing prayer and then drove into the night.
Prayer was the first step of our journey we we close the doors of the van. Right under the omnious ceiling and echo of the parking garage we prayed, that God would open up the doors and to prepare the way so with our pockets laden with tracts we walked together down the steps into the chill of the night, and continued till we found the "base station"- the corner of orange and centeral. We then split into groups and walking with rich, scott, becky, and michelle really began the adventure. We veered off the "beaten path" to a street I was unfamilar with, and we began to pass out tracks and to talk. One of the first gentlemen who spoke with us was named Joshua-who was quite a character (we will probably never foget him!). He was eager to talk about loving God but resistant to knowing Jesus as the only way to heaven and making that committment. Joshua was energetic and well...friendly. In a sense our conversation (which seemed to draw ALL of us into it) at pointed turned a little heated but he was so well ..jolly..to talk to us all that smiles insued at the end. He was a skater who had been around alot of different places and wanted to teach kids how to skate, and to love God- we will pray for Joshua that his vibrant passion he has for the things he wants to do will be arrested by the love of Jesus- And OH what a man he will be in Christ!
It seemed however our group of people were blocking a store front, which we were rather given a hard time by the lady who worked there. Even though it was clear her heart was resistant to what was going on, God is good and allowing the conversations to take place at her store front, planting seeds.
Joe was a man, scott stared discussioning with (who was watching the conversation between joshua and us) and really began to hungrily open up to scott. As well as another man who was listening who joined in.
Then michelle stated to talk with patrick (also known as demonta) by giving him a million dollar bill tract (which he often commented on that he thought it was counterfeit money) while rich and scott talked with a magician. Patick demonta was so willing to talk with us (as well as his friend Marion). He really trusted Michelle when she was able to share her testimony..he told us he really respected that. However he alluded the question "will you know where you are going when you die..are you prepared to die" - at one point we theoretically asked him "what if a car came up right now and hit us while we are standing on this curb...would you be prepared to die?" At this point he started freaking out, thinking we were apart of the cult. Scott asked him told him we weren't apart of the cult we were just trying to prepare him for inevitbale and patrick said "Man you are young..don't be focusing on dying..be focused on living man..go to school and live life..ya'll to young to be thinking about dying man.." We just had to smile..Patrick was quite a joy to talk to, and we were able to meet one of his friends that we came to know her as "the little christian lady" who was also trying to talk to partrick (praise the Lord for her!!!). We also met Patrick's fiance Chi-Chi who was soooo open to the gospel and willing to hear, and take in what we were saying..she took the piper books that patrick had initially taken but had given back to us. She was convicted of sin through and our discussion and felt unworthy that that could be apart of a church for some of the sins she had committed in the past. She also confided in her us that she had signed a card when she was young and involved in church saying she was saved- but showing her what God says that not every one who says "lord lord" will be saved. What a great testimony we were able to share of how God uses the church, not that we are saved by going to church but it is God's tool to help Christians grow and learn about himself with other believers. She at one point looked over at patrick and said "honey I'm thinking about going to church" and he had this look of absolute horror:) Oh pray that Chi- Chi would come!! What a divine appointment we had with her, and we even told her that God had sent us to talk to her, (although she didn't quite believe us)- pray God continues to soften her heart as we can see the work he has already prepared in her!!!
We pray that God continues to finish what he has begun, because only by his power has he lead us, and guide us and moved on their hearts and he will continue what he has begun! By his grace and grace alone we stand.
And so my story ends, of God's mercy and hand. The story of our great king is advancing on the street of orlando, and he is building his church. And for just split seconds in time he allows us to be used in the advancement of his work..how undeserving we are. But what a great God we serve!
Kayla
As a child of God, the spirit's a fire in your bones. The Lord Jesus calls a compeling force, a mighty stregnth within you, yelling, pushing, fighting, as a raging animal to be let out of it's cage, a great dynamic fire of mercy to be released from the chains of the body. The yearnings of the gospel calls us to speak, to be released never stopping it's pursuit until every ear, every heart has been pierced with it's saving sword. Indeed this is the heart of our Savior, that everyone should hear the sweet music of his name. The word is indeed a consuming fire, eating away at the very depths of our souls ,if we hold it in. Opening our mouths allows a cascading of mercy and love like a rushing waterfall to befall on sinners's ears. We must indeed open our mouths to speak, as our Savior commands or the sharpened sword within will soon become a dead weed in our lethagic hearts.
Wow! Last Friday evening was really exciting! There were a lot of interesting conversations and the little we did hear from the other groups was really encouraging too!
This week, we were joined by Joann and John and Ristela and our friends from the Metro, and Kayla tells more about that in her update later on in this email…
(David’s brief note)
Last Friday I saw a group of 5 or 6 guys walking down the street and I walked alongside them and started a survey with anyone who had spiritual beliefs. One guy, Alex, said he was Bahia. I think he saw his spiritual theory fell apart the more he said. Then I found out that he went to a Christian school as a kid. From there, we shifted to the Ten Commandments, and the more we reviewed God’s Law, the faster he walked. His religion went into a backslide with a guilty conscience.
My sister-in-law recently gave us some of Pastor Chuck Missler’s CDs and WOW! He explains the mathematical structure of God’s Word. We have 3- CD set that we intend to make available to the team sometime soon. Steven’s CD burner had a disk shatter inside his burner and we hope to get that up and running again sometime this coming week.
