new tracts and stories ~ : )

Hey fellow ambassadors and prayer partners ~ : )

It has been a crazy several weeks! Very busy and full of ministry opportunities! ~ : ) Some stories below, but first we wanted to let you know about some unique tracts that we just found out about!

We just received a shipment of Mark Cahill’s tracts today and the ‘True Repentance’ tracts, and we have already ordered the ‘One Million Ameros’ tracts.

Mark Cahill’s One Heartbeat Away tract:

Custom Tracts’ note about this tract:
‘Recently, Mark Cahill contacted us (Custom Tracts) about making a Gospel tract to direct people to a new website of his which allows lost people to request a FREE copy of Mark's book One Heartbeat Away. Working together, this tract is what we came up with! This is slightly bigger than our mini-post card tract, but slightly smaller than our standard post card tract. The size is a pocket-friendly 3.5"x5". These should be *very* easy to hand out!’

Words on back:
‘Beep...beep...beep... The sound of a heart monitor somewhere in the distance comes into focus as you slowly return to consciousness. Your sides hurt tremendously and you can’t feel your legs. As you wonder where you are, you hear muffled voices that sound like doctors. Beep...beep...beep... The heart monitor continues beeping, letting the doctors know that you’re alive... at least for the moment. You vaguely recall what happened—you were driving around a curve when out of nowhere came the flash of headlights headed directly toward you. You remember screaming, and the piercing crunch of metal, and then... nothing. You can’t remember a thing since then. Now you’re wondering if you’ll ever make it out. The heart monitor suddenly speeds up—Beep! Beep! Beep! You hear the doctors rushing around barking orders. You feel frightened and wonder what’s happening. You try to open your eyes to look around, but it’s no use. You’re paralyzed there in your hospital bed and can’t do anything about it. You start to think that this may be IT. You start to panic. You begin to wonder what’s next: Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? Have you done enough good to get to heaven? Your life flashes before your eyes. What about all those lies you’ve told? If there’s a God, will He just forget about them? And what about those items you’ve stolen? They weren’t big things, but it still makes you a thief, right? What if God even knows your thought life? What about all those times you’ve looked with lust, and used His name as a curse word? Will God hold you accountable? Your heart is beating faster. Beep-beep-beep. Where will you end up? What can you say before God? Your lungs begin to hurt. It’s getting hard to breathe. You know this is it. Beep-beep-beeeeeeeeep....... One last beat. Little did you know you were One Heartbeat Away from passing into eternity... Every second, two people die. What if this is YOUR second? What should you do? Find out what’s in eternity—get a FREE copy of the book One Heartbeat Away at (http://www.oneheartbeataway.org/)’

You can order these at: http://www.customtractsource.com/One-Heartbeat-Away-Tract_p_0-211.html & http://www.customtractsource.com/


The NAU ~ $1,000,000 bill:
Ø With Titus 2:11-14 concealed on the front – very interesting verses!
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.”

Words on back:
‘One Million Ameros?! What’s an Amero?! It is the proposed currency for the new “North American Union” between Mexico, Canada and the United States of America. The Amero has been designed to replace the Mexican Peso, the American Dollar and the Canadian Dollar. Just like Europe now has the Euro, North America is bound to have the Amero eventually. In fact, the Mexico to Canada Highway which slices like a dagger through the middle of America is already being constructed. Looks like “One Nation Under God” will be no more. Speaking of God, did you know that the Bible says that we will ALL have to stand before Him to be judged for every thought, word and deed? How will you do on Judgment Day? To find out, all you have to do is take a look at the Ten Commandments. They are like a mirror. A mirror shows us the truth whether we like it or not. The Ten Commandments are the same way. #9 says, “Thou shalt not lie.” Have you ever lied before? #8 says, “Thou shalt not steal.” Have you ever stolen before (size and value are irrelevant)? #3 says, “Thou shalt not take my name in vain.” Have you ever taken God’s name in vain before? #7 says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” BUT, Jesus said that looking at someone with lustful thoughts is the same as adultery in God’s eyes (Matthew 5:28). Have you ever looked with lust before? If you have broken just these four of the Ten Commandments, you are a liar, a thief, a blasphemer and an adulterer. Because you have broken God’s Law, you deserve to be punished. That punishment is Hell, should you stay in your sins. The Good News is that Jesus died on the cross for you and then rose from the grave. And because of what He did, you can be Pardoned of your sins, Reconciled to God so you can have a relationship with Him, Empowered to live a Holy Life and be Granted Eternal Life in the end. You must Repent of your sins (confess and forsake them) and put your Faith in Jesus Christ. Friend, you WILL die someday and that day could be today! Won’t you consider your eternity? http://www.onemillionameros.com/’

Link: http://www.gospeltract.org/amero.html & http://www.pinpointevangelism.com/

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Now for some updates!:

(Steven’s update)
Two of the past several weeks, we had the opportunities to go soul-winning with a couple of different teams, so we took advantage of that, but it meant we got home too late to keep you all up to date on the soul-winning stories, though we hope and pray that God has been using you all too!

Two Thursday evenings ago, we got to lead a group of newer soul-winners and share the gospel together and encourage one another ~ that was a blast! My friend and I got to talk to a quasi-atheist and then a Jewish girl (Sarah) and her 4 lesbian friends… very interesting conversations… got to plant seeds and pray for them.

Two Friday evenings ago, the Florida Music Festival was downtown Orlando, and that allowed for some very interesting conversations! We realized later that the majority of the people down there were already focused on God (or at least some version of spirituality) and so that made things easier in that they were already on the subject of eternity ~ : ). Brittany and I had a number of good conversations. We talked with a few artists at the festival and gave them some gospel tracts. They seemed to be somewhat interested in the conversation, but they were more interested in doing what they wanted to do, but we got to plant some spiritual seeds ~ : ). Then there was the very interesting conversation with a girl outside another bar. She is 22 and she has a life-threatening disease that will likely kill her before she turns 30, and she was in effect wanting to know why? Why the pain? Why diseases? She was also very interested in hearing our thoughts and our understanding of God’s Living Word. She would have probably talked longer, but her dad got her out of our conversation. We did get to show her that God still cares about her and challenge her that she needs to surrender her life to Jesus Christ. We can only pray for her and trust that God is working in her heart.

Last Friday evening was unusual too, but it was very good! It lightly sprinkled the whole evening, but Deanna had an umbrella and the rest of us had jackets, so that worked well. But the conversations were really neat! Deanna and I (Steven) talked with one guy and he wanted to blame God for His decisions, but at the end of the conversation seemed to be convicted and thinking, which is great. We’re praying for Him. Those are just a few of the stories.

Again – to everyone who prays for us: THANK YOU! Only in Heaven will we find out how God used our prayers and obedience to Him!

(Paul’s update)
I've got several great stories I wish I could share with you, but I've got to tell you about what happened today at work! I was sent on a service call this afternoon to wire up a microwave. So I arrived and got to work, and it wasn't until the end of the project that I found out why I was really there! :) The customer was a single middle-age woman, who is dealing with a number of health challenges and incompetent doctors and also a number of problems in her house - power failure (which Progress Energy was fixing while I was there) and water damage in the kitchen and general disorder of things in her house, etc. So at the end of my time there as I was getting ready to leave, she gave me some really nice compliments on my work and my manner and my family (Henry Electric). So I told her what I normally say when people compliment my work - that we are a Christian family and that we do our work to honor God. She told me that she already could tell that! I already knew she was a Christian as well from her conversation on the phone with a friend earlier, so I was just waiting for this conversation to happen!

So we talked a little about her situation, and in the next few minutes of conversation, God gave me three things from His Word to share with her that really encouraged her. 1) Trust God and allow him to teach you through the difficult trials; 2) Perfect love casts out all fear, so as you pursue the love of God more deeply, it will drive out your fears; 3) She goes to a church that really focuses on emotion and asking for the Holy Spirit as the solution to problems, so I pointed out that you don't get more or less of the Holy Spirit by asking for it, but the more you get rid of barriers in communication with God and ask God in faith for what you need, you receive answers to that. These things made really, really good sense to her, and she really appreciated them. I really wanted to also warn her that her TV was a hindrance to her because it clearly was, but I couldn't figure out how to say it, so I pray that the Holy Spirit will convict her of her sin. But I was thrilled at how encouraged she was! She gave me a hug and told me how God had sent me and one other person in the last couple of days to encourage her on those things, so she would be able to keep going! As I walked out the door, she said that God had blessed her through me today, so I was glad for that!

Thank you again for your prayers. We are praying that God keeps using and training each of you!

Your friends, fellow prayer partners and laborers in the harvest,
David and Barbara, Steven and Paul ~ The Henry Family

The Holy Spirit is holy, bringing true repentance and sometimes other blessings

Hello fellow laborers and prayer partners,

This morning, I, David, was reading in the book of Acts where God was saving so many souls. It was a time of real repentance, and the church was so in harmony with their Holy, Holy, Holy Creator and the truth was so refreshing in contrast to the fake religion of these last days. I was so moved in a godly way that I want to share a brief portion of Acts 5:1-16.

Acts 5:1-16
"(1)But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. (2)And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. (3)But Peter said, 'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? (4)While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.' (5)Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. (6)And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him. (7)Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.(8)And Peter answered her, 'Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?' She said, 'Yes, for so much.' (9)Then Peter said to her, 'How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.' (10)Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. (11)So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. (12)And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon's Porch. (13)Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. (14)And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, (15)so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. (16)Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed."

