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Battle Log > London Team > Page 5

Friday, 31 October, 2008

Posted 10 November 2008, 3:44 PM by Rob Hughes. Permalink

Friday evening came around and so we were back once more at Leicester Square to minister the gospel. The team was made up of Andrew, Carl, Philip, my brother James and I. We were also joined by Wesley, a young man Carl met at a Christian meeting just recently.

It was 31st October, and so for many this meant Halloween. For me and many others it meant Reformation Day. What a contrast! In our hearts we desired to remember a great move of God whereby God used men to bring godly reform to an evil religious regime. In the hearts of others was the desire to flirt with evil itself. Many of course were dressed up in costumes depicting monsters, ghosts, zombies, and other gruesome looking creatures. “Happy Halloween!” was being exchanged from person to person much like you would say, “Happy Birthday,” or “Merry Christmas.” I shook my head as I heard this. What is “happy” about a celebration of evil?? Concerning Halloween’s origins, consider the following…

The celebration can be traced back to the Druid festival of the dead. The Roman Pantheon, built by Emperor Hadrian in A.D. 100 as a temple to the goddess Cybele and other Roman gods, became the principle place of worship. In 609, Emperor Phocas seized Rome and gave the Pantheon to Pope Boniface IV. Boniface consecrated it to the Virgin Mary and kept using the temple to pray for the dead, only now it was “Christianized,” as men added the unscriptural teaching of purgatory. In 834, Gregory IV extended the feast for all the church and it became known as All Saint’s Day, still remembering the dead. Samhain, a Druid god of the dead, was honoured at Hallowe’en (“All Hallows Eve”) in Britain, Germany, France, and the Celtic countries. Samhain called together all wicked souls who died within the past year and who were destined to inhabit animals. The Druids believed that souls of the dead came back to their homes to be entertained by those still living. Suitable food and shelter were provided for these spirits or else they would cast spells, steal infants, destroy crops, kill farm animals, and create terror as they haunted the living. This is the action that “Trick-or-Treat” copies today. The Samhain celebration used nuts, apples, skeletons, witches, and black cats. Divination and auguries were practiced as well as magic to seek answers for the future. Even today witchcraft practitioners declare October 31 as the most favourable time to practice their arts (The Evidence Bible).

After a time of prayer and devotions we began setting up for the evening. We were back along the railing which I was pleased about, although, it must be said, that God sure used us on the other side of the promenade and should it be His will I’m sure He will use us there again. I stood up to preach first and felt quite blessed by the Lord that I was able to preach on a day that commemorates the time when the glorious gospel was thundered from the lips of those who fought for revival and reform.

There was much going on with all the fancy dress and partying and I must say this was distracting for me and also for those who I believe would have normally stopped to hear the Word preached. People did stop to listen as I preached however there were few hecklers and so our crowd was small in size. After I finished preaching we all set about handing out tracts and talking with people one-to-one. I got into a conversation with a gentleman from the States named Diego and this would be the sole person I would end up talking with before we headed on home. Diego was very willing to talk, which was great, although it was clear that he had some particular views of his own and would say things like, “Yes, but I believe this…” My focus was to make a defence for God’s Word and to talk on the authority of Scripture and how its precepts and teaching is ultimately what we are called to believe, not blindly, but rather because it is the truth. We spoke for well over an hour and I believe the Lord will continue to speak to him through His Spirit as he ponders what he heard.

It was a very cold night and by the time it was ready to leave we all struggled to sense any feeling left in our toes. The atmosphere of the evening was somewhat oppressive but praise God, we brought light to a dark place.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Friday, 24 October, 2008

Posted 1 November 2008, 4:08 PM by Rob Hughes. Permalink

On Friday evening we were blessed with a great turn out. Andrew brought his friend Steve and we also had Adam join us for a second time. That meant that with Philip, Carl, my brother and I, there were seven of us in total. Praise God.