(Barbara’s update)
Joanne and I (Barbara) dropped in at the Subway shop near our corner of Central and Orange and we met Bradley, who works there. He just moved down here and is staying with his dad while he goes to college. I gave him one of the “101 One Liner” tracts and asked if he had any spiritual beliefs. He said oh yes, he believed in Jesus, but hasn’t found a church down here to go to. I recommended Metro Life. I told him I cared for him like a mom and I wanted to warn him that he working at a place right in the middle of sin and party world. And I’ve found when people stay too long around such things they become numb to it and even start checking it out. He said He didn’t want to go to any of the bars, but would think about what I said. I told him there are even many down here that believe they are saved and now they can do what ever they want, they’re sins are taken care of. But Jesus said many will come to me and say, Lord, Lord, did I not do this and that for you…… and Jesus will say, Depart from me you worker of iniquity I never knew you. If someone really is a child of God then they have repented of their sins, that means turned from them and turned toward God. Because if we aren’t getting closer to God we are getting farther away from Him and we may not even realize it. So I suggested to Bradley that he strive to learn more about God and get involved in a church where he would have accountability and get into God’s Word daily.
He said he really enjoyed talking to us and would love to chat some more. I told him there are lots of us down here for the soul purpose of handing out tracts with hopes of chatting and leading or encouraging people to get closer to God.
(Steven’s update)
Chris K. and I (Steven) hung around home base (where our flipchart and tracts are) and we had some interesting interactions with different people. Brian and Allura were able to bring the portable PA system, so that was our first chance to try that out. It was actually quite interesting to see the people curious as we would lead people through the ‘Intelligence Test’. Chris and I had a teamwork going where after we took them through the ‘Intelligence Test’ and interacted with them, he would hand them a ‘101 funniest one-liners’ tract and thanked them for stopping and talking with us… I think the funniest part to me was the group of people that would stop by and listen briefly while we were going through the intelligence test! Anyway, it was a start and I have been working on ideas on how to use it more effectively, like transitioning from the flipchart to then pointing out how we can’t trust our senses because they can fool us, and then go to the good person test… working on thoughts and I look forward to continuing to learn how to use this tool effectively too!
One other really cool conversation Chris K. and I (Steven) had was with like 4 teenagers who were downtown, apparently for the bands… Anyway, we got into a pretty cool conversation with these 4 guys. I started by handing them each of them the smart card tracts, and a couple of them took the test, and I took it with them… it was pretty fun! Then I briefly took them through the 10 commandments, but they kept interrupting me and reminding me that Jesus has forgiven us, and so I asked them some questions, and they explained the gospel pretty well – which was pretty cool coming from some youths! Then I took them through some of Jesus’ words that remind us that there are going to be many who will one day call Jesus, Lord, Lord, and will be turned away because their life showed they didn’t follow Jesus. We talked about that some more and also about how no hypocrite will get into Heaven – not those who sin and confess it, but those who say they are following Christ but deny Him in their actions and put a majority of their focus and energy in something other than their relationship with Him. So, we had a great conversation and I encouraged them to check out the website on the back of the smart card and www.wayofthemaster.com. They really appreciated that, and they probably would have talked longer, but they had to get back to their car and the parking meter! J I’m praying that God continues to challenge them to follow Him with more passion ~ how exciting!
(Paul’s update)
There is so much to say about this last Friday! It was probably one of the most encouraging and emboldening nights we've had as a team. It was our first time joining the group at the Graham's house, which is where the Metro Life Church group meets for Bible study and prayer and worship before they come down and join us on the streets. Our topic was mainly about the fear of the Lord, which is one of our favorite topics, because it is such an essential truth for having a relationship with our heavenly Father, and yet the churches seem to have mostly replaced this truth for a more comfortable and relaxed approach to fellowship with God. We had a great discussion that I'm sure caused all of us to be more aware of how much our Holy God is angry toward sin and rebellion, and I believe it challenged some of us to be more bold in rescuing lost souls from all of the lies they are told about God.
I personally tend to be a little reluctant sometimes to inform people of God's wrath on them because of their rebellion. But during that Bible study I realized that sinners are aware of God's anger toward sin in the back of their mind; so when we dodge the subject, they know that something is missing. Sinners know that they are only pretending when they assume that they must be getting away with their sin. Also, God's anger at sin is a proof that God loves us, otherwise He would have to not care what happens to us.
All right, now I have to share one story with you all. I teamed up with Brittany and Daniel and Caleb. There was a different feeling downtown that night, because there were a lot of young people like high-school and young college age, which is not typical. So my three friends told me that they were relying on me to start up conversations, so I immediately started working on ideas. There were a couple of bands playing down there somewhere, which is apparently what attracted the young crowd. One of the main ideas I used for starting conversation was to ask if there was a concert going on somewhere. That started a couple of brief and very strange conversations. At one point, after we had a few strange conversations, the four of us were left standing there trying to figure out where to go next. So Daniel suggested that we go find Rich (Brittany’s dad), since he would be able to help us get conversations going. So we paused right there, and we asked ourselves why we would we need Rich, since we have the same Holy Spirit with us. So we agreed that God can help us to do the same thing and that God wants to build our faith so that He can use us in great ways too!