Last Sunday, I patiently listened to a prayer and healing time that was trying to get people healed without a brokenness over their sin. Most of those dear friends who wanted help from God are probably in much the same condition still and might not understand why.

We are soul winners and you and I can tell stories of people we meet that are in some dimension of false religion where they believe in some god that doesn't exist. They usually quote a few brief Bible verses or a partial verse and express what they believe.

The One and only God never changes and God's Word describes Him. We all have this lifetime to get to know Him or seek something else. We live in the last days where there are many more false teachers than truth teachers in this country. When you find someone that is distorting the truth, you have to make a decision to go with them anyway or keep growing closer to God. We are not robots. Every day, we are making decisions to keep growing closer to God or find a more comfortable fantasy. Last Sunday, we heard Todd describe his fantasy deity, and he even used half of the verses he read. However, he kept overlooking the righteousness and holiness part of God's amazing character. He was also talking about healings, and signs and wonders, but never mentioned Biblical repentance or the “fear of the Lord”.

One of the windows into the personality of the Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, is found in Isaiah 11:2-3 ~ "2The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. 3His delight is in the fear of the Lord..."

When Bible teachers are teaching in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, these elements will show in their teaching. We are in the last days, we need to be alert, and watching! And we need to keep learning to discern between God’s truth and lies and deception.

2nd Timothy 4:1-2, puts it this way:
“1Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron…”

2nd Timothy 3:5
“5having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”

Your friends and servants of Jesus Christ,
David, Barbara, Steven and Paul Henry

trips, adventures and stories ~ : )

Hello fellow laborers and prayer partners! ~ 05/01/2008

Greetings from the traveling Henry family! Well the last two weeks have been quite exciting! We were in St. Louis, MO April 19-20th and in St. Pete, FL April 25th - 27th. And we got to see the movie ‘Expelled’ ~ great movie. (Free movie review below ~ :))

(Steven’s update)
Our trip to St. Louis was pretty uneventful (except for the odd construction throughout Georgia. The other event was when we found out that we had a bad battery at a gas station in a small town, also in Georgia. :) God arranged it where we met a nice guy, named Jim Goodman. He was pumping gas next to us when he saw our car wouldn’t start. So, he borrowed some jumper cables to jump-start our car and then led us to the nearest auto parts store in that little farm town. We gave him a million dollar bill tract and had some great conversation with him. We enjoyed the fellowship, but we didn’t stay very long because we were trying to get to First Baptist Arnold in time for the conference. The drive to St. Louis was like 18+ hours, which was pretty cool, because we were listening to some Bible teachers, including Ken Ham on the way up. If you get a chance to hear Ken Ham or Kent Hovind, we encourage you to do so – they point out how true science and the evidence all around us strengthens our faith and proves the accuracy of the Bible.

Ø You can find Ken Ham’s ministry ‘Answers in Genesis’ info and resources at: http://www.answersingenesis.org/.
Ø And you can find Kent Hovind’s info and resources at: http://www.drdino.com/.Eric Hovind is scheduled to speak at Eastland Bible Church at 6PM this Sunday evening and we are planning to go to that and looking forward to it!

So (back to our trip ~ :)), we got to the ‘Transformed’ conference safely and really enjoyed it! We also got to meet some more soul-winners and had great fellowship with the ‘Way of the Master’ team. It was a blessed time. We also got to meet and fellowship with a friend I met online, named Janet ~ :). That was really fun too! She got adopted into our family! :) Then we drove home, which was mostly uneventful, except for another event – a flat tire. :) So, we got to share some of the gospel with the guy who came. And it was also in Georgia. :) Fun in Georgia. It’s pretty amazing how God arranges our schedule when we make ourselves available! :) Then we drove home and life was normal for a few days and then we went on another trip - :). Oh, and I forgot to mention that on the way home, we stopped at a gas station that had a sign challenging people to bless Israel. One side said: ‘GOD’S WORD SAYS HE WILL BLESS THOSE THAT BLESS ISRAEL & CURSE THOSE WHO CURSE HER.’ The pizza sign right next to it said: ‘POLITICALLY CORRECT IS OF THE DEVIL.’ The other side of the sign said: ‘PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM’ PSALM 122:6. It was pretty cool, very thought-provoking! And the best part is we got pictures of it! I hope to post them sometime soon!

On our second trip – last weekend, we had a 5th soul-winner - Deanna was able to join us. We left Friday evening, got delayed by rush-hour traffic, but we made it in time to hear most Darrel Rundus’ teaching. Then we found a hotel for the night. Darrel covered several different fears that would stop us from obeying Jesus Christ and they were though-provoking.

The next morning, we went to the meeting, sang some worship songs and then got to hear Mark Cahill. That was pretty cool! One main thing Mark communicate in a few different ways is that he could teach us all day, but the best way is to go out and do it, and ask God to teach us how to be more effective at reaching into people’s lives. Here are a few other things that stood out to me and I hope to put into practice:

Mark’s motto: ‘If you do not engage the culture, that culture is going to engage you.’ (He knows something about that – he used to be a part of the party scene and played basketball with Charles Barkley, so he knows this first-hand.)

Mark told a story of a friend that didn’t want to go a relationship with God for himself, but he said that he was going to drop his kids off at church so that they could. Mark told us that he pointed out that this plan wouldn’t work. The guy asked why and Mark told him that his kids will know instantly that it’s not important to him, so they will quickly conclude it’s not important for them or their life either. That got the guy thinking.

Mark pointed out that sharing our faith – our relationship with Jesus, is a conversation not a presentation. If it is real to us, then we aren’t presenting something, we are inviting them to turn around and start a relationship with Someone, and wanting to reach their heart. What makes that point even more clearly is how Mark talks with his audience the same way: conversation style, asking questions, getting responses. It was fun, challenging and engaging! And it emphasized that point that this passionate caring about others really works!

Mark told a story about a kid who said he used to attend youth group, but now he’s an atheist. Mark asked why he became an atheist, and the guy explained that his youth leader was rude to him, among other things, so he left, looked up some stuff on the internet and became an atheist. Was he really an atheist? No, just wounded. So, Mark reached out to him. Mark also pointed out to us that hypocrites are not a problem for those who share the real Jesus Christ, because the real Jesus isn’t hypocritical. That was a pretty thought-provoking point! It was encouraging to realize that he is right – hypocrites are only a problem to those who are not following Jesus Christ, and daily learning to build an active relationship with Him. That challenges all of us to keep learning so we can be the salt of the earth – tasty seasoning in a tasteless, cold, selfish world.

Mark mentioned how some of the people he talks with say they are just sitting on the fence – not ready to accept or reject Jesus. But Mark pointed out that sitting on the fence is making a choice. And he also mentioned how a friend once said to him: ‘If someone says they are sitting on the fence, remind them that Satan owns the fence.’ Interesting point.

Then we got to go to 2 different session groups and then we got to go out soul-winning! That was a blast! I hung out with those who stayed in the downtown section of St. Pete. It was a bit different from Orlando, but of course the people were similar, just different attitudes. Jason and I got to talk with a guy and challenge him to run from his lifestyle and surrender all of his life to Jesus Christ. He left thinking. Then I go to talk with a few people who were just hanging around waiting for their friend who was talking with one of our fellow soul-winners. I think they left thinking, but I couldn’t tell for sure – all I can do is pray for them, though I do wish I could remember their names. :) Then I got to talk to John and his wife Carrie. John was going to go through seminary, but didn’t - he didn’t tell me why, but he did tell me that he has traveled the world and thinks that all religions are the same. He didn’t know what was after death, or rather he wanted to escape the topic, but we had a fun conversation. I did get to remind him that we are all rebels and the first time we knowingly rebelled against God and broke His law we lost everything. I also got to point out that we could get into Heaven 2 ways: 1) if we are 100% perfect or 2) if we are 100% forgiven. He thanked me for the ‘debate’ as he left. (Debate was his word. :))

I also got to talk to a girl (named ‘Q’) and her mom. They seemed to understand salvation, but they didn’t understand that we could be sure that we are saved, and that after we are saved, sin affects our relationship. They appreciated talking and I gave ‘Q’ a copy of the John 10 study God gave me.

The last couple of conversations were the best! When we were all headed back to the small buses, we stopped by what they call ‘the rock’ – a huge bolder that you can climb on. Apparently, one of the other soul-winners made someone mad (or they were convicted) but that allowed Paul and I to talk with a number of them and show them the love of God. They seemed to be a group of broken-home kids and it was wonderful to be able to allow them to insult us, and then to keep showing them the love of God and even to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ with a girl named Danielle and her friend Dina. A few others came and listened in on our conversation, here and there. A few of their faces will probably stay etched in my mind for quite a while. My heart goes out to them and I’ve been praying for them.

Then we (evangelists) gathered together, talked shared stories, took pictures and then prayed and headed back to the church. Mark shared some more at the morning services – good, refreshing teaching, including the reminder that we live in a dying, broken world where people are being snatched into eternity everyday.

On the way home, we got to talk about some stuff we learned and our conversations with fellow evangelists – fun stuff!

And last, but not least ~ :) ~ the free ‘Expelled’ review. It was great! Ben Stein talks to several people who were fired and excluded because they even considered the question that there was a Creator. Talk about a crazy world! It’s hard to know all the damage they are doing to all the students who go through their ‘public’ school system – or more correctly: re-education system. Ben also included some background on the Holocaust and it’s ties to the Darwinism and some computer animation of what all goes on inside the very complex human body! Amazing! We truly are “fearfully and wonderfully made…” (Psalm 139:14)

Thank you all for your prayers. We have heard that there are more conferences and exciting events to come, so we’ll try to keep you posted!