We all arrived a little earlier and this was because I felt it would be good to have some fellowship before we start the ministry. Often we arrive and get talking amongst ourselves and before you know it a considerable amount of time has passed. Our window of opportunity is short and so we must redeem the time! We met at the Aberdeen Angus Steakhouse and munched on some hot chips as we had a time of devotions together. It was great.

Carl’s voice was not a hundred percent so I stood up to preach first. We had in mind to tag when half and hour had passed, but only if the open-air preacher did not have a significant crowd. It would not be helpful to tag should that affect the continuity of the message being preached. After standing up to preach a crowd began to form fairly quickly. We were once again standing on the other side of the railing as there was again no space for us to set up on that side. Although I am not keen on this I am grateful to the Lord that we are still able to preach at Leicester Square. Long may it continue!

During my preach I did have a number of people heckle me, although no one became as aggressive as in recent weeks. Quite a few people tried to distract me and cause me to stop, but praise God, no one forcibly attempted to do so. As time progressed I had fewer and fewer people heckle me from the crowd, although a good number of people were transfixed by the message. My heart really went out to them and I implored with them and pleaded with them to flee from the wrath that is to come.

After I finished preaching I was approached by a gentleman who was visibly moved. He thanked me for my message and we ended up having a great chat together. He has asked that I do not provide any details for private reasons. I cannot provide his name, however God knows his name and so I would ask that you hold him up in prayer. He mentioned that he would try to make the time to visit Leicester Square to hear me preach again. We exchanged contact details and so I hope we can stay in touch.

Moving on I noticed that the rest of the team were engaged in some great one-to-one conversations. Seeing that I was free Steve motioned for me to come and help him; he was talking with a friend of his from university, who happens to be a Muslim. I talked with him of the justice of God and the love of God. The Bible shows us that God fully satisfies both His justice and His love (Romans 3:21-26). Islam fails on both. This is the key difference between the two faiths. I also spoke to him of the contradictions of the Qu’ran, most notably the references it makes of the Bible. It mentions that God sent the gospel through the preaching of Jesus Christ (Sura 3:3; 5:46). The onus is therefore on every good Muslim to study to find out what this “gospel” is. I told Steve’s friend that he will discover that the gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ is the answer to the world’s greatest dilemma: sin. This is where the Qu’ran and the Bible clash, and since the Bible came before the Qu’ran, it is clear that it is the Bible that is true and the Qu’ran that is false. He tried to argue against this, however his arguments did not address the issue and it was clear that he was well and truly stumped. It is never about winning an argument just for the sake of winning an argument. In our case we are blessed in that we can win the argument, simply because the Bible is the truth and the Qu’ran is not. Muslims have been heavily indoctrinated to the degree that they very often do not listen to reason. I have found it best to labour to show them how their own faith contradicts itself, so that they can then begin to question what is true and what is not.

It was a fruitful evening and much seed was sown.

Saturday morning came around and we were back at Tooting Broadway. Philip and I were joined by Carl and my brother also joined us a little later. I asked Carl if he would preach first as my voice was a little strained from the night before. He preached well and a number of people stopped to listen. We were able to have some good conversations with a fair amount of people. At one point a group of young teenagers were standing by themselves and so I approached them and gave them each a million pound note. As I was talking with them a man standing nearby interjected quite aggressively and made the claim that I would be harming young minds by brainwashing them with religion. He touted that evolution was the answer and that there is no God at all. It was all I could do to restrain myself. The nerve of the argument! I made a clear defence for God’s existence and also spoke of the utter failings of evolution to provide answers that have any hope of satisfying the issues facing our world. Evolution removes hope, it removes meaning, it removes morality and ethics, and it does not and cannot explain why we are here or where we are going. It is fatalistic and morally inept.

After a short while he moved on. My young teenage friends, however, chose to stay. I opened up the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and urged them to turn to the only Saviour this world can know. They were struck by the message and I praise the Lord that He kept them from being robbed of hearing the gospel. I told them that my church was not far away and that we have a number of people their age who attend. I gave them my contact details, as well as the details of my church and encouraged them to come and visit. Do pray that the Lord would bring them to a saving knowledge of the truth.