Shortly after that, we had the best conversation of the night when we walked up to a group of six to eight people and handed a few of them some '101 Funniest One-liners'. Their first comments were about skydiving because of the picture on the front, and then they started wondering if it was something religious. And then the conversation totally changed when one of the ladies noticed my shirt. The shirt I was wearing says, 'body piercing saved my life' and it has two hands on the back with nail holes in them. So she asked me what that meant and off we went into a conversation about God and sin and how to get to heaven. Then her friend, Diane comes over and interrupts me, wanting to know what I'm pushing on her friend. So I talked with Diane while Daniel and Brittany talked to the first woman. Diane so appreciated our conversation that she kept hugging me. I challenged her views with God's Word and encouraged her to keep going toward God. At the end another young friend of theirs came over and said he really respected what we were doing and really appreciated that we cared so much, but he had some objection. I forget what it was, but he really appreciated my response to his objection and he thanked me for talking with them and he gave me a hug and shook my hand as they left. It was interesting, that was for sure. Oh, by the way, all of that took place directly in front of an entrance to one of the clubs with several workers from that club standing right there watching the whole thing. I could tell afterward that they found it to be very interesting!
I wish I had time to share more, we also had a really good conversation with John who is a hotel owner down there that we've talked to before! We had a great night! We were all greatly encouraged!
…………………….
One little note: the four of us are trying to do a new strategy: if you are driving us at home base and you’re all by yourself to go look for a parking spot, please stop by our corner long enough to get one of our attention, so one of us can hop in your car and join you as an escort. We have seen a couple of times where some of our team like extra security. We have not heard of any stories from our team that had any security problems, but caution is a good idea.
> Special announcement and looking for volunteers:
Barbara, Steven, and Paul are working on doing some worship music and street-preaching the Friday after Thanksgiving Day, but we need volunteers to sing with us! So, we would like to have some people join us to sing like 4 songs, and we would like to hear back from you as soon as possible so we can plan a brief practice time with those of you who can join us. We are also looking for 2+ volunteers to street-preach right after the music. If you’re curious, just email us and we can explain it in a little more detail.
Below is an encouraging update from Kayla from last Friday [written the next morning I think… : )]
Also, does anyone have any suggestions for how to reach Hindus? Allura (Metro friend) has someone she is trying to witness to and is looking for an effective strategy. We did find the ‘Way of the Master’ Evidence Bible link on Hinduism: http://www.livingwaters.com/witnessingtool/hinduism.shtml... Thank you in advance for your help and prayers for Rima.
We look forward to seeing what God will do this week! We plan to be on the 7th floor of $5 parking garage from around 8:30 until around 9:10ish, and then we plan to be on the streets.
Thank you to each of you who are able to join us and to those who pray and even have others pray for this ministry ~ thank you!
Your friends and fellow laborers,
David, Barbara, Steven and Paul
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(Kayla’s brief note)
It's 9:25 am saturday morning. And as my body is aching from a long night, my mind is fully awake, mullying over and over the wonderful things that occured only just a few short hours ago. Being so fresh on my mind (now that I'm more fully awake) I invite you to ..circle around and come and listen to what our Great King has done.
As any good story starts, we must begin with the obvious- the beginning. It began at 8 pm at the grahams house. One by one people trickled in, to enjoy the fellowship and ready to listen to God's word and worship. This week we were joined by GNN's very own Henry's, which we were so very delighted to see! Rich led us in 2 Corinthians 5: 11-21 and we began to discuss the questions he had prepared- we were able only though talk about the first one-1) What motivated Paul to preach the gospel ? The fear of the Lord became our discussion. How do we fear the Lord, and how we are taught to fear GOD and not man, for God is the one who has the power to send our bodies into hell, man can only kill us. Fear was something so prevelavent in the mind of our culture since we are on the tailend of Halloween. How man has made such a mess of fear!
Rich had a good quote saying "If we fear anything in the universe other than GOD, we are deceived." We also began to talk about how the Love of Christ compels us to preach and share. Sometimes we are motivated by pure obediance to the great commission but how we long for sharing because we are so sparked and enamored by the LOVE of Christ, we cannot help but to preach. May God continue to awaken in our hearts this desire.
With that on our minds, Scott lead us in the song "In the presence of a Holy God" (by mark altrogge)..
In the presence of a Holy God
There's new meaning now to Grace
You took all my sins upon yourself
I can only stand amazed
In the presence of your infinite might
Im so small and frail and weak
When I see your power and wisdom Lord
I have no words left to speak
In the presence of your glory
All my crowns lie in the dust
You are righteous in your judgements Lord
You are faithful true and just
Chorus
And I cry Holy Holy Holy God
How awesome in your name
Holy Holy Holy God
How majestic is your reign
And I am changed
In the presence of a Holy God
The night waned later, and the call to embark on our mission was more prevelant, so we said a closing prayer and then drove into the night.
