Battle Log
Battle Log > Plymouth Team
Saturday, 14 August, 2010
-Last Saturday night I was coming back from a friends and was driving through the city centre about 11pm and so thought it may be an opportunity to give out some tracts to people who have not had much to drink. I knew I would definatly need Gods help in finding people who were sober down town!
God heard my prayers, andI managed to start a conversation with the trusty MPN again. Richard and Ollie and their friend Lisa were from Plymstock school and had left now and wewre 18yrs old. They were pretty open to talking and had not really had much to drink at all and so managed to go quite in depth with what the MPN actually said.
AS usual though a few of their more intoxicated friends came along and wondered what was going on, and so the conversation got harder to keep on track. However one of the girls did recognise me that I had witnessed to her before. They all took tracts, and one of the lads that came along later took one and he was much quiter than the rest after listening and so hopefully something was stirred in his heart.
I then saw 2 girls sitting by themselves called Billy and Grace. They were absolutely sober and had been out and were about to get a taxi home. They took some tracts and we had a great conversation for about 15 minutes, and they were both pretty responsive. However at the end when I explained to them that if they were to die in their sins today they would end up in Hell, they were concerned, though when I said about repentance and turning from sin, one girl saw the urgency, but didnt want to do it today. I said about counting the cost and weighing up our love of sin compared to eternity and what Jesus has done for us on the cross, and explained the million pound note anology for one of their eyes.
Hopefully they saw the necessecity and urgency that was at stake and read the tracts when they got home.
-On the way back to the van I came across 3 street pastors walking past. I thought twice about it, but started a conversation with them about evangelism and what they were doing. I tried to explain that in my opinion what they were doing is great and I wanted to do it as well, however when I heard that you cant purposefully give out tracts and share the gospel with others unless they ask you first, I tried to explain why this didnt seem to make sense.
A gentleman in the group said they didnt want to be pushy with people and only talked about these things when people wanted to. One group of girls walked past and the street pastors gave one of them some flip flops. The girls thanked the man, then carried on walking. I said that would have been a great opportunity to talk with them or give them a tract to take away. I also gave them a tract each to take and read and to give to someone, but one of the ladies gave it back as she didnt think she needed it and would be more useful for me.
They also said they would not feel comfortable going out there talking to people and sharing the gospel, and I tried to explain how loving people is great but thats not the gospel. I tried to stay calm and not get angry but its so frustrating when although going out and serving and praying for others is great, a lot of the Christians doing street Pastors surely cant believe in a real literal place called Hell where the people they were out helping will go unless they have a chance to hear and respond to the gospel.
On the following Saturday I joined an outreach organised by friends and chatted to with a few people as the city centre was very busy with lots of food tents and samples. One good conversation was with the GM28 app on my iphone wherte the gospel can be shared in 12 different languages. A group of 6 French students walked past and so I wanted to try it out on them for the firest time. It worked, and I went through the questionaire with them and they all understood and took a million pound note each which was great.
Monday, 26 July, 2010
I have been away for a week on 3 seperate trips and had some amazing opportunities to witness and share the gospel with people, again knowing I will probably never set eyes on the people I spoke with again until possibly one day we may see each other in Heaven- but what an amazing thought that would be!
On Friday 16th July I travelled up by train to London to attend a one day Evangelism conference held by Avanti Ministries in Winchester. So on the Friday evening I went up to stay with a family who were putting me up for the weekend.
While on the train I managed to leave a few tracts places and speak to a few people, including an elderly semi retired Doctor who was sitting opposite me. I questioned whether offering him a mpn would lead to a conversation, but it opened up a great time of listening to his life and what he did and engaging him with spiritual questions. He had more knowledge than most about the Bible, but seemed to think the 10 commandments were a good moral standard to live by and try and keep, and so I tried to reason with him their use- not to kep as a way of earning our place in heaven, but to show us we are not good enough and fall so far short of the perfect standard, and so need a Saviour who is good enough to save us.
He took a couple of tracts and said he would read them, he was in his late 60's/ early 70's and so I prayed they would make sense.
The Avanti evangelism equipping day was a great chance to meet others and listen about the importance of sharing our faith, common misconceptions about evangelism and how these can sometimes hinder us, and a great way to fellowship with other believers from England and Europe.
At a break I went out and managed to start a conversation with 2 quite open Muslims who liked the MPN's. They seemed to acknowlegde they were depending their hope of Heaven on Allah being merciful to them on judgmen t day and had no assurance of where they would go, and were intrigued when I said I had a definate assurance where I was going, not based on my own good works or merit but because of what Jesus had done for me on the cross. They seemed to understand and took some tracts to read each and ended amicably.
When travelling from London to Bristol because I had 3 bags and was not up to scratch with the tube systems, I missed my connecting train only by a few minutes. I then spoke with a guard and he said it should be no problem having the ticket stamped at the desk. So I rushed to the desk with only a few minutes to catch another train, and pleaded with the ticket office my case and to have my ticket stamped. He was having none of it and was being very unreasonable, and so I was not expressing the fruits of the spirit under my breath as I then missed that train.
In my head I threw up some pretty angry and frustrated prayers as to why I had missed these trains and had to pay for another ticket, but knew there must be a reason and asked God to show me the reason why. On the next train I caught I managed to find a seat next to a lady and after collecting my thoughts for half an hour, and not really being in the best of moods, again I prayed for opportunities to speak with people. After some general chit chat with the lady, I offered her a tract and started talking and found out she had been brought up a Roman Catholic but after the age of 18 had said she was an atheist. I had put my current predicament on my facebook status and mentioned if maybe the lady next to me was the reaosn I had missed the train?
