Battle Log
Saturday 10 September 2022
Posted 10 September 2022, 2:18 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
Three street outreaches to report on this week (I’m taking tomorrow off! :) ). The usual schedule. This week it was just me in Riccarton on Tuesday and Saturday, and there was a team of 5 in the City on Friday (although there were heaps of other Christians out sharing the gospel with other groups - praise God). So, that was 1, 5, 1. All odd numbers. I guess I like patterns ;)
As Roger was away on Tuesday, I took his usual spot on the other side of the street. And it’s a great little fishing hole! I had a busy time with all the fish to myself ;) I literally had people queueing up to talk to me!
I know I talked to plenty of people, but the only two conversations that come to mind at the moment are the ones I had with groups of school kids. It was two groups of four kids each.
In the first group, one kid stands out the most in my mind. I remember him being very impacted by the bad news of the law. I even remember his eyes bulging at one moment. It was such a pleasure to finally share the good news with him. All four of those guys were in different places, but they were all very engaged, and it was a wonderful conversation. At one point, one of them asked about abortion. So I simply said, “Think of it like this, if you had a 2 year old toddler would you kill them?” He thought for a second and just responded with “that makes complete sense” and the conversation moved on. After I had shared the gospel,, one of the other guys asked about “gays”. So I simply said, “who gets to make the rules?” His answer: “God, oh so therefore it’s sinful, but, Jesus died on the cross for their sin, but that means you won’t want to keep doing it”. I was amazed, by God’s grace, they were joining the dots so quickly. I was super encouraged by that chat.
The conversation with the second group of guys (one of whom was the brother of one of the guys in the first group) didn’t go so smoothly. One of the guys dug his heels in hard and refused to acknowledge that God is real. I gently reasoned with him while continuing to move the whole conversation through the law and the gospel. But he wasn’t having any of it, and it was interesting seeing the impact on the other guys (one in particular started agreeing with his friend). Who knows, maybe he is under conviction and close to the kingdom?
Friday was a busy and exciting outreach. Nice sunny weather, I even put sunscreen on for the first time of the Summer! Yay :)
I was straight into a chat with a tourist from Ireland! Double Yay - more people from overseas coming to NZ to hear the gospel. The chat went amazingly well. A smooth, short and sharp gospel conversation.
I then went seeking around the area politely approaching people and fell into another amazing chat with a young lady who I’m pretty sure I’ve talked to before. Again, it was another smooth, short and sharp gospel conversation. I asked if she had any questions at the end and she said, “no, you explained that really well, it makes sense”.
I love it when unexpected chats occur. Certain demographics tend to never stop, e.g., older people. But today, an older Asian lady stopped to engage! I could tell she wasn’t going to stay long, so I just did my best to labour the law, and point her to the grace of Jesus. She left with a tract.
The outreach ended up going long - 30 minutes over, but it was so good. A couple of years ago I had to call the police on a guy. Well, today he was back spewing his anger on members of the team. I simply went over and told them to ignore him. I then moved away and started taking some pictures of him (attached). He pointed to me: “Are you taking pictures of me!! How dare you?” He came over to me then, as he approached I simply said, “If you touch me, I will call the police”. He came right into my face and started spewing his hate, but he didn’t once touch me. And I wasn’t phased at all. All bark, no bite (little yelps actually, it was so sad to watch). I ignored him and he got sick of me, so he went over to abuse the other guys again. Roger finally got rid of him. In the meantime, I continued the gospel conversation that Roger had started with a young autistic guy.
The outreach finished with prayer, but it was interrupted with chats with 2 regulars, the last one was Simon the Atheist. Unlike last week, we actually engaged in spiritual conversation, with a focus on how we know God is real via logic. Simon doesn’t have the same ‘bite’ he used to, is he softening? God, please have mercy on him!
Saturday was busy and amazing. A flat earther and his girlfriend heard the gospel. A young couple with Biblical foundation and yet still trusting in works came to grasp the gospel and left challenged and encouraged.
And to finish off, one of my regulars that I haven’t seen for a long time came past. It was so good to catch up! I was shocked to hear that he was considering suicide earlier today, and had even pre attempted but bailed on it (thank God). He seems to have remembered nothing of what I’ve shared before, so I went hard on the law with him today. Great chat. We shaked hands multiple times before he left. Oh God, please answer my prayer, have mercy on him, for your glory alone.
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (4 September 2022)
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.