Prayer was the first step of our journey we we close the doors of the van. Right under the omnious ceiling and echo of the parking garage we prayed, that God would open up the doors and to prepare the way so with our pockets laden with tracts we walked together down the steps into the chill of the night, and continued till we found the "base station"- the corner of orange and centeral. We then split into groups and walking with rich, scott, becky, and michelle really began the adventure. We veered off the "beaten path" to a street I was unfamilar with, and we began to pass out tracks and to talk. One of the first gentlemen who spoke with us was named Joshua-who was quite a character (we will probably never foget him!). He was eager to talk about loving God but resistant to knowing Jesus as the only way to heaven and making that committment. Joshua was energetic and well...friendly. In a sense our conversation (which seemed to draw ALL of us into it) at pointed turned a little heated but he was so well ..jolly..to talk to us all that smiles insued at the end. He was a skater who had been around alot of different places and wanted to teach kids how to skate, and to love God- we will pray for Joshua that his vibrant passion he has for the things he wants to do will be arrested by the love of Jesus- And OH what a man he will be in Christ!
It seemed however our group of people were blocking a store front, which we were rather given a hard time by the lady who worked there. Even though it was clear her heart was resistant to what was going on, God is good and allowing the conversations to take place at her store front, planting seeds.
Joe was a man, scott stared discussioning with (who was watching the conversation between joshua and us) and really began to hungrily open up to scott. As well as another man who was listening who joined in.
Then michelle stated to talk with patrick (also known as demonta) by giving him a million dollar bill tract (which he often commented on that he thought it was counterfeit money) while rich and scott talked with a magician. Patick demonta was so willing to talk with us (as well as his friend Marion). He really trusted Michelle when she was able to share her testimony..he told us he really respected that. However he alluded the question "will you know where you are going when you die..are you prepared to die" - at one point we theoretically asked him "what if a car came up right now and hit us while we are standing on this curb...would you be prepared to die?" At this point he started freaking out, thinking we were apart of the cult. Scott asked him told him we weren't apart of the cult we were just trying to prepare him for inevitbale and patrick said "Man you are young..don't be focusing on dying..be focused on living man..go to school and live life..ya'll to young to be thinking about dying man.." We just had to smile..Patrick was quite a joy to talk to, and we were able to meet one of his friends that we came to know her as "the little christian lady" who was also trying to talk to partrick (praise the Lord for her!!!). We also met Patrick's fiance Chi-Chi who was soooo open to the gospel and willing to hear, and take in what we were saying..she took the piper books that patrick had initially taken but had given back to us. She was convicted of sin through and our discussion and felt unworthy that that could be apart of a church for some of the sins she had committed in the past. She also confided in her us that she had signed a card when she was young and involved in church saying she was saved- but showing her what God says that not every one who says "lord lord" will be saved. What a great testimony we were able to share of how God uses the church, not that we are saved by going to church but it is God's tool to help Christians grow and learn about himself with other believers. She at one point looked over at patrick and said "honey I'm thinking about going to church" and he had this look of absolute horror:) Oh pray that Chi- Chi would come!! What a divine appointment we had with her, and we even told her that God had sent us to talk to her, (although she didn't quite believe us)- pray God continues to soften her heart as we can see the work he has already prepared in her!!!
We pray that God continues to finish what he has begun, because only by his power has he lead us, and guide us and moved on their hearts and he will continue what he has begun! By his grace and grace alone we stand.
And so my story ends, of God's mercy and hand. The story of our great king is advancing on the street of orlando, and he is building his church. And for just split seconds in time he allows us to be used in the advancement of his work..how undeserving we are. But what a great God we serve!
Kayla
As a child of God, the spirit's a fire in your bones. The Lord Jesus calls a compeling force, a mighty stregnth within you, yelling, pushing, fighting, as a raging animal to be let out of it's cage, a great dynamic fire of mercy to be released from the chains of the body. The yearnings of the gospel calls us to speak, to be released never stopping it's pursuit until every ear, every heart has been pierced with it's saving sword. Indeed this is the heart of our Savior, that everyone should hear the sweet music of his name. The word is indeed a consuming fire, eating away at the very depths of our souls ,if we hold it in. Opening our mouths allows a cascading of mercy and love like a rushing waterfall to befall on sinners's ears. We must indeed open our mouths to speak, as our Savior commands or the sharpened sword within will soon become a dead weed in our lethagic hearts.
Wednesday, November 7
Seeker Friendly Church Leader Admits They Have Done It All Wrong
Seeker Friendly Church Leader Admits They Have Done It All Wrong
http://www.christianworldviewnetwork.com/article.php/2657/Bob_Burney
Bob Burney
WC: 1,061
If you are older than 40 the name Benjamin Spock is more than familiar. It was Spock that told an entire generation of parents to take it easy, don’t discipline your children and allow them to express themselves. Discipline, he told us, would warp a child’s fragile ego. Millions followed the guru of child development and he remained unchallenged among child rearing professionals. However, before his death Dr. Spock made an amazing discovery: he was wrong. In fact, he said:
We have reared a generation of brats. Parents aren't firm enough with their children for fear of losing their love or incurring their resentment. This is a cruel deprivation that we professionals have imposed on mothers and fathers. Of course, we did it with the best of intentions. We didn't realize until it was too late how our know-it-all attitude was undermining the self assurance of parents.
Oops.
Something just as momentous, in my opinion, just happened in the evangelical community. For most of a generation evangelicals have been romanced by the “seeker sensitive” movement spawned by Willow Creek Church in Chicago. The guru of this movement is Bill Hybels. Hybels and others have been telling us for decades to throw out everything we have previously thought and been taught about church growth and replace it with a new paradigm, a new way to do ministry.
