Battle Log

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Battle Log of Operation 513 for Sunnybank on Wednesday Dec 21st, 2022 from 1400 – 1500

Today, I did my regular Street outreach by myself. I have to keep up with the habit to do weekly outreach to keep my spirit high ready for a mission trip to Turkey early next year in January. It will be a highly unstructured sort of random outreach by the lead of the Spirit, somewhat similar to the street outreach I am doing right now in Australia but with even higher uncertainty of the whereabout and who the Spirit will lead us to approach in a 100% strange place. The only refuge and fortress is God Himself. It was still a very interesting outreach experience for today as recap below: -

1) Rita from PNG, I used the Peace Child story of Don Richardson to attract her interest. She though born in PNG but has not heard about the tribal fighting legend story. The PNG tribes Don was serving is a cannibalistic tribe. They however welcome western white people living amongst them to elevate their status. Two neighbouring tribes fight for Don's presence in their tribes to the extent that Don threatened to leave them for a new place. Finally, the two constantly fighting tribes reached a peace treaty by sending one of their new born baby child to become hostage of the enemy tribes as such peace would prevail as long as the Peace Child is well and alive. Don Richardson realized this custom of the two enemy tribes can be used as a metaphor to Jesus Christ who was send to become a Peace Child to the human world which have effectively fallen as a enemy of God because of our sinning against God and against each other’s. Rita was amazed to hear about this PNG legendary story and understood more about the role of Jesus coming to die for our sins to save us from eternal death punishment.

2) Japanese Alluvia has already migrated to Australia with his parents, but his mindset is still of oriental Buddhist spirit looking forwards to find peace in life by reaching harmony with the environment. I anyway shared the full gospel to him which he admitted not having heard about it before. So, pray that the seed of Gospel will change this westernized Japanese’s mindset to understand the atoning grace of Jesus dying for our sins.

3) Then I caught up with Rita from Taiwan who was very interactive in the course of gospel sharing. After hearing the gospel, she asked if a murderer will also be saved after he had killed many people and was sentenced the capital punishment. I made us of the famous case of Chen Jin Shin, who exactly committed series of great crime of robbery, rape and murders. But after he was caught and visited by Christians including his last hostage being the ambassador of South Africa, he received Christ through their forgiving love especially the younger daughter who drew picture to ask for God forgiveness be granted to Chen while she was held hostages. It was a perfect case to illustrate the power of Christ atoning death to set us free from the bondage of sin.

4) Rejected bluntly by a lady from the Mainland

5) Yet God let me catch up another lady from Hong Kong who was willing to listen, though the bus cam a bit too quick.

6) Last, I had a long conversation as well with Mr Zhou from Xian apart from sharing the full Gospel, , I was able to share my life testimony to demonstrate the life changing power to a self-righteous person like me.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

The street outreaches for the week were in hot summer weather.  Tuesday and Saturday in Riccarton, and Friday in the City.  I took Sunday off.

It was so good to have Caleb with me on Tuesday and Friday.  Caleb (pictured) has applied to come on the Philippines trip in March next year and is joining me so we can get to know each other better, and to get skilled up in preparation.  Roger was also with us on Tuesday.

Much of my time on the Tuesday outreach was spent in getting Caleb up to speed on the way we share the gospel on the street, via the flip chart.  But, near the end of the outreach I had an opportunity to share the gospel with 3 people going past.  I wanted to use the flip chart, so that Caleb would get a chance to get involved and to see how it works in action.  But I could sense that these 3 people could bolt at the slightest distraction, and so I had to minister while I had their attention.  At the start of the chat, one of the key reasons they didn’t believe God is real is that they couldn’t reconcile the existence of God with evil in the universe.  So, I gave the biblical answer, found in Romans 9:22-23 (and elsewhere in the bible): God not only allows evil, but decrees that it will occur without ever doing evil himself so that he can demonstrate 3 things about himself for his glory.  Without evil people, he can’t demonstrate his: justice, mercy and patience (in holding off justice so mercy can be received).  Now, this answer has to be delivered with a large dose of compassion.  But, in this situation, I could see the light of understanding come into the eyes of all 3 of them, it opened them up and I was able to clearly minister the law and the gospel into their lives, and plead with them to accept the mercy of God found only in the sacrifice of Jesus.  I was really encouraged by the conversation.

