Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 79

Bribie Island (QLD) Team

  On Saturday, the outreach at Bribie Island was a huge encouragement.  After our team of 11 gathered, we prayed, and then split up.  Some put Gospel tracts on the cars parked up and down the streets, while others took a walk down towards the bridge, up the jetty, or towards the carpark to distribute tracts and talk to anyone who would engage.  Our literature table and the Good Person flipchart were also set up.

  Before we had finished setting up, a young man from East Timor wanted to know what we were doing.  He spent over an hour talking to several of the team members.  This young man was a new Christian, and he had a lot of questions about his faith.  Having come from a Catholic family, he had always thought God existed, but it had never been a personal relationship.  Contradictions he had seen and heard in his family and school caused him to start searching for the truth.  He had then traced a well-known apologist’s journey to faith.  He said that over the last year he had been studying his Bible and had renounced any hope of his works being able to save him.  Now his hope was in Christ alone.  It was wonderful to be able to hear his story and to encourage him in his walk.

  Two young boys approached the flipchart with their dad, who was friendly and open to us talking with his boys.  As we went through the law, they had some thoughtful questions, which showed they were paying attention to what was being said.  One asked, “If God judges people, doesn’t that make Him a bad person?”  Another question was, “Is it fair for someone else to pay my fine?”  Their questions were answered, and they realised their need to trust in Christ.  They took Gospel tracts, and then came to the literature table with their little sister for a Bible and some other literature.  Please pray that the truth would sink into their hearts to challenge and change them.

  Three young men also went through the Good Person test.  They were urged to think seriously about this question of where they would spend eternity, as it would be the greatest question they would ever face.  Two of them seemed to find it a bit amusing, but they both took a Gospel of John.  The third of the group, however, stayed to go through the flipchart again with another team member.  After talking for some time there, Kierran came and took a Bible.  He wanted to know how much it cost, but was told that it was 100% free, because someone had already paid for it on his behalf.  He said he’ll definitely read it.  He was also able to have a long conversation with a local pastor, and they exchanged phone numbers.  Please pray that God would do a work in the life of this twenty-five year old.

  A pastor who was with us did some preaching and gave a wonderful Gospel message.  It was a blessing to notice that some nearby people were listening.

  Pray too for Ben, a young man who listened to the Gospel message.  A number of others also had the Gospel shared with them, but some left before they could reach the explanation of the way to heaven.  Pray that their consciences would prick them and drive them to Christ.  Please pray for fruit from the tracts that went out.  We ask that you would give thanks for answered prayers.  We are grateful that God has once again prepared the way for an encouraging outreach as the Gospel went out.  May souls be saved and God glorified here at Bribie Island.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Saturday I was back to my usual spot at the Bridge of Remembrance.  Eventually, there ended up being quite a few groups there.  There was a group protesting child abuse, Falun Gong, the Hare Krishnas, a group protesting the CCP in relation to Hong Kong.  And me!  The lonely Christian.

The highlight conversation of the morning was with a lady who had come in support of the child abuse group.  She had been raised an atheist, but was wrestling with the reality of evil in the world.  We had a lovely conversation where I would listen to her and appropriately challenge her thinking.  I was able to touch on the gospel a few times.  She received a phone call which, unfortunately, ended our conversation.  But she did accept a follow up tract.

In the afternoon, I joined the Aussie team for a couple of hours of outreach online.  The gospel conversation that stands out in my memory was with a girl who went to a Catholic school in Australia.  She was very open to the logic of what I was explaining, and thanked me afterwards - before we disconnected.

Today was Outreach Sunday for Redemption Church.  There was a good sized team handing out tracts and having conversations via flip charts.

I hadn’t even finished setting up the flip chart, when Andy noticed some guys that looked interested - sure enough they were, and Andy had a long chat with them (pictured).

While that was happening, the local member of parliament went past: Duncan Webb.  I stopped him and asked why I should vote for him.  It turns out his PhD is in Ethics.  So I challenged him on where we get ethics from.  The conversation quickly turned religious and he mentioned that he had grown up in an evangelical Christian environment - I challenged him on what the core of Christianity was about: what do we have to do to go to heaven?  He wanted to bail from the conversation at this point, so I switched the conversation to politics.  I asked him about freedom of speech (something his party wants to restrict) and abortion (something his party liberalised earlier in the year).  Sadly he really had to go by this point.  But he accepted a gospel tract.