Perhaps inadvertently, with this “new wave” of ministry came a de-emphasis on taking personal responsibility for Bible study combined with an emphasis on felt-needs based “programs” and slick marketing.
The size of the crowd rather than the depth of the heart determined success. If the crowd was large then surely God was blessing the ministry. Churches were built by demographic studies, professional strategists, marketing research, “felt needs” and sermons consistent with these techniques. We were told that preaching was out, relevance was in. Doctrine didn’t matter nearly as much as innovation. If it wasn’t “cutting edge” and consumer friendly it was doomed. The mention of sin, salvation and sanctification were taboo and replaced by Starbucks, strategy and sensationalism.
Thousands of pastors hung on every word that emanated from the lips of the church growth experts. Satellite seminars were packed with hungry church leaders learning the latest way to “do church.” The promise was clear: thousands of people and millions of dollars couldn’t be wrong. Forget what people need, give them what they want. How can you argue with the numbers? If you dared to challenge the “experts” you were immediately labeled as a “traditionalist,” a throwback to the 50’s, a stubborn dinosaur unwilling to change with the times.
All that changed recently. Willow Creek has released the results of a multi-year study on the effectiveness of their programs and philosophy of ministry. The study’s findings are in a new book titled Reveal: Where Are You?, co-authored by Cally Parkinson and Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. Hybels himself called the findings “earth shaking,” “ground breaking,” and “mind blowing.” And no wonder: it seems that the “experts” were wrong.
The report reveals that most of what they have been doing for these many years and what they have taught millions of others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ. Numbers yes, but not disciples. It gets worse. Hybels laments:
Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.
If you simply want a crowd, the “seeker sensitive” model produces results. If you want solid, sincere, mature followers of Christ, it’s a bust. In a shocking confession, Hybels states:
We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.
Incredibly, the guru of church growth now tells us that people need to be reading their bibles and taking responsibility for their spiritual growth.
Just as Spock’s “mistake” was no minor error, so the error of the seeker sensitive movement is monumental in its scope. The foundation of thousands of American churches is now discovered to be mere sand. The one individual who has had perhaps the greatest influence on the American church in our generation has now admitted his philosophy of ministry, in large part, was a “mistake.” The extent of this error defies measurement.
Perhaps the most shocking thing of all in this revelation coming out of Willow Creek is in a summary statement by Greg Hawkins:
Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink all of our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted in Scripture. Our dream is really to discover what God is doing and how he’s asking us to transform this planet.
Isn’t that what we were told when this whole seeker-sensitive thing started? The church growth gurus again want to throw away their old assumptions and “take out a clean sheet of paper” and, presumably, come up with a new paradigm for ministry.
Should this be encouraging?
Please note that “rooted in Scripture” still follows “rethink,” “new insights” and “informed research.” Someone still doesn’t get it. Unless there is a return to simple biblical (and relevant) principles, a new faulty scheme will replace the existing one and another generation will follow along as the latest piper plays.
What we should find encouraging, at least, in this “confession” coming from the highest ranks of the Willow Creek Association is that they are coming to realize that their existing “model” does not help people grow into mature followers of Jesus Christ. Given the massive influence this organization has on the American church today, let us pray that God would be pleased to put structures in place at Willow Creek that foster not mere numeric growth, but growth in grace.
http://www.christianworldviewnetwork.com/article.php/2657/Bob_Burney
Bob Burney
WC: 1,061
If you are older than 40 the name Benjamin Spock is more than familiar. It was Spock that told an entire generation of parents to take it easy, don’t discipline your children and allow them to express themselves. Discipline, he told us, would warp a child’s fragile ego. Millions followed the guru of child development and he remained unchallenged among child rearing professionals. However, before his death Dr. Spock made an amazing discovery: he was wrong. In fact, he said:
We have reared a generation of brats. Parents aren't firm enough with their children for fear of losing their love or incurring their resentment. This is a cruel deprivation that we professionals have imposed on mothers and fathers. Of course, we did it with the best of intentions. We didn't realize until it was too late how our know-it-all attitude was undermining the self assurance of parents.
Oops.
Something just as momentous, in my opinion, just happened in the evangelical community. For most of a generation evangelicals have been romanced by the “seeker sensitive” movement spawned by Willow Creek Church in Chicago. The guru of this movement is Bill Hybels. Hybels and others have been telling us for decades to throw out everything we have previously thought and been taught about church growth and replace it with a new paradigm, a new way to do ministry.
Perhaps inadvertently, with this “new wave” of ministry came a de-emphasis on taking personal responsibility for Bible study combined with an emphasis on felt-needs based “programs” and slick marketing.
The size of the crowd rather than the depth of the heart determined success. If the crowd was large then surely God was blessing the ministry. Churches were built by demographic studies, professional strategists, marketing research, “felt needs” and sermons consistent with these techniques. We were told that preaching was out, relevance was in. Doctrine didn’t matter nearly as much as innovation. If it wasn’t “cutting edge” and consumer friendly it was doomed. The mention of sin, salvation and sanctification were taboo and replaced by Starbucks, strategy and sensationalism.
Thousands of pastors hung on every word that emanated from the lips of the church growth experts. Satellite seminars were packed with hungry church leaders learning the latest way to “do church.” The promise was clear: thousands of people and millions of dollars couldn’t be wrong. Forget what people need, give them what they want. How can you argue with the numbers? If you dared to challenge the “experts” you were immediately labeled as a “traditionalist,” a throwback to the 50’s, a stubborn dinosaur unwilling to change with the times.