Friday’s outreach was in muggy weather.  It had been raining, but during the outreach the sun came out.  Caleb and I set up the flip chart down Cashel Mall.  It was a very busy outreach!  I think lots of people were out with Christmas shopping.

People I wouldn’t normally expect were stopping to chat.  Many were attracted by the flip chart.

I had a couple of guys come to argue with me on the existence of God, they didn’t seem to get what they expected, which was someone with no answers.  They were challenged, but sadly doubled down on their resistance and moved on without hearing the good news.

I had a lady stop to engage.  I sensed she would bolt at any moment, and yet, at the same time, she was very engaged.  I started out with a summary of the law / gospel, and the longer she stayed, the deeper the explanations went.  She is from Auckland, and there had been a hellfire preacher up there that had put her off.  And yet, she came to talk to me knowing I’m a Christian.  Maybe the hellfire preacher had pricked her conscience?  I explained hell, in the context of God’s mercy.

I was keen for Caleb to get into his own chat, and so I got one started, passed it to him, and then stepped away.  It was so good watching him engage, and hold the attention of the two guys.  Well done Caleb!

Saturday was busy.  I talked to a universalist who slid slightly by the end of the chat.

But the stand out chat in my memory was with a couple.  She approached me on her own.  Her husband had recently become a Christian, and she was still trying to process the world view change.  Her husband came and joined the chat, and it was so encouraging to hear his explanation of the gospel!  He has been studying the Bible intensely, is involved with a good local church, and is listening to good teachers.  His understanding of the gospel is flawless.  I was so encouraged to actually see the fruit of the Holy Spirit working in the life of a new believer!  My prayer is that the Holy Spirit would illuminate the gospel in the heart of his wife.  My God bless this young couple!
 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 for Sunnybank on Tuesday Dec 13th, 2022 from 1400 – 1500

Today, I specially teamed up with Rev Min Yaw Law the SMA NC elect, and Dr Daniel Sze the missionary to the first nation people of the Baptist Mission Australia. They came for many other missions and objectives, but were interested to know how we do Street outreach. We prayed together and then I let them have freedom to be led by the Spirit to do it their way or stayed by to observed what I did. Rev Law chose the latter and accompanied me for a while. We ended up doing for an hour outreach there. Recap is the Battle log for today.

1) I was first led to approach Alex a Korean young man. After I finished my gospel sharing, he indicated he is a Christian readily, then I switched to test for his assurance of salvation. He frankly admitted it was not yet 100%. I quickly clarified before the bus came that it was only because of the work of Jesus Christ that we are 100% saved and be given back our long-lost heavenly citizenship.

2) I was led to approach an Aussie who was willing to chat for a while about the good person concept, but was excused to take call. I left him with a tract anyway, after waiting a while that he seemed having no quick intention to end the call.

3) Then I approached a Hong Kong woman who has no religious background. She was happy to chat until the bus arrived.

4) Then I was led to approach a South Indian old man with a red spot on his forehead. He appeared friendly but pardon for his bad English. I still managed to use the tract and the pictures to convey the message. Finally, he really had to leave with a tract bringing home.

5) Then I caught up with a Man from Canton China. He was sceptical about good and who can defined what is good. . I used my usual tactics to ask even though non one can defined what is good. But can he name anyone who is perfect in this world. So, when we are not perfect, we are in trouble of facing judgment after death. The bus cam and he left with a tract.

6) Finally, I caught up with Eva an Indonesia girl come to learn English. I managed to use more simple English to share the message and she felt good about it.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

A normal week this week.  All the usual street and online outreaches happening.  Although they all had a Christmas theme.  Yes, it is that season again, where I say, “Merry Christmas” over and over while handing out tracts, and when someone stops, my usual opening question is, “what do you think Christmas is all about?”  The street outreaches have all been busy, but in different ways.

On Tuesday, I had Roger with me in Riccarton, and we decided to pair up on one flip chart together.  But before Roger arrived, I had a special opportunity.  A young asian girl stopped and accepted a tract and we fell into a short, yet warm conversation.  Her gospel articulation wasn’t the best, but she said she was a new Christian.  It felt like a divine appointment in the sense that she had just been praying about her lack of desire to do the things she knew she should: reading the bible, etc.  Where I think I helped was bringing the gospel clarity that doing good wasn’t required to be saved – and understanding that would lead to a disciple, if not a desire to study the bible, etc.  At least, she really appreciated the short chat!  She encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing.

