Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Christchurch (NZ) Team
• Page 29

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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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As I write this, I’m feeling really raw.  I think I had two of the hardest gospel outreaches in my life - ever.  Positions #1 and #2.  And they both occurred on the same day!

And you have to expect it, so I’m not complaining.  God is with us, even through the hard days.

But it still hurts.  After the first outreach, the gospel + abortion outreach outside the hospital, I said I felt like I was lying on the ground with multiple bullet wounds, and I was bleeding out.  That was the 2nd hardest outreach ever.  You can read about it here

It was about now that I noticed my throat was very dry. After facing that. I felt like I could face anything. I was very keen to get to Cathedral Square for some open air preaching.  I didn’t know what was coming.

Our usual gaggle of hecklers had gathered, and I gladly stood up to start proclaiming the good news of the hope for eternal life found in Jesus.  I’ve decided I want to get better at addressing the hecklers, so while preaching, I kept one ear on what they were saying, and did my best to try to address them, without losing the flow of the law and gospel presentation I was giving.  Marty preached after me.  Andy decided not to preach today, and so we moved to Cashel Mall early to start reaching people in gospel conversations.

Roger joined Andy and I, and it was a bit slower than the first few weeks after lock down - back to a normal amount of people on the streets.  But we still had many opportunities to talk to people about hope.

It was coming nearer to the end of the outreach than the start when we had a disturbance.  I was talking to three guys from the USA when I noticed Andy was in a bit of an intense conversation.  Next thing I notice is that Andy is walking away - always a good option when appropriate.

My conversation with the three guys ended and then I noticed that the guy that had been hassling Andy was now abusing Roger who was in a conversation with two high school students.

I pulled out my phone and started recording, and told the man to please leave us alone, and that I was recording him.  It had the desired effect, he stopped disturbing Rogers' conversation, and started abusing me instead.  He was drunk.  It was worse than anything I’ve ever experienced.  Even worse than the abuse hurled at us at the gospel + abortion outreach earlier in the day.

The guy made a real scene.  I told Roger to calll the cops.  Little did I know, Andy had already done that, and I’m sure others were too.  People were stopping to watch this guy verbally abusing me and others.  I’m sure many of them were hanging around to stop him if he started getting physical.

And that threat was very real.  I remember a moment when he started pacing towards me.  I was stepping back, so he stepped forward.  I realised what was happening, and I knew I had to stop, so I did.  I looked him in the eye and said not a word.  He came right into my face.  I tried not to flinch, but I knew there was a very real possibility that he was about to punch me in the face.  He didn’t - thank God for that.  But the verbal abuse continued to stream out of this man.  He was angry that we tell people that they are going to hell - something we never actually do, we are always careful to present the truth of hell in such a way that they draw their own conclusions in relation to the logic and context we give.  And we then share the amazing good news of how to go to heaven - which is a gift of God.  We don’t want anyone to go to hell, and that is why we are there, desperately pleading with all to get on the ark of Jesus.

Members of the public started getting involved.  I remember two ladies coming to my defence.  One said she didn’t agree with my religious convictions, but that no one should be talked to like this.  I did my best to keep them back (I failed).  The best response is no words, or calm words.

Finally the Police arrived, and I could start to breathe again.  I was in shock, and I wasn’t thinking straight, but then I calmed myself and started responding to the Police.  I realised I was still recording on my phone.  So I stopped it and managed to play it back for the Police.  They arrested the guy.

The Police were wonderful.  I’m so grateful for them.  Thank you so much!  And thank you to all the citizens that stopped and supported us.  I appreciated your presence - thank you.

We still had about fifteen minutes of outreach left, and I refused to shut down early.  This was not going to stop the gospel.  So we kept going till the scheduled end.  I noticed Roger had another conversation with an elderly couple.

After the outreach, we gathered around hot chocolate and coffee to discuss and pray.  What a day!

But it wasn’t over yet.  Mike and I had scheduled our first evening outreach post lock down.  They say these things happen in threes.  What was going to happen during the evening?

But thankfully the evening outreach was uneventful, apart from many opportunities to sow gospel seed.  It was a successful outreach, with plenty of people out and about.

The highlight conversation for me was a follow up right at the start with two high school aged kids out skateboarding.

I also approached a guy who said, “I know you, you are my neighbour!”  I was shocked.  It turns out he was my brother's neighbour - I obviously look a lot like my brother!  I got to share the gospel with him and a lady with him.

And I haven’t even had a chance to talk about the wonderful gospel opportunities from Thursday at the Eastgate and Northlands bus stops.  The highlight was a conversation with a kid whose grandfather is a pastor.  It was a wake up call he needed to hear.  I also got to share with his girlfriend.  So many other fascinating conversations occurred, where God’s providence was on display.  But I don’t have time to write about them.  I need to get back to the streets, where the harvest is ripe.

