Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Christchurch (NZ) Team

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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 12:30pm - 2:30pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St)
Sun 1:30pm - 3:30pm - City (corner of Colombo St and Cashel St) - only 2nd, 4th and 5th Sundays of the month.

Contact Glen Richards or Andy Barlow for more information.

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February is the last month of summer in NZ, and it also marked the last special outreach of the season for us.  Andy & I headed to Dunedin for outreach during O-week, or ‘Ori’ (university orientation week) in conjunction with Cornerstone International Bible Church, Shane Louie of OAC and a team he had gathered.  Our focus for the week was between the Museum Reserve (close to the university) and the Octagon (which included a major bus stop hub, and the main shopping area: George Street).  There were many opportunities to engage with students, but also people of all walks and seasons of life.

 

There was a lot of rain.  It was so heavy on Tuesday that Andy & I were forced to spend our time in our cabin in online outreach instead.  But the other days of the week were spent pounding the streets and talking to people face to face.  I’m going to let the pictures do most of the talking, but I’ll give one story.

 

On Wednesday, at the end of the day's outreach, I was tired, so I reverted to handing out tracts on George Street.  A guy noticed what I was doing and came over to accept a tract and talk.  He said he had just talked to a Christian guy and really disagreed with what he was saying.  It didn’t take long to confirm that he had talked to Andy!  Andy was at least a kilometer away outside the Museum Reserve, so it was quite a coincidence that this guy bumps into me soon after.

 

Anyway, I was able to continue the conversation, but he quickly became frustrated with me too - as soon as I started talking about the fact that our work can’t save us.  You see, his background is Bahá'í which tries to respect all religions and spiritual writings, and yet contradicts the clear teaching of the Bible by saying that we are saved by our effort, rather than by grace.

 

I didn’t make too much more progress in the conversation, due to his resistance.  But, I was able to challenge him: “if you respect all the writings, you should read the book of Romans in the Bible”.

 

The guy eventually moved on; we parted on good terms.  And, later, I was able to encourage Andy on how I was able to follow up on the conversation he had started.

 

On Friday, we spent the morning in outreach to the Bus stops and the Octagon, before heading back to the church facilities to pick up our car and start the drive back to Christchurch.  As we were driving out of the city, Andy noticed a Dominos Pizza and suggested we stop for lunch, but then I noticed a Pizza Hut just ahead, and recommended that.  It just so happened that there was a park right outside, and there was no traffic behind, so we could safely take it.  We went in and ordered some pizza to takeaway - we wanted to hit the road and get home to our families.

 

As we were sitting in the car, we decided to eat a few slices first, and as we were eating, who should walk by?  The same guy we had both talked to on Wednesday!  He noticed us, and came over to say hi.  Coincidence?  We were able to offer him pizza and continue the chat.  Amazingly, he said he had started to read Romans.  And then he asked if I could take his number, which I did.  So I’m still in contact.  The ball is in his court, he knows how to reach me if he has questions.  Yet, he is ultimately in the hands of God who is seeking and saving the lost.  He won’t lose any of his sheep!

Thank you for continuing to pray for our street and online work.  Without the power of God, our feeble efforts are in vain.  All glory to God alone.

 

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It’s February already.  Amazing.

 

So, what happened in January?  Something that has never happened before occurred on Friday.  I was asked: “Are you a pasta?” Haha.  I responded with, “No, I’m not a pasta, and I’m not a pastor either” - I couldn’t help myself.  But I often get comments like this, because, when you succinctly and systematically lay out the gospel in a clear way, people will see the logic of it and be impressed.  It’s not me they should be impressed by, but God and his amazing plan.  I mean that.  This work is not for special people, but for all believers to get involved with.  With a little bit of training, and a lot of guts to push through the fears, we truly can reach people with the gospel, which is the power of God for salvation.  This involves living our lives in such a way that we are ‘salty’ and ‘bright’ by the way we live (we all get that), but, we also must communicate the gospel in words - even if it’s just handing out a tract.  God delights to show his strength through weak things: us, our prayer, and a little pamphlet with the gospel explained.  Be encouraged to reach out, as you can, and where you are.

