Battle Log
Sunday 2 March 2025
Posted 2 March 2025, 11:27 AM by Glen Richards. Permalink
I like the quote: “preach the gospel; die; be forgotten”. It’s not about me primarily, but it’s about God and his glory.
I write these reports to encourage. But, do you need the encouragement of these reports? Don’t we already have the book of Acts? Is that not sufficient? It is sufficient.
Yet, I also appreciate the prayers of the few of you who read these reports, and so I will continue.
When I was in Dunedin, I read Matthew 6:1-4.
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
- Matthew 6:1 (esv)
And then, once back from Dunedin, during my last weekly bible study with my local church small group, we were studying the very same passage. It’s amazing how subtle we can be in stealing glory from God and boasting in what we do!
And yet, the balance can be found earlier in Matthew:
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
- Matthew 5:16 (esv)
The bible study leader summed it up brilliantly: if you are tempted to hide it, you probably need to show it; but if you are tempted to show it, you probably need to hide it.
So, in writing these reports, there has been great temptation for me to boast in my efforts (which is crazy, because it’s only by the effort of Jesus that I’m even alive, saved and able to do anything at all). I’m aware of this when I go back to the Facebook post and see how many ‘likes’ the post has had.
Rather than writing these reports, I could be telling more people about Jesus (one of the reasons I’ve dropped down to monthly reports). And, rather than you reading these reports, you could be doing the same. Something to consider, right?
And yet, all things in balance.
That all said, the team has had a very encouraging month. The focus of this report will be on our week down in Dunedin, but we have also been busy on the streets of Christchurch and online. There is *unlimited* opportunity for the proclamation of the gospel. All glory to God alone.
So, we went to Dunedin during the University O (orientation) Week. Dunedin has a big university, and is 1 of 2 medical universities in New Zealand.
We went in conjunction with Cornerstone Church, and also worked alongside members of OAC and other like minded ministries. There was a lot of work in preparing for this trip. I had to coordinate with the elders of the church, the local student ministries (who were working independent of us) and the other evangelists I would be working with. That was hard work! It led to much prayer on my part. And did God answer that prayer! As far as I know, the week went really smoothly from the coordination perspective.
But God also answered the other prayer: that He would be glorified in many hearing about Him and His gospel.
There were about 10 of us on the team. Each day we would generally split into 2: half down at the Museum Reserve, where a big Uni O Week event was happening. And the other half at the Octagon and everywhere in between (George Street, bus stops).
I’m going to relate a few experiences from my perspective.
Saturday morning we were in the Octagon, the foot traffic was a bit light, and so I ended up approaching everyone that came close. This included 2 separate conversations with elderly people. Generally, older people can be pretty resistant to new ideas. This was no different with these 2 conversations, but I was encouraged that they at least stopped and continued talking with me in spite of the resistance! We sometimes have no idea what’s going on in the heart. I didn’t use my usual ‘script’ with them, instead I went at their pace and challenged them with where they were at. They both took tracts for follow up.
In the afternoon, I started with a 45 minute gospel chat with a young man from Germany. He was a carpenter on a working holiday. His name was Mathias. He resisted the building builder analogy, but I stuck to my guns, attempting to pry his hands off his suppression. He opened up, and I was able to go through the law, the gospel, and all the checks. Yet, he couldn’t help going back to his suppression. I didn’t let him, reminding him of the certainty of the things we were discussing. He said he needed time to think (which is fair to a degree – I can’t force him!), but I warned him he could die today and what I was sharing was simple. I urged him to repent.
On Sunday we were at the church gathering in the morning, and then rested in the afternoon. From Monday till Thursday it would be 6 hours a day of gospel labour.
It was wonderful to have a newbie with us Monday and Tuesday. Xavier was paired with me on Monday morning. We were in the Octagon.
We ended up getting into a very long chat with a high school student. Early in the chat, I mentioned that I didn’t want him to be late for school, but he just said, “it’s okay, I’ve got an appointment”. Near the end of the chat, he looked at his phone, so I checked again, “do you have to go?”. “Oh, no”, he responded, “I’ve still got time to talk”. So he was very engaged. He was partly resistant, and yet partly open. There were certain sticking points for him that we needed to labour on. It was a wonderful chat. As he finally left, Xavier turned around and rejoiced! He was so encouraged. And I was encouraged that he was encouraged! From then on, you couldn’t hold Xavier back! In the afternoon, he was paired with Roger, and Xavier ended up taking over his flipchart in his enthusiasm!
There are so many more stories I could write about like this. I would encounter people in the Octagon on one day, and on another I would be able to follow up with them down at the Museum Reserve. The bus stops were amazing. In the late afternoon, they were teaming with fish - all in a barrel and I had a gospel shotgun to fish with. So good!
This is where I have to be most careful about boasting. A young man came up to me to say that the conversation I had had with him a year ago had impacted him - esp. The Fireman analogy. He is now a Christian, being discipled by one of the student ministers and connected with Cornerstone church. He wanted a selfie with me, I wanted to refuse - he should get a selfie with Jesus instead, but I conceded. We already know this, but the gospel is truly the power of God for salvation, the Holy Spirit is truly active today! All glory to God alone!!!
This report is long, and I have so much more to write. I’m going to let those words drop. Instead, I’ll finish up with this.
Andy and I have a good friend, Thomas, who has just moved to Timaru to take up a Pastoral role at a local church there (Covenant Grace Baptist Church). On Friday, we did 2 hours of outreach in Dunedin before starting the long drive home. We were going to do 3 hours, but instead we arranged to stop in Timaru for an hour of outreach with Thomas. We parked on the top of the hill and prayed together before moving down the main drag to start gospel chats. I was paired with Thomas. There were 2 guys from a local high school walking towards us, and so I started a chat with them. We talked for the whole hour. And it was the best chat of the whole week.
One of the kids had already been learning about Jesus online, and had been reading the Bible. Our conversation seemed to join the final dots for him. We had to labour longer with the other guy. We used all the analogies and check questions. Before the chat was over, they had shaken our hands at least 4 times. Thomas gave one a tract with his # and the name of his church.
Thomas let me know that they both came to church on the Sunday, and the sermon was just what they needed to hear. The last I heard Thomas was going to be catching up with them again on the Wednesday following.
Oh, that they are good soil, oh that those seeds won’t be plucked away. That God would not only be glorified through his justice, but by his greater mercy in their lives! May they grow up and be able to continue the task of making disciples: proclaiming the gospel. Either way, God will be glorified.
Please continue to pray for this feeble ministry. We are weak, but He is strong! In a couple of days we are flying to the Philippines for a week and a bit of ministry there. We need God’s help!
All glory to God alone. SDG. To Him be all the glory, forever and ever! Amen!!!
Edit: I have to mention the picture with the guy holding the pro life signs. Lovely guy, been laboring for the cause of life for decades. I think he mentioned since the '70s! But, he is Catholic. He said he was earning brownie points for heaven. I spent 30 minutes with him, as I left, he was at least correctly articulating the gospel. Pray that God would save his life, as he endevours to save lives.
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (2 February 2025)
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.