All that changed recently. Willow Creek has released the results of a multi-year study on the effectiveness of their programs and philosophy of ministry. The study’s findings are in a new book titled Reveal: Where Are You?, co-authored by Cally Parkinson and Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. Hybels himself called the findings “earth shaking,” “ground breaking,” and “mind blowing.” And no wonder: it seems that the “experts” were wrong.
The report reveals that most of what they have been doing for these many years and what they have taught millions of others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ. Numbers yes, but not disciples. It gets worse. Hybels laments:
Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.
If you simply want a crowd, the “seeker sensitive” model produces results. If you want solid, sincere, mature followers of Christ, it’s a bust. In a shocking confession, Hybels states:
We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.
Incredibly, the guru of church growth now tells us that people need to be reading their bibles and taking responsibility for their spiritual growth.
Just as Spock’s “mistake” was no minor error, so the error of the seeker sensitive movement is monumental in its scope. The foundation of thousands of American churches is now discovered to be mere sand. The one individual who has had perhaps the greatest influence on the American church in our generation has now admitted his philosophy of ministry, in large part, was a “mistake.” The extent of this error defies measurement.
Perhaps the most shocking thing of all in this revelation coming out of Willow Creek is in a summary statement by Greg Hawkins:
Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink all of our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted in Scripture. Our dream is really to discover what God is doing and how he’s asking us to transform this planet.
Isn’t that what we were told when this whole seeker-sensitive thing started? The church growth gurus again want to throw away their old assumptions and “take out a clean sheet of paper” and, presumably, come up with a new paradigm for ministry.
Should this be encouraging?
Please note that “rooted in Scripture” still follows “rethink,” “new insights” and “informed research.” Someone still doesn’t get it. Unless there is a return to simple biblical (and relevant) principles, a new faulty scheme will replace the existing one and another generation will follow along as the latest piper plays.
What we should find encouraging, at least, in this “confession” coming from the highest ranks of the Willow Creek Association is that they are coming to realize that their existing “model” does not help people grow into mature followers of Jesus Christ. Given the massive influence this organization has on the American church today, let us pray that God would be pleased to put structures in place at Willow Creek that foster not mere numeric growth, but growth in grace.
Saturday, November 3
Jesus said we are lights to a dark world
Hello fellow laborers and prayer partners, 11/02/07
All of you are so dear to us! Thank you for loving and serving the Lord. This week was a very busy week and last night was the longest. This man needed electric work done so we worked to 2AM, and it’s another busy day today ~ : )!
We are planning to do something new and exciting tonight. Rich is inviting everyone to their house for song and Bible study, fellowship and prayer before we take the gospel to the streets of downtown. Below is Rich’s email.
A brief on last week, we did a lot of praying last Friday evening and through ‘halloween’ because of the lawless weekend and the 31st ‘halloween’ observances. Last Friday, we had the opportunity to talk to a man whose son just died a couple of months ago and he and his family got evicted the same day. God allowed us to encourage him and pray with him for him and for his wife and that God would be drawing them closer to Himself. We also had the opportunity to talk to a homeless guy named Donald and challenge him to take God seriously, and that was cool too. We have also heard good praise reports from our fellow soul-winners from their Saturday evening experiences! Also, for those of you who didn’t receive it, Kayla sent us the encouraging update from a couple of weeks ago, and so we posted that below Rich’s note. Sorry we weren’t able to tell you all more reports of God’s handiwork this week.
We look forward to seeing what God will do this week! It is so neat to see God tearing down darkness, and breaking people free from being slaves of sin and making them children of God! Also, we have heard clues that we might see our GNN local leaders, Scott and Patte, downtown sometime soon for a special visit – that will be a blessing for all!
Your friends and fellow-laborers,
David, Barbara, Steven and Paul
--------------------------------------------------------------------
(note from Rich)
We’re planning to go out evangelizing again this Friday. Our plan is to go out the 1st and 3rd Fridays of every month.
We’ll be discussing 2 Cor. 5:11-21 at my house at 8pm, so please… 1) prayerfully read this passage; 2) jot down any thoughts the Lord gives you; and 3) come ready to share. A couple questions to ponder:
• What motivated Paul to share his faith?
• What should being an ambassador for Christ look like in your life?
• Have you ever implored (made a passionate plea) someone to be reconciled to Christ? If so, how did it go? If not, why not?
Looking forward to seeing you Friday night. If you can’t make it at 8pm, we’ll be meeting downtown at 9:30pm at the corner of Orange and Central. Whether coming or not, please pray for an outpouring of God’s Spirit upon our time together.
Rich
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(Kayla’s encouraging note)
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders, make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversations be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. - Colossians 4: 2-6
Dear Henry family,
Please excuse my tardiness in sending out a report from Friday night. The carnival went very well.
We spent some time at Rich's house before hand meditating on Colossians 4:2-6, as Daniel led. We spoke of prayer and the power of prayer in evangelizing. (for more resource see John Piper's message on Colossians 4: 2-6 at http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1988/641_Walk_in_Wisdom_Toward_Those_Outside/ )
and how to walk in wisdom with outsiders. Then afterwards we loaded up and headed to the carnival that was only a few minutes away from the Graham's house.