 

So, I’ve just scanned my camera roll for the month.  I didn’t take many photos!  Only 2 actually, but one of them has jogged my memory of a good street chat I had this month, so I’ll share about that.  Also, I found 2 encouraging screenshots of messages I received via the needGod.net TikTok Messenger.  You see, a lot of my time is spent sharing the gospel online, these days.  And a lot of that time is spent in TikTok Messenger.  There seems to be an unlimited amount of people messaging in, and I attempt to share the gospel with all of them.  I can’t really keep up, but I rest in the sovereignty of God.  Anyway, check out the 2 screen shots and the 2 pictures.

 

Let me talk about the picture of the yellow Suzuki Swift - yeah, I’d love a yellow Suzuki Swift Sport!  But that’s not the reason I took the picture, I took the pic to remind me of the chat I had with those 4 young lads.  It was special, because they were very engaged.

 

School holidays means kids with nothing to do, so they are willing to stick around and talk.  I had my flipchart up, and it was a pleasure to have Corin with me.  If my memory serves me right: 1 of the kids was being a bit silly, another was being resistant, but the last 2 were very open.  The resistant one served to raise good questions for all of them to consume.  I can’t remember all the details of the conversation now, but I’m pretty sure we worked through all the pictures on the flipchart, and then the 2 open guys just kept popping me with question after question so good!  Sowing seeds, may God be glorified in any future harvest of mercy that may occur.

 

Thank you for keeping us in prayer.

 

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Happy New Year!  This report is for December 2025

 

Two things that stood out to me for December:

 

1) Christmas tracts are popular!  I reckon I gave away 10 Christmas tracts when I would normally give away 1.  I had this funny situation where a lady came round the corner.  I was holding out a tract, and she raised her hand to refuse it.  But before she did I said “Merry Christmas”, instantly she lowered her hand to receive it instead of rejecting it.  There is just something about Christmas!

 

2) Boxing day is still a great day for giving away tracts.  Martin joined me again this year, and we spent 2 hours at Riccarton and 2 hours in the city.  I think I gave away 4 or 5 hundred Christmas tracts in that time.

 

Oh well, the Christmas tracts have been put away for another year.

 

After a short holiday, I got back to the streets yesterday.  I spent an hour in Riccarton.  I was on my own, so I decided to take my flip chart along.

 

Before I had even finished setting it up, I was into my first chat with a group of youths (5 of them).  This chat spoke volumes to me about the power and the simplicity of the law and the gospel.  As I was taking these kids through the law, I had multiple reactions: silliness, denial (“I’ve never lied”), but also, disengagement.  That sounds like a bad thing, but in this case, it was very good.  The young lady was really seeing her personal sin, and that’s the goal of the law!  Sadly, rather than humbling herself to accept the gospel, she hardened her heart by disengaging.  She even walked away from her group and stood to the side while I engaged the others.  As she was leaving, I did say, “hey, I’ve got good news coming”.  But at this stage, she wasn’t interested.  But God can use that, and in his timing he can bring others to bring the gospel seed.  May her heart become ready to receive it!

 

I continued my presentation, but just as I was getting to the gospel, I had 2 more of the kids ditch me.  The 3 that had left walked off, hoping the last 2 with me would leave too.  But they didn’t.  I got to share the gospel with them.  It turns out they went to a Catholic school, and so I instantly went back to my explanation of the ‘false ways’ to contrast what I was teaching with what they had heard in school.  Slowly I saw a light coming across their expressions as the gospel started to really register in their thinking.  It was so good.  But, I had to leave it at that, they wanted to catch up with their friends, and so I let them go with tracts.

 

It was a busy hour of outreach.  Plenty of young people were out & about, bored and with nothing to do.  Two guys went past who had talked to me before in the city (I didn’t really remember them).  I was able to reiterate the law with them (I focused on that, because it obviously hadn’t registered in their thinking the first time) and then touch on the gospel.  They also took tracts.

 

One of my regulars passed.  He is an older guy (74 I think he said).  He is happy to chat, but he is completely blind to the gospel.  What I find fascinating is that, in his retirement, he jumps on city buses and spends his days travelling from place to place, for no particular reason.  He obviously enjoys life, as simple as it is, but he is completely oblivious to the reality of death and judgement.  I decided to ask him about this again (nowadays I usually just chat about the weather with him) and he said he guesses he’ll go to heaven.  And he even mentioned that he and the missus go to church every week (it’s a good local church – he sings the songs and listens to the ‘talk’).  And yet, he has no idea why someone would go to heaven or not and is not interested in talking about it at all.  There is nothing much more I can do than pray, and ask God to soften his heart and remove the scales from his eyes so he can really see his sin for what it is: wretched; and the amazing grace of Jesus to pay for it!  God have mercy!