Roger and I were busy.  Often one of us would be using the flipchart, while the other was talking to someone else to the side.  Great teamwork!  I love serving alongside Roger!  2 chats stand out in my mind.

The first was a flipchart chat with a young man.  Classic ‘good deeds’ for heaven, but as I took him through the flipchart, his understanding of the gospel brought a shine to his eyes!  It wasn’t a long chat, because he wasn’t resistant; but he was extremely thankful by the end.

The second was a chat without the flipchart.  A large group of high school students went past, and then they came back.  One of them sat on the bench nearby.  Roger was using the flipchart, so I went and engaged him - he was resistant.  He walked off, and joined his friends around the corner.  They were sitting on another bench, so I decided to approach them all.  I told them what their friend had said to me, and I wanted to know their thoughts.  Game on!  They were all in different places.  Some wanted to talk, some just listened.  Mostly they were resistant.  I just went with the flow, and in the process, I was able to share the law and the gospel with them.  One of their key questions was about homosexuality.  Initially, I countered that with: “I’ll answer that, if you first tell me how we know what is right and wrong.” - that led to a good discussion.  I was faithful in explaining why homosexuality is sinful, yet in the context of the mercy and forgiveness of Jesus.  Eventually, the kids started peeling off and moving on.  And finally the chat came to an end.  Later they came back, and went into the SoYo (frozen yoghurt shop).  The original kid came out after and approached me again and wanted to know what the flip chart was about.  I said I’d be happy to take him through it, but only if he was nice (he had been pretty rude earlier).  He had seemed to change slightly - for the better, he was a little bit more sober and respectful.  But his mates came out and he ended up moving on with them.

On Friday, rain was threatening, and I was considering cancelling the outreach - I nearly did.  But one of the newbies convinced me not to!  Hey, if they are keen, so am I!

In the end, the rain held off, which was great!  Plenty of people were around, so there were lots of gospel opportunities.  This week, Andy paired Izzy, and I paired with Joel (a switch from the week prior).  After prayer, Andy and Izzy got straight into a chat.  And soon after, Joel and I approached a young high school student from Germany and got into a great chat with him.  He was an atheist, and sadly continued to stay in suppression of his knowledge of God.  Yet, I was able to share the law and gospel, before we cycled back to discuss the knowledge of God we all have.

After the chat, Joel, John and I had a bit of a debrief.  Andy and Izzy were still going with their chat!  In fact, for the whole 2 hour outreach, they only had 2 conversations - so great to get engagement and be able to labour!

Joel and I headed down Cashel Mall, and were able to get a few chats started, but no real engagement.  Our last chat was okay - law and gospel shared.  Glory to God for any fruit; the simple gospel message is the power of God for salvation.

Afterwards, we had a bit of a debrief, as a team, over hot chocs - pictured

Saturday’s outreach in Riccarton was hot, and busy.  I was grateful for the shade of the tree.  It was busy in the sense of all the conversations I was able to have.  No real down time, which is a good thing!  I had my flip chart up, but I never used it.

My first chat was with a guy who I thought was going to blast past me, but he ended up accepting a tract. I was quick with my first question, and to my amazement, he answered.  Slowly he engaged in the conversation and he ended up hearing the law and the gospel.  It was a short chat, but I was able to slow down a bit as he became more engaged.  I was really encouraged.  I spoke to a girl who is pagan (my Christmas question really got engagement from her: “it’s a pagan festival”).  She was resistant, but friendly.  In the end, her issue was evil and suffering.  She didn’t like God for allowing it.  Actually, now that I think about it, most of the chats that day were with people who were resistant.  But that’s okay.  God can change hearts and minds, through the power of the Gospel!

Sunday’s outreach was busy, but in a different way.  In the city, corner of Colombo and Cashel, next to all the people filling through the department store Christmas display windows.  I gave out heaps of Christmas gospel tracts!  I’d say nearly 100 in 2 hours.  I did also have some chats, so not all that time was spent in tract giving.  One stand out chat was with a young man from Korea.  He had a Christian background (it turned out to be Catholic), he thought his good deeds would get him to heaven, but by the end of the chat, he was articulating the right way to heaven well.