Your friends, prayer partners, and fellow laborers in this vast harvest,
David, Barbara, Steven and Paul ~ the Henry family

a change in direction ~ : )

Hey Friends and fellow soul-winners and prayer partners, 04-10-08

This past weekend was amazing! We went downtown Orlando Friday evening and then to Daytona for Saturday afternoon/evening to talk to those who came to ‘Black College Reunion’ and Spring Break ~ WOW! What a joy it is to continue to learn how to join what our Master is already doing! There are so many stories and experiences that we couldn’t possibly get them on paper!

Below are some of the stories of how God is reaching into people’s live and challenging them to give their lives to Jesus Christ, and how He allowed us to be a part of that.

(Steven’s Update)
One main conversation that stands out in my head was the one we had with a guy named DJ. This guy was pretty interesting. Apparently, Paul, Deanna, Kayla, and Damaris talked with him. I didn’t really get to hear how that conversation went because we were talking with someone else right nearby. But, about 15 minutes or so later, he came back by and Kayla mentioned that he had apparently been hanging around ~ apparently curious, thinking… The second time I got to talk with him and challenge him a little. Then we all headed back to base and we had thought that DJ had left us and went somewhere. So, when we were all back on base sharing stories and experiences, suddenly DJ walks over and comes over to listen to our conversation. So, we got a chance to get in his head a little more. He apparently was a youth leader for a number of years, even though his dad and mom are apparently not interested in Jesus, but then his life started going downhill when he was mugged on 9-11 – he didn’t finish the explanation. Several of us got to encourage him and challenge him to go back to the words of Jesus and take them seriously, and also reminded him that there is nothing he can do that cannot be forgiven, as long as he is alive. Towards the end of the conversation, he mentioned that what he saw in us peaked his curiosity ~ and he implied that he wanted that too, or at least some of it. After he left, deep in thought, several of us prayed for him. His face and story will probably stick in my head for a long time, because it is similar to others I have heard.

Saturday afternoon/evening in Daytona was a WOW too! We talked to people on a walkway using million dollar bill tracts (which was great fun), chatted with people in a several story mini mall area, and also chatted with people on the streets. There were so many conversations. Here are just a few names. Matt and Taylor ~ two graduates from Lake Brantley, Kayla and Rochelle ~ 2 of the spring break promotion team, Matt and JC, Lawrence and Mai ~ hip-hop artist and his promo guy, the leaders of a hip-hop magazine, Linda ~ a friendly, talkative security guard who was just curious what we were doing, Desiree ~ who practices witchcraft, said no thank-you to a million dollar bill tract, but appreciated a friendly face, Donnie, Jonathan and gang ~ 4 guys just hanging around who really appreciated talking, another Matt, and a guy named Derek ~ who was unwilling to surrender his life to Jesus Christ right now. We also got to meet and talk to 3 people with the ‘Impact Movement’ ~ they were handing out New Testaments to anyone in the crowd who would take one ~ it was great! The ‘Impact Movement’ is part of Campus Crusade for Christ.

(Paul’s Update)
Hey all here's a story from Friday about challenging Christians to test themselves. One of the best conversations Friday was with two church guys in fact one of them goes to the same church as Deanna. The team I joined Friday was Kayla, Damaris, Deanna, and me. So it was Deanna and I talking with these two guys Scott and Darren. Scott seemed interested enough, but Darren really didn’t want to let Deanna go through all of her questions and explanations. He kept saying he knew all of that already, and he probably very well does. Then at the end we asked a bit of a different question. I read Romans 8:5-8 which says, "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God." Then I asked them both very directly, "What do you set your mind on?" Darren hesitated to answer, so then I looked at Scott who said, "I’m carnally minded." Wow, that reality hit like a ton of bricks. I couldn’t really tell what he was thinking after that and we didn’t get a chance to carry that any further before they left. When I looked back to Darren his response was, "Well, I’m trying to lay up my treasure in Heaven." That was an interesting response as well, but he didn’t want to talk any more about all of that, so that was where the conversation ended after Deanna and he talked about something at church. If you all have any favorite verses to further test the obedience of someone who claims to be a Christian to wake them up that would be very interesting to me!

Saturday was my first time to the Black College Reunion! I expected a really wild nasty party and very little conversation (I've heard about it). It was exactly the opposite on the streets that night! The light chill and then late night rain put a damper on the party, and the conversations were so incredible. I spent a lot of time with Sean Kelsey, and we talked to a lot of people. And there were many good conversations where people heard the truth and had to think about it a little bit. And then there were the conversations where after hearing some truth, they didn’t know what to do! It was like God stopped them in their plans and all of a sudden they just had to rethink things. The first one of those was with Zack. After a couple minutes of conversation, he was just standing there with his hands in his pockets and his head down and thinking. He didn’t leave for a while even though we gave him several gaps in conversation. He just stood there and let us explain everything that we could think of and even still he was hesitant to leave. And then Sean and my last conversation of the night was with Leonard who at the end of the conversation told us he had to leave right away, that he didn’t belong there and he needed to get right with God! Sean got his email address earlier in the conversation and then we took shelter when it started raining. And we just looked at a bunch of God’s Word together! It was great! Even just telling these stories reminds me to pray for them again!

(Deanna’s Update)
After arriving I was teamed with Paul and two other girls that I met for the first time that night. We headed out fairly quickly and my first witnessing encounter for the night is always special. I ran into a couple who were around 21 and stopped them to give them a track and quickly headed into conversation. The guy who's name has slipped my mind shared he felt he was not a good person so I laid my focus on Stephanie. She said she tried to be and I went through the law with her. I have been trying not to kick it into high gear right away but I do get carried away. hee hee. After seeming convicted I shared the gospel with her and half way through someone behind me ( I guess one of her friends) distracted her and pulled her away. So I shifted my attention back to the guy. He seemed to have more knowledge and didn't disagree with me but seemed to think "to each is own". I hear alot that people all believe different things and we sholdn't push our beliefs on others. I used the burning building scenerio but he stuck to his guns. It ended shortly thereafter and I thanked them for their time.

I spoke with about 15 folks altogether that night and they were all very interesting but I won't give you a play by play for each. I did have one gentleman who first I stereotyped as the thug type but I learn everytme I shouldn't do that. He had certain things well rehearsed and seemed to be pretty intelluctual so I needed help. Luckily Paul came to the rescue and helped pick up some crucial points. This man believed and studied many religions but the muslim faith came up quite a bit. He would quote the bible but did not believe in the diety of Jesus. I'll admit he stumped me a time or two and that's why I was glad to have my partner in truth near by. Downtown definately can be more challenging so it wets my appetite for future encounters, I like to find verses later that I can use next time. Ray Comfort always says use Scripture as much as possible so I'm trying to memorize more but that's not one of my strong points. I won't let that stop me though that's for sure. I took lots of pics that I will be sharing with you all and I ask for prayer when we go out. It makes such a difference and I can tell when were being prayed for.

Last night was the biggest group I have been able to go out with yet and I learn something new each time. There were alot of divine apointments for us last night. A few others I want to ask for prayer for are Tony, Scott, Lorraine, and another cute spanish couple (God knows) and the so called athiests. Thank You God for New friendships and Soul-winners. May we all be Bold as lions! Amen!

(Bryan’s update)
We prayed and broke into teams. I was teamed with Rich and one of his daughters Becky. We headed down the street and I was immediately separated from them as they crossed the street by a deaf homeless man asking for money. I had none. I did offer him a million dollar bill but he looked upset and disappointed at the same time. I tried to tell him it was better than real money but he didn't agree. I caught up with them on the other side and they were talking to a man they'd talked to on previous trips down here. His name is Omar, he's Muslim and very well versed in the Qu'ran and quoted it in the native tongue. Which wasn't shocking since that how they believe is the only way to truly study it. He's very intelligent and it was sad to see such an intelligent guy pouring his life and heart into something that will take him to hell if he doesn't repent and put his faith in Jesus. His arguments were contradictory and weak and it appeared he was relying on his ability to quote the Qu'ran in the original tongue to impress us or dissuade us. It didn't. It ended on good terms but he was still convinced of the Qu'ran. Please pray for him.

Then we found Sergio (I remembered names! I'm totally getting better at this). This was an encounter I really wanted to see happen in person. When the person is clearly not interested in talking or being bothered but you push through anyway and have a great conversation. He's a very confused kid. I'd guess early to mid 20's. There was a bit of a language barrier but it didn't hinder his understanding of what we were saying or vica versa. He kept wanting to quote things he'd heard but couldn't remember them. I really enjoyed talking to him. He understood the courtroom scenario and the debt he can't pay. He'd been trying to "do better" with sin for 2 years. We talked to him about how we can't do it on our own and God has been preparing him for us to come talk to him etc...

Rich mentioned after we left that it was like talking to a wall. He'd seem to grasp what we were saying then say that he was going to do better. It was frustrating to see him so utterly lost in the world and we have THE answer and he's unable to get it. Please pray for Sergio. He needs to be convicted and convinced of what we were saying badly.

After that it was already time to start packing up. We actually fellowshipped on the corner and grabbed random passersby as we talked and got to know each other. Since I'm a new guy I had a lot of friends to make and stories to share. It was a fantastic time and I can't wait to do it again.

Thank you Lord for the privilege and honor to do Your work among those who need it most.