I managed to reason with her about death, shared my testimony and how God had changed my life and what a relationship with God was and why this was different to being religious and just keeping rules. I shared with her what had just happened to me missing my trains, and my facebook status, and that I had prayed for an opportunity to witness to someone and that I believed God had answered my prayer in speaking with her. After about 20 minutes she got off at the station and turned to thank me and shake my hand and took some more tracts. I was overjoyed and jumped for joy in the toilet afterwards, as knew it was worth missing 2 trains and buying a new ticket for that.
Again in Bristol I was waiting to get a later train to another station, but decided to wait and not get the earlier one but try and speak to some people at the station. I started talking to a guy in his mid 20's with a big rucksack called Alex who was an American travelling. He had some belief in God and liked the million pound note tract. After going through the law and the gospel and him understanding at the moment he was under Gods wrath because of his sin, but God had offered mercy to him in sending Jesus to pay his debt of sin on the cross, he was really thankful and took some tracts with him to read and shook my hand. Just as he was leaving, a guy on the bench next to him, who I found out was called Chris, wanted to ask me where I thought evil had come from?
He said his parents were Christians but he didnt believe yet as he always had this mental block in his mind about it. I managed to share some things I had listend to on Todd Friels 'Drive By Theology' about the origin of evil and The fall of Satan, the sovereignty of God and Mans free will. We chatted for about 20 minutes and he took some tracts and he said it made sense and would talk about it more with his parents.
In Birmingham I stayed with a friend who I had gone to University with a few years agao, who again was brought up a Roman Catholic and was 'religious' but was now a self confessed Atheist and Evolutionist.
I had brought up my open air preaching kit with me and so thought it would be good to set up in Birmingham city centre. I had spoke with a council worker on the streets and he said Open air Capmaigners go out regularly and as long as I didnt cause an obstruction it would be fine. So I set up the Ray Comfort Intelligence and Good person test on an easil, prayed, and then fortunatly a 17yr old student enquired about what it was about and volunteered to do it.
I had a tiny fold up stool, and things went well, with about 10 people stopping and others walking past curious, a few were Christians who were encouraged and had stopped to listen, one an Atheist, a confused Roman Catholic not knowing what was the true interpretation of the Bible to read, a Muslim, a Hindu who works with inter faith programmes and a few others. Afterwards a couple of the Christians wanted some of the tracts to take for others, and it also led to them talking with some of the other members in the crowd more. It then led me on to talking with a couple of teenagers who said they were Christians but didnt attend a Church as such but met for Bible study house groups with other Christians regularly, and so I pointed them to the back of the comic good person tract with 'save your self some pain' as thought this may help them.
A girl out trying to get people to sign up to donate to the red cross called vicky listening to me speak to 2 guys, and so afterwards I shared with her and gave her some tracts, and she said her Dad was a Christian. A man named Carl was listening to music at a fountain by the library and I had offered him a tract and left, but he called me back after to talk about it,which led to a 15 minute conversation. He was really nice and listened to the whole gospel and it definatly gave him something to think about. He said he had the DVD of the Passion of the Christ at home but had not watched it yet, and so I said maybe to watch it and understand it in light of what the tracts said.
Just before I left Birmingham and was in town waiting for my friend to get his hair cut, I saw 5 kids almost get hit by bus across the street as it whizzed past, and they were walking up the street laughing about it. I thought this was a prime opportunity to speak with them about death, statistics about how many people die a day/ second around the world, and how that could have almost died then. I showed them the scars on my legs and eplained about my accident when I was their age and how I never thought it would have happened to me. I laid the point pretty thick in regards to sin, death and hell and could see they were thinking about things, before I then shared the gospel with them. It turned out they were all from Christian homes and one guy from a Muslim home- they only believed cos their parents did.
I explained thats what I was like but explained what it meant to be born again and shared my testimony and asked if they then thought they were born again, and they said no. They took a few different tracts each and shook my hand before leaving.
God really opened up so many opportunities for me while away, but again I could not have done it without the tracts to engage with people and they were an invaluable resource, which is why I am always encoraging other Christians to get them and learn how to engage with someone.
The woman on the train was the highlight of the week, but again know I will never see them again this side of eternity, but prayed God would grant them a humble and contrite spirit to turn to him and for God to get the glory in it all.
I am travelling to Glastonbury again next weekend with Shirley and another friend as there is a big spiritualist and pagan festival going on which should lead to lots of witnessing and preaching opportunites.
Saturday, 3 July, 2010
On Monday I had finished my Bible teaching course at a Church and so went on lunch. There were lots of Kids at Plymstock broadway from the local school- sixth formers, about 20 all eating lunch in various places. So I went up to a group and offered a million euro note to them and starting going through the intelligence test and good person test questions. The crowd increased with more students wondering what was happening, and as I went through the Law, judgment and Hell before going onto the cross, one girl got upset and angry as she though God was love why do bad things happen if there is a God- she ran off angry and upset as it turns out her uncle had recently died after being hit by a drunk driver at Christmas. As I tried to explain to the group who were now a bit more hostile, another girl was upset that there was only one way to God and I tried to explain to her we all agree there are some things right and wrong in life, one way is true and all others are false, like me believing 1+1= 3, am I wrong? If I believed the sun was square, blue and cold, am I wrong?
This has been effective in getting people to understand about the nature of valid objective truth vs subjective personal beliefs. We can all hold dear to our beliefs, but it doesnt make them necessarily true. She reluctantly took a tract and a few others did, and my heart was sinking inside as a few people around in the area were now looking at me wondering what was going on!
However after the group dispersed, 4 lads were walking towards the area, some with their shirts off, wondering why all the other kids had been around talking to me. They were really open to the message and took tracts for them and their friends after one shared he had an accident on his bike and almost fell off and could have died, and again I reasoned with them suign my scars on legs about how important it was to get right with God today, because we all assume we are going to die when were an old person, but unfortunatly that might not be the way.