Later I ended up having some good conversations with resistant young people (2 x 2 late teen guys) - I never made it to the gospel, and yet they all accepted tracts.

After this, I ended up pairing up with a member of Redemption Church to set up a new flip chart further down the mall.  Sadly, we didn’t get any good conversations going.  But I did notice that Andy was being interviewed back where he was!  Turns out they were some guys doing a school project who wanted an alternative point of view.  They certainly got it from Andy - they had a long chat!

[Edit: I just remembered, one of my regulars came up to say hi at this point.  He said he is a Christian and wants to get baptised!  I queried him on the gospel and what local church he is connected to - he gave good answers!  How wonderful.  Glory to God for that!]

It certainly was an interesting outreach!  So grateful to have members of Redemption Church out with us today.  May Christians continue to be encouraged in sharing the gospel, and the lost continue to hear the gospel!  All glory to God alone.
 

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Thursday I joined the Aussie online team for a couple of hours in the morning, before joining Andy at the Eastgate and Northlands bus stops in the afternoon.

There was a lot of opportunity to share the gospel at the bus stops.  There were a few highlights, but the one I’ll mention was the very last conversation of the day.  I was heading towards my car and I decided to offer a tract to a guy waiting for his bus.  To my surprise, he was eager to talk.  I think he may have been listening to my previous conversation with a guy who had just got out of jail.  He drank in the gospel like someone who was really thirsty.  What a privilege to be able to talk with him about Jesus!

Friday started with the gospel + abortion outreach outside the hospital.  I was the first one there, and one of our main counter protesters was there waiting for us.  I smiled and said good morning - I was ignored.

I got out one of our signs and took my place.  The counter protester stood right in front of me.  Andy joined me soon after, and we prayed together.

There ended up being about four counter protesters.  And six of us.

A lady stopped to actually engage us in a discussion.  Andy did a wonderful job at calmly reasoning with her.  But all I could hear her say is, “I think...”, “I think...”, “I think...”.  She was blind to to the fact that, without God, she wouldn’t even have a brain to think with, let alone the breath to voice her opinions.  I was thankful to God for his common grace, and his patience in holding off his justice so people (who don’t deserve it) can hear of his amazing mercy!

The support for the counter protesters well outweighed any support for us.  Every time a car tooted support for them, they gleefully cheered.

I started to feel burdened and grieved.  Grieved because they are cheering for the murder of children.  Burdened because, apart from the grace of God - that is me.  One day soon, very soon, we will be facing the God we all know exists and be judged by the law written on our hearts.  His justice will be perfect.  And that is terrifying.

I wept.  And I prayed for the mercy of God for these counter protesters.  Apart from the grace of God - that is me!

I may not be charismatic, but that does not mean I’m not passionate, and it doesn’t mean I don’t have emotions.  And that passion and emotion burst out of me in Cathedral Square in the speaker's corner.  Marty had done a wonderful job preaching before me, and one of the hecklers was using his God given breath to mock God.  I was overwhelmed and wept as I preached, pleading with the lost within earshot to accept the mercy of God before it’s too late.  I wept for the hecklers, whom I love.  Oh, if only my passion and emotions could save people!  But it can’t.  Only God can do that, only through the gospel.  We have to trust him.

Andy did a wonderful job preaching after me.

We then moved to Cashel Mall where Roger joined us.  I was feeling pretty exhausted by this stage, so I set up my flip chart, sat down, and just started handing out tracts with a smile and politeness.  To my surprise, I ended up having a busy couple of hours talking with various people.

It really was a day of tears.  The first person to stop was a young lady.  Strangely, she thought Donald Trump was the best person on the chart, and Bill Gates was the worst!  Turns out she was into some conspiracy theories.  Going from there, I was able to gently steer the conversation to the most important question of life: death.