Bryan

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Your friends, fellow prayer partners, and co-laborers,
David, Barbara, Steven and Paul

Great fellowship and 'fishing' w/ fellow AiC members

Hey fellow servants of Christ and prayer partners, 03-13-2008

What a joy it is to walk in the light of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! These past two weeks have been busy, and have included new ministry experiences, which is really good. :)

We are planning to join everyone at the Graham's house ~ we're looking forward to it! :) And then hitting the streets!

Several announcements before some interesting 'fishing stories':

What: 'Way of the Master' ~ 'Transformed Conference'
When: April 19th 2008
Where: near St. Louis, MO
First Baptist Church of Arnold
2012 Missouri State Rd.
Arnold, MO 63010
What time: (2 sessions)
8:30 AM to 12:00 PM
1:30 PM to 5:30 PM
Cost: FREE
To sign up, click here: http://www.wayofthemasterradio.com/transformed_signup_stlouis.shtml

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What: 'Evangelism Conference'
~ with Gabe Graham, Mark, Cahill, and Darrel Rundus
When: April 25th and 26th 2008
Where: St. Pete, FL
Calvary Chapel
8900 US HWY 19 N.
Pinellas Park, FL
General plan: Friday evening - 6:30-9:30PM
> ~ prayer, praise, and some food for thought
Saturday conference ~ 8:30 AM - 2:30 PM
> ~ worship, evangelism training, lunch, more training, then 'fishing'! ~ :)
Cost: FREE

For more info, check out: http://www.team-hope.org or you can contact Gabe @ ~ neosurf(@)hotmail.com

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Expelled the movie is scheduled to come out April 18th. It comes from a secular point of view, but apparently asks good questions and has some very interesting interviews. Ray Comfort (of 'Way of the Master') highly recommends it. You can find Ray's review of the movie here: http://raycomfortfood.blogspot.com/2008/03/expelled-review.html. Our family is really looking forward to it!

Also, to all those who pray for us, we would like you to pray for us this Saturday afternoon/evening as we are planning to go to Daytona Beach for 'Black College Reunion'. We've never done this before, but we are definitely looking forward to it!

Now, we had the wonderful opportunity of meeting two fellow evangelists (and our new friends) ~ Deanna and Bryan, and their stories are below.

(Steven's update)
This past week was very cool. Meeting two new friends, talking with an 'apathetic question guy' as Bryan called him, and then getting to talk to 2 friends - one was Hindu and the other Muslim. Those were some very fun conversations, and I'll let Bryan tell you those. Two weeks ago, I joined Rich, Jackie and Tramicqua as they talked with a Muslim man named Omar. It was quite an interesting conversation and I think God used us to plant some good seeds. Omar had some painful memories from his past, and he was also trying to rationalize his sin and how it really wasn't that important. We got to encourage him some about his past and apologize and show him that we care. Rich got him thinking about eternity and how important it was, and I was able to remind him that according to the Bible, we are rebels, going our own way - making ourselves enemies of God, but that even though we rebelled, God died for us - while we were still His enemies. And that He then rose again and was seen by 500 witnesses. And we did our best to remind him of Jesus' words in John 14:6 ~ "I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me." At the end of the conversation, Omar was back-peddling, and it was clear that God was working on his conscience. Please join me in praying for him that He will realize that he needs to give complete control of his life to Jesus and accept Him as his Savior - no matter the cost. (Very often, when someone with a Muslim background turns from Islam to Jesus, they are disowned, lose everything they have, and sometimes are hunted down and murdered for their faith in Jesus. ~ Please pray for Omar.)

(Paul's update)Friday night, we had two new friends from http://www.adventuresinchristianity.com/ (an evangelism connection), Deanna (from Deltona) and Bryan (from Apopka), join us on the streets of Downtown Orlando! It was funny that they both decided to come the same night. It was an amazing night of fellowship and fishing! I think we were all hugely looking forward to Friday night all day long! Our fellowship was so sweet! I think we all had way too much fun Friday night, but we also really strengthened each other in the work of building God's kingdom! There is just nothing in this world like meeting a fellow brother and sister in the Lord who have the fear of the Lord in them and have God's love for all of the people and are not tied down to the love of this world, so we can all fellowship in the pure grace of God and the wonderful work that he's doing in our hearts and our lives and the lives of those we love and of those he leads us to meet and minister to! It is so out of this world. We also really challenged each other to remember that we are pilgrims passing through this world, and we must have all of our focus and attention on declaring and praying for and looking for the glory of God to be revealed in this wicked world we live in until he returns! Now to the stories! Three stories that stand out - a conversation with Alex who listens to way too many voices, and that about summarizes that one! Then there was Jay - while my mom and Deanna were into a great conversation at one point, I decided to stop and pray. So I'm just standing there, kind of with my head down and eyes open just talking to God not really paying attention to what was going on around me. All of a sudden Jay walks up. We talked only a few minutes - long enough to find out that he knows all of the truth he needs, and he didn't say it but he seemed to really be doing some rethinking and knows he needs to change something in a big way. About twenty minutes later, he walked into 'Club Tabu', but then five minutes later I saw him just standing all the way across the street, just watching us talking with people! I really think he's looking for new life, I hope! Then there was Mike. We talked for about five minutes and really encouraged him to read God's Word more to really be clearer on things, but he definitely seemed to be a disciple. He really talked like God is building in him a new life, and he seemed like a new man! Now it's time to pray that he really takes it seriously to enter that narrow gate and stay on that path and never look back again!
This last week at Orlando Children's Church was so good that I had to tell you all about it. Orlando Children's Church, for those who aren't familiar with it, sends out eight school buses Saturday mornings across Central Florida and picks up about 300 children from five years old up through high school and even a few out of high school. They bring them to FBC Maitland where they get breakfast donated by McDonalds every week and play some games and hang out and talk and then we do a lot of Bible study. Steven and I work with the middle school/high school, and I lead the sixth grade small group and Steven has seventh and eighth grade. The large group session this week was about Moses life. The main point was not accurate, but their point was that Moses tried to use his own wisdom at first (killing an Egyptian), but later in his life when God was the One guiding the situation it worked out to release the Israelites and God used Moses as a wise and strong leader.So in my small group, I carried the point about not making your own decisions but letting God be in control of your life and your decisions. I told them that was one of the greatest truths that I have ever heard in my life, and described what happened when I repented and gave complete control of my life over to God and about why God must be God in our life instead of us. They were more attentive for those ten minutes than I've seen eleven sixth grade guys in a while. Even Justin who wasn't supposed to be in my small group and is often causing trouble but he sat right in front of me and listened to every word. Then they had a lot of questions. Then I had three specific conversations after our group that were just out of this world great! Noah had a very serious question, so we talked about that! Then Alex wanted to talk about how there are so many confusing things in the world! (One of my points was about all the lies they're getting at school that are going to be so complicating for them to sort through.) And then I went and talked to Edwin and his friend (I forget his name) came over to join the conversation and another friend was listening in. Edwin's friend commented also about how many confusing questions there are and concluded out loud that we've got to just toughen up and just do the best we can. So, I took Edwin's friend through the intelligence test: 1> How many of each animal did Moses take on the ark? 2> What is the name of the raised print that deaf people use 3> Is it possible to end a sentence with the word 'the'? 4> Spell shop out loud... then what do you do when you come to a green light? 5> Spell silk out loud... what do cows drink? As he was getting them wrong, he slowly felt more dumb, then when he got them all wrong he was like, "Wow, I must be really dumb." My response was no, but you can see how easily we can be tricked. The point is not to rely on our own wisdom for all of the confusing questions in life, but to look to God for the truth! He got that! There was so much more; you can ask me if you want to hear the rest!
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(Bryan's update)
http://www.adventuresinchristianity.com/?L=blogs.blog&article=2861
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(Deanna's update)
http://www.adventuresinchristianity.com/?L=blogs.blog&article=2858
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Your friends and co-laborers,
David, Barbara, Steven and Paul

fishing in Ft. Myers

Hey fellow sowers and prayer support (:)), 03-20-2008

Greetings from Sunny Orlando again! (or at least the suburbs ~ :)) It feels like we have been traveling more lately! From the family camping trip, to talking with partiers at the Bike Week/Spring break gathering in Daytona, to this past week of getting to meet several of the Way of the Master team, not to mention quite a few soul-winners, and seeing quite a few old friends from various places, and even some soul-winners that we only knew by email ~ :). This year continues to be full of opportunities!

For those you who didn’t hear yet, Paul got sick right before we left, so that rearranged the schedule for us and those who went with the Grahams. And sadly, we didn’t get a good chance to really catch up and compare notes much, so we’ll have to do that not too long from now…

(Steven’s update)
For me, this past weekend was a blast! (Now getting the flu right before the work week was less exciting... :)) It was so neat to get a chance to meet the ‘Way of the Master’ team as well as others! And I really appreciated the reminders of things I had learned from ‘Out of the Comfort Zone’ (Ray’s autobiography) and the ‘Way of the Master’ videos, messages, and the online school. (for more info on those, check out www.wayofthemaster.com and www.livingwaters.com). One main thing I appreciate about their ministry is they point out what sin is. It’s so sad to see the common clichés everywhere: ‘God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life’ and ‘Ask Jesus to come into your heart’ and – ‘If you want to be saved, just say this simple prayer’… I too used to use those phrases, but I’ve been learning more and more to use Jesus’ own words, since God has been using fellow evangelists in my life, like the ‘Way of the Master’ team, and from my own studying of Jesus very own words describing what the costs are to be one of His disciples. Jesus is very specific, once we are saved, once we are a disciple – we can’t lose it. But we must consider the costs (so as not to be a false convert that walks away from following Jesus).