Well, I’ve managed to waffle my way through another report.  If you are still reading well done!  I know my reports are pretty repetitive.  But, that’s a good thing, right?  The gospel is going out!  Please keep this little ministry in prayer.  Without the power of the Spirit, our effort is in vain!  Merry Christmas!
 

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

It’s so good to be back on my own patch!  My own beat.  My regular routine!  I’ve loved the 2 months of special outreaches, including: a training day, 3 A&P Show outreaches, and the Schoolies trip to the Gold Coast (check out the details of that here).  But, it’s good to get back to normal

I got back from the Gold Coast a week ago, and I took some time off to rest and recover from the intensity of that, and the 3 day Canterbury A&P show before it.  I was back to work on Thursday, and there have been 3 street outreaches to report on: Friday in the City, Saturday in Riccarton, and Sunday (today) in the City.

It was overcast and cold on Friday, but no rain.  There were heaps of people out and about, so much opportunity.  There was a team of 5, it was great to have 2 newbies with us.  One paired up with Andy, and the other paired up with me.

But, I arrived early, and with all the people around, I thought I would get started.  On the Gold Coast, we didn’t use tracts or flip charts to start chats, and so I decided to do the same thing today.  After prayer, I approached two guys.  Flat out rejection!  They didn’t even want to accept tracts as I left!  Oh well.  So, I approached two ladies.  Again, rejection.  The NZ crowd can be tough!  One of the girls said she had ‘tried’ Christianity when she was 15, but now that she was 24, she didn’t want anything to do with it.  Sadly, she didn’t want to talk about it.  So I respected her wishes and moved on.  Yet, they both accepted tracts as I left - that was good.

By this stage, the team was starting to arrive.  After prayer together, we got to it.

So, I was paired with one of the newbies - it was so great to see how keen she was to get involved.  She had done something similar with other people.

The highlight chat of the outreach was a long one.  I approached a young man who recognised me.  It turns out I had shared the gospel with him in Riccarton.  But he didn’t remember the gospel.  Yet, he was keen to talk again, so we fell into a long chat on the tram line, and when a tram came, we ended up sitting down.  I can see why he didn’t remember the gospel, he was a philosophical type, who loved to discuss religion, but not make any commitments.

I did my best to stay on task, but I wanted to give the newbie room to get involved, and also have time to listen to the young man who liked to talk, and actually had good questions.  Other than the law and the gospel, we covered why God decrees evil and suffering, and we even discussed presuppositions - he brought it up!

The conversation was interrupted when a couple of streeties came along.  I knew one of them, so I said, “hi Jesse”.  He didn’t recognise me, but he seemed touched that I knew his name and so it turned into a five way conversation!

It eventually wrapped up, and it was the end of the outreach already!  The original guy we were talking to was keen to continue the conversation, so we exchanged mobile #’s.  I have it on my list to follow up with him next week - which I will do.

As a team, after closing prayer, we went for hot chocolates for some fellowship.

On Saturday I was on my own in Riccarton.  And I had some wonderful gospel opportunities.

I talked to a young man who used to be part of a church I know down south: we had a mutual friend: the pastor of the church!

The kid had a reasonable grasp of the gospel, which was great.  But, now that he had moved to Christchurch, he wasn’t involved with church.  And then at the end of the conversation, it turns out he is dating his flatmate, who isn’t a believer.  I challenged the kid that this wasn’t right.  He is at a crossroads.  I invited him to my church, which is not far from where he lives.  But sadly he didn’t come along today.  I was grateful to be placed there by God as a witness to him.  I contacted the Pastor about him.  Please join us in praying for the situation, that he would make a decision to follow Christ, no matter the cost.

At the end of the outreach, I had an elderly man come past, he was intrigued by my flip chart.  And wanted to sit down to chat.  I knew the ‘script’ wasn’t going to work with this guy.  He was lonely, and just wanted to talk - and I was more than happy to listen.  When a response was reasonable, I would gently minister the gospel.  He touched on things in his life.  It was obvious he had Christian influences in his life.  At the end he went back to the flip chart, and wanted to discuss some of the people on the front page.  We ended up on the Jesus ‘fireball’ page.  He ended up asking if I knew Ray Comfort! :)  He left with a tract and a contact card for my church - even though he lives on the other side of the city.