God is with us.  With Him, we can face anything.  Oh, may there be fruit to bring glory to God alone.
 

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Tuesday and Wednesday saw the Christchurch team in outreach to Riccartion, in the city, and online.

I had some wonderful opportunities online.

My very first gospel conversation was with a classroom of high school kids!  I could only see a few of them, but I could hear many more.  Their teacher must not have been there.  With so many of them commenting on the conversation, it got quite chaotic.  I wasn’t sure if anyone was really following.  So I mentioned needGod.net early.  I managed to get through the law and the gospel.

I got into a conversation with a guy with a strong accent.  I thought he was putting it on and that he was making fun of me!  But I persisted.  He considered himself a Christian, but was trusting his good deeds to get to heaven.  The conversation was a real wake up call for him, he seemed genuinely impacted.

I also had a couple of conversations with Muslims.

Heading to the streets of Riccarton, I had Roger join me.

I had four high school girls stop to chat.  One of them was a Christian, and had a fairly good grasp of the gospel, and yet she didn’t.  She thought some people would be good enough for heaven - even without Jesus.  What it boiled down to was that she didn’t want her friends to go to hell, and rather than tell them the good news of Jesus, she’d come up with her wrong conclusion.  I was able to use the flip chart to demonstrate the serious nature of sin, the severity of God’s justice, but also the amazingness of his mercy and grace.  She was challenged, and she didn’t like it.  Most of them took tracts - including the Christian girl (eventually).

I had a great gospel chat with some Phillipine kids - they seemed deeply impacted by the law of God, which is encouraging - and they heard the gospel.

I then had a guy stop who was very keen to chat.  Long story short, it seems he was converted about six months ago, and has been avidly reading his Bible but is in some desperate need of some sound discipling.  The conversation turned quite pastoral, but I had to be careful, as I don’t know him.  He took my contact details - I hope to hear from him.

The outreach ended with a frustrating conversation with a philosophy student from the university.  He wouldn’t take the conversation seriously, to his detriment.  I can only hope the law and gospel was hitting home behind a facade.

Wednesday’s first outreach was in the city.  Andy preached in the Square, which led to me being able to have three wonderful follow up conversations.

The first was with a construction worker I talked to last Friday.

The second was with a young man I’ve spoken to at least twice before.  He has been thinking about what he has learned about the gospel.  And he has been reading the Bible.  But he is not converted.  I gave him my contact details, he said he would contact me.

The last one was with a young couple who weren’t going to stay to listen to the preaching, but one on one they stayed to hear the law and the gospel.

The final outreach was online & I was able to join the team from Aussie.

The conversation that really sticks with me is one I had with a young Catholic guy who I was able to challenge on how we are justified.  He considered himself good, and it was a real shock for him to hear me explain why he was heading to hell.  I hope his conscience is activated and that he is truly converted, to the glory of God alone.  Afterwards he played some piano for me!  Pictured.  I will never see him again in this life, I hope to see him in heaven.
 

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I’m still transitioning from as much online outreach to a normal street outreach schedule.  So I spent Saturday morning on Omegle sharing the gospel there.  (Next week, I intend to be back in the city on Saturday.)

It was great to have Rob from Canada with me in the Jitsi room.  Some stand out conversations include:

One with a muslim from Setif, Algeria.  Afterwards, I looked up that city on Google Maps and marvelled at how easy it is to reach people in such a foriegn place.  Praise God!  His spoken English wasn’t great, and I was about to give up, when we started communicating via typing - his written English was much better.  So I was able to challenge him with the wonderful news of the gospel.

I’ve been talking to a lot of Catholics lately, and I was again paired with one on Omegle.  This was a stand out because he seemed to come to grasp the gospel and seemed very appreciative of the conversation.  May God change his heart.

Another great conversation was with a group of at least two guys.  One of them was mocking me, but the other was tracking with me.  They heard the gospel.  I don’t care if people mock - the stakes are too high - may God have mercy.

On Sunday, there were three of us in Cashel Mall for a couple of hours in the afternoon.  For me it was a pretty much non stop time of ministry.  I was able to share the gospel with multiple groups of teens.  Group conversations can be hard work, because the individuals can be in different spaces.  You’ll have the attention of some, but others aren't interested.

I had one situation with a group of five girls where one of them was responding to the law, and feeling the gravity of their conscience, but another was bored and distracted.  I did my best to hold the attention of all of them, but I ended up losing all of them before I could really share the gospel clearly. :(

I had a group of five guys where 3 ended up leaving, but to my surprise, 2 stayed.  It ended up being a good thing that the 3 left, as I was able to focus on clearly explaining the gospel to the 2 who stayed and were interested.