 

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It’s been 7 years since I started getting supported by Operation 513 in evangelism.  It’s been hard work, but it’s been wonderful work.  Those first couple of years were tough - pure street work.  Now I have the ability to work online too, which brings some balance.  And also, in the early days, we spent 2 years bringing the gospel to the issue of abortion outside Christchurch Hospital on Friday mornings.  That attracted a lot of hate and tension, and I really struggled with it, yet I don’t regret it.  Sin is serious; God’s grace is amazing.

 

I’m so aware of how feeble my efforts have been.  I’m trusting that God has and will continue to show his strength through my weakness.  Who knows what the future will bring.  God knows.  And I’m trusting he will guide my path.  I’m holding everything lightly in my hands; may His kingdom come and His will be done.

 

If it be his will, I want to continue what I’m doing till I’m 96, pushing my walking frame down Colombo Street to the corner of Cashel Street, and telling the young people about Jesus.  (He is worthy!  Right?)  “Excuse me young man, can I ask you a question?  What do you think happens after life?”  But if it be His will that I do something else, so be it.  Even better, may Jesus return today!

 

So, what happened in the month of November?  We had a special outreach!  The 3 day Canterbury A&P Show Outreach.  It was great having Mike Ryan sorting the organisation this year - really appreciated that bro!  We had a solid team working shifts running a site where we set up our gazebo, a table with tracts and Bibles, and gospel flipcharts.  We were right across from the carnival this year.

 

The weather wasn’t so good on the first day, and yet, I still had some very special gospel chats.  I can still clearly see the face of one young lady, who believed in God but thought she was good enough for heaven.  Her face beamed as the logic of the gospel clicked in her thinking, in light of the law showing her her sin.

 

The weather was great on the 2nd day, which was the busiest day anyway.  The morning and early afternoon of the 3rd day was great too, but then an intense  thunder / hail storm hit.  It killed the rest of the afternoon, as everyone left, running for their cars.  We were huddling under our gazebo, when a kid ducked in for cover too.  He was right in front of me, and so I asked, “hey man, can I ask, what do you think happens after life?”.  “Nothing”.  “So, you don’t believe in God?”  “No”.  “But, if I told you the ferries wheel made itself would you believe me?”  “No”.  “Right, so, wouldn’t this universe have to have a maker too?”.  He stared at me and then he bolted.  Haha, he’d rather face the storm than stay in shelter with me talking about the true God of justice  he knows exists!

 

Of course, all the other usual street and online outreaches have been happening.  I’m going to have to let the pictures do the talking.

 

Thank you to all those who have actually read these reports over the years.  I hope they have been an encouragement to you for the evangelism opportunities in your own life.  May we all continue to grow in this.  Also, thank you for the financial and prayer support that you have been making to enable me to do this.  I’m looking forward to us being able to cast our crowns at the feet of Jesus.  Only He is worthy.  All glory to God alone!

 

(In loving memory of John Charles Mallett, 24th Jan 1963 - 31st October 2025)

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I enjoyed going through the photos for this month's report.  There weren't as many as I haven’t been on the streets as much as usual, and all the photos I had were from the Riccarton outreach.  All 4 photos (that I’ve included) were taken on the same spot.  Roger, with his flip chart.  What I like about it is that, as you flick through the photos, it makes you realise how many people you can reach just by going to the same spot for a couple of hours each week.  Sure, 1 week might be a bit slower than the next week, but, if you are diligent, then over time you can reach a lot of people.

 

And it’s not like we are doing anything particularly special.  Just offering tracts with a smile and an offer to do the ‘good person test’.  Or asking “Can I ask you a question?  What do you think happens after life?”  Sure, many don’t want to stop, but, many do, enough to keep our small team busy week after week.  And when they do stop, we just get to show them how we know God is real, working against their suppression; and telling them of the serious nature of sin, attempting to reawaken the conscience.  And then telling of the wonder of the mercy of God found in the sacrifice of Jesus to pay for our sin.  Our job is simply to explain the message (what a joy!)  Only God can convict and convert.  The gospel (not our effort or ability) is the power of God for salvation.