I was able to explain the gospel to her.  I could tell it was familiar to her, but it was like I was saying something she hadn’t heard before.  I moved on to checking questions, and the penny seemed to drop with the “man crossing the road” analogy.  She finally understood the grace of God.  I could tell - because tears came to her eyes.  She forced them back, but later in the conversation, they came again.  Eventually she stopped trying to hide it, and she cried in understanding of the wonder of the gospel.  I cried too as I basked in the wonder of the fact that, apart from the grace of God - that is me!  Yet her tears are no guarantee that she is saved.  But with everything in me, I pray that God would save her, by his grace, and that she would start getting discipled in a good local church.

I finished the day of outreach with a couple of hours online.  I barely survived.  I had to work hard to be patient with people who were fighting against God and the gospel.  Lord have mercy.  Thank you for having mercy on me.  I love you Lord, with every fiber of my being.  Give us strength to continue ministering your gospel to person after person, after person.  Be glorified in bringing your justice and mercy.
 

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

I tried a new outreach location today: Hornby (pictured).  I never really felt it would be suitable - lots of car traffic, but not much in foot traffic in public locations.  Yet there will be people that I’ll never encounter if I don’t go to where they will be!  So it’s worth a try. :)

I did a lot of walking to really scout out the location.  And I was really surprised at the spots where I ended up having conversations with people.

First up was outside a stadium, there was an older gentleman in a mobility scooter - with a beer in his hand on a Tuesday morning!  I said a cheery hello and managed to strike up a conversation.  He gave me some good intel on the area.  I tried to switch the conversation to spiritual things, but sadly he closed up - he wanted to go to hell, where he thought he would drink beer forever.  He scootered off soon after.

I then discovered a big park area, with a BMX track in it.  Barely a person to be seen!  Yet, my best conversation of the morning occurred here.  A lady walked past and accepted a tract.  She hesitated, wondering what it was and I jumped at the opportunity to explain.  We ended up having a long gospel chat.

For the rest of the morning, I managed to strike up a few conversations which didn’t go far, and hand out a few tracts.

Yet I don’t feel like the excursion was wasted if not for that one long conversation.

After lunch I was online before heading to Riccarton with Roger.  I forgot my flip chart, which was a good thing, as I ended up wandering down to the bus stops and having some good conversations with various groups of people.  Roger seemed pretty busy and content on his flip chart as I approached people elsewhere.

I encountered plenty of high school kids and was able to challenge them with the gospel.  One kid was sitting on a bench and I was able to get a conversation going while I fished more tracts out of my pack.  The kid went to a Christian school and a local church, but was completely ignorant of the gospel.  I gently guided him to what I knew he knew but was completely missing.  Eventually he got it, but I was shocked at how glibly he talked about Jesus and what He did for us on the cross - and I hit him up about it.  He had to leave soon after, but I hope our conversation was a bit of a wake up call.  He left with a gospel tract.

I headed back to where Roger was, and noticed a couple of guys over in my usual flip chart spot.  I ended up getting into a decent gospel chat with them and another of their friends who arrived soon after.

On my second run down to the bus stops and ended up having a couple of good chats.  The first was with a couple of guys, one of whom went to a Christian school.  Encouragingly, he had a very good grasp of the gospel.  The second was with a very intellectual guy from Chile.  Evolution was a big issue for him and I felt I needed to address it.  He was very resistant to my argumentation, so I switched to two very clear and concrete examples to back up what I was saying (that evolution goes in the wrong direction - it can’t add information).  I was encouraged that these seemed to make him pause and think.  Sadly I wasn’t able to get to the gospel with him.

Wednesday brought some very hot weather!  Zack joined me for a couple of hours of outreach in the city, starting at the Square and finishing at Ara.  There was no shortage of gospel opportunity and conversations.

I encountered Bradly again!  He was the guy who walked up to me a couple of weeks ago and said “you made me believe in God”.  I was amazed to hear that he been out “sharing the gospel”.  He said he and some friends had bought food and were giving it away to people on the streets while telling them that Jesus loves them!  Probably not how I would go about it - but has a heart change occurred?  He is articulating the gospel well when I challenge him.  He is still reading the Bible on his phone, and is even attending a local church!  I told him to get in touch.  I hope to see him again (many more times) and, God willing, see him start to flourish.  Pray for him.