The last conversation of the outreach was with yet another group of five girls.  This time they were all interested and engaged and stayed to hear me out.  They all took tracts.  And then one of the girls started asking really good questions about how people have different beliefs.  I sensed that she had a postmodern world view (what’s true for me is true for me) and so I gently challenged her on that.  I ended up seeing her later in a coffee shop, and so I gave her the tract “Which one is right?”.

I thank God for all the gospel opportunities on the weekend.  I’m looking forward to a new week of outreach, to the glory of God alone.

Oh, I nearly forgot, I also had an opportunity to share the gospel with a friend (and his son) who I’ve known since I was a baby (family friends).  I’ve tried in the past, but he’s just not interested.  But I gently pushed the boundary - the stakes are so high.  He survived, and we are still friends! ;) (literally just before I posted this, Andy sent me a picture of that conversation - which I've included in this report!)
 

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Two very busy days of ministry.  A very long report - sorry in advance for that! ;)

Thursday’s outreaches to the bus stops were amazing.  I was mildly hesitant to go, thinking bus stops might not be the ideal place for social distancing.  But I knew there would be spots where I could engage with those passing by and still maintain appropriate distance.  So Andy and I decided to give it a go.  Northlands early afternoon, and Eastgate in the late afternoon.

When I turned up at Northlands, there weren’t many people around, and I wondered if I had made a wrong decision and should have stayed home doing online evangelism.

I managed to get a conversation started, but their bus came.

So I prayed about this and then lo and behold someone came past and I was able to get a conversation started - they couldn’t stay, but they took a tract.  And then straight after, another opportunity arose (with a Christian lady), and then another (with a Catholic lady).

By this stage, Andy had arrived, and he fell into a follow up conversation with someone I had talked to on a previous outreach (pictured).  And then I fell into a follow up conversation with someone Andy had talked to on a previous outreach.  Andy ended up finishing up his conversation and took over my one.

I turned and noticed a lady waiting for a bus and so, respecting social distance, I started a conversation with her, that went long (pictured).  She deliberately missed busses so the conversation could continue.  She had Catholic, Maori, and Mormon religious background.  And when I tried to add Christianity to the mix, she confessed that she felt quite confused.  So I just spent time listening, and trying to bring clarity.  A lot of her questions were, understandably, around how we know what is true.  She gladly took a “Which one is right?” tract, as well as others.  Such a wonderful conversation.

The outreach was going better than I could have expected!  I had two more brief follow up opportunities before I noticed things starting to calm down again.  I mentioned to Andy that maybe we should split to Eastgate early when he suddenly got into a conversation, as did I.

And then the high school kids came!  And suddenly we were working harder than ever, with gospel conversation after gospel conversation.

One kid said he thought about the after life a lot.  I asked if he believed in God, and he said he wasn’t sure.  And so I used the Building / Builder - Universe / Universe Maker analogy and he was stunned, he turned to his friend and said, “did you hear that, it makes so much sense”.  I didn’t have much time (as I could tell they needed to go), but I was able to share the law and gospel with him and his friend - they both left with tracts, but part way through, another friend turned up, and so I was able to share the law and gospel with him as well.  So much plowing and sowing - it was so good.  Glory to God.

My final conversation at Northlands was with a young man (20 years old), who used to be a youth pastor but now didn’t believe in God.  I guessed two things: 1) he had been deeply hurt by witnessing an extreme form of hypocrisy 2) that he had never understood the gospel.  I carefully asked questions that confirmed that I was right in both instances.  So I backed up and started by explaining how we know God exists and how we know who God is.  He was open and following the logic, but his bus came.  I gave him a tract and pleaded with him to contact me, the conversation was so important.  I leave him in God’s hands.

Maybe you know some of these people I talked to.  Are you ready to follow up with them and reinforce the gospel information they are learning?  I can’t do this alone. :)

Andy and I then made the move to Eastgate - a little later than we expected, but praise God that we had so much opportunity at Northlands.

It was just as busy at Eastgate.  I had six significant gospel conversations.  The highlight was the second to last one, it was with a young Catholic high schooler.  I don’t remember it, but I had talked to him twice before.  He still couldn’t articulate the gospel, so I went through it with him again.  I warned him that this was the third opportunity he had to hear the gospel, he may not get another, and while I was challenging him to count the cost, I asked him what was stopping him from trusting that Jesus died for his sin.  He said, “I am trusting that Jesus paid the fine for my sin”.  I was surprised, and I said, “when did you start doing that?”  He said, “Today”.  I pleaded with him to get in touch with me (we want to see people knitted into a good local church).  I leave him in God’s hands.