 

So, since I haven’t been on the streets as much this month, I’ve been doing more work online: having 1 to 1 conversations with strangers via video chat, and text chat.  Also, I’ve been doing a lot of evangelism training with Christians all over the world (via video calls).

 

I’ve also included 2 screenshots from a text chat I was having with someone. It was super encouraging to me what they wrote, I hope it will encourage you too.  God is truly working on the hearts of people through the feeble efforts of his saints.

 

Also, I took a week off (today is my first day back; and it’s also the reason why this report is a few days late).  I discovered a new evangelism tip: each time you go to the barber, go to a different one.  Because, on my week off, I went for my regular groom at the barber, and I went on a day of the week I don’t normally go, and so there were 2 different barbers there.  Barbers like to talk, I think it’s in their job description, so the young man cutting my hair starts asking me questions.  It was so easy to naturally swing the conversation to spiritual things, and he was very open.  I was able to share the law and the gospel in a very natural way.  And the other young barber was listening in too!  Again, I can’t convert anyone, all we can do is plough soil, and sow seeds as we can.

 

This coming month (November) we will be running a special outreach to the Canterbury A&P Show.  We have hired a site, as usual, and we’ll be setting up a gazebo and flip charts to share the gospel to many over the 3 days: Thu 13th, Fri 14th, and Sat 15th - from 9:30 am till 4:30 pm each day.  Please pray for this endeavour, that the weather would be good, for favour with the authorities, for labourers to run the site, for good relationships among the labourers, that many people would come to understand the gospel, and most importantly, that God would be glorified through our feeble efforts – that He would show His strength through our weakness.

 

Thank you for continuing to pray for the gospel ministry of Operation 513 based in Christchurch, NZ!

 

   

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Another month has passed.  Another month closer to eternity.  Time is moving fast.  The older I get, the more I want to forgo the pleasures of this life and invest in the kingdom to come - for God’s glory alone.  The best way I know to do that is to tell as many people as I can about who God is: His justice and His mercy.  And to try to encourage other believers to do the same - as much as I fail to do that.  My prayer is that He will use our feeble efforts to show His strength.

 

This month we had the joy of running a short term mission to… our own city!  Christchurch.  Why travel so far at so much cost, when you can just step out your door to the local streets, markets and meeting places to tell people there about Jesus.

 

For 1 week in September: Monday to Sunday, we spent our days ministering the gospel in our usual outreach spots: Cashel Mall and Riccarton, but we also got to re-visit some of our old haunts: the Eastgate and Northlands bus stops!  It was so good to be back in those spots - Andy and I talked about trying to visit them more often in the future.

 

One chat I had at Northlands is burned into my memory.  It was so encouraging.

 

A bus had just degourged its passengers and I managed to strike up a chat with one of them: a young man - probably in his late teens.  When I asked him what he thought happened after life, he became sad, “I hope it’s heaven, but, there will probably be nothing after I die”.  So, starting from there, I was able to explain to him how we know God is real.  This was when I was rewarded with his first facial change - it made sense to him, there must be a God - hope dawned on his face.  I then proceeded to explain how we know there is a heaven and a hell.  The look of hope on his face broke into a smile - again, it made sense – that means there won’t be nothing after life!  Finally, I was able to reason with him about the bad news: that we clearly deserve hell, but then the good news: what God has done so we can mercifully go to heaven.  And that was when I was rewarded with the final expression change - there is true hope for heaven!!  What a joy and a privilege it was for me to minister this good news to him.  How wonderful is it that God condescends to use a wretch like me to deliver such wonderful hope.

 

Suddenly he had to go, I was able to give him a tract before he scooted across the road and into the mall.  I didn’t have a chance to really work through any of the check questions.  I may never see him again, but, in those brief minutes I was able to pass him the bread of life.  I leave him in God’s hands - I didn’t even get a chance to learn his name; yet, God knows what it is.

 

On Saturday, Craig and I were in Riccarton.  I was handing out tracts when an older lady went past.  “Have you got one of these?”, I said.  She stopped and turned.  “What is it?”, she asked.  “It’s about Jesus”.  Her face beamed.  She bounded up to me and gave me a hug, and then she kissed me on the cheek!  “I’m a Messianic Jew, you’re doing a great job young man”.  She took the tract and bounded off before I had a chance to say anything further.  Haha, I don’t think I’ve ever been kissed for sharing the gospel before!  Always a first.  It made me re-evaluate, am I being faithful in my delivery?  I mean, if I’m being faithful, then the reaction is more often than not going to be that I’ll be spat at – people hate God because they love their sin.  But, no, I think if we are faithful, we will get a range of responses: including joy and hatred.  We must be gentle and respectful, but we must be faithful too, no compromise on the truth.