I finished the outreach with a chat with a guy who goes to a local church but, without realising it, basically said he wants to be the God of his own life!  I was shocked.  He seemed completely blind to what he was saying.  And the gospel seemed pretty meaningless to him.  I felt sad as we parted ways.

I was pretty tired as I finished my day with some online outreach.  But I managed to have some wonderful conversations with some deep thinkers.  The last conversation was with a guy from Ethiopia.  His gentle resistance melted as he came to grasp the gospel.
 

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Sunnybank on Wednesday Sept 23, 2020 from 1300 to 1500

Today only Johnny and I met to serve at Sunnybank. It was a very warm day as if it was like early Summer already. It was also the beginning of school holiday as such there was no student around. Johnny opined there should be more people coming out but it turned out a comparatively quiet day with half the carpark empty. Despite smaller flow of crowd, we still got many chances to share the Gospel to non-believers as well as Christians who in majority do not have assurance of salvation that deadly need clarification. We also had a lot of chat on theology abd biblical doctrine during the gap of street evangelism.

I recap below a few of my major divine appointments as follows: -

1) A Chinese lady took the tract and was willing to talk but it was too late as the bus was coming. I spent really only 30 seconds to share the nutshell of Gospel to her hoping she will read the tract at home.

2) Rory a local Aussie got past Johnny but I was moved to stop him for a chat which amazingly he changed his mind to stop. He is a strongly built big guy who really looks like a super hero upholding righteousness as such when asked if he knows he can go to heaven by being a good person, he proudly claimed yes as he deemed he has manged to do a lot of good thing. When I corrected his misunderstanding by sharing the gospel, emphasizing that unless he has no sin, he still should need Jesus as his savior to regain the lost heavenly citizenship, he then declared he knows all about this as he is a Christian. Then I realized he actually is only a nominal Christian that feels good about his own goodness instead of the redemptive grace fo Christ. Let's pray for God's intervention to turn him around to really trust in Christ and Christ alone for salvation.

3) A young lady from China Gloria passed by in great hurry, but she still willing took a tract and let me walk her across the foot bridge to listen to the gospel. I timed later that it took me 2 min 40 seconds to cross the bridge but was still good enough for me to compete sharing the nutshell of the Gospel. At the end, Gloria agreed the gospel is logical and sensible and showed willingness to accept Jesus as her saviour.

4) Tom a young man from Thailand who appeared very friendly and willing to listen to the gospel. Yet I only have 1.5 minutes to do so as the bus was coming and was in our sight. In both cases, God only let me have very short time frame but I believed His work and plan for Glory and Tom will be done.

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong Village on Tuesday September 22, 2020 From 1330 to 1500

Gary came to joined us while Yan was not available. So we continued to serve at Toowong with a team of Four. The more we serve God in a street evangelism environment with so many uncontrollable factors, the more we experience the sovereign control of God throughout the whole course of our 1.5 hours ministry time. Without God's intervention, the normal response we get is blunt rejection. Many of our approach today faced initial rejection but once God intervened, we miraculously can get a conversation later at our 2nd approach with good result. Both Gary and Johnny now also would occasionally left their outreach outpost to walk with gospel targets to the Bus Station to continue with their conversation until finished or the arrival of the bus which ever happened first.

I have 6 conversations while Winnie had 8 as recap below: -

1) Emma an Indian girl was first approached by Winnie. She cheerfully declared she is a Christian. I felt it was the right time for me to interject and demonstrate to Winnie how to diagnosis and ensure if she has assurance of salvation. Not too surprise, she claimed she ony has 80 % assurance which however is stemmed from her good deeds. The 20 % uncertainty is the room she feels she might learn to love and trust Jesus more. So we had to correct her understanding that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus alone as it was Jesus who died as a perfect man to take our place for eternal death punishment in hell. Can only pray that God will humble here heart to take in this this opposite view about salvation.