Friday was a big day of outreach.  The weather was wonderful.  We spent two hours outside the hospital bringing the gospel to the issue of abortion.  You can read about that here.

We then moved to Cathedral Square for open air preaching.  Marty preached first, and that was the only opportunity we had.  We attracted a lot of hecklers, and one of them got up to “preach” after Marty leaving no time for anyone else to preach.  We didn’t waste the time, we ended up getting into wonderful one to one gospel conversations with those walking past instead.

Moving on to Cashel Mall, again it was busy!  I had a wonderful follow up opportunity with a guy I’ve been talking to on and off for well over a year now.  It turns out he has cancer in a finger!  And he may lose it. :(  He still isn’t grasping the gospel, so I had an opportunity to continue challenging him on that.  As we were talking, Radio NZ approached me for comment on a political issue.  I took the opportunity to give a gospel sound bite!  I doubt they will use it, of course, but the interviewer took a tract.

We then had a non stop couple of hours of gospel ministry down by the Bridge of Remembrance.  Even before I got there, I had a wonderful walk up gospel conversation with a young couple.

But the highlight (for me) was a long conversation with two young girls.  I laboured with them for a long time, and although I think the effort was worth it, there was a resistance and a blindness to what I was saying.  I pray they will have more opportunity to engage with the gospel - maybe with you?  Are you ready to share?

 

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Tuesday saw the first outreach to Riccarton since the Covid-19 lock down had eased.  It was a late afternoon outreach, sunny when it started, but by the end the sun was setting, and it was quite cold.

But it was great to be back at this spot, and I had four sets of conversations.

My first was with a Hindu guy who came to understand the gospel, and was challenged to count the cost of following Jesus.

I then had a Catholic high school student go past - she looked like she wouldn’t be interested, and so I was surprised that she stopped at my opening question.  She was actually very engaged, and I had a long conversation where I had to carefully explain that it was not our good deeds in any way that saved us, but only Jesus' sacrifice on the cross that we accept by faith alone.  I think she came to grasp what I was saying, but she didn’t look convinced.  As always, I left her in God’s hands.  I can only hope that the plowing and sowing I did would lead to growth at some point in the future.

The last conversation of the outreach was with two Polynesian girls.  They were heading to the bank when they passed the first time, but they said they would come back - and they did.  One said she was Christian, the other Mormon, but neither seemed committed.  So I was able to share the law and the gospel with them.  It was a lovely conversation.

Even though Riccarton wasn’t as busy as the city had been the previous Friday and Sunday - it was still good to be back on the streets!

Today (Wednesday) I went back into the City in the early afternoon with Andy.

As soon as I was out of my car, I had a wonderful opportunity to talk with two guys walking past - so the outreach got started early!

I then met Andy at the speaker's corner where we both open air preached.  I had someone sit down to listen, and to my surprise, as soon as I started talking about the resurrection of Jesus the listener became angry and started heckling me.  Similar to what happened on Friday.

We continued the outreach with “walk up”.  We went down Cashel Mall, and then moved to the courthouse.  Outside the courthouse, first Andy, and then I fell into good gospel conversations.

The guy I was talking to professed to not be interested in spiritual issues, and yet, he stayed to talk with me for a long while.  He resisted the logic of how we know God exists, but kept coming back to it.  I held my ground refusing to let him off the hook, and kept using the same argument.  Eventually, to my surprise, I was able to get through the law, and even share the gospel with this guy.  There was still much resistance though.  He wouldn’t take an After Life tract from me, but when I said I had a different one titled: How we know God exists and why it matters, he said he would be keen for that!

Our conversations ended at different times, and so Andy and I became separated, but we ended up meeting again outside Ara.  Andy had a great chat there with two high school students (pictured).

And I had a wonderful follow up opportunity with a guy I’ve talked to a few times before.  I was able to walk back to my car while talking to him (we were going in the same direction).  He seemed more open than the last time I talked to him.  We were discussing the sermon on the mount.  He really seemed to appreciate something I said and accepted a tract as we parted ways.  God willing I will be able to talk to him again.

Both Tuesday and today, I was also doing some online evangelism - it is such a wonderful way of reaching people.  The stand out conversation was with two guys from California.  They came to understand the gospel, and what repentance really means.  They seemed deeply impacted.  Yet only God knows.
 

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It was a lovely sunny, crisp Sunday afternoon in Christchurch today.  I headed to Cashel Mall for a couple of hours of gospel outreach.

Before the outreach started, I was able to catch up with Sonny and Mark - two guys that run stalls in the mall.  It was good to see them again.