On Saturday 3rd July I was meeting Shirley in Truro to do an outreach and also to go to Noel Richards concert at a local Church. Whilst there I asked 4 Kids at Truro train station for directions for the skate park I had seen on the train, they told me, then I had a chance to speak with them and they were very open as well and took the million eeuro tracts offered to them.
I met Shirley and we went to the skate park- it was packed with about 50 skaters and teenagers hanging around the sides talking and eating, all secondary school kids aged 11+.
The first group I spoke with were all very open to the message, they had lots of questions about creation, heaven and Hell, and some Bibles handed out. I also spoke to some of the girls about what they were wearing and how boys can sometimes go after girls for all the wrong reasons, they understood and covered up a bit more!
The Second group in the skate park sitting down to the sides went from about 10-20 in a short space of time. There were some angry kids there who claimed to be Atheists, I tried to reason with them about creation through their skate park, that it didn\\\'t evolve, was purposefully built, then showing creation is intricatly detailed and designed, there is no way it could evolve no matter how long a a period of time you had.
They got more annoyed, so they called over the Park worker who was a big guy and complained to him. Shirley had already given him a tract which he had looked at, unknown to me, and he said to move on your annoying the kids and scaring them, if they want to hear about God they can go to Church. He was an Atheist as well and believed in evolution and scoffed when I said the world was only about 6000 yrs according to the Bible. He thought this to mean I therefore didnt believe in fossils, but I reasoned I did, it was the supposed age of them I had issue with. I said I was not breaking the law standing there speaking with them, it was a public place, I was a youth worker and the kids had the whole park to skate if they wished, as most had been listening before 2 or 3 got more irate. As I was handing out more tracts and answering questions getting thrown at me like \\\'who made God, where did Cain get his wife- was it incest, and is Homosexuality a sin\\\', the park worker phoned the Police saying I was causing a disturbance and scaring the kids, I think because I had mentioned Hell and showing them scars on my leg and talking about when they thought they may die and about the seriousness of life.
So when Shirley and me left the park, the Police drove past and stopped to speak to us about what we had been saying, and we said we had freedom of speech, the kids didnt have to crowd around and listen if they didnt want to, and we were just talking and giving out tracts etc. They said that was ok but just to be careful in the future.
At the Noel Richard\\\'s Concert in the evening, lots of people came and there was some good worship there- I managed to give some tracts to people leaving to read and to give to their non Christian friends. On the Train on way home- I met Anthony, a student from YMCA where I work. We chatted about the football and world cup etc, and then I managed to Share the gospel with him, gave him lots of tracts and a lift home. I explained that repentance would mean not sleeping with his girlfriend until they got married etc, wghich he seemed to understand. While in the van on the way home, he said his Mum could have died a few weeks ago- she left something in oven and fell asleep, she felt something poke her to wake her up, but when she awoke, no one was there? But she went into the kitchen to discover the oven almost catching light. Hopefully Anthony therefore understood the need to get right with God and then start sharing this message with others as we all dont know how long we have.
I dont know what woke his Mum up- was it the dog, or an Angel? Whetever it was, hopefully the message sunk in to him and he managed to talk with her.
Yet again God answered my prayers by putting people into my path to speak to and share the gospel and my testimony with, praying for those kids who had the tracts at the skate park etc, and that they took them home to read away from the scoffers and that a seed was planted that in time may grow. Yet again we may not ever see the growth of the seed or the fruit of the labour but know that God will give the increase as his word never returns void!
Sunday, 27 June, 2010
Some lovely weather in PLymouth in the past couple of weeks has enabled me to be able to go out with the new Living waters million Euro World Cup tract which people have enjoyed taking as a souvenier which has been great, especially young people- even though England and Australia are out of the world cup :( .
One weekday afternoon I only had one million pound tract left, and so wanted to give it to someone, and saw someone whom again I wrongly thought may not be interested as he was listening to headphones by himself. Levi was 21 and was sat outside the Apple Iphone store on lunch break. I offered him a tract and we got into conversation- he turned out to be agnostic and was very open to talking and said he hadnt really thought much about where he would go when he died. He understood through the use of the Law that he would deserve hell, but then I went on to share the gospel with him and reason with him about the need to get right with God today as again showing the scars from my accident, explained that no one is invincible and 3 people a second die everyday around the world. He seemed greatful and gave me a great joy that God had set our conversation in place that day.
I went to help with a church youth group, and decided to take 3 of the lads on a drive to the seafront in my van, and we saw a group of kids 'tombstoning', that is jumping off a very high wall into the sea below which is extremly perilous and people have been seriously injured there before. I thought this would be a great opportunity to talk about what woulod they think may happen to them if they died, which could happen if they carried on doing this?
A curly haired kid said he had to rescue a girl who jumped and landed in the water wrongly, and so knew how dangerous it was. I again showed them the 'sharkbite' scars on my leg and went on to go through the 10 commandmnets, judgment and hell, and then asking them what thewy learnt about Christmas and Easter at school and shared the gospel with them. The curly haired kid said he was 'getting it' and said it mader sense what was said. There were about 8 13-16yr olds there and so was hard to get them to talk in front of their mates, but they all took a tract and said they would go home and read it again which was great.
One Saturday afternoon in town I bumped into 4 Muslims in the city centre who spoke arabic and broken english- they were students/ in the navy from what I could gather, and again the million euro notes were a good ice breaker to start talking. Again, they believed they had to be good people to get to heaven, but they believed that people who were bad would go to hell, bad muslims included, and so gave me an opportunity to use the law to show how we cant keep it, it was there to send us to Christ, not to try and make us morally righteous, explaining that breaking it just once means were guilty of breaking all of it (James 2 v 10). As is other conversations people may have had with Muslims, they didnt believe Jesus died on a cross as the Koran told them so, but I tried to reason how the Koran was written at least 350yrs after Jesus was crucified and so their information was not true. It was quite hard to get across what I was trying to say because of the language barrier, and unfortunatly the new GM28 Living waters evangelism application for the iphone does not yet have arabic, but I gave them tracts to take to read.