It was a wonderful weekend of ministry. Please pray for all those who heard the gospel. The harvest truly is plentiful!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Friday, 17 October, 2008

Posted 25 October 2008, 5:44 PM by Rob Hughes. Permalink

I found Isaac to be a delight to speak to and a man very mature for his age. We really had a great chat together. I told him about a debate our church is holding next month between a Christian apologist and a Muslim apologist, and he seems keen to attend. We exchanged personal details and so I hope to stay in contact with him as he gives careful thought to the issue of eternity. Do pray for him.

It was a difficult night in some respects. Still, God was in control and through His great providence we walked away from yet another fruitful time of ministry.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Friday, 10 October, 2008

Posted 18 October 2008, 2:57 AM by Rob Hughes. Permalink

The team immediately got engaged in one-to-one's after I finished and we spent the rest of the evening talking with people and handing out tracts. It had been a fruitful time.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Friday, 19 September, 2008

Posted 2 October 2008, 9:21 PM by Rob Hughes. Permalink

Heading into London we were encouraged to know that we would be blessed with a new face for the evening. James Paice, pastor and friend, came along to join us and it was wonderful to have him with us. We arrived at 8:30pm and immediately set about preparing ourselves for the evening.

After opening in prayer I stood up to preach. We were able to bring in a crowd quite quickly. It wasn't long before I drew in some hecklers, who of course voiced their views, many of which dealt with the idea that there is no God and therefore religion serves no purpose. As I was refuting their claims a couple of police officers approached me and asked if they could have a word. I was told that this was not the place to be preaching open air as the crowd that would form would ultimately be deemed an obstruction of a right of way. If you have been to Leicester Square you will know how wide the promenade is where we meet to minister. I explained this to the officer and also mentioned that we had been preaching in the same spot for over six months. However he remained resolute and it seemed that he was not going to change his mind. It was surprising then when he turned to me said that he would give me ten minutes to speak. This then changed to fifteen minutes, which then changed a third time when he said that both him and his partner would be moving on to another location and that I should be finished when they returned in half an hour. This seemed fine with me and so I stood back up on my stepladder and told the crowd that I had been told by the police that I could speak for thirty minutes.

In terms of what the officer told me with regards to the obstruction of a right of way, consider the following, taken from a document by a solicitor to the Open Air Mission in April 2007. Section 130 of the Highways Act 1980 relates to permanent or semi-permanent obstruction of a right of way. It enables the Council to take action to assert and protect the rights of the p ublic to the use and enjoyment of any highway for which they are the Highway Authority. Section 137 of the Act governs the offence of obstruction of the Highway. A highway obstruction has been defined by the courts as ‘something which permanently or temporarily removes the whole or part of the highway from the public's use altogether'. As this would cover stopping to talk to a friend, no obstruction is committed where there is lawful authority or excuse. This is commonly understood to mean that the reasonableness of the obstruction must be taken into account. Under Section 149(1) of the Act a Council would need to identify that a nuisance is being caused, then require removal of the nuisance by notice, and can apply to the Magistrates Court for removal and disposal order if the person fails to remove the nuisance. Under Section 149(2), immediate action can be taken when there are reasonable grounds to consider a danger is being caused, subsequently the obstruction can be removed forthwith. However it must be clear that there is a clear danger in view

In light of this it would be appear that the officer who spoke with me was not acting in accordance fully within the boundaries of these Acts. While I have no problem with them telling us what we should be doing and what we shouldn't be doing, ultimately it is not their job to restrict us from doing something simply on the basis of what could ensue should we do it.