Interestingly, on this outreach, I discovered a weathered contact card from my church (pictured).  I don’t hand them out too often, so it had obviously been discarded by someone who had decided to reject the gospel :(  Oh well, either way (justice of mercy), may God be glorified!

I ended up being late to Sunday’s outreach due to a good chat I was having with a local pastor who was visiting our church gathering.

Susan was also late, and she arrived not long after me.  It’s Christmas at Ballantynes.  And they have the partitions up for people looking at their window displays.  I like that, because it pushes people closer to me as they walk past.

It was a busy hour of ministry.  I had two flip chart chats, plus a follow up with a regular, plus handed out heaps of Christmas tracts “Merry Christmas”!

One of the flip chart chats was with a tourist from Melbourne in Aussie, he was offended at the idea that everyone deserves hell, and how serious sin is to God.  Yet, he stayed to at least hear the gospel and go through some of the checks before he moved on.  He accepted a tract.

The last chat was with a couple of guys who were Sikh.

So that covers it.  Oh, there was some kind of protest that went past.  People who were saying that there was not enough justice.  It’s so true!  It amazes me that people want to deny that justice when it comes to God.  Instead, I wish they humbled themselves and accepted the mercy of God, in Jesus taking their justice for them!  Glory to God alone!
 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 for Sunnybank on Wednesday Nov 30th, 2022 from 1300 – 1500

Last week the Sunnybank Outreach spot was unattended basically because of my Day surgery for Biopsy. It was great that the outcome is no more cancer cells so I am a free person again to keep doing His work without and constraints. This week, it was joyous to have Gary and Joe both joining me to make a strong gospel warrior team. We were all occupied in gospel sharing conversation. I myself have a few notably good and long chat as recap below.

1) My first approach was to an Indigenous girl waiting for her mum. She showed no interest to listen to the Gospel though I still managed to get connected with her through my past involvement in outback indigenous mission. Unfortunately, her mum arrived and distracted her attention. Gary also intercepted at this moment to chat to her mum but the bus arrival left us no time to continue. Nevertheless, it was still a meaningful encounter to let the indigenous girl know someone care for her and her people.

2) Then I turned to my left to approach an Old Aussie man who was watching animation on the phone as such he was not willing to chat initially but I still manage to connect with him first and God softened his heart to listen to the full gospel until his bus arrive. He took a tract to ponder on what I shared with him.

3) Then I approached a lady from Taiwan by the name of Chen , she appeared open for a chat and showed receptiveness to the gospel I shared. She actually was invited to the church a few times but still lacking the last step of faith action because of the obstacle of self-recognition as possibly a Buddhist followers I assert that it is no harm to follow any religion as long as they teach and appeal people to be a good person. But none of them provide the eternal gift of life solution to save us from eternal separation form God and their own loved family who had committed to Christ. She felt moved and I left her alone to face God for the overdue last step of action faith to receive Christ.

4) Then the Spirit led me to engage with a senior lady by the name Yang from Beijing for a very long chat. I first connected with her the places including the sessions of Great Wall I had visited twice. She migrated to Australia in 2000 and was happy to be in a safe and free country without unreasonable locked down policy instead of staying in China, like some of her relative whom are all in grave situation if not big trouble, especially in the imminent outbreak of ant- totalitarian government protest which is rare in Mainland China. She was open to the gospel message and admitted both good and bad persons needed Jesus. It was a pity the atheist education in China has hardened her hearts but still she showed great appreciation for my sharing of the gospel as well as my own personal testimony.

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WHAT A WEEK!! We have just finished our week of sharing the gospel to Schoolies at the Gold Coast. The Lord allowed the team to have hundreds of gospel chats with the school leavers.

Right as the team was finishing up the last evening outreach on the streets, two teenagers that the team spoke to earlier in the week came up saying thank you for sharing the gospel with them. They had come to profess faith in Jesus.

We said they should now share the gospel with their parents when they get home. But they said, they've already called them up to share it with them! Praise the Lord that His word never returns void!! Thank you for praying.