Here are a small sampling of Jesus’ call and the cost to follow Him:
Ø We are signing ourselves up to be a ‘doulos’ – slave of Jesus Christ – Mt. 6:24
Ø We are challenged to enter the narrow gate – meaning we aren’t going to be able to take some things with us – Mt. 7:13-14
Ø As followers of Christ, we might just not have a permanent home here, since we are citizens of another Kingdom! ~ Mt. 8:19-20
Ø As we follow Jesus Christ, as was His case too, our unsaved family could become hostile to us, but of course, we must continue to reach out to them, praying and pleading for them to repent too – Mt. 10:34
Ø We will be like true wheat among similar-looking weeds, but we must not let it discourage us or distract us from following Him – Mt. 13:24-43
Ø We will have to learn to take sin seriously like He does – Mt. 18:8-9
Ø He will be the single focus and passion of our lives, not just Him as the top of a list of 10, 20, etc… - Mt. 22:37-40
Ø That to even quality to be one of His followers, we must – deny ourselves – 1) our passions, wants, our habit of calling the shots in our life, 2)take up the tasks He gives us and 3) follow Him with all of our heart – daily. - Luke 9:23 (That’s quite a call, huh? Yeah, it is for me too. The best part is He isn’t looking for perfection in it, just a heart that honestly seeks Him and treasures Him as the invaluable riches and won’t run to any distraction, because they have Him!)
Ø Jesus also said that if that He who loves Him keeps His commandments and He shows His presence to them. That’s pretty cool! ~ John 14:15, 21, 23

That is just a very small sampling I have found as I just finished a study on what Jesus actually said about how to become one of His followers, how we can tell if we are His followers, and the cost… (If anyone is interested in me sending you that study, I’d be glad to, just email me. I went through Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and Rev. 2 & 3 – what a very interesting study! It challenged my heart! And then I also heard some of those same verses at the conference, which was so much fun!

Soul-winning after the conference:
But, the icing on the ‘cake’ :), was we got to go out soul-winning with our friends and fellow soul-winners from St. Pete! That was fun going out with Gabe, Joshua and team. And amazingly God gave us so many good conversations with people! One of my first conversations was with like 6 college students in front of a small restaurant. The main lady I talked who was responding didn’t seem to be affected much – she said that she was raised Orthodox (which I believe was referring to Eastern Orthodoxy – rituals and such, similar to the Catholicism). But after our conversation (and before the group wandered off), I asked them if what I had just explained made sense (the law, and what Jesus did for us) and 4 or 5 of them said yes, so I can only hope and pray that seeds were planted. My favorite conversation was with 3 teenage guys (9th grade or so) not far from where there was a free concert going on. At first these guys were happy go-lucky and all, like nothing really mattered and they were fine, even making some crude jokes amongst themselves. So, I handed each of them million dollar bills and we goofed about that briefly. Then I asked them what they believed was ‘out there’ when we checked out of life. The first guy said definitely a Heaven, second guy said it was a private matter, but then sort of confessed that he didn’t really know, and the third guy agreed (he didn’t really know either. :)) So, we talked and they did believe there was a Heaven and so then I pointed out that if God is just then He can’t let rapist, murders and liars get away with their sin and He can’t just ‘wink’ at it and let them into Heaven, right? They agreed. So, I pointed out if God can’t ignore it then He must punish these law-breakers, and especially if God is good, He must punish them, otherwise He becomes unjust, right? They agreed and said that made sense. So then I took them through God’s law and they all agreed that we had lied, used God’s name carelessly, coveted, and committed adultery in our hearts, and only two of them said they knew they had stolen something, the other thought he was innocent on that. I told them I had broken those too and mentioned that we aren’t doing so well, huh? And they agreed. Then I briefly referenced a few more of the commandments and they agreed they had broken those. So, then I asked them if God were to judge us by the 10 Commandments (His Law) would we be innocent or guilty? They agreed we’d be guilt and I agreed. So I asked would He have to reward us or punish us? They agreed He would have to punish us and even before I could finish, the guy who thought he hadn’t stolen anything said he was going to hell and the other guys quickly thought it through and realized it too. So, I asked if that concerned them – and they said yes. Then I asked them if they could promise me that they would wake up in the morning? They said no and it was apparent that it was making sense. So, then I asked if they knew what God had done for us. They didn’t know so I told them about how Jesus died on the cross not for His sins but for ours and that if we take ourselves off the throne of our life and stop calling the shots and make Him our King and let Him call the shots and we obey, and we accept that He paid not His fine, but ours, then we will be saved. One guy said some casual comment implying giving some of the control of his life was alright, and I reminded him that Jesus calls for all or nothing – He either wants to have complete control and allegiance from us or according to Him, we don’t have Him. He nodded in agreement and they agreed, but there was a little part of them that was holding out, so I challenged them again that if they couldn’t promise me that they would wake up in the morning, then they shouldn’t put their head on that pillow tonight before they get right with God. And the response of two of the surprised me – they said they would do it and they would see me in Heaven. I thanked them, and gave some tracts to some of their siblings that had wandered up and heard parts of the conversation, we exchanged handshakes, then headed off. I appreciated their enthusiasm! And I trust that a seed was planted and it is my hope and prayer that they do give Jesus all of their life. There were more stories, but I couldn’t possibly right them done, for one things because the flu I got Sunday afternoon erased some of them ~ just kidding! If Ft. Myers weren’t so far away, my family and I already talked about how we would love to go back, because the people there were pleasant to talk to. Ah, but maybe that is just to remind us to pray for the new soul-winners who are newly trained and will have the opportunities of talking with those in their surrounding communities.

Well, we look forward to seeing at least some of you at the Graham’s house and possibly even more of you downtown. For those who are our prayer partners ~ thank you! We trust that God is also showing you who He is bringing across your paths that He wants you to share the amazing good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ with!

Your friends and fellow servants of Christ,
David, Barbara, Steven and Paul

millionaires and Transformed this weekend! ~ : )

Hey fellow servants of Christ, 03-13-2008

Wow, Bike week and Spring Break in Daytona – what an incredible weekend! Below, I want to tell about the conversations Daniel and I had as we teamed up and talked with a number of people, but first on to this weekend. But, first for a little info-mercial! :)

Last call for Ft. Myers! :) We do hope many of you will join us, but if you can’t that’s okay, though you’ll be missed. And, you can always ask us later about the stories and experiences! :) If any of you are wanting to join us last minute here, we are expecting to leave (from the Graham’s residence) at 6:45AM. Sounds early? Well, we are wanting to get down there early enough to go to a nursing home, sing, and for Rich to preach on Jesus’ resurrection [:)], and then head to the conference, which isn’t far away. And we are welcoming all last minute traveling companions! We (the Henry Family) plan to stay overnight, so we can hear Ray preach the next morning, but the Grahams (and team) are planning to head back Saturday evening, after some soul-winning! We now know of 3+ teams (from other parts of FL – Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm, St. Pete), that are planning to join up and go out soul-winning somewhere nearby ~ and we are excited! If you aren’t able to join us ~ (we’re sorry you’re going to miss out : ( ~ ) (and) we would appreciate your prayers!

(Steven’s Update)
Wow. It would take more fingers and toes than I have to tell you all the stories we have from this past weekend! From talking with and challenging those who came to party – to consider how important eternity will be after they die, to sharing some of God’s Word and pleading with/challenging all who would listen to repent and follow Christ, to encouraging and working beside fellow soul-winners ~ WOW! It took some effort, but it was really cool! I hope that becomes at least an annual event, if not more often.

Daniel Morman (a guy we got to know while homeschooling) and I hung around a bunch on Friday evening, and we got to talk with a group of teens, Justin, Shannon, Taniqua and her co-worker at ‘Quiznos’, Lukas, David, and more people that I only know some of their names. Daniel and I talked with Nick and Mark – two guys who were selling tickets for a parking lot. Nick started with an evolution perspective, but after I explained Mark Cahill’s ‘order, creation, design, art’ analogy, he agreed that made sense and we had a great conversation. I can only hope and pray that God keeps working on them. They were from Panama. Then there was the conversation with a guy who went by the nickname ‘itchy’. He had ‘tear-drop’ tattoos down both sides of his face. In some cases, ‘tear-drop’ tattoos are the sign of having killed someone, and the more ‘tear-drops’ the more people they killed. It can be a prideful/bad memory type of thing… When I handed ‘Itchy’ and his friend a million dollar bill, he said no thanks, but something told me by his drawn out response that he did want to talk, but didn’t think he could – like maybe there wasn’t hope for him. So, when I noticed the ‘tear-drops’ I asked him: ‘Do you think you have done something God can’t forgive?’ He responded like he wasn’t sure. So, I walked with him and reminded him of a few Bible verses, including John 3:16, 17, but then his friend chased me off, but ‘Itchy’ seemed to have appreciated the conversation. Then there was Fetin (I know I’m misspelling her name… L). She is a Muslim, but after some interesting conversation, she took one of our ‘101 Funniest One-liner tracts’ and even a gospel of John and said that she would read them! Now that was pretty cool! One of my highlights of the weekend, though, was passing out ‘Million dollar bill’ tracts down Main street – where the bikes were parked to show them off. I had so many people who wanted them (about half of all the people I offered them to) and I even had several people who chased me down to get more! One lady even grabbed from my hand – that was interesting. I did my best (with what little time I had with each person) to let them know that the best news was on the back. Several people talked with me more and I had the chance to remind them of Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:21-23, and Luke 6:46 ~ “But why do you call me Lord, Lord and [do] not do the things I say?”