Upon arriving we split in 2 groups-Daniel, Brittany G, Trameka, Jackie in one, Rich G, Becky G, Lourdes and I in the other. Our group prayed and then strolled around the carnival awhile to scope it out. Our goal was to try and strike up conversations w/o handing out tracks at first since we were on private property. We were able to strike up a couple of conversations with a few people, one lady was there and her grandma went to that church. She was catholic, as we were able to draw her out a little on the beliefs of Catholisicm and what the plan of salvation was, but for only a few minutes as she had to leave. People were very open to talking about the church. However our conversations in the beginning never quite turned to were we were able to share the entire gospel expect once with a lady becky talked with at the beginning. Walking around and talking to people gave us a feel of what we were facing. Many had come to the carnival because they were apart of the catholic church, or knew someone there, and were willing to talk about the church. We spoke to a 31 year Italian man and his wife (girlfriend?) and got o talking about how he had run the Italian sausage both with his dad since he was a little boy, but this year he was enjoying the carnival. We prayed for him and his wife afterwards, even though we didn't know his name, it was great praying for the "31 year old Italian". Even though we were at first trying to not use tracks since being at a carnival it gave great opportunities to hand out "tickets to heaven'' and quite a few people were able to get those.
Then toward the end of the night, Rich suggested that we go out with a bang and started just passing out tracks like we normally would, and if we got kicked out we would just hand them out on the sidewalk. It sounded like a plan, so we went to work. :) God used the last 10 minutes in spectacular ways. Rich was able to talk with 2 boys and their mom, (using the magically illusion tracks) and Becky, Lourdes and I talked with two boys (Matt- 13 and Jonathan), using the tickets to heaven. We had approached the boys when they were in a group and they all wanted turns trying to rip the tracks, and beat each other doing it. As we started going through the 10 commandments to two of the boys (matt and jonathan) they fell quiet and listened, but their buddies in the group walked away leaving Matt and Jonathan alone with us. They seemed very concerned that because they had broken God's commands they were in danger of hell. Becky asked Matt, " Does that concern you?" and I won't forget the look of fear on his face. She then asked him if he knew that God had done something to fix it and he knew that Jesus had come to save him. Becky asked if she could pray with him afterwards, and she prayed that Christ would come alive in his heart, and that what he knew about Christ, God would illuminate in his soul. We handed him a Gospel of John and encouraged him to read it when he got home.
It was amazing to see God at work on Friday. It seems that everytime we go out God works wonders, and every Friday I seem amazed, and sometimes and amazed that the very things we prayed for 2 hours before, God allows to happen..why am I shocked that God performs miracles and wonders after he has proven himself time and time again? He is so faithful to move on hearts of people we've never met..Hallejiuah! Even in times like Friday, which was some what discouraging at the beginning, God moved to show his power in the last 10 minutes, so that we could all stand back and marvel:) Isn't God good?
"Therefore since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather we have renounced secret and shameful ways, we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourself to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, " Let light shine out of darkness, " made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ. " - 2 Corinthians 4 : 1- 6
May God's light break the veil of all who are perishing.
Grace be with you,
Kayla
As a child of God, the spirit's a fire in your bones. The Lord Jesus calls a compelling force, a mighty strength within you, yelling, pushing, fighting, as a raging animal to be let out of it's cage, a great dynamic fire of mercy to be released from the chains of the body. The yearnings of the gospel calls us to speak, to be released never stopping it's pursuit until every ear, every heart has been pierced with it's saving sword. Indeed this is the heart of our Savior, that everyone should hear the sweet music of his name. The word is indeed a consuming fire, eating away at the very depths of our souls ,if we hold it in. Opening our mouths allows a cascading of mercy and love like a rushing waterfall to befall on sinners’ ears. We must indeed open our mouths to speak, as our Savior commands or the sharpened sword within will soon become a dead weed in our lethargic hearts.
All of you are so dear to us! Thank you for loving and serving the Lord. This week was a very busy week and last night was the longest. This man needed electric work done so we worked to 2AM, and it’s another busy day today ~ : )!
We are planning to do something new and exciting tonight. Rich is inviting everyone to their house for song and Bible study, fellowship and prayer before we take the gospel to the streets of downtown. Below is Rich’s email.
A brief on last week, we did a lot of praying last Friday evening and through ‘halloween’ because of the lawless weekend and the 31st ‘halloween’ observances. Last Friday, we had the opportunity to talk to a man whose son just died a couple of months ago and he and his family got evicted the same day. God allowed us to encourage him and pray with him for him and for his wife and that God would be drawing them closer to Himself. We also had the opportunity to talk to a homeless guy named Donald and challenge him to take God seriously, and that was cool too. We have also heard good praise reports from our fellow soul-winners from their Saturday evening experiences! Also, for those of you who didn’t receive it, Kayla sent us the encouraging update from a couple of weeks ago, and so we posted that below Rich’s note. Sorry we weren’t able to tell you all more reports of God’s handiwork this week.
We look forward to seeing what God will do this week! It is so neat to see God tearing down darkness, and breaking people free from being slaves of sin and making them children of God! Also, we have heard clues that we might see our GNN local leaders, Scott and Patte, downtown sometime soon for a special visit – that will be a blessing for all!