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday Nov 29th 2022 from 1330 – 1500

Praise be to the Lord, Chi Ming and Di Tsuen kept coming and brought along Lily Zhou and Husband Chang. Lily was a spiritual Fruit of Chi Ming who brought her to join the Sherwood Methodist Church and discipled by Johnny. Her husband not yet a Christian but started to have interest to explore and pursuit God. That was the reason they were invited to meet with us and after we started, Di Tsuen found a quite place in Toowong village to share the gospel to the non0beiver husband MR Chang. So God is good and in control of all things and for sure he is with us when we march out to do outreach for him. There were less people flow perhaps because of Uni holiday. I basically gave more chances to Winnie as such I got less chat as recap below: -

1) The First guy I approached recognized me and claimed that he had five tracts collected already. I still took time to test his response to the calling to receive Christ but the bus cut short our conversation.

2) Dave an ABC of Cross Chinese and Aussie blood who looks almost like Dolly's sons. He appeared friendly as his dad is from Hong Kong. Yet he appeared a bit skeptical on Gospel message but still happy to listen to it.

3) A young lady by the sure name Chang is from Hebei coming here for pure tourism. Her last stop was at New York. And She said she heard the same gospel many times in NY. I praise the Lord for such street outreach also happening in USA. But she still has not yet got a complete understanding of the gospel and thought ticket to Heaven has to be earned by being a Christian. It was a pity the bus arrival cut our conversation short.  

4) Jason is from USA and was once a Christian but not now as he had a lot of rationalized minded questions such as the definition of sin to challenge God and the Christian faith. But the good thing is he was adopting a serious attitude to pursuit truth. He promised to continue our discussion next week hopeful God will lead us to meet again.

5) Ann is from Sri Lanka and was very receptive to listen though she claims to be a Buddhist follower. She understands the gospel and found no loop hole to deny we are all sinners and need God's mercy for salivation from the eternal punishment of sins.

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We are currently starting day 7 (Friday) of 7 of the Schoolies 2022 outreach on the Gold Coast of Australia.

We have been super busy in gospel ministry.  Since Monday (day 3) we have been in the following routine: 3 hours of online outreach in the morning, 2 hours on Cavill Avenue in the afternoon, and then 2 and a half hours on Cavill Avenue in the evening.  It’s been a busy week, but well worth it!  And the routine has really helped me get through.

I’m going to give only a few of the many highlights from the week so far (and only from my perspective; I’m hearing wonderful testimony from all the others on the team too!), but it’s all blurring together, so I can’t remember on which day / time each interaction occurred.

First, I want to talk about my conversation with Khye (pictured).  I honestly couldn’t tell you if they were a he or a she – they claimed to be asexual.  I’m going to use ‘she / her’.  I was actually heading over to engage two other kids when she came past, so I decided to ask her what happens after life instead.  She responded with ‘I don’t care’.  I asked her if she believed in God - that was a negative.  And I could see the challenge in her eyes.  She was up for a fight.  I instinctively knew that following the script here wasn’t wise, so I didn’t go to ‘building / builder’.  I can’t quite remember what I said, but whatever it was, it totally disarmed her, and we fell into conversation.  Soon she said, “I don’t care, but I’m happy to talk about it, but can we sit down?”, and so we did.  She was open now, but I spent a lot of time listening.  I still went through the law and the gospel – and even the building / builder analogy, but just not in the usual order.  I actually had to address why God allows evil and suffering early in the chat – she had experienced a lot of that.  It was a long chat, and a special chat.  She thanked me for the way I went about it, comparing me to those preachers that try to ‘shove it down my throat’.  As pictured, she accepted a gospel of John and a tract as she left.  I took some time to specially pray for her immediately after that chat.  Please pray for conviction and conversion.

Another highlight was a chat with a kid who was walking past with his mates.  He had a bottle of booze in his hands.  He was keen to chat, but his mates weren’t, and moved off.  Eventually one of them came back and gave him the four pack of booze that his first bottle had come from.  He had a good understanding of the gospel (maybe he had talked to one of the other team members on a previous outreach?) - he did really well on the check questions.  But it was obvious from what he was saying that he wasn’t saved.  It was a long chat, where I went through the whole ‘script’ making sure he knew salvation was a gift, yet a gift that would change him.  Through the chat, he had finished off 2 bottles of booze and was on to his 3rd!  At the end, I challenged him on his drinking.  This is going to sound strange, but he seemed genuinely surprised that drunkenness was a sin.  A look of conviction came over him, he instantly said he would go and chuck the booze, but he asked if he could take a selfie with me first - no problem.  He accepted a gospel of John and a tract, shook my hand, then walked straight for the bin.  I had the presence of mind to whip my phone out and take 2 photos of him as he chucked the booze in the bin.  I then watched him walk off down the mall flicking through the gospel of John I had given him.  I leave him in God’s capable hands.  The law ploughs and convicts, but the gospel is the power of God for salvation.  Please pray for him too.