I wanted to set up at the corner of Cashel and Colombo - it was so good there on Friday - but there were people hanging around my usual spot.  As I waited I prayed that God would bless my feeble efforts - without Him I can’t do anything.  Eventually, one of the groups moved on, and I was able to start setting up my flip chart, while I was doing that, the other group wanted to know what I was doing!  A great opportunity to start a gospel conversation.  :)  It was a nice conversation, but they weren’t keen and decided to move on.  I offered tracts, but one of them said “I’ve already got one” (I think he said he received it after a gospel conversation with someone else in a past outreach).  So I said, “well, give it to your brother”, he said, “oh, he has been to a Christian school, he already knows.” and then he was gone.

Soon after, an old flatmate, from years ago, passed.  (Matt, it's a flatmate, not a housemate. ;) )  It was good to see him again.  When we flatted, we went to the same church, but now he is married to a guy and wants nothing to do with organised religion.  But he still wants to go to heaven, and hopes he will get there.  And so I had a wonderful opportunity to explain how we know God exists, and why there must be a heaven and a hell - none of which he disagreed with.  But he still considered himself to be good, by his standard, and resisted the logic of the law written on his heart.  I was gentle and loving in how I expressed the truth - but I refused to compromise that truth, as unpopular as it is - it is the loving thing to do.  Sadly, he left before I could explain the gospel - but he just wasn’t interested.

I then had a string of conversations with Christians.  Firstly with a young man (and his girlfriend) who I had taught in Sunday school when he was a little kid!  It was great to catch up; then I had a youth pastor from Queenstown go past, and we fell into an easy conversation; before a Christian family wanted to check out the good person test flip chart.

That led into a conversation with a guy who had been overhearing the flip chart demo I had just done.  He was waiting for his wife to come out of a shop.  We fell into an easy conversation.  It turns out he had been a telephone technician like my Dad.  But he was resistant to my attempts to swing the conversation to the gospel.  Once his wife came, he left - refusing a tract - he said it would just go into the fire.

But then I had another guy sit near me - he was also waiting for his wife - we also fell into an easy conversation, but he was more open.  His wife also came (before I could share the gospel), but he did take a tract.

To my joy, Mr. Angry then came past.  If you’ve read any of my earlier reports, you will know who I’m talking about.  If not, well my name for him tells all.  To my increased joy, he was actually nice to me (compared to normal), even though he didn’t stop.  I will continue to pray for him, and hope to get an opportunity to actually share the gospel with him.

The final two sets of gospel conversations of the outreach were actually connected.  A group of high school aged kids passed, one of whom I’ve talked to before.  I asked if they wanted to try the good person test, and two of them were keen (the rest were not - including the one I’d talked to before).  It was a wonderful conversation where they followed the logic easily, came to hear how their sin is serious, and then the wonderful good news of Jesus.  She seemed to be deeply impacted, he really appreciated the logic of it.  I left them both in God’s hands as they left with gospel tracts and contact information.

Soon after, two more wanted to talk (initially, I didn’t realise they were connected to the first group).  And then I had two more join (and a third briefly) - including the one I had talked to before.  It turns out they were homosexual and they were setting me up to trap me in my words.  But it didn’t work, and they were confronted with the reality of sin (something that God defines) and the amazing grace of Jesus - even for homosexuals - yet I was clear that their life would change if they accepted the gift.  They refused tracts.

So a wonderful couple of hours where, all glory to God, I was able to have many gospel interactions.  I love my job.  Thanks again to those who are supporting me in what I do.

I forgot to take any photos for this outreach, so the picture is of my desk after outreach. :)

Oh, and on Saturday, I was doing online evangelism with the team.  We had many wonderful opportunities to share the love of Christ.  Pictured is a young man looking for John in his Bible.  He had grown up knowing about God, and thinking he would go to heaven, but he didn’t understand the gospel.  I really had to labour with him to get him to unlearn some things that were confusing things for him.  He then played amazing grace for me on his keyboard!  Before he left, he agreed that Omegle was not a good place for him to be (“it scars me”) and that he would stop going on it.

Looking forward to a day off tomorrow.  :)
 

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I’m so excited to be writing this report!  Today was the first time back on the streets of Christchurch in many weeks - and it was so good.

We started with the gospel + abortion outreach outside the hospital.  I wrote about that on the Project 139 Facebook page.

We then moved to Cathedral Square for open air preaching.  There were no stalls, or food trucks - and so there weren't many people around.  But to my surprise, once Andy started preaching, plenty of people came out of the woodwork.  We had a guy walk past who stopped to listen, and then he came over to engage.  He asked really good questions, which Andy addressed.  And then the hecklers started arriving - it was like old times again!  So good.

After Andy finished preaching, I was able to engage the guy who had been asking good questions one to one.  The conversation started with, the subject of suffering.  Afterwards he accepted a tract.