One sunday afternoon I went to a pub with friends from Church, and I left a million Euro tract with the lady behind the bar. A few minutes later she came out, obviously looking rather stressed, asking me what this was. I explained to her it was a gospel tract, and she said why I thought she needed it. I said that I was a Christian and that if she weas not a Christian, then if she died in her sins she would end up in hell, and becuase I cared for her thats why I wanted her to read it. She then said that she was a Christian, and was most distressed that it was pretending to be money, but was actually something else (even though it has a characature of David Beckham on the front and there is no such thing as a million euro note).
She then went on to say she had read the tract, but said she believed everyone went to heaven when they died (even Hitler I said?), andf that her God was a God of love. I then asked why she thinks she should go to heaven, and she said because God is her heavenly father anhd loves everyone. Then in the conversation she went on to say she thinks Jehovas witnesses will be in heaven, just bgecause they believe in God, and so I tried to reason with her about what Jesus said about there being only one way, and you having to understand who Jesus is rightly, which Jehovas witnesses dont. I then asked her if she was born again? This made her even more annoyed, and she splurted out no way was she born again, she knew some people who were and she would never associate herself with them. So I then said to her straight, that because I cared about her and wanted her to klnow the truth, she was not a Christian and was not saved- referring to John 3 v 3. In more of the converasation she said she thought the Bible was just guidelines and not to be taken literally. In the end she went back inside, but I asked what church she went to, and if weveryone there belived the same as she did, and she said yes, and that she attended an Anglican Church down the road, so I said one day I would come down and visit!
On saturday 26th August, I drove Shirley and her friend called Pat to Glastonbury festival, where we hoped it would be busy and could give out loads of tracts to people etc. We ended up just staying in the town centre and set up our table by a memorial where we had free tracts, ESV BIbles etc to hand out and people to take.
Throughout the day we all had some very interesting conversations with people- a group of 7 lads all the way from Liverpool , tracts given to every other shop which sold crystals, charms, offered healing, pyschic readings etc which gave us the creeps, and a group of locals who were getting drunk and laying in the flower beds, playing guitars and smoking weed. They were quite open to talking though, and took some tracts as we sat by them. It was a very interesting day, extremly hot, but we were an encouragement to a couple of people who walked past who were Christians in the area.
I went to get anot h e r t
icket on my parking, and saw a lady reading the stickers on my van. I asked her if she thought they made sense, and she said yes, so we chatted about things and she revealed she no longer went to Church as she used to attend a Roman Catholic school when a child, and some horrible things were done to her there by one of the Roman Catholic priests. I felt saddened, and tried to explain that Roman Catholicism and Christianity were different, but she would not take a tract and left.
There is a lot of darkness up there, and so hopefully we were some spiritual light to them that day. Next weekend were in Truro for a Noel Richards concery where we are part of the prayer team afterwards and giving out tracts and information so should be an interesting report next week.
May Jesus be praised and save some of the people who we spoke to that day!
Monday, 14 June, 2010
My apologies for such late post updates- find it hard with 2 other housemates to spend time by myself writing this up, but some good outreaches to report on. A couple of weekends ago, myself and Shirley went down to Cornwall for a few hours to a beautiful seaside town hoping to catch some holiday makers out enjoying the sunshine and for hopefully some good witnessing opportunities. The weather was not as good as first hoped and so we had to keep making quick darts to shelter with the basket of tracts and Bibles, but eventually the weather held off enough to witness to people and hand out tracts.
My first conversation was with a gentleman called Patrick who was by himself sitting on a wall. At first |I was very nervous about handing him a tract as at first glances he appeared to be someone who I would (wrongly) judge to be opposed to it. How wrong I was! I prayed about speaking with him, and offered him a MPN, and found out he was actually very open about talking about God and the afterlife. He was a sailor and was waiting for a haircut, and used to attend Church with his wife, but before they met, she got divorced because her now x-husband had abused their daughter, which is why she wanted a divorce.
Apparently the Church had not been very encouraging or understanding and said she should forgive the man and try to make a fresh start, which she could not do, and so this stopped them both attending Church. He did say he sometimes opened up the Bible and would read it, and still believed in God, but didnt like attending Church. So I chatted with him for a bit and gave him 3 different tracts to read and encouraged him to read the gospel of John all the way through again, and it turned out to be a great witnessing opportunity in the end, even though at first I put up my own barriers as to whom I think will respond- God put me straight!
Another 2 teenagers I bumped into were called Max and David. They were just moping around the streets as there is not much to do for teenagers there apart from drink, but these 2 seemed pretty coherent. They liked the MPN and the intelligence test questions, and ere again pretty open to talk about life after death and if there was a heaven, who would deserve to go there. Things were going well, when I was speaking about the cross etc, when one of them started saying he had a funny head and was feeling dizzy and was seeing flashing colours.
I immediately thought this may have been to do with drugs/ alcohol, but his mate seemed pretty concerned for him, and he said it was because as a small child, his father had accidently dropped him when his sister ran past, and he landed on his head and so had these funny spells sometimes. So Shirley asked to pray for him and he said yes, and so we prayed for him, and he appeared to recover pretty quickly. They were very thankful and were able to chat some more, and gladly took some tracts and a Bible each, and so we prayed they would actually think about what we had discussed. We have a basket with a sign saying 'free Bibles- please take generously' on, and we were surprised how many were being taken- they are the ESV new testaments, and we like to bookmark them in the gospel of John with a tract, and many of different ages wanted them which was great.