2) Manijan is a Malaysian girl seemingly of Muslim background. But she appeared very friendly for a chat. She also was receptive to the gospel I shared just in time before the bus arrived. Pray for God follow up work in her heart.

3) Then God led me to talk with another Two Malaysian girls. They were chatting by themselves but did not feel offended by my interjection to ask for a chat to share the Gospel. The response was positive despite I did not have time to cross check their full understanding because of the arrival of the bus.

4) Jacky is from Quangdong 廣東 who rejected both Winnie first then me a short time later. But his bus had not yet come, so I approached him the 3rd time aiming at just handing him the tract. He reluctantly accepted it and query what was it all about. Then God re-opened the shut window for me to have a very throughout sharing of both my testimony and the core of gospel. His attitude turned more friendly and receptive when I found out he is from

Quangdong and can speak Cantonese. He even missed the bus because he wanted to finish hearing my sharing. So it was so obvious that God had soften his heart and turned him around to be one receptive person to the Gospel.

5) Naja was an old lady from France. She also showed reluctance to have long chat as such she dismissed Winnie after a short conversation. But God made her bus not arriving for more than half and hour allowing me time to share the full gospel with her that she initially did not want to listen in depth.

6) Then I chatted with two UQ students fro China. One appeared more friendly and talkative. He indicated he has many Christian friends and has heard of the Gospel many times before including through meeting of the Power to Change. Then the bus arrived to cut our conversation short. I added only at the end that, he has already been locked up as a target in God's radar.

感謝主 今天的帶領，謝謝關牧師的教導，今天上到一課，確實得救的確據。今天，神 讓我遇上八人傳福音的機會。

第一位是上周遇到的香港青年，偉行。他是 UQ 學生。我問及他的信仰，再次講述我們的罪，耶穌基督的大愛。他説間中都有跟朋友上教會。我説大學都有一教會，可以到那裏主日崇拜。

第二位，Emma, 她説是基督徒，當我們講及信仰時，關牧師到來，問及她確實得到全部救恩。從中我便學到新的一課。

第三位是中国青年，會想想耶稣基督的大爱。

第四位是澳洲青年，不願意聽，我問及他認識耶穌基督嗎？他沒有回答，跟着我便傳福音给他。

第五位是印度男女朋友，Lesley,女培男朋友 Tom 來澳洲讀書。Lesley 願意信靠主耶穌，尋求更多真理。

第六位澳洲女士，講完福音，巴士到達。

第七位，我不清楚他是中国人或是混血兒，當我講完福音，他説是基督徒，我便引入關牧師的教導，測示他得救的確據。果然他信仰不清楚。我便解释给他。

第八位 Steve, 來自 California, 聽完福音後，願意抽時間去教會。

雖然每周我都需要 1.5 小時上 Brisbane 傳福音，但每次都學到不同的功課，感謝讚美主及關牧師的教導。ô

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West Country (UK) Team

On Wednesday 16th I traveled down to Newquay with my Auntie, friend and her son for them to visit Newquay Zoo while I met with Josh and three others from his Church to do outreach from 12.30-2.30pm. It was great to see Josh again and hear about all the feedback he has been getting since the LGBT Cornwall Pride comments hit the media in a big way. It was tangibly  the signs and the tracts offered to them, and quite hard work to get anyone to take a tract or stop to chat. There were however some memorable conversations, with one man taking a million pound note tract, then coming back moments later asking if he could have a few more!

One especially good chat was with 3 lads from Cardiff University that had traveled down to Newquay to surf for a few days. They were interested in what the intelligence test questions were all about, which led to a really good conversation for about 15 minutes with them. They listened intently and apparently had not thought too much about what may happen to them after they died, but the Law was used to show them their desperate need for a Saviour. They were very enthused at the end and understood why they needed to be saved from hell, and why Jesus was the only person who could save them, and they gratefully took some gospel tracts and gave firm, positive handshakes and said they needed to think about this today.