 

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I can speak in tongues!  It’s true!  See the pictures for proof.  One of them you will see a snap shot of a TikTok direct message conversation in Arabic.  I don’t know Arabic, and yet I was still able to communicate the gospel (or at least start a gospel conversation).  All this, thanks to modern translation software.  It’s so great.  Whoever it was said, “there are no Christians around me, and I have many questions”.  I responded with, “Sure, what’s your first question?  Also, why can you go to heaven when you die”.  And we went from there.

 

Technology can be used for so much bad, but it can be used for so much good too.  E.g., Roman roads brought the destructive might of the Roman army, but it also brought the gospel.  The printing press has enabled the propagation of destructive ideas, but it also brought the gospel.  The Internet, same thing.  Social media, same thing, Translation software, same thing.  Let’s use these tools for God’s glory, and push back against evil with the most effective weapon we have: the gospel!  His Kingdom come, and His will be done, on earth as in heaven.  Hallowed be His name!

 

This month has been great.  No special outreaches, just regular, routine outreaches: Street work, Online work.  Face to face chats, chats via text.  Training - one on one, both online and on the streets.  All glory to God, what a privilege it is to be able to serve Him and others in this way.  Please keep us in prayer!

 

The other pictures were selections from the month.  Many of them are “spot the gospel chat” style, with many different chats happening at the same time in them.

 

On the Friday just been, there was a spring-like feel in the air.  Nice sun, but a gusty wind.  Roger didn’t set up his flip chart, but Brian and Laura did.  There were heaps of school kids out fundraising for something, and I noticed many of them were having gospel chats with our team as well! (as per the pics)

 

I had plenty of good chats, but the one that stands out really felt like a divine appointment.  I was at the corner of Colombo and Cashel, handing out tracts, when a young man went past.  He took one and I was able to get a conversation started.  He had a fairly good gospel understanding (which is unusual), and yet he was lacking some clarity.  I laboured to sure that up.  He also had some personal struggles that I was able to bring some biblical advice to.  It turns out he had been sitting in the Cardboard Cathedral in contemplation just before our conversation - then he heads down the street and bumps into me!  There are no coincidences!  Is what we are doing effective?  Absolutely!  The gospel is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16)

 

On Saturday, I was very encouraged to have Toby join me again.  He’s a member of the same local church as me.  We were at the corner of Riccarton and Rotherham.  I set up my flip chart, and we had a very very busy 2 hour outreach.  The highlight was being able to talk to multiple groups of school aged kids, including one group down from Nelson for the weekend.  Also, it was so good seeing Toby getting involved and giving it a go!

 

Also, on Tuesday, Roger, Sam and I were in Riccarton in the late afternoon.  Two stand out chats come to mind: the first was with a young guy walking past, I gently asked, “Excuse me sir, can I ask you a question?”  It was almost like he had been waiting for me to ask, knowing what I was going to ask, and really wanted to talk: “Yeah, sure”.  We had a 15 minute chat, where I was able to present the law and the gospel to him, and then work through the suite of check questions.  At one point he made this comment “No one has explained it this way before” - I think the gospel was starting to click with him.  He had been reading the Bible in the Old Testament, so I encouraged him to try again, starting with John.

 

Later, at the same spot, a guy came out of a store and walked past, I offered him a gospel chat.  “No thanks!”.  I responded with, “No problem, have a nice day”.  But he had to stop at the crossing till the light went green.  Because I was there too, he turned and made a comment about the weather.  We fell into a friendly chat, and when the light went green, I walked with him to continue the chat.  I was able to ask what he thinks happened after life, and it turns out that he is agnostic.  We kept chatting and walking, but I wanted to test his interest.  I decided that I would stop walking, and see if he would stop too.  He did!  We continued the chat, which was mainly apologetical in nature. He didn’t stay for too long, but when I offered him a gospel tract the 2nd time, this time he took it.  I was encouraged.

 

Soil ploughed, seed scattered.  God will bring the increase, in His timing.