In Plymouth I went out to the University again to witness, and was not there for very long, but prayed for a divine appointment with someone, and yet again God allowed a young lad to miss his bus while I was eating some food before starting. I could see how annoyed he was the bus didnt stop, and so managed to be able to point him to the bus I was going to get home in 20 minutes time. He was greatful, and so this allowed me to chat with him and to give him a gospel tract and start speaking about spiritual things with him. He was 19 and worked in a bar, and said that he hadnt really thought much about what happens after death. I went through the law with them, then explained sin, judgment and hell, before going onto the cross and how someone is saved. Our conversation carried on the bus together and we both got off at the same stop, and he took some tracts, and acknowledged if he became a Christian how important it would be for him to tell his Mum and family etc, so prayed a seed was sown that would maybe grow at a later date.
On Friday 4th June I went to Belfast in Ireland with my friends family for a youth conference at Forestside Christian centre, which is a solid Bible believing Evangelical church. I was really looking forward to hearing the teaching and to helping with some of the youth ministry with the young people who would be coming from the local estates. On the Friday I went to Belfast city centre to visit the Evangelical Christian book shop where theyt have a treasure trove of books, particularly at the second hand section in the back and managed to get some Tozer, J.C.Ryle, A.W Pink and Spurgeon books, 17 in all.
I saw 2 Mormons out in the centre speaking with people, and so started to talk with them and got into conversation about how someone is saved, the book of Mormon being scripturally wrong, using John 1, Hebrews 1 and Colossians 1 in their Bible (after discussing what the difference between a version and a translation of the Bible were) to show the divinity of Christ, and how he had to be fully man and fully God to be the perfect sacrifice for sins. I also tried to show them that by their4 teaching, I would still have another chance to hear and respond to the gospel once I died and at least enter either the Terrestial, Telestial or Celestial heaven, where as by there Bibles teaching, if they died in their sins believing in another Jesus or gospel, according to Galatians 1 v 7, they were accursed and would end up in hell. They had some differing views than other Mormons I had met, as they believed in Hell more, and gave me a book of Mormon and said to pray to God to reveal the truth through it (Its now on my stinkers book shelf next to Rob Bell and The Shack), but they took some tracts to read.
Many people gladly took the MPN's, they were a lot more respondent than in Plymouth, and there were lots more Christians out on the streets witnessing to people and preaching. I overheard one conversation an American man was having with a man and woman, and listened in while they were talking, and could see the lady crying and being convicted about what was being said. The man prayed for them, and just as they were leaving |i was able to give them some tracts. When speaking to the man, he was called Donnoly and was from the states and had been here in Belfast for almost 2 years on mission and was returning home the following week. We had a great chat and I found out he used Answers in Genesis/ Living waters gospel material, and that he was also heading to the youth conference where I was staying, and offered to drive me back.
So we decided to do some more witnessing together before heading back, and there was a load of kids hanging outside the town hall every Saturday, even more so because of a pro-Palestinian march being held. We both started handing out tracts to the teenagers, and I got into another good discussion with the teenagers about the doctrine of hell and what would happen there and for how long it would be. They understood about Jesus, as a lot of the Irish do, but managed to go into why he had to die and who Jesus actually was, not just the Son of God, but God the Son.
I then moved back to where Donnoly was, and saw he was debating with an Irate Muslim gentleman who claimed he believed in the same Jesus as Christians do and that Muslims have a lot of respect for who Jesus is. So Donnoly tried to explain that we didnt believe in the same Jesus because he didnt think Jesus was God. This then led the man to start claiming for evidence in the Bible where Jesus directly said that he was God. Of course Jesus never directly came out and said that, but in so many instances like Matthew 9 when he healed the leper, the Jews saying he is blaspheming claiming equality with God, doubting Thomas- my Lord and my God, Jesus accepting worship from people as God, Jesus making the 7 I AM statements etc, all showed he was the Messiah. However this man was adamant that unless he had the proof by his own claims, he would not believe.
The debate got a bit heated at times with the Police looking after the protest event walking over a couple of times, but the man left in the end after another Christian took his email and said he would discuss it with him in more depth.
The weekend was great and the young people heard a clear gospel message and took lots of tracts over the weekend, and I was able to speak to them a couple of times as well which was great so will hear back from the Church how they are getting on. God really opened my eyes to how it must be him that does the saving and drawing people close to him, as again the same gospel was preached to all, but many responded in different ways to it.
I will be praying more for the Friday outreach to advertise at Churches and for more Christians to support whether financially with money for tracts, prayer, or learning the WOTM techniques in conversing with someone on the streets, but again know God can use just a small number of people like Gideon and his army if we acknowledge him and give him glory for the efforts, and not ourselves, great things can be achieved for Gods kingdom, him using our small efforts in the process.
Saturday, 15 May, 2010
Friday 14th May
I hadn't been out on a Friday night doing evangelism for a few weeks because of bad weather and other commitments, but was able to go out tonight by myself to the Plymouth University for an hour or so to witness to some students
I had a great chat with a tall lad called Henry who was studying to do electrical engineering. He was eager to stop and chat, and we went through the 10 commandment test, sin, judgment to come and Hell, then we went through the gospel, Jesus and the cross. Everything seemed to be going well and he seemed to understand and acknowledge what was being said. At the end I left him with the question
''So Henry, if you were to die today, according to the Bible, where would you end up?"
He readily admitted, 'Hell'. I then said, 'so when do you think is the right time to get right with God'?
He then said, he didnt see the need to, as didn't believe in what the Bible said. We then had another 5 minute conversation about the Bible, its authenticity, validating the scriptures and the words of Jesus. He did seem more open at the end of the conversation, and did leave saying that it had left him with something to think about and took some tracts. At the beginning of the conversation he seemed so eager and yet after the sudden halt, it turned out with him at least understanding his fate unless he repented and trusted Christ, and so yet again have to leave it up to God for his hopefully conversion some day.
