Battle Log
Saturday 31 December 2022
Posted 31 December 2022, 4:38 PM by Doug Espie. Permalink
You are always guaranteed to meet someone interesting on the streets of Toowoomba...and 2022 was no different.
Earlier this year, Merv and I (Doug) spoke to X, who is a well-known personality with whom we have shared the Gospel with the past. X- was absolutely livid, as some teens had recently stolen his bike. He was angry and (understandably) spoke in long paragraphs to us.
We did our best to listen to X and to help him figure out ways to get his bike back. We also got onto the topic of Christianity and X told us that he used to be part of a Christian band.
X knew a fair bit of Scripture….but he also enjoyed tangents so Merv gently yet firmly brought X back to the question of X’s current relationship with Jesus every time.
It was a challenging discussion but we appreciated X’s candor. To the best of our knowledge, he is not ready to follow Christ at this stage but we strongly encouraged him to connect with a Church community and seriously consider his soul.
This year we also met D-. He used to own a food van business and had roughly $200,000 in the bank.
Yet D- lost it all during the Covid pandemic. He hit rock bottom and he even found himself being looked after by someone he once looked after.
In this bleak time, D came to realise the importance of a relationship with God. He prayed “God if you will forgive me for my sin I will follow you for the rest of my life.”
D- is now following God and is part of a local Church. D- even asked Merv and Howard for Gospel tracts to put in the mailboxes around his place! He wants to show others who Jesus is and we were greatly encouraged by his life story and what God is presently doing in D-’s life.
During our travels, we were also able to meet a number of people who had misunderstandings about Jesus.
We had an interesting discussion with M-, who is an indigenous lady who has some background in Christianity. She had recently been experiencing visions of Jesus but had a very mixed understanding of who He is. We spoke with M- for some time and we hope that M- can sort the fact from the fiction which she had picked up in her travels.
A middle-aged bloke name K- also had a number of misunderstandings about Jesus. Merv gently corrected his misunderstanding of who Jesus was and also shared the good news about what Jesus has done.
Our conversations with M- and K- were respectful, warm discussions and we’d like to ask for prayer for both of them.
Other adventures (in brief)
-We met a big friendly atheist bloke who was waiting for his family outside a shopping centre. He happily spoke to Elisa and Merv for some time about the issues of eternity.
- We had a significant misunderstanding with a member of one of the local Jehovah's Witnesses. While we have had good relationships with 99% of the businesses and “regulars” in the CBD...it is inevitable that misunderstandings do arise occasionally in the 17 years we’ve been evangelising in Toowoomba.
While opposition is inevitable (Matt 5:11-12) our heart is to eliminate “unnecessary offense”...because the Gospel is offensive enough!
We will continue to love everyone we meet and to treat them as people...not projects.
-We met two Christian homeless men who encouraged Merv and Howard. One even traded Gospel tracts with Merv!
-Kx, who is a local middle-aged man. Kx is a Christian who is going through a rough time. Interestingly, Kx also knows people at Toowomba Northside Baptist where Merv and Elisa attend. Merv and Elisa invited him to Church the following day.
-There was that time Merv offered a tract to a woman at a bus stop. She declined and Merv went away and spoke to someone else nearby. She overheard. Afterwards she said she’d take a tract after all!
-The Carnival of Flower and the Christmas Lights Festival in Queens Park remained our biggest outreaches of the year. We were able to share the Gospel with close to 3000 people through both regular and Christmas themed tracts. We had some great conversations with Christians who either encouraged us or were looking for a Church to attend. We also had conversations with some non-Christians who wanted to discuss different sets of ideas with us.
Overall 2022 has been a big year. We are thankful for all the opportunities that Jesus gave us this year and we excited to see what is ahead in 2023!
View previous Toowoomba (QLD) report (31 December 2021)
Toowoomba Team (QLD)
Meets the 3rd Saturday of each month at 10am at the corner of Ruthven and Little Street (Art Gallery Park).
The team also meets on the 1st Tuesday night of each month for prayer at various locations.
Contact Doug Espie for more information.