As I carried on preaching I got into a dialogue with a man named Frank. I reasoned with him concerning the existence of God, the fact that God is ultimately in charge, and that one day He is going to judge this world in righteousness. Some of his counter points centred on the notion that Christians themselves have proven to be hypocritical of their own beliefs in the things they have done. The issue of the Crusades came up. I asked him if he had heard the expression, "Tarred with the same brush." I could see that this caused him to stop and think for a second. The point I was trying to make was that you cannot refute the teaching of Jesus simply because men and women who claim to be His followers act in a way that is contrary to His teaching. Consider two men. One is your close friend and the other is his close friend (a man you do not know). If this man were to act unjustly towards you, would it be right for you to blame your close friend? Of course not. In the same way, to use the actions of so-called followers of Christ to dismiss Christ and His teaching is to act unjustly and unfairly towards Christ. The issue that needs to be addressed is whether or not a person is acting accordance with His teaching. Jesus made it clear that you will know a Christian by his or her fruit (Matthew 7:15-17).

After I finished preaching the team immediately got involved in speaking with people one-to-one. This is the great advantage of open air preaching. If, as a Christian, you are in a crowd when someone is preaching open air, all you need to do after the preaching has finished is to approach someone you noticed had been listening and ask, "Hi there, what are your thoughts on what you just heard?" Before you know it you are in a one-to-one conversation, giving you the opportunity to share the gospel. (See below. The tracts and Bibles we put out always get snapped up!)

I had the opportunity to get into a conversation with two young men, a man named Michael, and his friend Rom. The issue with both these young men was that they were not willing to accept that to have a creation you must have a Creator. They believe that we can attribute this world to an "accident." We spoke for quite some time; however its focus centred on the existence of God more than anything else. Both presented themselves as proud of heart and so I did not labour to open up the grace of Christ to them, as I felt it would result in them trampling underfoot the good news that it could save them. Still, earlier they had both taken in-depth gospel tracts from the table that we put out, so my prayer is that through what they heard the Holy Spirit would work in their hearts to bring to them acknowledge the God who made them and that they desperately need His forgiveness.

Moving on I noticed that Carl had been speaking with Frank, one of my hecklers I had engaged with when I had been preaching. It was very interesting in that he was willing to discuss and talk with us. As we carried on speaking to him we noticed that his tone changed and that he began to use language that showed he admitted there could indeed be a God. When he had first introduced himself in the crowd he mentioned that he was an agnostic. This led me to asking whether he knew everything. He admitted that he did not. I then asked him to imagine that he knew one percent of everything (which is still a great deal). Would it be possible in the ninety-nine percent he did not know for there to be ample evidence that God did in fact exist. This is why God does not believe in atheists. You cannot, by definition, be an atheist. To be an atheist you would need to have all knowledge. Someone who professes to be an atheist is in fact an agnostic. They simply do not know whether God exists (although I would maintain that they do know, they are simply restricted by their sinful nature to admit that they do). We had a good conversation with him and encouraged him to think through what we had shared with him. Below is a picture of Carl and Frank together.

It had been a good evening. The two police officers who had spoken to me earlier arrived not long before we left and so we were all greatly encouraged that the Lord had provided us with the opportunity to declare His gospel.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Friday, 5 September, 2008

Posted 19 September 2008, 2:57 PM by Rob Hughes. Permalink

Due to some rather miserable weather we were restricted that evening, although the rain did subside long enough for us to minister the gospel. Both Carl and I preached open air. Carl is still growing as an open air preaching and will be preaching far more regularly from now on. During my preach I did manage to engage with some young people. There were no lengthy discussions, although I did spark the interest of a chap named Sam. He took a tract when he left and so it's my prayer that he has read it and kept it.

I was able to speak with a Muslim gentleman from America for a good twenty minutes or so. He did listen to what I had to say although it was clear that his mind was made up concerning his religion. Still, he took a tract. May the Lord grant him repentance and faith.