There have been many other chats, with people becoming deeply engaged in conversation, and forgetting time as they are able to start articulating the deepest questions they have – or even didn’t know they had till now.  People’s worldviews have been deeply challenged, sometimes, maybe, for the first time.  Last night, I had multiple guys say, there is nothing stopping them from trusting Christ right now, but they just needed time to process what’s been discussed.  That’s fair, and yet I noted the simplicity of the message I shared and explained the urgency in responding.  God is sovereign in salvation, I do my job to the best of my ability, and in his strength, and then leave the rest to him.

Be encouraged to continue to grow in your evangelism training and efforts.  Pray for and take those opportunities that come in everyday life :)  May God bless you as you step out in faith!

Thanks to Hung and Damo for the photos of me (Glen) in this report.

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Operation 513 Special Outreach during Schoolie from 19-25/11 daily from 1500-1700, 1900 - 2200. Day 6 afternoon

It was good that the Schoolie ministry this year has afternoon section daily from 1500-1700. It allowed Hung and Winnie to join after our normal Thursday outreach at Australia Fair from 1300-1430. I drove to the nearby side street to find my parking but had to walk for 10 minutes to Cavill Ave to meet with the rest of the Team. Winnie got there earlier than me by tram and had met Ryan and started her outreach. I first met all the brothers in Christ we once served either locally or in Myanmer to greet each other in Christ for mutual encouragement. I stayed there for about 1 and a half hour with only three chats. One only was with the schoolie a young girl. the other two however were God led person for me to have two relatively long chats especially the last one as recap below:

1) Sam is an Indian waiting there for his shift to start at a local pub as the security guard. His usual shift started later in the evening, but because of Schoolie, he started earlier at 4pm. I had a long chat almost half an hour with him. Through his work, he could observe the human character though good in normal situation but would turn bad losing self-control when got drunken. So, I did not have to convince him that no person is perfect in this fallen world though in normal situation, most of us are considered a good person/. So basically, he had no argument on the point that we all need redemption by a saviour who himself is a perfect person and meantime a perfect divinity god head. He took a tract and promised to ponder is there any reason to hold him back from receiving the free gift of eternal life made ready and on offer to us all.

2) Then I caught up with a girl waiting for friend called Mayfest. She was nice and open for a chat. She heard the full gospel then was disrupted by her friend's call, Though I did not have chance to seek her feedback. I trust the Holy Spirit will have His work on Mayfest.

3) Then I had a long chat with Junior a Kiwi lasting almost for an hour. He is a street artist and consider leading a successful life. His sister is a pious Christian preaching the gospel to people like what we are doing. But he thought his sister’s choice is a suboptimal one in comparison to his much well-off life. He deemed that being a good person taking charge of his own life is enough. He does not care about life after death and think religion is futile and irrelevant to a down to the earth normal human life. But after I shared about the good person analogy, he came to the understanding that imperfection in life actually is a serious short fall of human as it is regarded as cancer of a human life in God eyes that must be subject to judgment after death. No matter how many good deeds we have done, it can never ever be sufficient to offset out sin. Accepting Jesus to take away our sin is like changing our eternal identity from enemy of God back to His children and people or the citizen of the heavenly Kingdom. It gave God the foothold to start His life transformation work to restore us back to perfection. But most importantly from a self-centred life back to a God centred life. It will lead to change in life vision and faith awareness leading the change in our value system. So eventually salvation means we will be first be set free from the bondage of sin but then the bondage of our self-ego or temptation in flesh so finally we will achieve real freedom in Christ because we now know and master the truth and wisdom from God. At the end, he appeared having a better understanding why his sister and all other Christian will live a true joyous life and have greater inner peace to face trauma in life and will grow better and stronger in His strength. Praise and thanks God for this exceptionally long chat that I rarely have in my bus stop outreach occasions.

   

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