I also managed to talk to a lady that stopped to read the sign who happened to be an NHS Nurse with her elderly parents and her Daughter who were out for the day, and we had a good conversation and they took some tracts and information about where Josh's Church Newquay Baptist was based. While this was going on, Josh and another member of his Church had been having a long conversation with man for an hour that had been against Josh and pro LGBT movement posting comments on Facebook, but later that day Josh said had reposted to say that his 'unfair perception of Josh had changed, and hopefully Josh's of him too, that had been spun and fueled by the media.' Josh had lots of people walk past refusing tracts as they said they knew who Josh was and therefore what he stood for, and so was really encouraging at least this man heard the truth of the gospel and what we stood for. 

While packing up and loading the car, a couple walked past in the car park, spotted the sign in the car boot and read it, asking questions about what it was. It turned out they too were Christians that lived in Bath, which led to a good conversation about Evangelism and what we had been out doing that day, and they took some tracts and websites to look at.

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Our team also traveled to Exeter on Saturday, with Simon, Laurie and me hoping to meet up with Steven the Pastor we had met in Plymouth and a couple of others he had been in contact with called Ron and Harry. The City Centre was very busy again, and as we were setting up the signs a young man had stopped to look at the signs. It turned out this man was 20 and called Damian, he said he was currently homeless, being forced to move down to Exeter with his Dad after a family break up, he had not seen his Mum in over 5 years and fairly recently had run away from Dads and was living in a tent. He wanted to do the good person test, and we had a really good chat and were able to listen to his sad and difficult story. We offered to get him something to eat at the end of the outreach but he never returned, but did take a Bible and some tracts to read.

We all prayed and was good to have 6 of us there that day, but it felt a hard slog, with many people wearing masks walking past and refusing to acknowledge us or take tracts. Laurie and Steven long chat with two 18 year olds called Jack who was an Atheist and Ben who was an Agnostic for quite a long time, as well as two new University theology students and a 65 year old Atheist for around 10 minutes. 

Later I preached on Boris Johnson's command to us all about 'Hands, Face, Space' that is being given out through the media at present. I preached on James 4- 'Wash your hands you sinners and purify your hearts... for your sins have separated you from God. Adam and Eve tried to distance them selves from God and cover themselves up, but God had to cover their sin, and why being religious or good works cant help us, but God must intervene in our lives. There were 3 unusual men that had stopped to listen that were sitting on a bench nearby- they were dressed as Women but were visibly men, and listened for a while before walking off.

Laurie and Ron also spoke to 4 teenagers dressed in make up and gothic clothes who had stopped to listen. They had quite a lot of hostility and anger, swearing, but underneath some searching questions, they were feeling judged by some of the scriptures on the boards, so in a way were already wrestling with the bad news (1 Corinthians 6 v 9-11), and Ron made sure they all understood they needed to be washed spiritually in order to begin to approach a Holy God, and spoke of the parable of the prodigal Son and the amazing Father with his hands outstretched waiting for the Son to return home.

Ron also spoke with a couple from Dorset took a tract, spoke to a Hindu man and his son how the God at the top of the mountain (to which all roads are said to lead) is not the God we know who is a loving heavenly father unlike many of the Hindu Gods and whose Son's life, death and resurrection are verifiable historic events (Unlike Mohammed's cave or the Buddha's Bo tree)

Near the end of outreach while Steven was preaching and we were starting to pack up, 2 Police officers came along and started asking questions about our 1 Corinthians 6 v 9-11 sign. This is the whole verse,

'Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were fsome of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

We said we were talking about all sins, and that Biblically marriage was between a man and a Woman and sex only right in this context. However the Police were picking out the bit that mentions 'Homosexuality' and trying to say why did we not have more loving signs that said everyone can go to Heaven?! Simon and I had a good chat with them for over 10 minutes, and they were trying to denounce what we were doing and one made a radio call to her Sergeant to see if the sign counted as hate speech. We said we were not picking out the verse about Homosexuality, but why were they? I said that if Drunkards were forgiven and stopped drinking, how much easier would their job be as Police officers and how much money the Police force spent on  this on Saturday nights?