Friday, 29 August, 2008

Posted 5 September 2008, 2:47 PM by Rob Hughes. Permalink

On Friday evening we were back at Leicester Square to preach the gospel to the people of London. The previous Friday we'd had some trouble with one of the artists who trades in front of the railing that runs along the promenade of where we meet to minister. I was a little anxious as I was not sure what the response would be like this week. We've been going to Leicester Square now for well over six months and so we do feel settled and of course keen to stay. I believe it to be a great venue for the ministry we do. As it turned out my fears were justified. Our disgruntled artist was certainly out to make his displeasure felt. Each artist has a temporary license they pay that allows them to trade in a specific spot of the promenade. It is a marked out spot that they can use. I made the point that we were not trading, consequently we did not need a license as did the artists. The complaint against us centered on the idea that we would infringe upon his spot with the crowd that we would undoubtedly gather. I certainly do not boast in our ability to do this, in fact I can't help thinking how amazing it is that we are able to do this week in week out. I can only say that God is our provider and that He is the one who is drawing the people for us.

If you read my report from last week you would have noticed that I had to stop preaching due to some rather aggressive Muslim men. The crowd had grown large and it did in fact spill over to the area next to us. Even though this was an unusual case and influenced by some aggressive Muslims, we were conscious of the fact that our artist friend did have his business to run. Consequently we moved over as far as we could. However this did not seem to appease him and it was starting to become clear to me that he simply did not want us there, preaching something he did not want to hear in an area that he believes is reserved for artists only. We were in a bit of a quandary as to what we should do and spent at least half an hour or so debating amongst ourselves as to our course of action. I was becoming rather frustrated as I could see that time was escaping us. In the end we decided that I would still preach and should the crowd behave the way it had the previous week I would move even further to the left. So after spending some time in prayer I stood up to preach. Phil kindly manned the table we had laid out that was loaded with tracts and free Bibles. I have to confess that it took me a while to get going as I was feeling a little unsettled. God was good to us though and before long we drew in a crowd. My first hecklers were some young teenagers who stood nearby and threw a number of questions at me. They defended the idea that they were good people and so I took them through the commandments to show them that they were in fact sinners in the hands of an angry God. A young girl who was with them, and had picked up a Bible (you can see her holding it in the picture above), became quite passionate when she heard me say that God sent His only Son to die in the place of sinners. It was rather interesting because prior to her saying that I had explained to her that since God cannot justify the wicked (according to His own law - Proverbs 17:15), our predicament is grave indeed. If we, being wicked, cannot be justified by God because of our wickedness, what hope do we have of being justified before Him? How can we be justified?! I put this question to her, and you know what? She came back with the right answer! Someone would have to pay the penalty for us. And so that is what led me to explaining to her what God has done for sinners by sending His own to Son to die on the cross. She questioned how a loving God could possibly allow His own Son to die in the place of others. I explained to her that Christ came to this earth willingly and that He also went to the cross willingly (John 10:17-18). Christ knew that He would rise again, since it would not be possible for death to keep a hold of Him (Acts 2:24).

As time progressed our crowd did become larger and so I moved further to the left. A young Australian man started to heckle me and we became locked in a debate concerning creation verses evolution. He was actually enjoying himself and it was obvious that he wanted to have a good old banter. He was the perfect heckler because he kept the crowd and I could see that he was not the sought to take things too far. I kept him hooked by throwing some humour back at him, saying things like, "Come on man, use your head, there must be a God!"

Later on after I had finished preaching Andrew Noble got into a good one-to-one conversation with him. Andrew is also from Australia so I thought it was just perfect that the two of them got talking. As I carried on preaching a lady from the crowd asked me why women have ended up with such a raw deal in that they have to go through such pain in child birth. She understood that it was because of Eve's sin but still felt it was a raw deal. I thought for a minute and then simply said to her, "Ma'am that is something you will have take up with God." The answer was not what she expected and it was clear that she was at a loss as to how to respond.