One more great chat was with a young student called James.After offering him a tract and chatting, it turns out he was in the C/U at the University there and helped with 'Tea & Toast' whereby the C/U opens from 11-3am and students give out tea and toast to students coming back drunk from the clubs and talk with them which often involved sharing the gospel and giving out tracts etc.
I asked him some basic questions like why did he think God should let him into heaven, and how would he try and share the gospel with me if I wasn't a Christian, just to clarify what he believed and understood.
This then led onto me going through the good person test with him, explaining what the Bible said about sin, and how using the 10 commandments makes it more understandable and reasonable, including a bit of my testimony.
He said he was greatly encouraged and thought it made lots of sense, took lots of tracts and email, and especially liked the idea of the million pound notes. He said there may be an opportunity for me to come in and share with some of the others in the C/U about the way of the master teaching principles and how to start a conversation with someone, as he was on the committee there, and so will wait to hear back from him and see if this bears any fruit!
Saturday 15th May
It was a lovely sunny day in Plymouth today, and although numbers keen to come out on Friday evenings seems to have dropped at the moment, were still having fairly good numbers for the fortnightly outreaches around Devon and Cornwall. I Met with Shirley, her daughter, Pete Squires from Open air mission, my good friend Wayne who runs his own small Church, Russell and Sheree.
Whe setting up, 2 students came over to the free Bible stand and got talking with us. One of them called Lucy said she wasn't a Christian, and although her parents were not Christian, she wanted to know more about God and was thinking about attending a Christianity explored course in the future at a Church near her.
Her friend Ben was a Christian, and so I shared the good person test with her and the gospel, and she seemed to understand and be encouraged by the good news offered through Jesus. They took some tracts and Lucy seemed keen to want to find a Church to go to, and so will wait to see if we hear back from them.
Just before I preached, I got into a conversation with 5 lads from Launceston college. Things seemed to be going well in the conversation, until one of them realised I was with the other Christians behind me and the banner and people preaching. Then one guy tried to persuade the others to leave as he didn't want to know about it. However 3 of them seemed keen to take tracts, and I gave another 2 tracts to them to give to the other 2 who had left, saying that they may have been a bit embarrassed tpo chat because they were in front of their friends.
I then preached about the person in the news who had won about 85 million pounds on the lottery the day before, and that riches profit not on the day of wrath, but righteousness. It turned out 3 young Jehovah Witnesses had heard the message and then engaged with Pete, and he said he had an interesting chat with them, as they believed that Lucifer didn't fall just before the Garden of Eden, but in 1914???
When I had finished preaching, the guy who was with the group of 5 and at first didn't want to know came back with his mate, saying that he was not embarrassed to talk about things in front of his friends, but that he didn't believe the Bible and the claims that Jesus was the only way to God.
So this led to a good discussion for about 10 minutes again on the authenticity of the Bible, the amount of manuscripts, when it was written and by whom, the supernatural prophecies in it, and how the whole theme through out the Old Testament was Jesus, as the promised Messiah. He was also a bit adamant that Christianity claimed to be the only right way and all other ways wrong, and so we talked about how other religions are works based, and how just doing good works, praying and attending Church cant pay for your sins, but how Jesus had accomplished this all in dying on the cross, as he was fully man yet fully God.
I again shared my testimony at the end, and showed them by scars, and the seriousness of the message and how we need to get right with God in this life time, and they both seemed a lot more open at the end, and thanked me,m and at first he had been reluctant to take any information, but this time took a couple of tracts to read which was great.
Was a great day, lots of tracts handed out and quite a few people stopping to listen to the preaching right in the city centre, a few of which were Christians who were encouraged, so again leaving the results to God!
Saturday, 1 May, 2010
Plymouth- 24/04/10
Once a month a few of us from 4 Churches meet up for an hours open air preaching and handing out gospel tracts to people etc, and this Saturday about 8 of us were out in total.
Before I met them though, I was getting my hair cut, and a young lad came in and sat next to me. I was unsure whether to offer him a million pound tract in the Barbers in case the staff got annoyed, but managed to, and started a conversation with him. Amazingly he said he remembered me witnessing to him and his friends by the shopping mall in Plymouth a few months ago, and remembered my name from a card I gave him. We had a great conversation about the afterlife and the gospel, and was really encouraged, as at first was unsure whether or not to talk in a closed area like that, but God really blessed the conversation, and he said he would again think about what we had discussed.
When I met the others in the city centre, I offered a million pound note to 3 lads, and tried some intelligece test questions to break the ice with them. They didnt seem to get the humour at all, and it was quite embaressing at first, but later found out they were 2 German and 1 French students, though had great English as were students here, and after we had cleared that up, we managed to have a good discussion about what happens to someone after they die and if they thought they would be good enough to get to Heaven.
One more good discussion happened with 2 men in early 20's who were about to join the Navy. This led to a good discussion about what the difference between killing and murder were Biblically, and because of the work they were going to have to do in the future, one lad partuicularly thought soberly about things, and gladly took some tracts and information to read.
Pete who is the other preacher is part of open air campaigners and uses a magnetic board to present the gospel, and I preached on Isaiah 55 which attracted a heckler which led to a few people on the sidelines listening, so was a good day out on the streets.
Exeter- 01/05/10
Last Saturday, 6 of us met in Exeter to do some outreach work,m and were met with heavy rain for the first hour, and so were all hiding under shop overhangs, but were praying for opportunities to speak to people still, as many people were congregating under the shop roofs, waiting for the showers to pass. After praying silently for a conversation, a man approached me from across the street, asking if I was part of the UKIP group handing out literature against the BNP as many were out handing out flyers for the upcoming election.