 

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It’s been a month of gospel chats with those that have been open - praise the Lord, may his mercy be magnified.  It’s been a month of gospel chats with those that have been resistant - praise the Lord, may his justice be magnified.  Yet, it may be those that are initially resistant that end up accepting the mercy of God; and likewise, it may be those that are initially open that end up rejecting the mercy of God.  Who knows?  God knows.  But either way, he will be glorified in him becoming more known through our feeble effort.

 

Often when people ask me how the street evangelism is going, I’ll tell them about a recent chat I’ve had where the person was resistant.  In my mind, I’m just excited that I had the opportunity to talk to them, and bring glory to God in the process.  But then the person I’m talking to will misinterpret that into thinking I need encouragement.

 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I do need encouragement, and I need the prayers of the saints, as we all do.  But, I’m content in my labour, without that allowing me to become slack in my labour.  I have the sufficient encouragement of scripture and the sound theology that comes from that.

 

Our job is to plough, sow and water.  It’s God’s job to bring the increase.  It’s hard work, and yet, the burden is light.

 

And when you are persistent, then the reward comes.  Yes, there is a lot of rejection and indifference from those walking past, but then someone will stop and you will have a gem of a conversation!  And so, to you: reader, I want to encourage you!  Don’t go soul winning once and give up!  Make a commitment to go regularly, and be persistent, and before you know it, years will have gone past and you will have memory after memory of God honouring gospel conversations where those you talked to may have been resistant or open, but you know God was glorified either way.

 

The opportunity for the gospel is unlimited.  And it’s been very encouraging for me to have a couple of the young men from my own local church joining me in outreach this month.  Rovin has been joining me on Sunday afternoons, and Toby joined me on a Saturday afternoon.  I’m loving having you guys join me!  And, if you are in Christchurch, I’d love to have you join me too.  Get in touch.

 

Here are a couple of highlight chats from the last month.

 

I’ve been working on being more disciplined in my personal devotions, prayer and Bible study.  One of my constant prayers is that, in my evangelism, I’ll be faithful to the word of God, and not compromising out of fear of man.  And yet, I pray that I’ll be gentle and respectful in my communication.  Now Society is fickle.  In one season, a particular issue (e.g., gender identity, or climate change) will be hot, but then the next, it’s not.  I’ve been through seasons where everyone will be asking / challenging me about homosexuality, but currently, it’s not an issue that comes up often.

 

But, two Fridays ago, I got into a gospel chat with four young people from Perth.  They were all in different spaces, and most of them were not taking the chat too seriously.  But, as the chat progressed, one lady did become serious.  She initially denied that God is real, but as she came to realise that it didn’t make sense that God was real, she challenged me: “well, I wouldn’t be welcome at church”.  “Why not?”, I responded innocently.  She shot back: “I’m gay”.  Faithful, yet gentle and respectful.  My initial response was to play neutral, “we are all sinners” - which is true, and yet, I knew that wasn’t faithful, and so, I had to be honest.  “Yeah, homosexuality is a sin”.  The air became icy.  It was uncomfortable.  But we must be faithful.  The conversation continued for a bit, but there was no real engagement at this stage, and so it was natural to let the chat wrap up.  As the four young people moved on, I offered follow up tracts, 2 took one, and to my surprise, the girl who claimed to be gay took one.  From her own mouth, her reason for saying God is not real is because she is gay, and yet, I made it clear that that didn’t make sense.  God is real, we all know it, yet we suppress that truth because we love our sin.  If we humbly face the truth of our sin, then there is mercy and forgiveness - because of Jesus.

 

Later on the same day, an older man went past.  “Excuse me sir, can I ask you a question?”, I say.  He was initially surprised by my question “What do you think happens after life?”, and yet he stayed to talk.  Yes, although most have their head in the sand, many want to talk about this - esp. with someone who is safe: that is, a stranger.

 

It turns out this man was Jewish.  As we chatted, he felt he trusted me enough to confess that he was grieving the loss of a close relative in Israel, he was a soldier who had been killed in Gaza.  He, like everyone else, is trying to process the evil and suffering and reconcile it all.  Glory to God!  I was giving the privilege of ministering to him.  Sadly, he was resistant to the gospel - it was like all his reasoning ability was turned off.  And yet, soil was ploughed, seeds were planted, questions were answered.  Although he was rejecting the gospel for now, nothing is wasted: God’s mercy or justice will be magnified.  As the conversation wrapped up, I was again able to express my sympathy over his loss. He teared up again in grief as he moved on.  God, have mercy!