Also, among the fellow soul-winners we saw down there were the Bible Baptist team, some Christian bikers, Larry and Ben, and some others that I didn’t get their names. It was great fellowshipping with them and working alongside them and we look forward to doing more of that!

Your friends and fellow laborers in the harvest,
David, Barbara, Steven and Paul

God's Word shared with the roar of Bike Week in the background!

Dear fellow prayer partners and evangelists, 03-12-2008

Wow that was quite a weekend! Thank you for your prayers!

(David’s update)
Can God soften cold hard sinful hearts? Can God alter their well planned parties? Yes! For a start, God provided a hard cold rain to thin out the rebels Friday afternoon. That allowed us to warm up Friday with smaller crowds. I have to admit that it was hard to find conversations about the Lord in Daytona Beach for Bike Week, but God allowed each of us to have several conversations.

Praise the Lord for Sean Kelsey and Bart, the Missionary, they are such bold preachers. Saturday was cold and windy and we walked along street, witnessing to those we met. Then we set up on the corner of Atlantic and Main with the speaker loud enough to reach all four corners. And again we got into interesting conversations with these who wanted to share their thought about the preaching. Steven and Paul also shared some Bible verses with those passing by. Around sunset a group came by with a sign about Aliens. They translate that God’s name Elohim refers to space aliens. At the same time, the Bible Baptist group came around holding up valuable signs explaining the gospel and Bart was pointing to their signs and reading them out loud. That was fun! That gave me a chance to hang around with one of their leaders, Stephen, and learn a few fishing techniques from them and passing out tracts.

The best part was later, when Sean and Bart carried the speaker down Main Street. The crowds are just sheep; they didn’t have anything important to do. Some were taking pictures of motorcycles, while most people were just standing around or eating and drinking. God used our team to give them something interesting to think about. When Sean preached he asked people to raise their hand if they ever told a lie or stole anything…and I was surprised to see how many responses he got, we had a large audience. One clever listener across the street picked up a traffic cone several times as a megaphone and offered a brief and humorous confession. Each time Sean closed his message with an invitation to talk with one of these pastors and several people did come over for a brief conversation. A few times during the message, several motorcycles realized we were preaching and their response was to rev up their engines, and that drew a few laughs and applause.

In our travels down Main Street we came across more blessed street preachers. Some of them were carrying big signs with the gospel message and others had a speaker system. We had great fellowship as we shared experiences.

This has already been a fun and blessed year and we thank each of you, our brethren, for your part.

(Paul’s update)
I drove over to Daytona with Bart and Sean in Sean's convertible. We arrived around 2:30 PM.

The funniest opportunity to preach was right after Sean, Bart, and I arrived in Daytona and parked on the fourth level of the parking garage. When we went over to the side wall of the fourth level we found ourselves overlooking the Daytona Lagoon, a water theme park, that had been turned into "The Rat's Hole", a hangout spot for bikers and loud music. We set our amplifier on the wall overlooking "The Rat's Hole", and Sean gave a brief greeting to the crowd to see if they could hear us. The funny thing was that after Sean gave his greeting, they turned down the music a bunch for us, not knowing who was trying to speak. A minute later, Sean greeted the crowd a second time and introduced ourselves. Then they turned off the music completely, and Bart preached to them for a few minutes. I was surprised that our amplifier was able to carry such volume, and the people down below were really surprised and it took them a few minutes to figure out where the preaching was coming from. Sean and I were kind of hiding back and laughing. It was a little unusual, I must agree, but it was quite funny and it appeared to be very effective! We went from there down to the boardwalk along the beach.

The most outstanding conversation of the day was with Brandon, who was probably in his mid-thirties. He told Bart and I that he grew up in Church of Christ, and that his brothers and uncle and dad and grandpa were pastors and evangelists and deacons. So he kept telling us that he already knew everything that we were telling him. He pretty much left with that thought after a few minutes. But then he came back a few minutes later and said that he did appreciate what we were doing, which gave us another chance to talk to him. This time we really challenged him on why he is playing with his life this way, when he knows he is away from God. We could tell that he was feeling convicted but still wasn't deciding to do anything about it. So to end the conversation, I read him I John 1:5-9, which he tried to interrupt saying he had already heard, but I insisted on it, so he allowed me to read it to him. With that we left him to do some thinking, and I trust that God can get his attention.

After that we talked with four bikers for probably ten minutes and got to share a lot of truths with them that seemed to be causing them to think. They were just about to get on their bikes and leave, so one guy already had a strange mask on that covered his face and small goggles. He took them off after a couple of minutes so we could talk to him. One of them went to church regularly and apparently had been trying to get his friends to come. They took into great consideration our warnings to repent and draw near to God, and they were all listening intently and responding positively to our message. I trust that they will not just give head-service, but that they will carry on to do something about what they heard.

After we tried a few more conversations, Bart was ready to go to the streets and preach. So we went to the corner of Main Street and Atlantic Avenue and set up our amplifier. Then while Bart started preaching, Sean and I traveled slowly around the four corners of that intersection to see if they could hear us above the roar of motorcycles and to see the reaction of the crowd. It was audible above the motorcycles, and there were a lot of people listening in to hear him preach. Someone commented that they were surprised that they could hear Bart above all of the noise. When we got back over to Bart's corner, another man came over to tell me to let Bart know that the people were hearing us. For the next little while, I just stood near Bart and listened intently to the preaching to set an example for the crowd to follow, which many of them did! I also interacted with a number of people when they had something to say. It was very interesting! After about an hour and a half, I went across Main Street to join James and Carrie from the Bible Baptist team that we know from Downtown Orlando on Saturday nights! I spent a while talking with James and then began handing out my "What if... I'm pretending" tracts. They were well received; probably about two-thirds of the people that I offered them to accepted them.

The most unique story from my night was with three young ladies on my corner who were sarcastically criticizing Bart's preaching. I went beside them and handed them the "What if... I'm pretending" tracts, which they accepted. And then this was one of their reactions, which I could overhear as I continued handing them out nearby: "O great, as if we weren't feeling convicted enough by the preaching, then some guy comes up to us and hands us some thing that says 'what if I'm pretending'. It's like, do you think God might be trying to tell us something." I didn't feel comfortable trying to start up a conversation with them, since I didn't have anyone who would join me, but I figured God would keep communicating His message to them somehow. I spent the rest of the night shivering from the cold (apparently it got into the forties or low fifties and the wind was piercing) and watching the crowd mostly. I also spent a bunch of time with our friends from Bible Baptist before they left and one other group of believers who were down there later that night preaching and talking with people. We got home around 2AM that night with a lot of stories, a lot of seeds planted, a lot of hearts convicted of sin, and very likely a few souls won into the kingdom of God after the Holy Spirit spends some time working that seed into their hearts! It was an outstanding night in preaching the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven!

Your friends and fellow laborers in the harvest,
David, Barbara, Steven and Paul

Henry Family March Evangelism Schedule ~ It looks like much fun! ~ : ) and stories!

Hey team,

It’s already the first week of March and this month is looking pretty exciting! Just a brief recap for those who haven’t heard and for our prayer partners:

March 8th ~ (this Friday) part of our team is planning to go to Eustis to talk to people at a folk concert festival, and some others are planning to go to Daytona Beach to talk with spring-break students and bikers (Bike Week). This weekend is the crossover week for spring breakers from local colleges.
March 9th ~ (this Saturday) some of the team are planning to head back out to Daytona Beach to talk with more bikers and spring breakers! Please pray for God to give all of us wisdom and to help us as we are still getting details together with other teams. Thank you!
March 14th ~ as of right now, we aren’t planning to hit the streets of Orlando, because we are planning to be ready to leave early in the morning the next day ~ Saturday, the 15th.
March 15th ~ Planning to leave Rich’s place before 6:45 AM and head toward Ft. Myers, stop on the way to sing some hymns at a nursing home, and then head to the 'Transformed Conference, and then we’re planning to find some good ‘fishing spots’ and evangelize into the evening! : ) Doesn’t that sound fun?! Some of our team is planning to head back Saturday evening and some are planning to stay for the Sunday morning services with Ray Comfort.
March 22nd ~ Planning to go to the Grahams house and then hit the streets of Orlando again! : ) Same time, same place. : )
March 29th ~ Planning to be in Downtown Orlando again. : )
~ and ~
April 4th - 6th is ‘Black College Reunion’ week and some the local teams are planning to head down there for some interesting conversations!

Last week, we forgot to send out Scott’s update from his team’s adventures at Cranes Roost (a newer ‘fishing spot’ for some of us ~ J), so we pasted his adventures below for those who didn’t get to hear those stories! J Seeds were planted and we look forward to seeing how God opens more doors on that front!