Shortly after I got talking with a Muslim lady, who called herself Faith. She also had some Muslim friends with her. I explained to her why Christ is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). She said that she respected other religions but wanted to make the point that Islam makes more sense than Christianity, due largely in part to their belief that God is not Trinitarian. I explained to her that God has revealed Himself in His Word as one in essence, three in person, and that settles it. This got us talking about the veracity of the Bible. I gave a solid defence for the Bible and showed them how it is far more authenticate that any other book in all of antiquity. Carl had one of his placards that showed how science confirms the Bible, since we can find many scientific facts in its pages. I got a lot of scoffs at this point and a lot of unreasonable objections. I responded by pleading with them to be reasonable and to listen to what I had to say. It was at this point that I got pulled aside by a police officer who warned me that religious debate can lead to a breach of the peace. I responded by saying I understood but that no breach of the peace had yet occurred, and I also pointed out that political marches and campaigns have as much potential to cause a breach of the peace as does the discussion of religion. I got back up to preach and addressed the crowd with a final plea for them to turn to Christ to escape the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10). I had preached for well over an hour and addressed a number of questions and topics. The gospel had been clearly preached and so I was very grateful to the Lord.

Coming down from my ladder a young man approached me and asked if I had a copy of the scientific facts in the Bible that I had shown whilst preaching. Carl had some in a tract format so it was great to be able to give him the resource. I then got talking with him for about half an hour or so. It turned out that his Dad is a pastor and so he had a fair amount of Bible knowledge, even though he professed to be an agnostic. I reasoned with him from the stance of creation and conscience and then took him through the law and the gospel. At the end of the conversation all I could do was to plead with him, that he think carefully about his sin, how his sin condemned him to hell, and that he should flee to the Saviour, not simply to escape the terrors of hell, but ultimately because Jesus had been so kind to save sinners just like him from hell (Romans 2:4).

Andrew Blake, Carl, Andrew Noble and Philip were busy too, talking with people and handing out tracts. Philip has kindly written a short report of some of the opportunities he had for the evening...

I was manning the "Free Bibles" table. While Rob was preaching, several people came up to ask for New Testaments. A man known as "Mac" took a New Testament to read and asked for prayer so I prayed with him. Another man came up and asked for a Bible. He said he'd read some of the Bible already and I was able to encourage him to read more of God's word to him so that he could get to know God better.

After Rob had finished preaching after being interrupted by a keen policeman, I got talking to a lady who'd been in the crowd and was sticking up for Rob. She is a Roman Catholic and although she liked to talk, I was able to rehearse with her what Rob had been preaching on i.e. the Law and God's gift of Grace in sending Christ Jesus. I don't know how much was being taken in, but I encouraged her to trust in what Jesus had done alone, and not to put any faith in her own works which are like filthy rags before God. God being holy cannot accept anything that is tainted with sin, even the best of our works are not acceptable to Him outside of what Christ already did in dying on the cross for those who will repent and put their trust in this very work He did for them.

It truly was a great evening. Our artist friend was still complaining to the police at the end of it all, but praise God, they were on our side and told him plainly that we had a right to stand there and preach.

Please pray for all those who heard the gospel, as well those who took tracts and Bibles.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Friday, 22 August, 2008

Posted 28 August 2008, 7:37 PM by Rob Hughes. Permalink

On Friday night the team met up once more at Leicester Square for another night of ministry. Carl, Philip, Andrew Noble, my brother James, Andrew and I came together in prayer and looked forward to an evening of ministry. Leicester Square was full to the brim with people, just the way we like it!

After setting up our table with gospel tracts and free Bible I stood up to preach. It wasn't long before we brought in a crowd. Carl had a number of laminated cards that he had made up, that showed things like the scientific facts we see in the Bible, the Ten Commandments, fulfilled prophecies, etc. He stood next to me whilst I preached so that I could use them during my message. As I continued to preach the crowd got larger and before long I was being heckled by a number of Muslim men. I refuted their arguments and answered their question; unfortunately they were not best pleased and became quite aggressive. Carl could tell that they were starting to make approaches towards me and so tried to keep a perimeter in front of them and me. This was not working and I was actually more concerned for Carl than I was for myself! Being elevated serves two purposes. It causes people to stop and listen and it is also offers a form of protection.