Your friends and fellow-laborers,
David, Barbara, Steven and Paul
--------------------------------------------------------------------
(note from Rich)
We’re planning to go out evangelizing again this Friday. Our plan is to go out the 1st and 3rd Fridays of every month.
We’ll be discussing 2 Cor. 5:11-21 at my house at 8pm, so please… 1) prayerfully read this passage; 2) jot down any thoughts the Lord gives you; and 3) come ready to share. A couple questions to ponder:
• What motivated Paul to share his faith?
• What should being an ambassador for Christ look like in your life?
• Have you ever implored (made a passionate plea) someone to be reconciled to Christ? If so, how did it go? If not, why not?
Looking forward to seeing you Friday night. If you can’t make it at 8pm, we’ll be meeting downtown at 9:30pm at the corner of Orange and Central. Whether coming or not, please pray for an outpouring of God’s Spirit upon our time together.
Rich
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(Kayla’s encouraging note)
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders, make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversations be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. - Colossians 4: 2-6
Dear Henry family,
Please excuse my tardiness in sending out a report from Friday night. The carnival went very well.
We spent some time at Rich's house before hand meditating on Colossians 4:2-6, as Daniel led. We spoke of prayer and the power of prayer in evangelizing. (for more resource see John Piper's message on Colossians 4: 2-6 at http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1988/641_Walk_in_Wisdom_Toward_Those_Outside/ )
and how to walk in wisdom with outsiders. Then afterwards we loaded up and headed to the carnival that was only a few minutes away from the Graham's house.
Upon arriving we split in 2 groups-Daniel, Brittany G, Trameka, Jackie in one, Rich G, Becky G, Lourdes and I in the other. Our group prayed and then strolled around the carnival awhile to scope it out. Our goal was to try and strike up conversations w/o handing out tracks at first since we were on private property. We were able to strike up a couple of conversations with a few people, one lady was there and her grandma went to that church. She was catholic, as we were able to draw her out a little on the beliefs of Catholisicm and what the plan of salvation was, but for only a few minutes as she had to leave. People were very open to talking about the church. However our conversations in the beginning never quite turned to were we were able to share the entire gospel expect once with a lady becky talked with at the beginning. Walking around and talking to people gave us a feel of what we were facing. Many had come to the carnival because they were apart of the catholic church, or knew someone there, and were willing to talk about the church. We spoke to a 31 year Italian man and his wife (girlfriend?) and got o talking about how he had run the Italian sausage both with his dad since he was a little boy, but this year he was enjoying the carnival. We prayed for him and his wife afterwards, even though we didn't know his name, it was great praying for the "31 year old Italian". Even though we were at first trying to not use tracks since being at a carnival it gave great opportunities to hand out "tickets to heaven'' and quite a few people were able to get those.
Then toward the end of the night, Rich suggested that we go out with a bang and started just passing out tracks like we normally would, and if we got kicked out we would just hand them out on the sidewalk. It sounded like a plan, so we went to work. :) God used the last 10 minutes in spectacular ways. Rich was able to talk with 2 boys and their mom, (using the magically illusion tracks) and Becky, Lourdes and I talked with two boys (Matt- 13 and Jonathan), using the tickets to heaven. We had approached the boys when they were in a group and they all wanted turns trying to rip the tracks, and beat each other doing it. As we started going through the 10 commandments to two of the boys (matt and jonathan) they fell quiet and listened, but their buddies in the group walked away leaving Matt and Jonathan alone with us. They seemed very concerned that because they had broken God's commands they were in danger of hell. Becky asked Matt, " Does that concern you?" and I won't forget the look of fear on his face. She then asked him if he knew that God had done something to fix it and he knew that Jesus had come to save him. Becky asked if she could pray with him afterwards, and she prayed that Christ would come alive in his heart, and that what he knew about Christ, God would illuminate in his soul. We handed him a Gospel of John and encouraged him to read it when he got home.
It was amazing to see God at work on Friday. It seems that everytime we go out God works wonders, and every Friday I seem amazed, and sometimes and amazed that the very things we prayed for 2 hours before, God allows to happen..why am I shocked that God performs miracles and wonders after he has proven himself time and time again? He is so faithful to move on hearts of people we've never met..Hallejiuah! Even in times like Friday, which was some what discouraging at the beginning, God moved to show his power in the last 10 minutes, so that we could all stand back and marvel:) Isn't God good?
"Therefore since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather we have renounced secret and shameful ways, we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourself to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, " Let light shine out of darkness, " made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ. " - 2 Corinthians 4 : 1- 6
May God's light break the veil of all who are perishing.
Grace be with you,
Kayla
As a child of God, the spirit's a fire in your bones. The Lord Jesus calls a compelling force, a mighty strength within you, yelling, pushing, fighting, as a raging animal to be let out of it's cage, a great dynamic fire of mercy to be released from the chains of the body. The yearnings of the gospel calls us to speak, to be released never stopping it's pursuit until every ear, every heart has been pierced with it's saving sword. Indeed this is the heart of our Savior, that everyone should hear the sweet music of his name. The word is indeed a consuming fire, eating away at the very depths of our souls ,if we hold it in. Opening our mouths allows a cascading of mercy and love like a rushing waterfall to befall on sinners’ ears. We must indeed open our mouths to speak, as our Savior commands or the sharpened sword within will soon become a dead weed in our lethargic hearts.
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