Battle Log
Friday 5 April 2019
Posted 5 April 2019, 6:38 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
Thursday saw the team back in Cathedral Square and at the Eastgate bus stops.
Andy’s first conversation in Cathedral Square was with a young man from China (pictured). This man was extremely engaged with the information he was learning about Jesus Christ, so much so that he accepted an invitation to join the Barlow family for dinner on Saturday night and to continue the conversation! Praise God.
Later, I preached in the open air. I used the coming of Easter as a springboard for my law & Gospel presentation. I had one heckler who bizarrely accused me of hatred towards Muslims while he was walking past. Nothing could be further from the truth! Out of love do Christians confront people with their sin, and share of the amazing forgiveness found only in Christ - and we are to do this with gentleness and respect.
The Eastgate bus stops outreach was, again, a time of non stop Gospel conversations!
I crossed the road and approached a young lady waiting for her bus, when she said, “Oh, you’re Glen right”. I was surprised! I had obviously talked to this person before and didn’t remember it. It turns out she was the friend of a young man I had spoken to at the Sparks in the Park Outreach a few months back. And in hindsight I remembered talking to them both briefly about 3 weeks ago.
This young lady remembered the building / builder; creation / creator analogy and starting from there, we discussed the Gospel in depth. She accepted literature, including a Bible, and received a contact card for a local church before she had to rush off to catch her bus home.
The Eastgate bus stop outreach is providing many opportunities for follow up conversations - and I thank God for that.
Friday saw rain. Heavy rain. But we weren’t going to let it hinder us. (I thanked God for the rain.)
We spent four hours in the central city. And our go to spot in heavy rain is the bus exchange. We prayed, as usual, before starting: asking God to provide opportunities to witness for Him in spite of the rain.
And God certainly answered that prayer! Andy had 2 back to back Gospel conversations with people that were some of the best conversations he has had in months.
And I had a wonderful opportunity to briefly share the Gospel with a lady who was an “Atheist / Buddhist” that had cancer and was keen to know about Christianity.
After lunch the rain had eased, so we ventured down to the corner of Colombo and Cashel (a favourite fishing hole) where Roger joined us. But soon the heavens opened up again, even including a hail shower at one point. In spite of this, many wonderful opportunities to share Christ occurred.
At the end of the outreach, we headed to a coffee shop for some fellowship. And then the sun decided to come out!
Nothing can stop the Gospel going forth, if God so desires. Rain, hail or shine.
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (3 April 2019)
Christchurch (NZ) Team
Weekly outreaches:
Tue 3:30pm - 5:30pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St)
Fri 1:30pm - 3:30pm - City (Bridge of Remembrance)
Sat 11am - 1pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St)
Sun 1:30pm - 3:30pm - City (corner of Colombo St and Cashel St).
Contact Glen Richards or Andy Barlow for more information.