I had preached for less than twenty minutes when I stepped down. It was frustrating but we were getting nowhere fast. There were people in the crowd who wanted to listen but our Muslim hecklers were not interested in listening at all. It is worth noting how aggressive Muslims can get, and I believe this is due largely to the fact that Islam is a religion steeped in militant teaching. Not all Muslim people that I speak to are this way mind you. Before I had stepped down, Christians from a ministry called "John 3:7" had arrived. One Christian gentleman in particular was very supportive of my preaching and when I stepped down began engaging with many of the Muslims. I also discovered later from the team that a man from the crowd, who was not a Christian, had been prepared to come to my defence, had things turned south. Praise the Lord!

As soon as I was down I made my way over to a young couple who I noticed had been listening to my message. I got talking with Mark and his girlfriend Danielle and we spoke for about an hour. We covered much as they had many questions. One particular question they asked was centred on knowing which religion was the right one. This allowed me to comprehensively share the whole counsel of God with them so that they could see that there is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5). They took a Bible to share and some tracts and we also exchanged contact details. I have since written them an email and so do pray that they would write back so that we can continue where we left off.

We left about 11:30pm, which is more or less the time we need to leave as we have to catch the tube home. It had been a somewhat frustrating evening, however many tracts had gone out and I was particularly grateful to the Lord for the conversation I'd had with Mark and Danielle. Do pray for them. After talking it through we have decided to cut back our ministry on the Saturday at Tooting Broadway to once every two weeks. This is simply down to the practicalities of life I'm afraid. As it happened I was contacted about a week ago by a man named Michael who attends a Calvary Chapel church in London. Every year his church does an outreach at the Notting Hill Carnival. The carnival involves marches and parades and so forth. There is always loud music and much food and drink. There is also a great deal of lasciviousness that goes on and so I have avoided it for obvious reasons. However, there are simply thousands and thousands of people who attend and so there is no better place to go if you're looking for people to witness to. My only gripe is that the music is incredibly loud and so it can be somewhat of an obstacle when talking to someone. I had been contacted after Michael had seen my blog. He wanted to know whether my team and I could attend their outreach to give a helping hand. Of course I was quite willing to do so, and so Carl, my brother James and I headed up there Saturday afternoon. The area they use is the same each year and has come to be known as "The God Corner." During our time there we spoke with as many people as we could. The music was quite deafening so we did our best! Michael and those from his church were handing out tracts and talking with people as well. In addition his church had set up a stage and where they had performers who rapped and sang Christian songs. It was certainly different to what I am used to.

I was asked to come up on stage to deliver a gospel message, and so I preached a solid gospel message for about twenty minutes or so. I did not offer an alter call but urged those who did not know the Lord to come to Him in repentance and faith. Please pray that the seed fell on good soil. So in the end a packed weekend of ministry. Praise the Lord that we are privileged to serve Him by sharing the gospel with others.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Friday, 15 August, 2008

Posted 20 August 2008, 3:17 PM by Rob Hughes. Permalink

Report for 15th August & 16th August

On Friday evening the team was back to preaching the gospel at Leicester Square. I was particularly excited as we were due some new faces. Andrew Noble had contacted me via the Operation 513 website, keen to join up with some people to go witnessing with. Ivan and Benjamin, two young men from Denmark, had been directed to the Operation 513 website through listening to Way of the Master Radio. This was their first time to England and even though they had come for a brief holiday they were dead set on coming out to evangelise with us. Arriving at Tooting Broadway around 8:30pm, I met up with Carl, Ivan and Benjamin, and the four of us hopped on the first tube we could get.

We arrived at Leicester Square a little later than we would have liked, having missed our connection. We linked up with Andrew and my brother James and made our way over to one of our commonly used spots. It wasn't until after 9:30pm that we had opened in prayer and were ready to start ministering. Earlier in the day I had bought a fold-up table from a D.I.Y. store. This little table folds up a real treat, which allows you to carry it very conveniently in a small bag. We placed a good number of tracts and Bibles on the table for people to take away free.