I then preached open air.  It felt so good.  There were plenty of people, sitting at a distance and listening.  So I preached my heart out.  The hecklers were surprisingly tame, until I talked about the resurrection of Jesus being a historical proof - that set one of them off.  Afterwards, I offered tracts to the people hanging around.

I then moved to Cashel Mall with my flip chart, and met Roger there.  Compared to the Square, there were heaps of people!

Roger and I prayed, then we set up our flip charts at the corner of Cashel and Colombo.  It was pretty much non stop gospel conversations for just over two hours.  People were walking up to the chart and wanting to give it a go.  I had great chats with:

• 2 guys with a Catholic background
• 2 young girls - 1 with a Christian background, 1 that didn’t believe in God.
• A wonderful chat with a young Christian who believed healing was the way to do evangelism.  We deeply disagreed, but I was careful not to turn the conversation into a fight - granting him the benefit of the doubt - and working with him from there.  I friended him on Facebook, and I intend to follow up with him.
• 3 young ladies who were very switched on yet resistant but very open to discuss the gospel.  This was a wonderful conversation.
• A follow up with a security guard that I had apparently talked to months earlier.

I was able to say hello to a number of people walking past that I’ve had various levels of interaction with in the past.  It’s so good to be back on the streets!!!

In the evening, I did just under two hours of online evangelism.  And I haven’t had a chance to write about the wonderful online gospel opportunities from Thursday.

My body is not used to being on the streets.  Very tired legs by the end of it, but I will quickly readjust.  Come and join me in the harvest fields on the streets of Christchurch.  SDG!
 

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Thursday was hot, Friday cold; Well, Saturday was cold, and then Sunday was hot!  We are definitely at a season cross road.

Not as many people out and about on Saturday.  There were no markets in Cathedral Square, but enough people were walking through that I decided to set up my flip chart in front of the Cathedral.

My first conversation was with a man I’ve talked to before.  We had a long follow up - the conversation starting with abortion.  But I did my best to gently keep connecting things back to the gospel.

Eventually, the conversation was interrupted with someone curious enough to find out what the good person test was all about: it was my pleasure to explain.

After that, I noticed a solitary lady had turned up to protest the recent liberalisation of abortoin law in NZ - she had a sign.  I said hello.

I moved back to my flip chart and soon after moved into a wonderful conversation with two construction workers.  The both were challenged by the law and the gospel.  I could see them both understanding (and checking questions confirmed), but one was clearly resistant, where the other seemed open.

I then had the pleasure of dealing with two of my hecklers - one after the other.

First, Mr. Angry came past (I still pray for him).  He was his usual self, spitting his venom and making a scene.  While he abused me, I blessed him.

I then had the guy who once called me Ned Flanders come past.  He likes to jokingly mock me, but I refuted all his mockings - and I could tell I was hitting because he became serious at one point.  Thankfully, he decided to give up and leave me alone.

I had a quick conversation with a Christian guy before deciding to move to Cashel Mall.  By this stage, the wind had become strong, and so I decided to ditch my flip chart.

I had a great conversation with two girls from Cambodia.  They thought their good deeds would get them to heaven, and so I was able to explain to them why that couldn’t be the case (God’s holiness viewed through the law) and then the amazing gift of Jesus paying the fine for our sin.

The outreach ended with a long conversation with a young man who walked up to me and was very keen to chat.  He loved philosophy, and is studying it at university.  It turns out this young man used to be a Christian, and loved apologetics, even presuppositionalism.  But he had been challenged on a topic, and his deep intellectual study had led him away from God.  Interestingly, it was the opposite for me.  So we were able to work through this, and I touched on personal testimony a lot.  I also worked to swing the conversation away from intellectual debate, to matters of the conscience - sin, the real reason people try to deny God.  I was deeply impacted by this conversation, as it reminded me of one I had with a work mate years ago.  The guy was in the process of walking away from God, and it grieved me deeply.  I just have to rely on the fact that I can’t save people, and do my best to clearly explain the gospel (my part).

Sunday was another outreach Sunday for Redemption Church, joining the Operation 513 team on Cashel Mall.  I felt a bit overwhelmed, as there were more newbies than experienced evangelists.  But it worked out ok.  I actually had a really busy outreach, with lots of wonderful gospel opportunities.  I ended up being out thirty minutes longer than usual for a Sunday - praise God.  And I had various newbies, and various times listening in and giving it a go!

A couple of highlights included:

A guy who was keen to give the good person test a go, but then became really uncomfortable as I explained the law to him.  I was right up to the point where I was going to explain the good news when he decided to bail!  I couldn’t get him to stay, but I said there was good news on the tract that he accepted.