I said I wasnt, but was one of a few Christians handing out tracts to people. This led into a great discussion with him about death and the afterlife, and he was extremly humble and open, was 30, called Tom, and was engaged and getting married soon. He understood what sin is etc, that it was primarily against God, and that if he died in his sins he would end up in Hell. I explained that this message was therefore not only applicable to him, but his fiancee as well, and so repentance might mean them not sleeping together until they got married. We shook hands and he seemed very thankful and took some information to read. I was extremly happy that the weather had not stopped the gospel going out and that God had answered my prayer.
There were also 2 19yr old Lads that stopped and had a conversation after handing them a million pound note. At first they seemed to take it as a bit of a joke, but as the conversation progressed they seemed more earnest to think about spiritual things, and left with something to think about and to read.
Even though the day started out wet and miserable, the rain eventually cleared, and allowed Mike from Taunton who had come with his wife, Shirley and myself to preach, and quite a few people in the backgrounds stopped to listen which was great (video link below)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEaGB3t0tpk
Saturday, 3 April, 2010
Easter weekend
Good Friday
On Good Friday, I went to Truro in Cornwall with Shirley and her daughter, and Shirley had brought a wooden cross about 4ft tall that her husband had made with different sins written on them in black which looked very effective and gave something for people to look at and think upon.
We started one to one witnessing and giving out tracts, and then Shirley preached outside the Cathedral, and I preached in the highstreet. Truro again is another small city/ town where many are apathetic and walk past without any concern, and so having a couple of older teenagers stop and listen was encouraging.
Afterwards I managed to chat with 4 of them and asked what they thought good Friday was about, what they think happens to someone after they died, and if they would be good enough to go to Heaven/ who should deserve to go to Hell.
They were very open which weas encouraging, and we spoke for about 15 minutes on the subjects, andthey each took a 'why the cross' pamphlet and other tracts, one even took a gospel of John which was great.
On the way back from Truro on the train, a lady sat next to me for most of the journey, and we started a conversation, and after she had looked at the book I was reading, said she was a Catholic. We had an interesting discussion about what the Bible says about how someone gets to heaven. After asking her why she thinks that God should let her into heaven, she said that she felt she had done some good things and that God would see this, and as Father God loved her she would enter heaven.
This then led onto going through the 10 commandments to show that no one is good enough to get to heaven themselves, and any good we think we have done thats deserving of salvation, to God is as filthy rags. We then talked about the difference between justification and sanctification, and the doctrine of faith and works, andthe order they come in salvation. We left on a good note though, and she said she would read the why the cross leaflet on her next train which was great.
Walking home from the train station, I met a lady called Kath who had listened to us preaching in town over a year ago, and had said that she wanted to get right with God. She is still attending a Church in Redruth which is great and seemed full of JOy, despite problems with her knees resulting in her having big operations on the way. This was a great encouragement that although most of the time we never see the fruit of the gospel tracts we give out and conversations, salvation is always from the Lord, and so was great she was now a Christian.
Saturday
On saturday we had about 7 of us in Plymouth city centre, and on first looking at the pouring rain, it looked like it would be a dismal day. However, lots of us prayed, and 15 minutes after meeting, the rain cleared allowing us to speak. Another gentleman from Bristol was out handing out Christian leaflets with his wife and speaking to people, and so while he was up the top of town, we went nearer the centre, where Shirley preached, we gave out tracts, then Wayne and I managed to preach right outside the shopping mall which had great amplification as people were coming in and out, and with no hastle from PCSO's or security guards, was a great day, with loads of tracts going out, good conversations with a Pagan, a friendly agnostic and some teenagers was encouraging.
Wayne preaching
Matt preaching
Friday, 12 March, 2010
Last Friday another evangelist came out with me on the Friday evening to Plymouth University for an hour which was a great encouragement (there is now 3 in our team on a regular basis, including me!) and he is really interested in learning more of the WOTM principles which is great.
He had a great conversation with a Muslim student who again brought up issues about the Koran saying Jesus didnt die on a cross etc, and hopes to meet him again to chat further. That evening I came across 17 year old lads who were cousins walking through Plymouth University that evening. They were extremly open and friendly, which is not what I first expected, and they appeared to be concerned about the state of their soul before God and so enthusiasticly took tracts and a gospel of John to read, which was greatly encouraging. It made me realise again that God is no respector of persons, were all the same in his sight in that respect, and so just if we dont think someone will want to hear the gospel because of the way they look/ dress, God often has other ideas.
I also had a very interesting conversation with a guy called Rob, who was gay. I discovered this after he said he had never lusted after a woman, but this issue was not the sticking point at all, as it so often can be. Again he was very pleasant and was not convinced about evolution anhd was intregued about creationism and what the Bibles views on the origin of life were, and again he gladly took some tracts and information to read and think about.
On the train back from Glastonbury on Tuesday, I offered a tract to a man with his headphones on, and again at first I thought he would be disinterested, but again I was very wrong! It was a real refrershing conversation with the 24yr old guy called Mike, and as he had been brought up in a Catholic school as a child, he already had some views on God and heaven/ hell. He really understood the gospel message, its amazing grace but also stark warningsa of refusing to repent and trust Christ alone for his salvation, and therefore acknowledged the implications this may have on his girlfriend about to pick him up from the station and his parents etc. He too took a gospel of John and a 'Why Christianity' tract.
On Wednesday 17th March I had the day off work, and so had arranged to meet some American students on an evangelism outreach fgrom Iowa to Plymouth, as a friend had seen them doing open air preaching in PLymouth city centre and took their contact details, and so I spent a couple of hours with them.