When I was happy all was ready I stood up to preach. We were blessed in the fact that there were a number of Christians from another church who were in the square singing choruses. When they saw our table full of tracts and Bibles and heard that I was about to preach open air they formed a crowd in anticipation. This is always helpful because people draw people. During my message I did a call out to a young man named Prince, and taking him through the law, showed him his need of a Saviour. I was of course careful to put the same message over to the rest of the crowd. I was getting plenty of Amen's from the Christians in the crowd, which is all good and well, but we are out to preach to the unsaved and so I was pleased that a good number of people stopped to listen.

After I had come down from preaching the team set about speaking to people who had been listening. Carl and Andrew got into a conversation with some Muslims that had been listening whilst I preached; Ivan and Benjamin set about handing out tracts to as many people as they could and my brother got into some conversation as well. I managed to get into a number of one-to-one conversations. I spoke with a man from Italy, who had been brought up Catholic. He held the belief that the Bible is not the final authority and that there is latitude to believe whatever you want to believe when it comes to spiritual things. Our conversation was quite brief and so I did not get much of a chance to speak to him in depth. He did, however, take an in-depth gospel tract. It struck me that I have yet to meet a person, who having grown up Catholic, is of the mind that the Bible is the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God. The next people I got to speak with were two young Muslim guys. I was able to share the whole counsel of God with them and take contact details so that I can contact them again. They in turn took my contact details. We had a good chat and I was grateful that they listened to what I had to say without throwing up a wall.

By the time it was ready to go only a few Bibles were left. Many of the tracts had gone too. I was careful to hand out Why Christianity? tracts to the Muslims I spoke with, as they are very good at showing why Christianity offers what no other religion can offer. They show that Christianity is the answer. It was a great night and we were all quite encouraged by the time we left. Andrew said that he would be back next week and the Danish lads were beaming too!

Carl and Andrew witness to some Muslim men...

James witnesses to some young men...

Saturday morning came around and we were back at Tooting Broadway. We arrived at 11:30am. The first thing I noticed is that there were some people standing where we normally stand, handing out some literature. At first I thought they might be Christians but when I approached them I discovered they were in fact Jehovah Witnesses! I wanted to get up and preach as quickly as possible so that they would hear the gospel, however as we were setting up they left. It was interesting that the literature they had was in Tamul, which is an Indian language. Tooting Broadway does have many Indian people so I can only think it was done for that reason.

Watchtower magazines in Tamul. Incredible.

I spent some time preaching the gospel open air. As is normal with Tooting Broadway I did not get much of a crowd, however, people would have heard the gospel as they were passing and we also managed to hand out many tracts to people as well. Ivan and Benjamin joined us for a second time and Phil was with us too. As we were all handing out tracts, etc, I got the opportunity to speak with Assad and his friends. Click on this link to listen to the audio of that conversation.

As you will discover Assad is a Muslim, as were the majority of his friends. There were I think five of them in total. It seems that I cannot avoid speaking with Muslims these days; they certainly are popping up wherever I go! The more I speak with them the more I learn what I should be saying and the more my desire increases to see them saved. Islam certainly is on the rise and so we need to be about the business of reaching out to them in love with the truth of the Gospel.

Praise God for a great weekend of ministry. It was an encouraging time.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Saturday, 26 July, 2008

Posted 1 August 2008, 1:15 AM by Rob Hughes. Permalink

Editors Note: London Team Leader joined with Sheffield Team this weekend!

Recently I had the great pleasure of joining fellow partners of Operation 513, as well as those who network with us. It was an amazing day. The day began early and finished late, and coupled with the heat it meant that by the time we left we were all very, very tired. Was it all worth it? You bet it was! I had the great pleasure in talking with a young man who made a profession of faith in Christ. If you would like to listen to the audio of that conversation simply click on this link. You can also listen to an audio of me preaching open air by clicking on this link. Below are some great pictures from the day.

John Steele draws in a crowd

Jim Gourlay preaching

People came and took free Bibles and tracts from the table we had set up.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Editors Note: Read the Sheffield Report, for a longer, more in depth report! JM

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