They did not want to comment, but it was obvious they were trying to use their liberal opinions and not the law to shut us down- no one had complained, they just said most people are pro Homosexuality today, which we said was not true, and that why did they not ask Muslims opinions about Homosexuality as the Koran mentions this a lot, but again they did not like this. One of them said we were trying to pick and choose which verses we were following, as why did we wear mixed fibers today etc! He did not want to listen to the explanation about the OT and covenants for the Jews etc, but they eventually left but verified how intolerant the Police force has become and trying to shut people down that do not go along with their own views and values, while not breaking the law.

It was very sad they did not want to give us freedom of speech, and one man walked over and asked us what they had been saying. He was not a Christian but agreed we had a right to show this and not everyone is pro LGBT today. 

Laurie and Harry a 4th year student that had come along with Steven had been speaking to a young man called Tom who said he was an agnostic. He had a lovely dog, was asking lots of questions but was an antagonistic agnostic, having been brought upo with one parent a Roman Catholic and one an Atheist, and now he said both parents were Atheist, and that it was wrong for parents to try and force their religion on their children but they should be able to choose what they believe themselves. We talked to him about his worldview having to borrow from the Christian one to make any sense, he took some tracts but was very skeptical and hostile. 

It was a beautiful day, a bit windy blowing some of the signs down at times but a real encouragement to now have others in Exeter that are like minded and we can join up with and point to a good Church. Steven messaged me later that evening saying he had been called by young man called Edward after outreach asking questions for half an hour as to 'why does God do violence and allow suffering, why is the Bible not clear and have contradictions'. He asked about 'Matthew and the sermon on the mount vs Luke on a plain, and also don't many religions all worship the same God? Steven said he had a good chat with him and was great the young man felt convicted enough to call him from reading the details on the tract. We are planning to meet up again in a few weeks time and we prayed for the different conversations we had that day and hope we can stay for longer next time.

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South-East England (UK) Team

Saturday, September 19, the Essex team met at the Romford High Street for outreach.  We handed out tracts and Jacob had a number of conversations with people.  I didn't do any preaching as I don't have a strong voice do to an autoimmune issue. May God bless the tracts and the conversations from Saturday,  Chuck Bosio

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Saturday was a devastating day for me.  I found out that Terrance had died.  Cancer.  With all the evangelism I do in the central city, I get to know the regulars.  Terrance was one of them.  Over the last year and a half, I’ve tried to share the gospel with him a lot.  He wasn’t interested.  And now he’s going to hell (unless he repented since the last time I saw him).  I’m devastated.

I can now think of three people that I’ve shared the gospel with in the central city, and they are now in eternity having rejected the good news of Jesus.  This job is impossible.  And yet, the impossible is possible for God.  I might not see any change in anyone, but God has told us to GO.  We have to trust him with the results.  And I do.  I’m just motivated more to tell as many people as I can about Jesus.

I had a number of good gospel conversations in front of the Bridge of Remembrance on Saturday morning, including with three army soldiers.  A guy in a wheelchair, and a guy (with a praying mother) struggling with drug and alcohol addiction.

I joined the online team in the afternoon, and I was still feeling the deviation of the news earlier in the day.  I think it bubbled out of me in my conversations online.  Life is not a joke, it’s serious.  God is real, justice is real, and mercy is available while we have breath and know the gospel.

I spoke with a guy smoking marijuana in his car.  He was shocked to be paired with me for a chat - but he became very sober as I pleaded with him about his eternity.  He was able to articulate the gospel before we parted ways.

Two kids from Aussie (if I remember right) from a Christian school taking the questions I was asking lightly.  They thought they would be good enough to get to heaven.  The picture shows them looking a bit more thoughtful by the end of the conversation.

I then was paired with some teen guys from the States (I’m pretty sure).  By the end of the conversation, all three of them were staring at me as I pleaded with them to stop fooling around with their souls.

On Sunday there was a team of six out in the afternoon.  I had a busy outreach.  The conversation that stands out was another follow up with a guy I wrote about a few Friday’s ago (on that Friday he came up to me and said: “you made me believe in God”).  Well he’s not yet trusting that Jesus died for his sins.  So I went over the gospel with him again and another girl friend.  The girl seemed to grasp the gospel well and was challenged to count the cost of trusting Christ.