 

On the following Sunday, I had a wonderful chat with a young lady, very resistant at the moment, and yet she was challenged by the reality of God’s law.  She moved on before I could share the gospel (although she did take a tract).

 

As I looked up, a lady was sitting on the bench across from me and watching intently.  She recognised me, but I didn’t recognise her.  I approached, and it wasn’t long before I remembered exactly who it was.  It was a young lady that I’ve been praying for.  I had a long chat with her, maybe a year ago(?).  She had opened up about some very painful and difficult situations at the time.  Things were no different now, and so I was able to continue the chat.  Amazingly, in spite of all the terrible things that had happened to her, she had no conception of her own wrong.  She seeked to justify all she did, to the point of absurdity.  She insisted on her goodness.  So I patiently laboured with her.  Although she is not outwardly open at this stage, I know there is something in her that is honest about the things we were talking about.  I gave her a gospel of John to read.  Pray that she does.  I hope to see her again and continue the conversation.  Or maybe you will be the one to continue that chat?  Come join us in the harvest!

 

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Well, we are well and truly in winter's grasp now.  We’ve had to miss a few street outreaches due to weather.  But that didn’t mean we had to stop the outreach - online.  I still marvel at how much opportunity we have to share the gospel.  The opportunity is virtually unlimited.

 

Just yesterday, the Holy Spirit dropped me into the back seat of someone’s car in Auckland.  He was holding an implement I assume to be used for abusing substances for pleasure.  Later in the chat he did indeed light it up and start puffing from it.  I asked him what he thought happened after life and a conversation was away.  He didn’t take it very seriously initially.  At one point, he even reached over and pulled what looked like a little machine gun into view so I could see that he was a bad boy.

 

Yet, as the conversation progressed, I managed to trigger some serious reflection from him.  He turned to the issue of evil and suffering.  Why had all these horrible things been allowed to happen to him?  I’d say this is the most common question I get when a conversation breaks through silliness and superficiality.  I’m ready for it.  I have 3 answers that I usually give in order.  Answer 1) empathy, answer 2) people are responsible for their actions - they can’t blame God, and answer 3) God allows evil so he can demonstrate his justice (wrath), patience and mercy (Romans 9:22-23). In this case, my first answer: empathy caused the crack in his resistance, and he opened up to hear the law and the gospel.

 

It was interesting, because as I explained grace, he immediately articulated salvation by works back to me.  So I pushed back with grace.  The bomb hit, he understood, because he asked the classic question: “So, I can do whatever I want then?”  To solidify grace in his thinking, I affirmed his question, but then explained that, as a result of grace, we are now free from slavery to sin: the drunkard will put down his bottle, the wife beater will stop beating his wife.

 

He was provoked to confess that he had tried religion, but that it hadn’t worked.  As I asked for clarification, he gave up on me, reached out and skipped.  The Holy Spirit took me away.  I was sad by the sudden ending, but then I rejoiced.  I had been able to plant the gospel seed!  What happens to it is out of my control anyway, but my mission was complete.  Glory to God.  He can use that seed to magnify his justice, or he can use that seed to magnify his mercy.  Either way, God is glorified.  Our feeble effort is never wasted in God’s strong hands.  And so, I will never get sick of this hard, often repetitive labour.  I want to be anonymous.  I want to put my head down and work, telling the next person, then the next person, then the next person about Jesus!  Telling them about the wonderful gospel of Jesus!  And I rejoice in His glory.

 

On Friday, we (Andy, Roger, Brian, Laura, and myself) were at the Bridge of Remembrance.  A dreary day weather wise; I had my thermals on!

 

One special interaction stands out in my mind.  A young couple went past, and we got into a chat.  He was emotionless - indifferent to the conversation, and yet she was very engaged.  I could tell by the look in her eyes.  As she grasped the grace of Jesus, she said something that impacted me.  She said, “no one has ever explained this to me”.  As I write this, I’m considering my emotions.  Joy, that she came to understand about Jesus.  But then, anger.  Anger that she has never had someone explain this simple message to her.  She wasn’t resistant, she didn’t ask me any hard questions, I just stuck to the simple script.