I had a very bright young couple keen to give it a go.  He had a Christian background, but was not a Christian.  She was very smart, that she was working out the meaning of my analogies before I had even made it halfway through!  But they couldn’t fault the logic of what I was explaining - as desperately as she wanted to.  She wanted morality to be relative but understood the implications of that and the logic of God being the basis for objective truth and morality.  They heard the gospel, but I’m confident they rejected it - wanting to enjoy the sinful pleasures of this life… but I can’t know.  May God save them!

I’m writing this Monday evening.  NZ is going into lock down due to Coronavirus for at least four weeks.  This means the Operation 513 teams in NZ won’t be able to be on the streets… but we are looking into other ways we can continue to share the gospel!  Please keep us in prayer.  God bless! :)
 

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Thursday was the last day of summer.  It was really hot!  And Friday was the first day of winter.  Wet and cold - I even had to put my thermals on for the evening outreach, first time this year.  But hot or cold, rain or shine - the gospel of Jesus needs to be shared.

Andy and I were at the Eastgate and Northlands bus stops, in the heat, on Thursday.  We both had many gospel opportunities - esp. at Eastgate.  I found it a bit slower than normal at Northlands, but ended up having some wonderful opportunities to share Christ.

I had an opportunity to share with a guy as he was walking past.  My questions engaged him enough to keep him staying to hear the next question, but at the same time, I could see he wanted to go, so I had to go fast.  I was able to share the whole law and gospel with him, and also throw a vital checking question at him before he left.  Not surprisingly, his response to the question: “So, what did I say we need to do to go to heaven?” was “good deeds”.  I corrected him (the answer is “trust that Jesus paid your fine”) and pleaded with him to study the tract.

I had an interesting conversation with a lovely person, who was a Goth.  Apparently she had become a Christian back in December, and is going to a local church.  She didn’t have much clarity around the gospel, so I tried to gently bring some.

At Northlands, I finally got into a conversation with a young man but I could tell he didn’t really want to talk.  So when I got to the law, I asked if he would be willing to answer three quick questions - he declined.  So I approached the guy next to him (his friend) to see if he would like to answer the three questions - he was keen.  But I wound back to explain how we know God exists - and we ended up working on that question till their bus came.

Once they moved on, another guy turned up, and I ended up having a wonderful conversation with a guy who clearly wanted to live his life for himself, but who turned out to have a JW background (the clue was when he said Jesus died on a stake in response to one of my questions).  I could tell that he had never heard the gospel before, had never understood the justice of God, and the incredible mercy of God.  So I was really blessed to have the privilege to explain it to him.  (One of the pictures shows us talking.)

Something unusual happened at Northlands.  Both Andy and I noticed a young girl walking back and forth around the bus stops.  Eventually Andy took the initiative to ask if she was okay.  She broke into tears and said she was supposed to meet her older sister, but couldn’t find her.  She didn’t have data on her phone and couldn’t contact.  Andy brought the girl to me, and I turned on the hotspot on my phone so she could connect to the Internet.  This solved the problem, as it turned out the sister was just around the corner!  Andy was able to reunite them.  And I think some very brief gospel communication occurred.  What a blessing to be able to serve others both practically and spiritually!  All glory to God.

I finished up the Northlands outreach with a conversation with a Christian high schooler.  He had just finished writing an essay against abortion and we discussed this briefly, as well as the gospel.  Very encouraging!

Firday’s outreaches started with the gospel + abortion outreach outside Christchurch hospital.  I’m grateful that Marty brought his umbrella and he allowed me to share it - it got quite wet (pictured).

We then moved to Cathedral Square.  It was quite empty, due to the weather, and probably due to the lack of tourists due to the closed borders because of Coronavirus.  But there were enough people around for all three of us (Marty, Andy and I) to freely proclaim the gospel (no fighting with music or construction noise today).  For me it was the first time I had open air preached in a while, and I really enjoyed it.  We had one heckler who would ramble in the background - but wasn’t any real disturbance.  I had a great, although brief, follow up opportunity after I preached (pictured).  And also, one of the food stalls blessed us with some free lunch!  What a blessing - thank you!

Andy and I then spent two hours on the streets of central Christchurch having walk up conversations with people, as opportunity allowed.

The highlight was a conversation with two young men.  Sadly, during the evening outreach, I encountered one of them again, but he wanted to keep his distance.  After thinking through the gospel - he had clearly rejected it.

The Evening outreach was difficult.  Cold and wet, and with Coronavirus, I knew it was going to be a difficult two hours.  I spent some time in prayer before heading out.  I wasn’t wrong.  Cathedral Square was completely empty.  Even the bars and restaurants were very quiet.

But, all glory to God, I was still able to have four sets of gospel conversations during the outreach!