We would really like to hear about your experiences too! It really means a lot to everyone to hear how God is using each of you and us! So, even though it takes a little work, we are hoping more of you will be sending out your stories! : )

Well, this past week, our family went camping with David’s side of the family and it was a lot of fun! I (Steven) also got to talk to some of the campers and hand out some gospel tracts ~ some great conversations, which was pretty cool too! Paul got to talk to several college guys in the early hours of the morning…

(Paul’s update)
This last weekend was our Henry family camping trip to Fort Desoto Park to entertain all the raccoons. (The raccoons are really quite entertaining themselves!) There were thirteen of us there Saturday and Sunday morning. I had thought beforehand that since it was a family gathering and camping and all that I wouldn't really get to talk with anyone. But then it seemed like God told me that he would give me a conversation with someone and that some of my family would get to see it. God has a strange way of planning some things. So I'm asleep Saturday night after a tiring day of playing chess and a lot of soccer and just hanging out with family. And then all of a sudden, I'm wide awake at 2:30AM Sunday morning! And I'm thinking, "This is strange". I hear a couple of college guys talking at the camping site behind us, sitting around the campfire like they were when I went to sleep. And God gave me an idea of how to join their conversation, so I got out of the tent and went over through the woods to where they were. And they invited me to come grab a seat and join them. They were a bit drunk and just talking about nothing in particular. Anyway, so I talked to especially Daniel and Steve for about an hour and a half until the fire was going out and they were going to bed. I've never gotten drunk before, so I'm not sure how much their brain was able to take in when they were like that, but we talked about a lot of foundational concepts about God and things from God's Word. I trust that somehow the Holy Spirit can hold some of those truths in there somewhere that can be of use to bring them to their Lord! They were very friendly later that morning when I went back over to say goodbye. So that's my story!

Thank you to our prayer partners! We are praying and expecting God to surprise you with special opportunities to serve Him too!

Your friends, prayer partners, and fellow laborers in the harvest,
David, Barbara, Steven and Paul

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(Scott’s Update)
Greetings, I just wanted to let you know what God did last night while we were proclaiming the gospel in Crane's Roost. To those who prayed for us, thank you so much. I hope this encourages you and builds your faith as you pray. God did many things that evening. So here's my story:
First off, I was quite blessed to have six people join me in proclaiming the gospel. After some time in prayer, we split off into groups. Hannah and I went walking along the docks, and we began a conversation with Ali, Muslim gentlemen. We began talking about the fundamental difference between our two religions. It became evident that he didn’t know whether he actually believed what he said he did, specifically when he said that he was a Muslim because he was born into a Muslim family and because his friends growing up were Muslims. He had the same argument to explain why we were Christians. He began contradicting himself in many of his statements, but was unwilling to recognize it. After thirty minutes or so, we moved on and ran into Taylor, Julia, and Jenn. We walked over to the fountain to see if people would be there for the little fountain show that was being put on shortly from that time. As the ladies watched the show, Taylor and I began talking with a young man and his girlfriend. This young man’s name was Jordan. He knew the gospel, but seemed to be resisting having any discussion about it. When the fountain show began, he began resisting even more, and offered to talk after the show. So Taylor and I waited and watched the show with him, and after it was over, he clearly seemed disappointed to see that we had not left. I left him with a challenge to re-evaluate the way he lives his life; to look at it closely and see if he was bearing fruit for the kingdom of God (Matthew 10:43). A look of conviction came over his face after hearing what was said, and then he left us. After roaming around and getting into short conversations for the next little while, I suggested that we go to the food court to find some more people. Taylor was apparently telling me that the mall security guards frown upon evangelism within the building, but I was oblivious to his warnings. So the four of us went on in and started looking for people to talk to. I had a ten minute conversation with a young man, Kyle, in the food court where we walked through the gospel. He was very receptive to everything that I had to say. I gave him the good person test and the gospel of John as I left him, and saw him begin reading the gospel of John immediately. I then proceeded to catch up to Taylor, Julia, and Brittany, only to find that they were already deep into a conversation with a homeless gentleman, Sean. We talked to him for a little while, and were able to present the gospel in light of the things he told us he had been through. Sean was very receptive, and itching to talk to us. That’s when the security guard came up to us. This man was very rude to us. He told us that he knew what we were doing, and that we should get out of his mall. When I asked for more clarification on what we were doing that was wrong, he told us that we were trying to sell Sean something. He said that solicitation was trying to sell anything, whether it be a product, idea, religion, whatever. When Sean came to our defense (I was surprised to hear him speak up on our behalf) saying that we were just having a conversation, and were not soliciting, the security guard began to talk down to Sean. He started yelling, asking Sean if he studied law in school (the tone of his voice very extremely condescending, which had me fighting against anger). I told the security guard to be respectful to Sean, for he had no idea of what Sean had done or been through. The guard acted as if I hadn’t said a thing and told us to get out of his mall. I apologized for the inconvenience we caused him, and put my hand out to shake hands with him. He looked right at me and said that he wouldn’t shake hands with me. He said that he was the only person in Florida without the flu, and then started describing us to someone on his walkie-talkie. That abruptly ended our conversation with Sean, and by that time, it was getting late, so we went and met up with Alex and Rachel, prayed, and then dispersed. All in all, God was very kind to us this evening. He set up divine appointments and gave us the words to say in our hour to proclaim the gospel.

Scott Anderson

making eternal friends and a time of pray with the teams

Hello fellow soul-winners and prayer partners, 02-29-08

'Transformed Conference' is only 2 weeks away! If you haven't already signed up and would like to join us for this free conference with Ray Comfort and team, here is the link to register ~ follow this link: http://www.wayofthemasterradio.com/transformed_signup_ftmyers.shtml

We look forward to seeing those who can join us at Rich's place and/or downtown tonight! And thank you to our prayer partners. Only in Heaven, when we hear all of the stories will we all find out how much God used your prayers to help us and other soul-winners!

This past weekend was pretty amazing! And there are too many stories to tell? but here are a few of them. (By the way, we love hearing the stories of who all God used each of you to talk with, on the weekends and even during the weeks! By the way, there was a team that went out soul-winning at Crane's Roost Thursday night.)

(David's update)
We have so much to be thankful for! We are glad to find a church that cares for lost souls and these last few months have been so filled with signs of spiritual life. Last week, God brought 8 different conversations that seemed to bring conviction to these guy's hearts and they allowed me to pray for them. Every week is so different and so blessed! Last Friday, God allowed me to have spiritual conversations with eight different men who came under conviction. Each of them thought they were saved and as we reviewed the 'Parable of the Soils', they started to fell conviction and understood there was a spiritual problem with their lifestyle. We can't say 'Thank you!' enough to our prayer partners. Of course we prefer times when you are able to walk the streets with us, and we always appreciate your prayers.

(Steven's update)
I got to talk with a number of people both on Friday and Saturday evenings. I got to talk with a couple of people who said they were agnostic, but they still talked for a couple of minutes. I'm praying God grows those seeds. We got to talk with Dina (the friendly club worker) and asked her for directions - directions to Heaven, that is? :) and then had a great several minute conversation, ending with telling her that we are glad to have her as a friend down here, but what we really want is for her to be our friend forever! That really meant something to her. We can do is keep praying for her, planting seeds, and watch what God does with them? One of my main conversations on Friday evening was with a security guard who has tons of questions, but his main problem is that he doesn't want to submit to Jesus Christ yet. He and I talked for about an hour ~ pretty good conversation. Then on Saturday, when we joined the Op180 team, I had the chance to give this security guard 'One Heartbeat Away' (Mark Cahill ~ www.markcahill.org) and he seemed to really appreciate it, even saying that he planned to start reading it right away! Praise God! We just keep praying?
Also, Saturday evening, I got to hang out a lot with Bart, the street preacher/missionary as he preached on our corner and talked with those who came up for conversations. And (with his coaching and God's guidance) I preached to the passing crowds 3 times, like 5-10 minutes each. The last sermon was my fifth out on the streets of Orlando, and I'm expecting God to keep teaching me how to do it more effectively! Mainly, I just read a passage of God's Living Word, explained a little and then pointed out its application, and encouraged people to think about eternity, because eternity is longer than this life and since we can't change our answer there, we had better make sure that we have the right answer here, while we still have time. I did my best to reason with all who were walking by and plead with them to give their lives to Christ and accept that He paid their fine for them, and it was pretty cool to see how God caught the attention of quite a few who were walking by, who stopped and gave me their attention for a few minutes. I think the neatest thing to me was seeing some of their faces light up as I was explaining and reasoning with them from God's Word ~ it was like a light went on and they had something new to think about. I trust many seeds were planted and I look forward to seeing and hearing the results and stories one day!

(Paul's update)
This last Friday night was outstanding. I walked the streets with my friend Daniel who we just connected with again after about twelve years or so. We were homeschooled together in the same group way back when. Anyway, we had one interesting conversation with a guy who was Rostifarian. And then our second conversation occupied the rest of the night, because the young man was so intently listening and was allowing us to share everything we could think of to persuade him to surrender control of his life and repent of sin and learn to love God and to think like God thinks. For instance, a while into the conversation, he said very thoughtfully, 'So you're telling me I have to give up my sin and stop being in control of my life?' Amen!!! And he really, really valued Daniel's prayer for him after that! And then we still talked for another twenty min. or so. It was great. We are praying for Tommy, that this truth will resound through the power of the Holy Spirit until it drives him to his knees to surrender his life to God!

Then Saturday, we had planned a huge surprise for Operation 180. YWAM and us had planned to show up somewhat unannounced and join up with their team for the night. Basically from the time Bobby (YWAM) got there until the end of the night at around 2AM, we really challenged and strengthened each other in the Lord and in the work that God has called us to do together in Orlando. And we verified truths with each other and observations about the condition of the people downtown. Then we spent about an hour in intense intercession in front of the Wachovia bank for the city and for the people that walk the streets of downtown and for the church, the body of Christ, in Orlando! It was a powerful time for God to speak and reveal His heart to us! We were so amazed at the resolve that God was giving us to be diligent and preach boldly and to tear down the strongholds downtown! We were all greatly refreshed!