This included managing to speak to some x-pupils from the local secondary school I work alongside as a youth worker, and being able to start conversations with 3 lads whom I know from there, which I would not normally have been able to do in work time, which was great. They took tracts and seemed wide eyed afterwards when they understood what the gospel and Easter was all about, and after knowing about my accident I had when I was their age at 16, how short this life is incomparison to the next.
I met the guy whose email I had contacted, and it turned out there was about 12 students alltogether with this mission trip, and others from their Church in Iowa had also gone to Wales and Barcelona doing the same sort of thing. They were using WOTM tracts and 6 day creation v evolution tracts which were really good. One of the older guys started doing some open air preaching at the sundial right in the middle of the city centre, and quite a few people stopped to listen to the american accent and what was being said, including a couple of angry hecklers and a couple of policemen pacing up and down in the background. Lots of tracts were given out to people when he had finished speaking.
I was then encouraged by him and so preached as well, and the same 2 hecklers came back, one man shouting adomantly that 'God hateed religious people', and another girl who wanted a shouting contest with me saying that because she didnt believe in God it didnt apply to her. I then tried to reason with he that if I believed the sun was sguare and blue, my belief system didnt matter, but the truth is the thing that matters. I tried to reason that either space or God must be the infinite causer of all life, and that as the Universe has a beginning, God was infinite and is self existent and so then went on challenging peoples beliefs about how someone gets to heaven.
I was encouraged afterwards by a couple of Christians I knew from Plymouth walking past who stopped to listen, and also an elderly gentleman the Kyle the american was speaking with. It seemed like he had heard some of what was being said by the other preacher and myself, and he said he used to believe in God/ go to Church, but wanted to think about things again, so praying he was convicted somehow!
Was a great afternoon and a real encouragement, and hope to meet them again on Friday before they fly home on Saturday.
Saturday, 27 February, 2010
On Friday the 26th February again my friend Phil and I went out to the Plymouth University campus at 9pm to try and catch students walking between the student Union and bars on the campus and down in the town. We hoped at this time we may be able to catch a few more that hadnt already been drinking, or who were at least ameniable to stop and talk.
I went across the road while Phil tried handing out some tracts, and I tried offering a million pound note to a group of guys to see if they would be willing to chat. However I didnt really take much notice of the bottles of beer in their pockets, and after going through 3 of the good person test questions, one of them asked if this was a religious thing, and thats when they started to get very irate. One guy had claimed that there absolutely was no God, and so I tried to reason with them about someone having to have absolute knowledge of the whole Universe for that to be true, and of course as thats not possible, left him with the thought that maybe in all of the vastness of time and space and knowledge that he didnt know, perhaps there was ample evidence for God to exist.
They didnt like this, and as there was about 6 of them, it became increasingly more evident they were not open to a reasonable discussion, they just hurled abuse at my belief in the Bible, that the world was created in 6 literal 24hr days and about 6000 years old, Noahs flood, Jonah and the whale etc.
They had no proof whatsoever for evolution, and one guy was just silent when questioned about evidence of just one transitional fossil or why 2 kinds of animals dont breed or have developed over a long period of time.
I was getting quite frustrated and so tried getting out of the situation quite hastily as one 'biologist' kept putting his hands on me when speaking. They didnt like the fact that I wanted to go, but later on when the group had dispersed to just 2, the guy was more open to talking with Phil and me. He said that he didnt believe in evolution, as in a faith, but that he acknowledged it as fact! Although he still couldnt justify his answers, we tried leaving him with an evolution tract to put in his pocket to read the next morning.
A Plymouth University security guard had also started to look across the road to see what the comotion was about, but thankfully they left quietly.
Later on that evening after a few more good conversations, we managed to speak to 2 students, one turning out to be a Muslim. After acknowledging they had broken the 10 commandments, the Muslim guy knew he was only basing his hope on heaven on the grounds of Allah being merciful to him by weighing up his good and bad deeds on judgment day.
Once explaining that God was a just judge and therefore couldnt pass over our sinning, just like a good human judge if we robbed a bank, and reasoning that our sins were that serious against God and worthy of eternity in hell because they were against God himself, he seemed to appreciate the good news of the cross and that all his past, present ands future sins could be paid for through Jesus death on the cross, without any works or striving to get to heaven himself, but through repenting of their sins and putting their trust in Jesus. He didnt try and reason anything about the Koran or Mohammed at all, even when we mentioned that Jesus was God. They were both pretty wide eyed and gladly took the tracts, and were encouraged to read the gospel of John. Phil and I were very encouraged and prayed they would get in with the C/U at the University, but like most of the conversations, we didnt know where this would lead, but left their salvation in Gods hands
The next day on Saturdays evangelism outreach in Plymouth city centre, I met up with another Church who go out monthly into the city centre.
I had the opportunity to stand and preach, and God drew in a few passers by, older people, some students and teenagers. A Lady in her early 20's stopped to listen, and I could see that she was taking in what was being said which was great. Unfortunatly the day before, an elderly lady had been hit by a lorry and died instantly, which was big news in Plymouth, and so gave me an ideal springboard to preach about, right into the crowd of those entering/ leaving the shopping mall, which was great amplification as well.
2 students asked some questions about where is God and the Virgin birth for some reason, but after preaching for about 10 minutes, saw others from the Church speaking with the lady who had been listening and giving her some information which was great.
Afterwards I had an amazing chat with 2 lads that said they would get right with God as soon as they had finished eating their burger! They were 18 and 20, and listened intently after being concerned that if they were to die that day they would be hell bound. But again, they truly appreciated the good news then even more, and again were wide eyed. I was almost going to see if they wanted to pray there and then, but they seemed earnest enough and said they would get right with God after finsihing off their lunch, so again pray that God worked in their lives and they might turn to him in humility.
God blessed us with a lovely sunny day and lots of people out shopping enjoying the weather, so was a great day, and was thankful God used us in our weakness and small number to speak the truth in love to people about eternity.