The highlights would be the gospel conversation with a Jew and a Catholic - I had to really work to get them to understand grace through faith.  And the final conversation I had outside the bus exchange with a kid who had rejected religion (background: Mum - Baptist; Dad - Catholic).  But he was keen to talk to me.

I thank you for your prayer and support of the Christchurch (NZ) team.  Please pray for labourers.  And join us out where the fish are!
 

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Tuesday was St. Patrick’s Day!  There was a team of two who spent two hours on our usual Riccarton outreach in the late afternoon, and then in the early evening we were outside two Irish pubs doing the St. Patrick’s Day test with people.

During the Riccarton outreach, I had four conversations.

First up was a Catholic man that one of the team has talked to before on a Friday night outreach in the city.  Sadly, he wasn’t open to reason in any way, and so I let him move on - he didn’t hear the gospel.

I then had a lady stop, interested in the flip chart.  She liked to talk (which is okay).  So it was a longer conversation, but she was all over the place in her thinking and, again, I couldn’t reason with her.  But she did stay to hear the law and the gospel.

I was taking notes of that conversation, when Roger called out to me.  I looked up, and I had two high school students looking at the flip chart.  They were brother and sister.  And they were very sharp thinkers - so a good conversation was had.  I slowly took them through the logic of how we know God exists, the law, and the gospel, then through the series of checking questions.  There was resistance at each point, but we worked through the logic, and they didn’t seem to be able to fault the logic.  They understood the gospel.  But when I challenged them to respond at the end, they rejected the gospel.  I asked them why.  And they were speechless.  I explained why most reject it (it’s not that it’s not true, but the cost is too high).  And I pleaded with them to read through the tracts I gave them, and to discuss it with their parents.  They appreciated the conversation and went to shake my hand… but we tapped elbows instead!  (If you are reading in the distant future, it’s because of Coronavirus.)

I finished up the outreach with a short conversation with an older lady who was very interested in the flip chart.  She grew up in the church, so I asked her what we need to do to go to heaven: good works were her answer!  So I briefly explained why it can’t be good work, and what the good news is.  She seemed struck.  She became very interested in what church I went to, and got me to write down all the details.  She said she would read the After Life tract I gave her.

For the St. Patricks Day outreach, we were outside two Irish pubs over the two hours.  But, because of Coronavirus, there were not many people around (last year it was similar, but due to the mosque shootings).

But this did not stop us having some great conversations.

My first was a long conversation with a guy walking home after work.  He followed Viking religion, and was resistant.  But we had a nice long conversation where I was able to make some inroads into why the Christian worldview makes sense.  He heard the law, and I touched on the gospel.

At the second pub, the highlight conversation was with a group of three.  Two of them just wanted to go into the pub, but the third guy really wanted to do the St. Patrick’s Day test.  He wanted to know what his prize would be if he got them all right… he said I would have to do a handstand if he did.  I agreed.  To my amazement, he was getting the questions right.  But, to my relief, he stumbled at the final hurdle.

Then I asked him what the message of St. Patrick was (answer: the gospel).  He then triggered to what we were doing.  He was impressed.  He said if he knew we were Christians right from the start he would have said a foul word to us.  But now that he was engaged, he was keen to chat about religion.  And boy did he like to talk!  He would often say “let me finish, let me finish”.  Because of this, I didn’t really get to share the gospel with him.  But he did take a tract!  I hope he reads it, and that some of the things we talked about would resonate.

On Wednesday, I was back in the City.  I ditched the flip chart and decided to do “walk up”.  I made it all the way down to Ara on this outreach.  I had four wonderful gospel conversations.

The first was with a young man who recognised me as he was walking towards me while he was crossing a road.  He said hello, and even used my name!  I didn’t remember him, but then he triggered my memory saying that we had talked during a climate change protest last year.  He held to reincarnation, but also believed in God, heaven, and hell.  He heard the law and the gospel again.  But he was resistant because he understood the cost.  He said he wanted to enjoy life, and then he would consider it.  Inwardly I just shook my head, and tried to get him to understand what he was saying.

My next two conversations were with tourists: the first was with three Germans who were heading home early because of Coronavirus.  Initially, only one of them was engaging me in gospel conversation, but by the end of the conversation, they were all interested, and all took tracts.  The second was with a guy from Holland.  At one point, I thought I was going to lose him as we discussed how we know God exists.  But I quickly moved on with the law and the gospel, and he re-engaged and seemed genuinely impacted.

The last conversation was outside Ara.  It was with three students.  Interestingly, homosexuailty and abortion came up in the conversation.  But they all heard the law and the gospel.

I praise God for all these opportunities.  We may be reaching people one at a time, or in small groups.  But as the days, weeks, years pass… many people are being reached with the gospel.  All glory to God.  In God’s timing, may many come to saving faith in Jesus.
 

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