Please, don’t stop sharing the gospel - it’s the power of God for salvation!
 

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

I have a lot to write about the outreaches over Thursday and Friday.

I started with online outreach Thursday morning.  My first conversation was with a young lady who didn’t know who Adolf Hitler was! :(  She heard about the serious nature of sin as I explained the law of God to her.  But she wasn’t taking the conversation seriously.  I didn’t share the gospel with her.

For the afternoon, Andy and I were at Northlands and then Eastgate bus stops.

At Northlands I had a guy walk past who responded to my opening question by staring at me for a while.  I couldn’t read him.  He finally said something very intellectual.  He was very resistant, but he wanted to talk - so we had a long conversation.  Early on, one of his friends joined the conversation.  I persisted with the conversation because the friend was not as resistant - he even helped his friend understand the logic he was so resistant to.  When the conversation finally wound down, after I’d been able to take them through the law and the gospel - they accepted tracts as we parted ways.

Friday started with the gospel + abortion outreach which you can read about here.

After that, as we were walking past the Bridge of Remembrance on the way to Cathedral Square, a guy biked past who suddenly slammed on his brakes!  It turns out it was a guy I had talked to at the Northlands bus stops a month or so earlier.  He had been thinking deeply about the gospel conversation we had had - which was very encouraging.  The conversation became quite pastoral, as we talked about why we can have an assurance of salvation, and why we should take drastic measures to flee from sin!  He said our meeting again had been an answer to prayer, and he said he would see me again in heaven!  I certainly hope I see him again before then!  I encouraged him to join an outreach team.  He knows how to get in touch.

There was the unusual gathering of preachers and hecklers in Cathedral Square.  The lone ranger preacher was preaching when we turned up.  At one point, he had two hecklers getting stuck into him.  To the shock of everyone, a third guy walked past and pulled the preacher off the statue he was standing on!  He crashed to the ground on his back!  He was very startled, but he quickly jumped back up and continued preaching.  He wasn’t himself initially - he became very defensive.  After a few minutes, our eyes met - I mouthed: “are you ok?”  He smiled back - thank God he was okay!  Sadly, one of the hecklers continued heckling him in a nasty way.  The guy who committed the assault left the scene so fast, everyone was trying to work out what had happened.  We will be extra careful in the future.

Marty and Andy preached.  I spent my time in one to one conversations.  Last week I wrote about a man who completely lost it when I told him: “the root of change is in Jesus”.  Well, he turned up again today, and he came over to me to apologise.  It was very good to see him in a more sound state.

Later in the afternoon a team of five were at the Bridge of Remembrance for one to one gospel conversations.  Roger seemed to have a busy time on his flip chart (pictured).  I went roaming and managed to have a number of wonderful conversations.

Firstly, I approached a group of kids on the grass and managed to get a good conversation going (pictured).  Many of them were “Christian”, sadly, none of them knew the gospel which I attempted to remedy before they had to go.

But the stand out conversation was with an elderly couple (pictured).  I approached them in my usual manner completely expecting them to reject me.  But to my surprise, the gentleman was open enough to allow me to continue, and continued to open up as the conversation progressed.  Just before I was going to share the gospel, he switched the conversation from spiritual matters to natural matters (where are you from, what do you do, etc).  I followed his lead, but gently kept trying to get the conversation back to the gospel.  Eventually I was direct, and asked if he wanted to hear the good news.  He did!  He accepted a follow up gospel tract too.  I was overjoyed.

Mike and I headed out for the Friday night outreach in the central city.  One of Mike’s conversations is pictured.

But before Mike arrived, I had a number of opportunities to talk to people (3 in fact) - all of whom heard the bad news, but didn’t want the good news!  One of the guys, just suddenly turned and ran off!  He ran straight into a pole, which he dodged at the last minute, and then ran down the street!  Welcome to my life!  I gave a tract to his mate (who had a bemused smile on his face), and asked him to give it to him.

The evening finished with conversations with some of the “punks” (for want of a better word) who were getting drunk.  I was able to finish a gospel conversation with one of them that I had started two weeks earlier!  Glory to God.

 

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