Two more stories from Saturday night that happened before Bobby came and joined us and Op 180. Two men who claim the name of Christ with two different situations. One was a cab driver with an accurate gospel and a desire to see souls saved. We strengthened and challenged him to be more frequent and more bold in talking with his passengers about the truths of the gospel. He was very convicted and said he felt lazy, and that he intended to do something about what we said. The other man, Reggie, goes to a so-called church that I was familiar with that has rejected the fear of the Lord. So I said to him, 'It's comfortable there isn't it?' He agreed. So I asked him again. Again he agreed but he said, 'I'm not sure I know what you're saying'. I told him that I was familiar with them and how they do not teach the truth, but that they teach what is comfortable to hear. He had to agree. Sean and I together shared many verses from God's Word with him, to scare him away from complacency and sin that he is comfortable with at the moment. After a while of talking, he got the interruption he wanted in a phone call, so we let him go. He did however admit that everything that we said was true and accurate and that he agreed that he needed to hear it and that he would think about it. Unfortunately, it was not as sincere as I would wish. But God has ways of getting it to become more sincere, and I trust that He will for Reggie's sake!

Your friends and fellow laborers in the harvest,
David, Barbara, Steven and Paul ~ : )

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 : )

Glory Stories...downtown evangelism...

Stories..Stories..Stories!

The Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to be able to share and go downtown 2 Fridays in a row..because of schedules our group went this week and the last. And to top it off more and more labors are being added to the harvest field..which is wonderful! (But makes it difficult to share stories- what a wonderful blessing technology is!) So to catch up..I will share alittle of the people the Lord gave me an opportunity to meet and then I want to hear from YOU! So definitely if you went downtown (or if you didn't) and the Lord led you to a person, or your prayed for a person (or 2 or 3 or 4...:) or got in a conversation or gave someone a trac or the Lord did something amazing then I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT the work the Lord is doing!

To start off with..last week was a very interesting night. It had almost been a month since the previous evangelism excursion that I had gone on. Rich sent out an email stating to read over and mediate on Psalm 126. His main question was "what makes you weep?" Are we really weeping for and having compassion for the lost? Are our hearts groaning for the saved? Do we even wish for ourselves to be "cut off" from Christ to bring others to him? It was a very really sense of grief that seemed to accompany me that night- a grief of seeing these people and their futures in Hell. The thoughts of the reality of death seemed to be weighing on me that week and when Psalm 126 came to view I couldn't help but to see the unsaved cascading themselves in the pits of hell. What a sorrowful and grieving thought! This weighed heavily on me, even while we were downtown. After we broke up into teams Ben, Alex and I began to walk near the Lake (Lake Eola) and walked and walked and walked. We walked for about 45 minutes trying to start conversations here or there but they didn't get anywhere. We realized that we had skipped the most important aspect- talking to God our Savior to lead and guide us..we had sought God at the grahams but once we were on the streets didn't bother to ask him to lead and guide us- and yet we were His work! After 45 minutes we stopped to pray...asking God to move and guide us. There was a sense we were going to only be talking to one (possibly 2 ) person and perhaps they would be sitting down. We continued to walk around the lake and soon caught up with Daniel, Becka and Taylor. Daniel was engaged in a conversation so we just talked with Becka. Alex and Taylor continued to walk on, and Ben Becak and I stood there and passed out a few tracks.
Just then a gentlemen came down some steps that led to the pathway around the lake. It was his getup that caught my attention. He was a tall thin gentlemen with a "cowboy outfit" and a black cowboy hat. His hair was tied back, he had a bluetooth in his ear and was sipping a starbucks coffee. I looked over at becka and said "tell him how much you like his hat..." she said "No, you tell him how much you like his hat"- "Okay" I looked over at the gentlemen who was by this time sitting on a park bench directly facing him and said "I like your hat!" After that point we were able to get into a conversation with him. Soon we were to find out that his name was Marshall and that he was a Cherokee Jew and had some very interesting takes on who God was, who man was and who "white eagle" (Jesus) was. A lot of what he believe about God came because of his past where he would say "Well my Cherokee side believes this" or "My Jewish side believes this" or "a friend of mine says this.." To which we would reply "But what do YOU think?" He also thought that perhaps we were all apart of "God's Imagination" in which we replied "So you mean, were not real?" Daniel also joined into the conversation. We challenged Marshall on who Christ was, - "Is Christ who he says he is?- He only leaves us 3 options..he's either a liar and we don't take him for face value, he's a lunatic and should be locked away or HE IS WHO HE SAYS HE IS: THE SON OF GOD...and if your're right in saying he's a liar and a lunatic then we've wasted our life's but if you're wrong..you've not only lost heaven, but youre now going to spend eternity in Hell..that's a huge risk to take...so what's YOUR DECISION?" We thanked him for talking with us and left with that question hanging over his head. That was the person God had prepared for us to talk to.

The next week (this past Friday) we discussed Matthew 28:1-10. This time we were challenged to read over the scripture and to think of our own questions such as "Why did the woman go to the tomb first and not the men?" "What did the angel look like and why was he so frightening?" "Why did the woman not become like dead men like the soldiers?" " Why did the angel send the woman to go tell the men when Jesus was going to show up anyway in Galilee?" "Why Galilee?"

Then downtown, Jordan, Trameka and I were in a group. We walked only a little ways down the street and then began to talk with a homeless lady name Chrissy. We noticed her standing on the side of the rode with her head in her hands, looking like she was crying or just not feeling well. We stopped to ask her if she was okay and she said she was fine but was trying to get some money for some beer. As we tried to converse with her, we could defiantly tell she did not want to talk about the gospel..she wanted to stay in her life of sin and continue drinking and smoking. She didn't want a life of anything else. We asked if there was anything we could pray with her for and prayed to God just thanking him for allowing us to be able to speak with her. Then we left.

While we were praying for Chrissy, 4-5 guys were standing off on a corner smoking pot. They were yelling loudly "You guys are bringing that religious stuff" or something to that effect. They were very high on drugs, but after we were down praying for Chrissy we moved down the street alittle and prayed for them, that God would break the bonds of slavery to pot and it would not longer become desirous for them anymore.

After that we began to talk with another homeless lady named Wendy. She was definitely under the influence of alcohol but was sober enough to talk with us sensibly. She wanted to know if we were catholic, or if we were apart of a college..both answers we no. We talked with her alittle while and she told us that she was not feeling well, had been having the flu and was suffering for breast cancer. When we offered to pray with her she said, "No I'm going to pray for you" and wanted all of us to hold hands in a circle while she prayed for us. . She told she loved God and asked him everyday to help her and we gave her the gospel of John. "Oh I love John" she said and then kissed the trac. She said she loved the Lord and wanted to do what he wanted everyday. Then we prayed for her and thanked her, as we could not get gospel with her..she was very distracted by the amounts of people going passed us with Mardi Gras beads ..she would stop looking at us, look at the people and shout "Hey Jingles Bells..Hey YOU..where did you get all the jingle bells" - it was God's providence that most of the people ignored her, because then she would turn her attention to us. After we started to walk away she noticed the million dollar tracs in Jordan's hand. She said.."Does that have a prayer on it?" Jordan said "No..it has the million dollar question...are you good enough to get to Heaven?" " Well..I'm not sure. I don't think you can be sure you can get to heaven.." "Wait a minute" said Jordan "I thought you said you believe in God and were a Christian?" " Yes but I don't think I can know for sure that you can get to heaven,,,I hope so" "well wouldn't you like to know for sure?" " I don't think you can..." After that point we converse with her for a while about how we can never ever be good enough to be sent to heaven. Wendy mentioned many remarkable and kind things she had done for other homeless people downtown, but we explained even our best acts are like filthy rags. Only Jesus can remove our guilt and pardon our sin and set us right before the father. We cannot make up for all of our sins by doing good works. We could tell this hit a cord but she did not want to believe it. We went on the explain that only God can give us a regenerate heart and our lives are changed then. She was looking at us and seemed like she was listening but then went up to all three of us in the group and started giving us "prophetic words" that we very interesting... we sensed she might have been some sort of psychic. After that we thanked her and walked way. Continue to pray that Wendy's heart and eyes will be open up to the gospel and she may experience God's wonderful and redeeming grace.

Then later our group ran into Chris, rebeka and cynthia. Awe were all standing on the street corner sharing stories when a man named William walked up. He was a christian that was on the streets. He had worked for a company that had issued him a forged check and he cashed it, then left the florida. They put a warrant out for him for trying to cash a forged check so he had come back to Florida and turned himself in. In doing so he didn't have anything on him. He had been on the streets for a day and a half and was afraid to fall asleep on the streets that he had stayed up the entire time. He had been trying to get work but people were turning him down and the shelters were turning them down. He had eaten anything and didn't have any money on him. We prayed that God would provide for him, not just money but a means to make money and a place to sleep.. Chris bought him a hotdog and we gave him the info for the church. Please continue to pray for William. It broke our hearts to see william and many others on the streets- pray God would open up means and give us wisdom on how to continue to help those in need downtown. Meeting these people challenges my faith, challenges me and convicts me of taking advantage of the blessings I have received from the Lord. How I want the Lord to work in this area in my life...how do we help the poor? Not only bringing the gospel - but also helping them financially/materially? In James it says that faith without works is dead...What can I do, Oh Lord? Am I willing to give it all?


Thank you for continuing to pray for us as the Lord has called us to continue to minister to those in downtown Orlando. There is So MUCH NEED! Not only for walls of resistence to be broken down, but chains of sin to be released, families and relationship put back together, broken hearts mended, the poor to be taken care of, purity to sweep among the streets and ultimately the Gospel's mighty power to ring true! We have faith the Lord can and will do above and beyond all of these things!! He is so very very good..is he not?

In Christ,

Kayla