 

Due to the dynamic of the situation, the conversation needed to be short - he wasn’t interested, and they obviously needed to be somewhere.  But in that short time, the seed had been planted.  I was able to point her to a Bible, specifically the book of John.  I could tell she was very engaged, because she articulated back to me which book in the Bible she needed to start with.  I was also able to point her to a church before they moved on.  In the hands of God.

 

Lord, help me to deal with my anger rightly.  Help me to be an encouragement to other believers in sharing the gospel.  Lord, may your church not be distracted.  Help us.

 

Two other conversations from the month stand out in my thinking, one was an online chat with two young guys who live in the suburb next to mine.  I said to my pastor just after, that even if I had 24 hours with them, I wouldn’t exhaust the need for biblical counselling in their lives; yet, gospel seed planted.  The other was a very short text chat with a guy, no religious background, the building builder analogy made sense to him and he opened up to hear the gospel.  He immediately expressed interest in the Bible, so I pointed him to John when he suddenly skipped; gospel seed planted.  But, I’m out of time to give any more details.

 

If you read this, can I ask 2 things of you: 1) join me.  We offer free training.  The opportunity beyond the opportunity in your everyday life (friends, family, etc) is limitless.  2) please pray for us.  I want to go to heaven, I’m eager for Jesus' return, but another part of me wants to keep doing this, as tiring as it is, till I’m at least 96.  I want to push my walking frame down Colombo street to the Corner of Cashel and tell the young people about Jesus.

 

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The month of May is gone.  A wonderful month of gospel ministry, both on the streets and online.  As per the pictures, autumn is passing into winter here in Christchurch, New Zealand.  God has also blessed us opportunities for evangelism training, both online and on the streets.

 

We have also restocked our supply of tracts - a new pallet load arrived the other day.  You can get these tracts for free (just pay shipping) from here.

 

One of the pictures was a screenshot of an online gospel conversation with someone who seemed to have the penny drop - it was so good to read.

 

But the wacky quote of the month was from someone passing me on the street.  I offered him a tract and he said, “what is it?”.  I replied, “It’s about Jesus”.  He continued to walk, but then he turned and said, “it’s okay, I already know about Donald Trump”.  People turn to various messiah figures, but there is only one Messiah!  Not Donald Trump, nor Barack Obama.  Only Jesus.

 

So, in regards to the training.  It’s been great to have Sam joining us regularly.  He has moved back to NZ from the USA.  He has been shadowing us and learning from us, with a passion to bring Christ to his community.

 

Also, some friends of friends in my church wanted to check out the street outreach gig and joined me a couple of weekends ago in Riccarton.  I sometimes get a bit nervous when people come to investigate like this – what if the outreach is uneventful?  But it’s a sin to worry, and there was no need, because the outreach was very eventful!  I had the flipchart, and got into a good chat with 3 teenage lads. As that was happening, an older gentleman passed and interjected his thoughts into the conversation.  I must have talked to him before, because (good naturedly, yet seriously) he warned the young lads not to listen to me.  Then, 3 young early 20 ladies queued up to talk to us.  They had an intellectual worldview that was in rebellion to the logic of Christ, so we had a long chat as I laboured with them towards the gospel.  Just as I was getting there, someone in a car behind me asked what was happening.  It broke the moment, and one of the girls wanted to split.  I offered a tract to the lady in the car - she didn’t want it, but the guy driving said he wanted one - which I gave.  I was then able to offer tracts to the 2 other girls, who accepted.  Finally, a lady, named Sue, stopped to passively aggressively share her thoughts with us.  At one point she was judging us for judging.  She wasn’t open to any kind of dialogue, and I was relieved when she moved on.

 

I had some amazing face to face chats online this month.  A 30 minute chat with a young man from the Bahamas.  He had a Christian background, but he was thinking he got to heaven because of Jesus AND his goodness.  He was really grateful to gain clarity on the truth of Jesus alone for salvation.

 

But the most special was a 1 hour chat with a guy from the Netherlands who was in the navy.  A very intense conversation. A soldier who had seen and done many terrible things. Not able to process and so turned to alcohol. He is actually going to rehab for the 3rd time the next day. A wonderful conversation, where I was able to labour on evil and suffering, law, gospel.  At times he would weep as he started to process things.  In one moment he would say he knows he deserves hell, but yet he still held to his righteousness. He eventually skipped me. I pray for him!

 

Please continue to pray for this feeble ministry for God’s glory.

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